"Sometime during the beginning of the second century A.D., the Ninth Legion Hispana marched into the mists of Roman-occupied Britain and disappeared forever." Cockell tells the story of this mysterious legion, and gives an answer as to why and how they were stricken from Rome's legionary rolls. We arrive at the fortress of Eburacum along with Centurion Justinius Corvus, who has been assigned to this outpost as a demotion. He hates everything: the land, the weather, the run-down fortress and the lazy cohorts he sees. The only bright spot is Licinius, the surgeon, whom he befriends. But he eventually comes to appreciate the people and the men he must work with in order to further Rome's ambitions. And when he meets Vortrix, the High King of the Brigantes, he sees what he imagines to be the dark half of himself. The two young men, worlds apart in culture and politics, still have a strange connection...and a shared destiny.

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