Gaius Valerius Varens has been Rome's hero, its defender, and its
avenger, and now he is the Empire's sword, in his fourth brutal and
bloody adventure
*
*AD 68. The Emperor Nero's erratic and bloody reign is in its death
throes when Gaius Valerius Verrens is dispatched to Rome on a mission
that will bring it to a close. With Nero dead, the city holds its breath
and awaits the arrival his successor, Servius Sulpicius Galba, governor
of Hispania. The Empire prays for peace, but it prays in vain. Galba
promises stability and prosperity, but his rule begins with a massacre
and ends only months later in chaos and carnage. This will become known
as the Year of the Four Emperors, a time of civil war which will tear
Rome apart and test Valerius's skills and loyalties to their very limit.
Fortunate to survive Galba's fall, Valerius is sent on a mission by
Rome's new Emperor, Otho, to his old friend Vitellius, commander of the
armies of the north. Vitellius's legions are on the march, and only
Valerius can persuade him to halt them before the inevitable
confrontation. In an epic adventure that will take him the length and
breadth of a divided land, the one-armed Roman fights to stay alive and
stave off a bloodbath as he is stalked by the most implacable enemy he
has ever faced.
