{"product_id":"clash-of-eagles-isbn-9781101885307","title":"Clash of Eagles","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePerfect for fans of action-adventure and historical fiction—including novels by such authors as Bernard Cornwell, Steve Berry, Naomi Novik, and Harry Turtledove—this stunning work of alternate history imagines a world in which the Roman Empire has not fallen and the North American continent has just been discovered. In the year 1218 AD, transported by Norse longboats, a Roman legion crosses the great ocean, enters an endless wilderness, and faces a cataclysmic clash of worlds, cultures, and warriors.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Ever hungry for land and gold, the Emperor has sent Praetor Gaius Marcellinus and the 33rd Roman Legion into the newly discovered lands of North America. Marcellinus and his men expect easy victory over the native inhabitants, but on the shores of a vast river the Legion clashes with a unique civilization armed with weapons and strategies no Roman has ever imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Forced to watch his vaunted force massacred by a surprisingly tenacious enemy, Marcellinus is spared by his captors and kept alive for his military knowledge. As he recovers and learns more about these proud people, he can’t help but be drawn into their society, forming an uneasy friendship with the denizens of the city-state of Cahokia. But threats—both Roman and Native—promise to assail his newfound kin, and Marcellinus will struggle to keep the peace while the rest of the continent surges toward certain conflict.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That rarest and best of alternative histories: the one you \u003ci\u003ebelieve,\u003c\/i\u003e the one that makes sense. Alan Smale has a storyteller’s flair for character, and presents an ensemble cast with a depth of detail of which George R. R. Martin would approve. It works as a novel, as historical speculation, and as cultural extrapolation. But its real value is singular: It’s a ripping good yarn, and one that will keep you reading long past your bedtime.”\u003cb\u003e—Myke Cole, award-winning author of the Shadow Ops series\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Just when it seems there is nothing new in [alternate] history comes this debut.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An intriguingly original alternate history.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Smale] breathes life into the New World civilizations and offers up a compelling view of what might have happened had these two continents collided. . . . I found the New World of 1218 AD fascinating.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eHistorical Novels Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Authoritatively researched, compellingly told, and with pleasing echoes of L. Sprague de Camp, \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles \u003c\/i\u003eis a modern masterpiece of what-if speculation.”\u003cb\u003e—Stephen Baxter, Philip K. Dick Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Time Ships\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Smale has done remarkable work with the worldbuilding in \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles, \u003c\/i\u003edropping the sole Roman survivor of a massacre into the complex civilization of the Cahokian Native Americans in the thirteenth century.”\u003cb\u003e—Harry Turtledove, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow Few Remain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My favorite kind of alternate history: epic, bloody, and hugely imaginative.”\u003cb\u003e—John Birmingham, author of \u003ci\u003eWithout Warning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Epic in its sweep, exciting in its narrative, and eyeball-kick sharp in its details.”\u003cb\u003e—Nancy Kress, Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eBeggars in Spain\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The first book of Alan Smale’s trilogy introduces the series with a lightning bolt. Bracketed between two breathtaking and meticulously strategized battles is a sensitive evocation of a lost culture, an act of literary archeology like no other I’ve read.”\u003cb\u003e—James Patrick Kelly, Nebula Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eBurn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“\u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles\u003c\/i\u003e is that rarest and best of alternative histories: the one you \u003ci\u003ebelieve,\u003c\/i\u003e the one that makes sense. Alan Smale has a storyteller’s flair for character, and presents an ensemble cast with a depth of detail of which George R. R. Martin would approve. \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles \u003c\/i\u003eis a triple threat: It works as a novel, as historical speculation, and as cultural extrapolation. But its real value is singular: It’s a ripping good yarn, and one that will keep you reading long past your bedtime.”\u003cb\u003e—Myke Cole, award-winning author of the Shadow Ops series\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Just when it seems there is nothing new in [alternate] history comes this debut.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An intriguingly original alternate history.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Alan Smale] breathes life into the New World civilizations and offers up a compelling view of what might have happened had these two continents collided. . . . I found the New World of 1218 AD fascinating. I look forward to the next installment.