'Burning blood dribbled down the stakes. The line of men staked and obscene in the fading light looked like some macabre frieze from a temple of devils. Only Marcus still resisted, and his resistance must soon cease . . .His hunger for vengeance satisfied, Marcus Britannicus remains the emperor 's champion in the arena. And the emperor has other uses for his deadly skills. Soon he is sent beyond the outermost reaches of the empire, to the barbaric land of Dacia, where his mission is to bring to safety the voluptuous daughter of one of Rome's allies. But first Marcus must face the treachery and the perverted tortures of the Dacian king Druras. Druras - the Impaler.