Thrilling, authentic, and action-packed, this novel introduces soldier hero Marcus Valerius: a centurion stationed on Hadrian's Wall in the second century during a revolt against the Roman Empire. Marcus Valerius Aquila has scarcely landed in Britannia when he has to run for his life—condemned to dishonorable death by power-crazed emperor Commodus.  The plan is to take a new name, serve in an obscure regiment on Hadrian's Wall, and lie low until he can hope for justice—but then a rebel army sweeps down from the wastes north of the Wall, and Marcus has to prove he's hard enough to lead a century in the front line of a brutal, violent war.