When Clovis moves to conquer Gaul in a.d. 486, only Syagrius, King of the Romans, has the courage to stand in his way and pays a fearful price for his defiance. Shattered by a defeat that costs him his wife, his son, his city, and his army, Syagrius wanders through the collapsing world of a dying empire to find refuge with a procurator broken by his past, a centurion haunted by betrayal, and a priestess desperate for love, all too proud and too honorable to compromise with the corruption that threatens to destroy them. And there, on a beach in Crete, they make their final stand together...