Britannia - We Who Are About To Die #1

Plot

Fifty thousand Romans stand on their feet, watching from the stands of the coliseum with captured breath as Achillia, a gladiator unlike any seen before, faces incredible odds as one lone warrior against five of the empire’s greatest. Such is the tradition, when a female combatant enters the fray. When the carnage is complete, the crowd roars its approval as Achillia stands victorious. Now only one match away from winning her freedom, she has begun to gain renown. The women of Rome, suppressed by their husbands and fathers, have noticed. The men, husbands and fathers to a growing horde of women entertaining ideas of independence, have noticed as well.

On the other side of the city, a strange mystery swirls through the Palatine Hill. In the dead of night, down winding alleys, the elite swear that they see visions of a blood-soaked Apollo walking the city…visions that are driving them mad. Even more are becoming sick with weird fever god-dreams. Panic spreads. The Chief Vestal, Rubria, is found guilty in the eyes of Emperor Nero and threatened with crucifixion unless the deadly curse is lifted. She asks Antonius Axia, hero of Britannia and Rome’s only detective, for help. She offers only one clue…the gladiator Achillia.