"So what made you set sail, Pullo? I thought you were happy in Rome, living with the Voreni and with your little slave woman..what was that name again?"

"Eirene," I say with a mouth full of chicken. If she wants me to eat, I'll do it, eh?

"Yes, Eirene...." she muses.

"Well, it's like this. I was living there happily and stuff, but we had to sail to Greece to fight there for Caesar and so on. After that, we had to sail for Egypt. Blood and fire! That land ain't nothing but a big dump, if you go too far off the river, that is. Near the river, it's nice. Anyway, Vorenus and I, we spent lots of time away from the river, in the desert. That place is as hot as Vulcan's d****k. Those gyppo gods must be right wasters to make a place like this. Some people seem to like that, though. Anyway, after we had fought in Egypt and Caesar had put that little gypo princess on the throne there, we made out for the rest of Africa, after having done some little battle up at a place called Zela. That was the shortest battle I have ever been at in my soldiering life. Caesar came, saw and won! I missed it. Yup. I was having a cr*p and missed it. Pity, eh?

Right then, so after that and Africa, we were bound to head for home, but I somehow landed up in a boat that took the wrong direction and on top of that found itself at one point in the middle of a storm at sea again. And so, here I am....