Prologus
A.D. 209
The rain was icy and sharp as it drove down from iron-grey clouds that clung to the jagged peaks of the hills surrounding the small valley. The rush of a waterfall cascading from hidden heights could be heard, feeding the bubbling river that ran like an artery through the village and out into the expanse of the glen.
In the heart of a gathering of village roundhouses, amid the torches that sputtered beneath the thatch overhangs of two neighbouring houses, Argentocoxus, Chieftain of the Caledonii, waited with three of his bodyguards. He stood wrapped in a long cloak of brown embroidered with silver thread, one hand reaching up to finger the thick rope of the golden torc that ringed his neck. His other hand, rested upon the silver hilt of the longsword that hung at his s
