Spring of 98 AD is a time of optimism in the turbulent frontier province of Britannia and business is brisk at Aurelia Marcella's inn on the road to York Then a wagon arrives bearing a grievously wounded farmer seeking treatment Before his death, he tells Aurelia his family is in grave danger Alarmed, Aurelia sends for her twin brother Lucius, a government investigator, and together they head for the eastern coast Could the band of piratical Gauls working the area be cover for something worse? Friction between native farmers and Roman settlers over farmland turns to open violence Both sides resort to terrorist tactics Underneath it all flows a current of subtle, personal agendas