The Seventh Gift

With Rome secured, Belisarius drives north against King Witiges and the remaining Ostrogothic strongholds. The war centres on Milan and Ravenna, while rival groups within the Gothic kingdom debate resistance, negotiation and the possibility of offering Belisarius the western imperial crown.

At the same time, unrest continues in Roman Africa and reports of a lethal epidemic spread west from the eastern Mediterranean. The novel follows Varus and the exhausted imperial army as Justinian’s forces attempt to complete the conquest of Italy while the first wave of the Plague of Justinian begins to undermine cities, agriculture and military strength.