Samo, he answered after a moment’s pause. He would not be called Rufus again. In Rome, they had taken his name from him. But this was not Rome, and Samo was not Roman.

(Whether or not he was still Gaulish was a question he preferred not to answer.)

He did not ask the Roman for a name in turn. To a slave, a master was always dominus.

He heard the burbling of the waters before he saw them again. The river snaked a path through the woodland, though the twining branches that reached overhead barely allowed more than dapples of light to shine on the dark, glassy water. Riffles of white betrayed the deceptive calm.

He stopped by the riverbank and waited in silence.