Publisher's Synopsis
Forced to flee Rome from the Ostrogoths, merchant Nicander and Marius, a fierce Roman legionary, escape to a new life in Constantinople. The two land upon its shores lonely and penniless. Determined to make their fortune, they plot a number of outrageous money-making schemes, until they chance upon their greatest idea yet. Armed with a wicked plan to steal precious silk seeds from the faraway land of Seres, Nicander and Marius must embark upon a terrifying journey across unknown realms. But first they must deceive the powerful ruler Justinian and the rest of his formidable Byzantine Empire in order to begin their voyage into the unknown.