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eHistorical Novels Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Authoritatively researched, compellingly told, and with pleasing echoes of L. Sprague de Camp, \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles \u003c\/i\u003eis a modern masterpiece of what-if speculation.”\u003cb\u003e—Stephen Baxter, Philip K. Dick Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Time Ships\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Alan Smale has done remarkable work with the worldbuilding in \u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles, \u003c\/i\u003edropping the sole Roman survivor of a massacre into the complex civilization of the Cahokian Native Americans in the thirteenth century. Yet what follows is more than a standard clash of cultures yarn, for there are other forces in play in this alternate North America, and Marcellinus knows his imperial masters will send more legions to replace his lost men. Can the determination and ingenuity of one man change the fate of a continent? I’m eager to find out.”\u003cb\u003e—Harry Turtledove, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow Few Remain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My favorite kind of alternate history: epic, bloody, and hugely imaginative.”\u003cb\u003e—John Birmingham, author of \u003ci\u003eWithout Warning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e“Clash of Eagles\u003c\/i\u003e is epic in its sweep, exciting in its narrative, and eyeball-kick sharp in its details.”\u003cb\u003e—Nancy Kress, Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eBeggars in Spain\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eClash of Eagles, \u003c\/i\u003ethe first book of Alan Smale’s trilogy, introduces the series with a lightning bolt. Bracketed between two breathtaking and meticulously strategized battles is a sensitive evocation of a lost culture, an act of literary archeology like no other I’ve read. My advice is to get in on the ground floor now!”\u003cb\u003e—James Patrick Kelly, Nebula Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eBurn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlan Smale\u003c\/b\u003e grew up in Yorkshire, England, and now lives in the Washington, D.C., area. By day he works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a professional astronomer, studying black holes, neutron stars, and other bizarre celestial objects. However, too many family vacations at Hadrian’s Wall in his formative years plus a couple of degrees from Oxford took their toll, steering his writing toward alternate, secret, and generally twisted history. He has sold numerous short stories to magazines including \u003ci\u003eAsimov’s\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRealms of Fantasy,\u003c\/i\u003e and he won the 2010 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate History.Chapter I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGaius Publius Marcellinus galloped his horse along the marching line of his Sixth Cohort, racing toward the site where two of his men had been slain by skulking Iroqua warriors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTrumpets blared, steel armor clanked, and leather creaked, but the footfalls of his legionaries made little sound in the torn-­up soil. The corps of engineers that went ahead of the 33rd Legion carved a road through the Hesperian forest barely wide enough for ten men to march abreast. The skies were heavy with cloud, and this late in the afternoon there was no singing and little talking in the ranks. In front of Marcellinus stretched a column of men three miles long. Behind him, the Seventh and Eighth Cohorts would extend back at least another two miles, guarding the two hundred supply wagons that groaned in the Legion’s wake.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst Centurion Pollius Scapax awaited Marcellinus on the path, pointing into the trees. Marcellinus slid off his horse and peered into the undergrowth. “In there?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Two men dead,” Scapax said tersely. “Half a dozen grieving. Thirty or so standing guard.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Tullius?” The Tribune of the Sixth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScapax shrugged. “Not here yet.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus barely hesitated. His adjutants were far forward with the First Cohort, but if he couldn’t trust Pollius Scapax, he couldn’t trust anyone. He strode off the path, between the oaks, and into a small gap in the trees hardly wide enough to be honored with the name of a clearing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the dead legionaries rested against an oak, an Iroqua arrow in his shoulder and a short spear buried deep in his gut. The other had been clubbed to the ground, arms broken and legs splayed, his throat slashed open. Both men had been scalped, their foreheads and hair hacked away roughly, leaving shocking bloody gashes in their place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTorn bushes and trampled grass gave evidence of a short, sharp struggle. The soldiers’ weapons and armor were gone, presumably stolen by their murderers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe dead men were both fresh-­faced and callow; neither could have been more than eighteen years old.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt least it was obvious how they had died. Other legionaries had been found with ferocious wounds ripped into their flesh or—­maybe even more terrifying—­barely a mark on them at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSix men knelt in grief by the corpses, bare-­headed, presumably the tent mates of the dead. “Helmets on, soldiers,” said Marcellinus. “Let’s not lose anyone else here.