When Nic, a slave in the mines outside of Rome, is forced to enter a sealed cavern containing lost treasures of Julius Caesar, he finds himself in possession of an ancient amulet filled with magic once reserved for the Gods, and becomes the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and destroy Rome.

Now a driver in the chariot races, Nic is still a target of the Praetors because of the magical amulet he found, and they will do anything to get their hands on it--and meanwhile Atroxia is beginning to wake up.

Young King Jaron has taken the throne of Carthya, but after enemies attempt to assassinate him, and a neighboring kingdom threatens invasion, he finds that he has no friends in the palace, not even his bride-to-be, Princess Amarinda--and his regents think it would be better for Carthya if he just disappeared again.

"When King Jaron returned to Carthya, he brought with him a device that supposedly shows the way to a great treasure, but now everything is going wrong: Castor, the son of an old enemy, is conspiring against him and wants the throne for himself: his fiancée, Imogen, seems to have turned against him: and the Prozarian Monarch has invaded his kingdom and taken Jaron's castle--but Jaron has a lot of experience at hiding and escaping, and he is not willing...

When the lethal plague known as the Scourge returns to Keldan the victims are sent to Attic Island, and Ani Mells of the River People is among them--but Ani does not feel sick, and with the help of her best friend, Weevil, she sets out to uncover the truth of what is happening, and expose the lies the people of Keldan have been told.