The Lost Legion

74 BC. Pompey Magnus holds sway in Rome

Caesar is beginning to make a name for himself, and in a few short months Crassus will face the slave army of Spartacus.

In the east, Lucius Licinius Lucullus is conducting a war on Rome's behalf against the renegade King Mithradates.

It is into this theatre that our hero Petro, a young soldier from a seaside town on the Neapolitan coast, finds himself, and he is in trouble almost from day one.

He dreams of returning to his girl back home covered in glory, but on his first expedition his patrol are attacked by a tribe of nomads, and all are killed while he flees for his life.

He falls into a ravine and is found half-conscious the next day by the women of the tribe as they go to wash their clothes in the river at the bottom of his ravine.

It is only because the chief's daughter takes pity on him, and the mysterious prophesy of their tribal shaman, that he survives.

Her friend Chione, whose husband was killed by the Romans, would have murdered him on the spot and takes every opportunity she can to exact her vengeance.

Now his life is on a knife-edge, but he learns their language, their horse-riding skills and their culture as they deliberate his fate, thus unwittingly becoming a valuable asset to the army when and if he eventually returns.

Pursued by Chione, he is almost killed by his own comrades, the High Priestess of the Snake cult and of course the King's army.

Alone in a hostile world, despite the dubious support of a group of Amazons, can he survive to return home to his girl?

And if he does will she still want him?

Praise for The Lost Legion

‘Combine deft story-telling with a flair for historical detail.’ – Richard Foreman

Nick Swyft has been writing for over twenty years, mainly for his own pleasure and that of friends. Having won a number of prizes for his short stories, he decided to write a novel for a wider audience. 'Where Gods Were Born' is intended to be the first of a trilogy following Petro's life to an explosive conclusion.