Orphan Jace Kasia might have found a home in the green hills and golden valleys of the Insubri. But several things prevented him from relishing his new life. He didn’t know his name, he couldn’t recollect his training, and he lived like a dog on a farm outside a border town.
The absence of war was not the end of conflict for Rome. Although the Carthaginian General had departed for Africa, the defensive profile of the Legions needed to contain Hannibal continued to linger like a bad odor. And in certain quarters of the Republic, unruly factions sniffed the air, found it free of Latin resolve, and revolted. Among the rebellious were the Insubri Tribe, and south of the Po River, the Boii Tribe.
Like other nations forced into agreements, the tribes sought to break treaties and unharness from the tack and yoke of Rome. In dark huts, old men spoke of reclaiming their coins from Roman coins, resurrecting their local Gods from the Temples of Rome, freeing their young men from conscription into the Legions, and taking back self-rule from an arrogant Governor – a Proconsul more familiar with Roman society than with local customs. And while hot-blooded young warriors agreed with the old men, the adults of the tribe stopped any aggressive actions. They had witnessed war and knew the night sweats from facing assault lines of red shields and Roman steel.
Little did they realize, chaos was coming to the land of the Insubri. And with the return of war came the nightmares, and the flood of tears from mothers at graves sites. Yet, arising from an unlikely place, a war leader with the knowledge to defeat the Legions would emerge.
However, before he could assume the role of a War Chief, the Latian Dog had to get out of the freezing cold storage shed. Then all Archer Jace Kasia needed to do to claim his new home, and the Salvation of Exile, was to shake off the confusion in his mind and remember.
Welcome to 200 B.C.