Given the choice of an almost certain death in the arena or a chance of life in the Legions, Marcellus Novanus Rufio gets drafted into the Legio VI Victrix and is taken to Britannia to help rebuild Hadrian's Wall, and push back the hostile Northern Tribes Along the way he is dragged into murder and intrigue by a Frumentarius, an intelligence officer under direct orders from the Emperor, to deliver the only thing that will stop the tribes from banding together in a new and devastating uprising.