Battle For Empire

At the dawn of history, an epic war is about to begin in the deadly quest for honour.

The city of Sumer, ruled by a brutal murderer and his vicious, power hungry sister, is poised to give birth to the mightiest empire in history. No one stands a chance as it brings a bloody war to all those who stand in its way, determined to crush and enslave those on its borders.

The little city state of Akkad must prepare its fledgling nation to fight for its very survival. Akkad's warriors are a loyal and courageous brotherhood, but this is not a battle of villages or of roving warrior bands; it is a battle for Empire and a fight to the death...

Into this violent, unsettled land come the outcast Korthac and the remnants of his mighty desert fighters. Joining forces with Ariamus and his brutal band of thieves, the invaders set their sights on the biggest prize of all: the burgeoning city of Akkad—already renowned for its riches . . . and for the courage and wisdom of its two leaders.

The former barbarian, Eskkar, and his beloved wife, Trella, face a challenge far more daunting than the savage horde that previously threatened the young city they built together and have sworn to protect. For, while Eskkar roams the land, hoping to bring other towns into his growing empire, an insidious menace is slipping unnoticed into Akkad, intending to wreak havoc from within—to loot and enslave . . . and bring death.

Five millennia ago, on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, the course of human history changed forever . . .

The people of Orak cherish their peaceful village and the life they have made. Though not proficient with the bow or sword, they possess a weapon far stronger: the ability to coax food from the ground. This is why the barbarian leader Thutmose-sin hates and fears them. As his marauding clan of bloodthirsty warriors readies itself for the plunder and the kill, the fate of the village rests with the outcast barbarian Eskkar and the woman he loves, the wise and beautiful slave girl Trella-and on a bold, remarkable, never-before-tested plan of defense. For those who have known peace must turn their hands to war, to save from the savage invaders not only their families but their way of life.

After three years fighting by the side of Spartacus, Pacorus and his followers have escaped from Italy in the aftermath of the defeat of the slave rebellion. Made a king by the ruler of the Parthian Empire on his return, he has married his beloved Gallia and made the city of Dura Europos on the banks of the Euphrates his home. But his new kingdom is seething with discontent and surrounded by hostile desert nomads who are the sworn enemies of the Parthians. The aged King of Kings, the man who has united the Parthians for decades, then dies to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the empire, which erupts into full-scale civil war as one of the empire’s most powerful men, Narses, attempts to seize the high crown by force.

Pacorus is forced to fight both Narses and his scheming ally, Prince Mithridates, to preserve the realm and his own crown. And then the Romans, taking advantage of Parthia’s internal troubles, launch their own invasion of the empire. Will Pacorus and indeed the Parthian Empire survive the conflict that engulfs them on all sides?

‘Parthian Vengeance’ is the third instalment in the Parthian Chronicles, the adventures of King Pacorus of Dura, and follows on from ‘Parthian Dawn’.

The brooding peace that hangs over Parthia is shattered by a murder that triggers the final confrontation that will decide who rules the empire. Pacorus leads his veteran army east to destroy once and for all the forces of his implacable enemies, Mithridates and Narses. But his foes have been waiting for this moment and what Pacorus believes will be a short campaign will turn into a long war that will culminate in the bloodiest battle in the history of the Parthian Empire.

Once again Pacorus gathers his faithful companions around him for the life-or-death struggle with the treacherous Mithridates and the ambitious Narses – Domitus, the ex-Roman centurion and now general of Dura’s army; Gallia, his fierce warrior queen; Orodes, the landless prince; Prince Malik of the Agraci; and Surena, destined to become one of the greatest Parthian commanders of all time.

And while Parthia tears itself apart the Armenians begin to covet the empire’s lands, while to the west the black cloud of Roman power envelops Syria and Judea and edges ever close to the kingdom of Dura itself.

This is the story of Pacorus, a prince of the Parthian Empire. When the two mighty empires of Parthia and Rome clash, Pacorus and his warriors are captured and sent to Italy in chains. Landing in Italy near Mount Vesuvius, they are set to endure a living hell in the fields under the overseer's whip. But fate intervenes and they are freed during an attack on the camp of their Roman captors by Spartacus and his followers. Pacorus accepts the offer of Spartacus to raise a force of horsemen to fight with him against the Romans. Thus begins the epic tale of the Spartacus slave revolt, as told by the friend and cavalry general of the slave leader, a tale of love, war, savagery, honour and the eternal quest for freedom.

When the falcon has flown, the mountain lion will charge from the east, and all Byzantium will quake. Only one man can save the empire . . . the Haga!

1046 AD. The Byzantine Empire teeters on full-blown war with the Seljuk Sultanate. In the borderlands of Eastern Anatolia, a land riven with bloodshed and doubt, young Apion's life is shattered in one swift and brutal Seljuk night raid. Only the benevolence of Mansur, a Seljuk farmer, offers him a second chance of happiness.

Yet a hunger for revenge burns in Apion's soul, and he is drawn down a dark path that leads him right into the heart of a conflict that will echo through the ages.

The Danubian frontier is weaker than ever, and a storm is gathering in the north . . .

Deep winter, 376 AD: Emperor Valens has withdrawn the field armies from Moesia and Thracia to fight in the Persian War. The impoverished limitanei legions left behind to defend the banks of the River Danubius are now all that stand between the war-hungry Goths and heart of the Eastern Roman Empire.

For Numerius Vitellius Pavo and the men of the XI Claudia, the brief from Emperor Valens is simple: to avoid war with the Goths at all costs while the Roman defences are so weak. But in the frozen lands north of the Danubius a dark legend, thought long dead, has risen again. The name is on the lips of every warrior in Gutthiuda; the one who will unite the tribes, the one whose armies will march upon the empire, the one who will bathe in Roman blood . . .

The Viper!