A stunning novel of courage, camaraderie and deadly enemies from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Centurion and The Emperor's Exile. AD 59. BRITANNIA. TENSION IS SIMMERING. DANGER LIES ROUND EVERY CORNER FOR ROME'S BRAVE SOLDIERS ... Fifteen years after Rome's invasion of Britannia, centurion Marco is back. The island is settled now, bustling with commerce. Macro's goal is to help run his mother's Londinium inn, and exploit his land grant. He's prepared for the dismal weather and the barbaric ways of the people. But far worse dangers threaten all his plans. A gang led by an ex-legionary rules the city, demanding protection money and terrorising those who won't pay up. The Roman official in charge has turned a blind eye. Macro has to act. He needs the back-up of the finest soldier he knows: Prefect Cato. But Cato is in distant Rome. Or is he? As the streets run red with blood, the army's heroes face an enemy as merciless and cunning as any barbarian tribe. The honour of Rome is in their hands ... For readers of Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden and Ben Kane - unputdownable fiction from an author who knows the Roman world like no other.