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey gaped up at him, incredulous. One man thrust his helmet back onto his head with bad grace. The rest ignored the command, their faces a mixture of pain and insolence. Marcellinus chose not to notice. The days of unquestioning obedience were far behind them now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree contubernia—­twenty-­four men in all—­faced outward to secure the clearing, heavy spears at the ready. Their eyes scoured the thickets. The men looked nervous, and with good reason. The dead legionaries’ wounds were fresh, and the alarm had been sounded recently. Whoever had done this could still be hiding in the brush nearby.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot twenty feet behind them the behemoth of the 33rd Legion still marched grimly through the eternal forest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus looked again at the mourning soldiers. He was intruding on their pain, and nothing he could say or do would ease it. “Just a few moments longer,” he said to Scapax. “Then everyone goes back to the column.” The men on guard looked relieved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScapax cleared his throat. “Burial detail, sir?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus looked again into the underbrush that surrounded them. Pale light filtered through the trees. The last thing he wanted was to have his men exposed any longer than they had to be. But the Seventh Cohort, with the baggage train, must be only minutes away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Their choice,” he said. “They can wait by the column, put the bodies onto one of the wagons, and bury them tonight, or say their good-­byes now and be done.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe centurion saluted. As Marcellinus turned to leave the glade, the trumpets sounded again, one far to the west followed by another just a few hundred feet away, a complicated sequence of notes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a message from Corbulo, his First Tribune. Marcellinus was needed at the head of his Legion. Another obstacle, and clearly something their engineers could not tackle easily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus’s shoulders and back ached from riding. Worse was the low throb of tiredness behind his eyes. Pulling himself wearily back into the saddle, he drummed his heels against his horse’s flanks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs he rode forward, the Legion was already slowing to a halt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePollius Scapax’s voice boomed out across the sloping hillside. “First Cohort, stand to! Eyes up, spears out!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe men of the First fell into battle formation, three ranks in close order. Tired soldiers set the hafts of their heavy pila in the ground and held them angled outward. Archers stood with bows strung and quivers of arrows at their feet, blinking owlishly at the shallow valley. The evening breeze ruffled the crests on their steel helmets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo enemy was in sight, but men had died today, and this was hostile territory. The First was mustered to repel any potential attacks while the slaves and the soldiers of the other cohorts made camp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe castra was a roving town that re-­created itself daily in its own image. They rebuilt it identically every afternoon, occupied it for one night only, then abandoned it the next morning: civilization on the march through Nova Hesperia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe engineers had chosen a site only a couple of miles past the Legion’s sudden stop. As usual it was a large open area near a river, on rising ground, with little nearby cover that could be exploited by attackers. Even before the First and Second had arrived, the engineer corps had measured and marked with a knotted rope where the streets would be laid out. Now, the meadow became a hive of activity. Up went the ramparts, earthworks six feet high around the perimeter surrounded by a deep defensive ditch. Down came any trees unfortunate enough to be within the square, their wood pressed into use to construct the raised guard platforms at each corner and above the four gates. Up went the tents, down went the latrines. Finally, up would go the five temples obligatory for feeding the Legion’s faiths: the Mithraic temple, the shrines to Cybele and Sol Invictus, the open-­air altar and prayer rail of the Christ-­Risen, and the small but rather forbidding statue of Jupiter Imperator, which had more presence than any of the real-­life Imperators Marcellinus had served.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe camp was square, with streets constructed on a grid. Its alignment was as constant as its arrangement, with the wide main street called the Cardo aligned north-­south so that the evening and morning light shone down the long cross streets named for the cohorts and centuries that lived on them. The rank and file lived eight men to a tent, and Marcellinus’s own Praetorium tent formed the center of the camp. Latrines, the field hospital, stables, the smithy, and the armory were arrayed around the rim with open areas at the corners for the slaves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs always, Marcellinus walked the streets as the camp took shape, receiving reports from his tribunes and centurions. The air reeked of stale sweat and fresh wood and rang with shouted orders, banging and sawing, and curses in a broad range of dialects.