About Ring of Lapis
Tullius, a centurion in the Sixth Legion Victrix, is promoted by the victor, Septimius Severus, in the final battle of the Year of the Five Emperors. Tullius fought for the loser.
As second-in-command of the legion, Tullius unwittingly earns the enmity of Severus’s ten-year-old son, Antoninus. He will later be known as Caracalla, who murdered his brother and forty-five thousand Roman men, women and children.
Based in York, Tullius, his optio, Quintus, and a former Greek physician-turned slave-turned gladiator-now legionary, Heracles venture north of Hadrian’s Wall to soothe tensions between the Empire (with only two and a half legions) and seventy-five thousand tribal warriors.
Eleven years after their first encounter, Tullius is tasked by Severus to work with the adult Antoninus north of Hadrian’s wall. They are to work with one of the tribes, the Votadini, to assess the strength of the Northern tribes who are threatening to invade the lands south of the wall with an army engorged by the remnants of the Brigante.
Tullius must walk a thin line between his duty to the emperor (Severus) knowing the true power lies with his wife (Julia Domna), and the chieftain of the Caledonii (Argentocoxus), who is guided by his wife (Adela). All the while scheming to protect his wife and children from the increasingly deranged Antoninus.
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