The Emperor Trajan has called on Aulus Aemilius Galba to leave his good life with his wife and son to serve as his senior advisor in the developing crisis with Parthia, Rome’s long-standing enemy.
Aulus’ cousin Gaius Lucullus is commanding the Twelfth Thunderbolt, his old legion, destined to be the pointed end of Rome’s spear in the looming conflict. In the past ten years, the other veterans of Aulus’ epic Roman mission to China have moved on with their lives, scattered from Mongolia to China, from the sandstone city of Petra to Italy.
But the Fates have conspired to draw all of them together, against all odds, into an unexpected reunion in the midst of Trajan’s final war, Rome’s invasion of Parthia. Each must play their part in the struggle against the chaos of war and insurrection, fighting for their lives from the snowy mountains of Armenia to the deserts of Mesopotamia.
