There will never be an end to war.

Fresh off his victory at Tricamarum, Belisarius encounters a task even more daunting than conquest: governing a land riven by war, famine, and blood feuds. All of which must be settled by an understrength army exhausted from battle.

Yet, to safeguard the fledgling Imperial government in Carthage, the liberation of the African coastline must continue. While Belisarius dispatches peacekeepers throughout the region, the distant fortress of Septem stands as the key to security for the reclaimed Roman province. Far to the west, Septem marks the mythical coastal terminus of the known world, and a one-time respite for the immortal Herakles.

Varus, dispatched to claim Septem for Belisarius, finds a city in turmoil. Battle-hardened enemies stalk the fabled Pillars, resentful of a resurgent Roman Empire and eager to claim Vandal spoils. Thrust into command far from support, Varus must learn to lead a motley collection of warriors apt to fight each other as they are this new adversary.

Meanwhile, Carthage festers with spies and turncoats. And even as the people of Constantinople yearn to welcome their victorious conqueror home in glorious triumph, danger lurks in a jealous Imperial Palace, mistrustful of the Empire’s most beloved general in a century.