In the third year of the reign of Claudius, a young boy, Atilus Cindras, watched in terror as the Roman legions plundered, raped and routed the proud Iceni warriors. When they left they took the young men as slaves - and Atilus was among them.

Trained first as a houseslave, then as Secutor in the School for Gladiators, Atilus soon learnt how to survive both slavery and the arena. Using his sword and wits with fierce and deadly skill, Atilus became a favourite of the Roman mob. But even that was not enough. Atilus fought with one goal in mind - to attain the rarely awarded Rudis - the sword of freedom!