The Cave of the Winds
Roman Britain, 305 CE. It is a windy autumn that welcomes Aelius Spartianus at the foot of Hadrian’s Wall, the last defense an aging Empire can muster against the fierce tribes of Scotland. Aelius – whose adventures range from The Water Thief to The Fire Waker, to The Stone Virgins – is an excellent soldier but a free spirit. In fact, the present task smacks of retribution against his independence. He is saddled with an inspection of the forts and outposts on both sides of the defense system, a bureaucrat’s rather than a soldier’s job. Yet his mission is immediately complicated by news of a massacre: an entire garrison has been annihilated during a raid, supposedly carried out by elusive barbarians. As soon as he reaches the site, however, Aelius notices a few details contradicting the official version: enough for him to begin an alternative inquiry. Traveling from fort to fort in pursuit of hints that shift as quickly as the wind, the historian-detective stumbles on more corpses, among them a dark beauty and an overly pious matron. The investigation implies facing many dangers and confronting old as well as new adversaries, one for all the irrepressible Baruch ben Matthias, formerly an anti-Roman freedom fighter from Judea. Little by little, Aelius will approach the frightful heart of the mystery. And what he will discover in the end will be so unexpected and terrible that, despite his shrewdness and courage, he’ll be left gasping for breath.
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