Julius Caesar's political successes at Rome earn him governorship of two provinces and three legions. Although absent, he effectively runs the government with Pompey and Crassus. After Caesar's Helvetian victory he remains in Gaul to defeat Ariovistus, a German king encroaching on Celtic lands. Yet as Gallic tribes resent a continued presence of Roman legions, talk of rebellion flares and culminates in the massacre of Roman merchants. A rebel leader emerges in the person of Vercingetorix. With ten legions now in Gaul, Caesar establishes a chain of camps, pacifies some tribes, and defeats others, but an attack on Vercingetorix's stronghold of Gergovia fails. Rather than follow up his victory, the king retreats to a fortress at Alesia. Caesar surrounds the stronghold with deadly ground obstacles and twin defensive walls. In a prolonged siege, Roman tactics defeat Vercingetorix. He surrenders and is sent to Rome for execution. Despite Caesar's victories, much of the Senate is hostile to his reforms and declares him a public enemy. Attacking Pompey, Caesar wins a devastating civil war, but is assassinated in 44 B.C.E. Gaul recovers and prospers under a Pax Romana.
---
Book 2. In Alberix's search for Vercingetorix, he witnesses a druidic birth ritual by Ollam Fodla, which predicts failure for a rebellion. The Gallic king is present, so Alberix hears his plan to unify Gaul. Returning, he and Simonides scout Gergovia, where a council expels Vercingetorix. While leaving both are captured by his warriors. At Wermaros, Cluvios is murdered by Arvos, who burns his body. Infatuated with Apsa, she kills Arvos as he attempts to rape her. Druid Triccos tries the slave woman for murder, but Marius presents a torc of Cluvios found in Arvos's hut. When Moira pleads for asylum from Triccos, Marius takes her to his Roman watch-tower. Liscos attacks the tower, but dies in the attempt. After Alberix refuses to join the rebellion, Vercingetorix mutilates and expels him from his camp. Apsa divines Alberix's location in Gaul. The king repulses a Roman attack on Gergovia, yet retreats to Alesia. When Caesar defeats a Gallic relief army, Vercingetorix surrenders after a brutal month-long siege. Assigned to escort the king to Rome with Lucius, Alberix first rescues his mother and aunt from Wermaros, torched by an insane Triccos. At Rome, Briga and Apsa are abducted in a failed plot to free Vercingetorix. Later, when a Rhine settlement rises on the site of his father's destroyed village, Alberix is elected magistrate and realizes his dream as foretold on the Celtic Wheel of Life.
Genre: Historical Romance