Blood and Treasure

A hundred years after they first came under Julius Caesar, the Roman legions again set foot on Britannia. Caudacus Commenticius and his fellow legionaries of the Second Augusta spearhead the invasion launched by the Emperor Claudius. All goes well at first, and a series of military victories soon subdues the islanders. Despite his defeat, the enemy chieftain Caratacus escapes the invaders and flees to the west. Then the bitter winter sets in. Money and supplies become short. Though promised an early return to Rome, the legions are not brought home. The following spring, the Second Augusta is sent west in search of Caratacus. The dwindling survivors of the legion, ceaselessly harried in a hostile land, realise that, to stay alive, they must learn to adapt to the people and the place. Back in Rome, Claudius is kept as ignorant of conditions in the new province as of the truth of his own weakening hold on power. His senior civil servants and the Empress herself begin to vie with each other; as the stakes get higher, the army, abandoned for years on foreign soil, becomes a pawn in the struggle for supreme power. Then, after eight years, comes news of Caratacus. The Second Augusta moves to find him. Battle is joined. In the battle, the legionary Caudacus is separated from his colleagues and sets off in pursuit of Caratacus. Caudacus is drawn to the very tip of Britannia, where he learns the truth about who really controls the Roman Empire - a truth that shatters all he knows and holds dear... A timeless satire on money and power, Blood & Treasure not only draws on the ancient manuscripts, but also fills in the gaps in them, completing at last the story of the Roman invasion of Britannia.