The subject's eyes moved rapidly under their closed lids, searching, searching, searching. The candle guttered in the breeze coming through the gaps in the shutters. 'We're on a beach.'

Continuing the hypnotism session which opened the door to the troubled world of Graecus and his men, auxiliaries in Nero's Imperial Army, the story now moves to the misty shores of Britannia where they must cross hundreds of miles of dangerous territory to join with the legionary forces of General Suetonius Paulinus in fighting the vastly superior numbers of Boudicca's rebellious tribesmen. As the auxiliaries meet a host of new challenges, Graecus learns that, even though his enemies are not confined to the ranks of Boudicca's rebels, solace and a deeper understanding of himself are found in encounters with a beautiful Iceni woman and an object buried in the soil of this mysterious foreign land.