The Silver Branch

Set in 3rd-century Britain during the final decades of Rome's hold on the province, the novel follows two young Roman officers drawn into a conspiracy that threatens the self-proclaimed Emperor of Britain.

Justin, a young Army Medical Corps surgeon whose full name is Tiberius Lucius Justinianus, arrives at the fortress of Rutupiae on the Saxon Shore, the coastline fortified against Germanic sea raiders. Before his posting, Licinius, the commander of his former Cohort (a military unit of several hundred men), briefed him on the volatile political situation: Marcus Aurelius Carausius, the son of a German father and a Hibernian (Irish) mother, rose from humble origins as a river pilot to seize power in Britain with three Legions (Rome's largest military formations), forcing the co-Emperors Maximian and Diocletian to recognize him. The peace remains fragile.

At Rutupiae, Justin meets Flavius (Marcelus Flavius Aquila), a friendly young Centurion (an infantry officer). Through a family signet ring engraved with a dolphin, they discover they are kinsmen. Justin has always felt himself a disappointment to his father, too sickly in childhood for the military career expected of his family, but in Flavius he finds both a friend and a sense of belonging.

At dinner, Carausius enters, a short, powerfully built former seaman who questions Justin sharply, suspecting him of spying. Allectus, Carausius's Finance Minister and most powerful subordinate, intervenes pleasantly. Justin notes Allectus's charm but later observes him deliberately crushing a moth after watching it singe its wings on a lamp, an act that leaves Justin with a lingering sense of evil.

Over the following months, the cousins hear repeated whispers that Allectus disagrees with Carausius on tax policy and might ease the burden if given power, first from the perfume-seller Serapion and then from a tax-gatherer near Flavius's ancestral farm in the Down Country, a region of chalk hills. Someone is positioning Allectus as a sympathetic alternative. On their return journey, Carausius encounters them and brings them to his clifftop house, where, served by Cullen, his Hibernian Household Fool, a small tattooed man who carries a Silver Branch hung with nine silver apples that produce an ethereal chiming, he shares his vision: Rome is hollow and failing, and he must make Britain strong enough to stand alone when the Empire falls, relying on sea-power and hoping to avoid assassination long enough to finish his work. Flavius and Justin pledge themselves as his men.

While duck-hunting at dawn, the cousins witness Allectus meeting secretly with a Saxon warrior. They capture the Saxon and bring the matter before Carausius, naming Allectus as the conspirator. Allectus reacts with outrage, and before the prisoner can testify, the captive is found dead, poisoned with nightshade. Carausius declares the accusation a mistake and announces new postings. Their sealed orders, however, reveal puzzling promotions: Flavius to command a Cohort at Magnis on the northern Wall, Justin as its surgeon.

At Magnis, Flavius transforms a demoralized garrison, earning the men's respect after he personally hauls wreckage off a Legionary named Manlius during a catapult accident while Justin performs surgery on the man's broken leg. An exiled Dalriad (Gaelic) hunter named Evicatos of the Spear, banished from his tribe in western Scotland 15 years earlier, comes to Justin for treatment, and a fellowship develops. Evicatos reveals alarming intelligence: Allectus's agents are negotiating with the Picts, a confederation of northern tribes, to help overthrow Carausius in exchange for destroying the Dalriads. They write a warning letter, and Evicatos volunteers to carry it south, motivated by the threat to his own people.

Two nights later, word comes that Evicatos has been captured and the letter found, though the hunter broke free and rejoined them. The three fugitives flee Magnis. At a remote farm during Samhain, the Celtic start of winter, they learn that Carausius was murdered six nights earlier: Saxon raiders, signaled by Allectus, cut him down on his own threshold. They were already too late when they wrote the letter. Evicatos departs north, while Justin and Flavius resolve to reach the Caesar Constantius (Rome's junior co-Emperor) in Gaul.

Traveling south through Calleva (modern Silchester), Flavius's Great-Aunt Honoria gives them money and opal bracelets. At coastal Portus Adurni, they encounter Paulinus, a former secretary of Carausius who runs an underground network smuggling hunted men out of Britain and gathering intelligence for Rome. He hides them and arranges transport but asks them to stay and lead the network. They refuse, but on the night of departure, Justin cannot bring himself to leave. Flavius agrees to stay. They send the Marine traveling with them alone on the ship and walk back to Paulinus.

Justin and Flavius immerse themselves in the resistance, gathering intelligence and smuggling men to Gaul while Allectus raises taxes and imports Saxon mercenaries. They spot Serapion among Allectus's personal staff, confirming the connection to the prisoner's poisoning. When a young Centurion named Anthonius seeks help to flee Britain after publicly defying Allectus's bodyguard, Justin brings him to Paulinus's house. Phaedrus, a ship-master in the network, bursts in to warn that Saxon guards have surrounded the building. Paulinus orders the others to escape over rooftops through nearby theatre ruins, claiming he has another way out. They escape, but Myron, a former pickpocket and member of the network, brings devastating news: Paulinus walked out of his burning house into the Saxons' midst and was killed. There was no other way out.

Flavius accepts leadership, relocating headquarters to his family farm and growing the resistance into a fighting force of over 60. While buying weapons in Calleva, they rescue Cullen from pursuing Saxons. Cullen carries inside his Silver Branch a letter Carausius wrote before his death: He sent them to the Wall not in anger but to save their lives, having believed their warning all along. Hiding in the hypocaust (underfloor heating space) of Aunt Honoria's house, Cullen accidentally uncovers a battered, wingless Eagle of gilded bronze wrapped in the remains of a scarlet military cloak. Flavius is convinced it is the lost standard of the Ninth Legion, the Roman legion that vanished in northern Britain centuries earlier, and declares it a standard for their ragged force.

When Constantius's troops land, the band marches to join the Western Force under Asklepiodotus, the Praetorian Prefect (a high-ranking imperial commander). Licinius, now a Senior Centurion, vouches for them. The stranded transports are burned behind the army: There will be no retreat. The watchword is "Carausius!" Facing Allectus's 12,000 alone after foul weather scatters Constantius's fleet, the Western Force wins the battle, but fleeing Saxon mercenaries pour toward undefended Calleva. Flavius leads the band in pursuit and finds the city burning. While Flavius evacuates civilians to the basilica, Justin fights in the streets, and the defenders barricade themselves inside with 1,800 souls. Justin works as surgeon, aided by Aunt Honoria. When Saxons breach the building, Cullen plants the Eagle on a roof-beam before a thrown spear brings him down. Evicatos stands astride Cullen's body in a last stand; when Roman trumpets finally sound, he hurls his beloved spear one final time. It shatters against a column, and he falls dead. Pandarus, a freed gladiator Justin recruited, dies in the burning gallery as Justin stays beside him. Flavius pulls Justin from the collapsing building as cavalry sweeps the Saxons from the city.

A month later, Constantius enters Londinium in triumph. Justin reads a letter from his father expressing pride, ending his lifelong sense of being a disappointment. Summoned before the Caesar, they are offered a choice: honorable retirement or new postings to march north and quell fires along the Wall. Both accept. On the ramparts, Cullen, now healed from his wounds, appears from the shadows, insisting he is their hound now that Carausius is dead. The three descend to disband their ragged force and prepare for the march north, Cullen strutting behind them, sounding the silver apples of his Branch as he goes.