AD263 - barbarian invasions and violent uprisings threaten to tear apart the Imperium of Rome.
In the north, the tribes are increasingly bold in their raids on the Imperium - their savagery unlike anything Rome has known before. Ballista must undertake his most treacherous journey yet - a covert attempt to turn the barbarians of the steppe against each other. He must face the Heruli - the most bizarre and brutal of all the nomad tribes - the Eaters of Flesh, the Wolves of the North. As Ballista and his retinue make their journey, someone - or something - is hunting them, picking them off one by one, and leaving a trail of terror and mutilated corpses.
Ballista is in a strange land, among strange people, but is it possible that the greatest threat may come from within his own familia?
