<p><b>AD 406.</b> Abandoned by friends and hounded by enemies, Roman cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor and a small band of loyal warriors know that the time has come to leave an increasingly fractured Britannia.<br><br>Their journey takes them across the bleak, pirate-infested seas of the Mare Germanicum to Saxonia and on into the dark heart of barbarism. It seems the Britons'' only salvation lies with an old comrade, General Stilicho - based far to the east but still within the sanctuary of the Empire. But the general has troubles of his own: his influence with the Emperor Honorius is waning, and a great warrior people are on the march - for Radagaisus, king of the Ostrogoths, has promised his subjects all the riches of Italia, and they will leave a sea of Roman bones in their wake.<br><br>But as Marcus and his companions battle their way towards what they hope will a safe haven of sorts, they stumble across a secret which could decide the fate of the Empire. But who can they re