AD263 – barbarian invasions and violent uprisings threaten to tear apart the Imperium of Rome.
In the north, the tribes are increasingly bold in their raids on the Imperium – their savagery unlike anything Rome has known before. Ballista must undertake his most treacherous journey yet – a covert attempt to turn the barbarians of the steppe against each other. He must face the Heruli – the most bizarre and brutal of all the nomad tribes – the Eaters of Flesh, the Wolves of the North. As Ballista and his retinue make their journey, someone – or something – is hunting them, picking them off one by one, and leaving a trail of terror and mutilated corpses.
Ballista is in a strange land, among strange people, but is it possible that the greatest threat may come from within his own familia?
Reviews
Wonderful fight scenes, deft literary touches . . . This is a storming triumph
Evening Standard
Blazes with searing scholarship
The Times