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.  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.