AD173. The Danube lies frozen. On its banks gather the clans of Samartia, their riders winter starved by sickly herds and blighted crops. Petty feuds cast aside and their disparate numbers united in the face of a great enemy. For across the frozen waters stands the mighty Roman Empire, and its Legion marches ever closer. But the Samartians are proud, and they are cast from the ice itself. They were trained from young to ride and fight and kill on its slippery surface. They cannot lose. They charge... Alone on a bloodied battlefield awakens Kai. Surrounded by the bodies of his people, fallen to the Legion, to have survived is a disgrace. In the aftermath of such defeat, he must navigate a course between honor and shame, his people and the Empire. It is a journey that will take him far to the West, beyond everything he has ever known. A disgraced warrior must navigate a course between honor and shame, his people and the Roman Empire, in the first of a new trilogy set in the second century AD, from the author of Smile of the Wolf.

Cast to the edge of the Empire, the Sarmatian army must fight in defence of Rome in the second of a new trilogy set in the second century AD, from the author of Smile of the Wolf. In the hard, unforgiving land at the northernmost point of the Roman Empire lies a great wall. Once, the edge had been but a thing of thought and dreams, but one day the great Emperor from across the water had grown tired of borders made from thoughts and dreams. So, a wall was raised from the earth at his command. From afar, it looked invincible. Yet every wall has its weaknesses – if one looks close enough. In its shadow, gather five thousand fearsome soldiers. Men bred to fight and kill. The Sarmatians have suffered capture and defeat, but under a new command they are prepared to fight again. For of the other side of the wall there are rumours. Of men closer to giants, of warriors who fight without fear or restraint. And the Sarmatians are called to defend against them. To stand and fight, to die for Rome.

The unmissable conclusion to Tim Leach's critically acclaimed historical adventure series set in the Roman Empire. 180 AD. North of the Wall, Sarmatian warrior Kai and his adopted tribe, the Votadini, struggle for survival, cast into unfamiliar lands by Roman reprisals. When news arrives that an old enemy is in charge of the Votadini's hated foes, a confederation of tribes known as the Painted People, and has roused them to action, Kai heads south towards the Wall, hoping to ally with the Romans against this resurgent threat. Meanwhile, the Romans have heard tales of butchery and mayhem beyond the Wall. Lucius, Legate of the North, believes is is Kai and his allies who are responsible, and sends forth an expedition to capture his old comrade. Can Kai and his loved ones survive the onslaught – or will the combined might of Rome and the hatred of their enemies spell the end for the warrior and his tribe?