The Sword Brothers have won a great victory and the implacable enemy of their order is dead. There is now nothing to stop the Bishop of Riga from marching north and seizing the whole of Estonia. But in the moment of triumph the seeds of future difficulties have been sown, for the bishop’s German crusaders believe that the fight against the pagans has been won and thus there is no reason for them to stay in Livonia. Faced with a lack of holy warriors to complete his task, the bishop is forc...

You want peace and a happy retirement, Pacorus?The only way to ensure both is to eradicate your enemies before they have a chance to mobilise.So, are you a warlord or farmer?Pacorus and Gallia have survived their time of trial in Media and have returned to Dura, intent on no longer fighting Parthia’s wars. And it just so happens that the empire is at peace. In the east, Satrap Kewab, a son of Dura, has fought the Kushans to a standstill, and in the west relations betwe...

Did you think the gods would leave you alone, Pacorus? Did you truly believe the Romans would forget the humiliation of Carrhae and not rest until they had won back their lost eagles?Pacorus had believed the defeat of Crassus would signal the end of Roman interest in Parthia and for many years his kingdom knew peace and prosperity. But the vindictiveness of Queen Cleopatra of Egypt draws him and the Parthians into a new war, one in which they would be fighting for their very existe...

They called themselves Companions – those who escaped from Italy with Pacorus in the aftermath of Spartacus' uprising, travelling across the Mediterranean to make their home in Parthia. They subsequently assisted Pacorus in turning the Kingdom of Dura into one of the strongest realms in the Parthian Empire.But one Companion was unwittingly left behind and condemned to the living hell of Roman slavery. When Pacorus discovers this he and a band of comrades embark on a perilous quest ...

You know three things, Pacorus:Your ‘army’ totals only one hundred men and one hundred women.No help is coming.The gods are unreliable allies.Peace has been restored to the Parthian Empire.The king of kings graces Dura with a visit, the son of Spartacus sits on Media’s throne, a great army has been assembled to deal with the eastern threat, and Rome is no longer an implacable enemy of Parthia.Pacorus looks forward to enjoying a permanent cessation...

Nothing is forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten.No matter where you are, I will find you.King Pacorus and Queen Gallia have returned to Dura after their narrow escape in the north. The king is glad to be alive but Gallia seethes with resentment and thirsts for vengeance against those who deceived her husband, killed her friends, imperilled the empire and threatened Dura’s rulers.And thanks to her own foresight and the assistance of the Scythian Sisters, Gallia has the...

Before the Romans. Before the Parthians. Before Alexander the Great. There were the Persians.In the fertile land of ancient Persia a rising leader, Cyrus, challenges the power of the mighty Median Empire to forge a new world from the ashes of the old. Among the countless warriors who gather beneath the banner of Cyrus, one name would rise from obscurity to become both feared and revered across Persia and beyond: Kian Mihran.The son of a slave born into a noble household, th...

Constantinople 1302.Luca Baldi, a young shepherd, is catapulted into the violent world of mercenary warfare when he is forced to flee his native Sicily. He falls in with the Almogavars – ruthless mercenaries from the Catalonia region of Spain who have just finished butchering the French during a 20-year war on the island. He and they take ship to Constantinople when they are hired by the Byzantine emperor, whose empire is disintegrating in the face of remorseless Muslim advances.

Leon Muller, resident of the city of Bern, has it all – a wealthy family, an excellent education and a very bright future. But he throws it all away on a rash impulse and as a result is thrown into a world that is totally alien to him. Cast out of his home city, he is forced to join an army of impoverished, half-starved soldiers that is fighting for the freedom of the Swiss people.Derided as 'alpine shepherds' by their aristocratic enemies, Leon and his comrades are plunged into a l...

Protect your family, defend the empire, honour the gods.This is the code you have lived by all your life, Pacorus. Everything you have undertaken has been with those three objectives uppermost in your mind. And now your life’s work is nearly complete. Your family prospers, the empire is safe, and the gods are the indifferent, callous, bloodthirsty deities they have been since the dawn of time.And yet, they can also be generous, even kind. After a wearisome battle to defend y...

After the fall of Dorpat to the Sword Brothers in 1224 and the cessation of hostilities with Novgorod, Bishop Albert had established peace throughout Livonia and Estonia. His crusader kingdom had expanded to cover an area from the River Dvina north to the gates of Reval. But that place was still under Danish control and there was a festering resentment between the Danes and the Sword Brothers.Estonia may be at peace but Conrad Wolff, now a master of the Sword Brothers, seethes with ...

'Luca Baldi is an illiterate peasant, a scrawny wretch who has a seditious streak and who under normal circumstances would have been hanged or burnt at the stake long ago. However, fate, or God, has seen fit to smile on his miserable existence.'And not only on Luca Baldi. After their stunning victory over the Romans, the Catalan mercenaries have become kings in the land of the enemy. Luca and his friends are enjoying the spoils of victory and basking in their new-found status. But d...