The seventh volume of Simon Scarrow's historical adventure series
On the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, things are boiling over. The troops there are in such a sorry state that the Imperial Secretary Narcissus sends the centurions Macron and Caton to one of the local cohorts to restore order. On arrival at the fortress of Bashir, the two officers encounter another problem - the rebel leader Bannus is trying to stir up trouble and is encouraging the inhabitants of the surrounding villages to violently resist Rome.
Cato also meets some of them, after he is taken in by the kind Miriam in the village of Sheva, who is raising her grandson Joseph and still mourning her executed son Yeshua. The rebellion of the inhabitants is gaining momentum and neither the fortress command nor the soldiers are ready for a real fight. If Cato and Macron want to return their cohort to fighting strength and stomp Banno into the ground, they must expel all that corrupts the unit, or the eastern border of the empire will be in danger.