The titanic struggle begins in an unremarkable grove in the lands of an unremarkable tribe. The war which follows will last for centuries and shapes us still. 390 BC - A Greek trader embarks on his fifth journey to the forests of Hyperborea on behalf of his shadowy employer; and disappears. Led by Brennus, a war lord without a past, a warrior of the Horsetails clan accompanies his tribe on an extraordinary trek through the wild Celtic lands. Eighty thousand strong they cross the Alps and fall upon the rich lands of Italia. On an island at the edge of the known world, a young druid is driven by her night terrors to embark on a quest which will finally reveal the path the gods have chosen for her. A general of Rome, conqueror of the Volscian city of Anxur, witnesses a barbarian army crush the Etruscan phalanx using a deadly combination of guile and ferocity. Can he awaken the senate from its torpor and save his own city from catastrophe? In an epic tale of friendship, heroism and betrayal, war sweeps across the ancient world as two civilisations vie for ascendancy. From the wind swept moors of Albion to the seven hills of Rome, the glacial peaks of the Alps to the tempestuous seas off the Pillars of Hercules the conflict unfolds which will decide the destiny of a continent.