Empire of Dragons door Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Two Civilizations One Destiny

Anatolia AD 260. The city of Edessa, a Roman outpost is on his last legs after the Persian siege by the troops of Shapur 1. Roman Emperor Publius Licinius Valerianus agrees to meet his adversary to negotiate peace. But no negotiations are initiated, no peace sanctioned. The meeting is a trap and Valerian ends up in enemy hands, along with the commander of his personal guard, Marcus Metellus Aquila and ten of his most valiant and trusted men. Their destany is sealed, they will rot away in a mine, forced into slavery in a hell from which no man has ever escaped.

But Metellus, legate of the Second Augusta Legion, hero of the Empire, and his men break free and find shelter at an oasis where they meet a mysterious exiled prince. The Romans become his private militia, agreeing to safeguard the prince's journey back to the homeland, Sera Maior, the mythical Kingdom of Silk-China. And so they begin an extraordinary and epic journey through the forests of India, the Himalayan mountains, the desert of central Asia, al the way to the heart of China. In that faraway land the Romans will have to face inhuman trails and battles of awesome violence. Together they will also come to know an outstanding civilization, a marvellous culture, men both intelligent and tolerant, women who are beautiful and passionate. But everything is at stake: love, life and the very survival of the world's greatest two Empires..