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Two more soldiers down,” said First Tribune Lucius Domitius Corbulo moodily, joining him at the Eastgate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeside them legionaries and auxiliaries shoveled earth with resolve, digging the deep ditch and throwing the soil up to where their colleagues were shaping the ramparts. The soldiers knew they were being watched by their commanding officers as well as their centurion, and their faces gleamed with sweat. At the crest of the ridge of earth, other men set and bound the sharpened stakes that formed the palisade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus stepped aside to let a line of a dozen slaves pass, sweating and weighted down by the bags of grain they carried in from the wagons. “Two more.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Were they good men?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“They’re all good men,” said Marcellinus. “Legionaries, not auxiliaries, if that’s what you’re asking. Young.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Do we know what happened?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Saw a deer and went after it, most likely. Fresh meat is hard to come by.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCorbulo nodded, acknowledging the convenient lie. “Of course.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeer rarely approached a marching column. Much more likely that one of them had been caught short by his stomach and had left the column to relieve himself, guarded by his friend, and both had died for it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetter for a soldier to die in battle, or hunting, than squatting behind a bush.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Either way, it has to stop,” said Corbulo. “Stupid deaths like these?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus glanced sideways. His First Tribune was veering perilously close to insubordination. “The centurions have their orders. We can’t be more clear. Nobody leaves the column, ever. Nobody lets down their guard for a moment.” He shook his head in frustration and set off to walk north along the intervallum inside the still-­growing rampart. After a pause, Corbulo followed in his wake.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 33rd Legion had begun to leak men as if from a slow wound soon after they’d broken camp and marched away from the Mare Ches­apica. Now, four weeks inland, they were down fifty-­eight soldiers, this out of a legion in which their so-­called centuries had been only seventy men strong to begin with.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey had cleared villages and taken slaves but had yet to be engaged by the enemy in a real fight. Their losses were due solely to harassing actions: the lone arrow flying out of the trees, the blade from behind, and more often than not, the unexplained disappearance. It was hard enough to march into an empty continent on the wrong side of a giant ocean, blaze a trail, tramp twenty miles along it each day, and then build a marching camp the size of a small town every night without having to risk being picked off by cowardly savages whenever a few twigs’ worth of cover separated you from your comrades.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, since Marcellinus’s cohorts were rounded out with the superstitious denizens of Roman provinces from Aethiopia to Scythia, Magyar to Hispania, and back around, the night camp was always alive with rumors. Man-­bears were hiding behind trees; huge hawks were swooping in from the air to pick off the valiant Roman infantry one by one. Giant rodents burrowed up from beneath them. It seemed that in the wilderness of a foot soldier’s imagination no animal was allowed to be normally proportioned. Superstition was strong at the best of times in a rabble like that, and the farther away from Urbs Roma he took them, the worse they got.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus shook his head. Nobody in his right mind could feel comfortable with two months of ocean separating him from the Imperium. But however far afield his duties took him, he wasn’t about to start believing in giant hawks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat left the natives. They were everywhere; on the fleet’s arrival the shores of the bay had been crowded with villages of cringing fishermen. Many had fled. Others were now roped to the heavy carts that made up the Legion’s supply train.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, though, they’d left behind the fisherfolk and the berry pickers. The villages they passed might be empty, but the woods around them were not. Hiding behind the tree trunks of inland Nova Hesperia was a different breed of native altogether.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcellinus turned. “Where have you put our prisoner?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Should be in your tent by now.” Corbulo cocked an eye at him. “I thought you might want her undamaged.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Very considerate of you,” said Marcellinus, straight-­faced. “You have a heart after all.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If I do, this country will be the destruction of it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Aren’t we supposed to march over all obstacles in our path?” If Corbulo could needle him about the deaths, the least Marcellinus could do in return was chide his tribune for letting the whole Legion come to an ignominious halt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I was at the rear of the First at the time, consulting with Gnaeus Fabius,” said Corbulo, and then, seeing Marcellinus’s frown, grudgingly drew himself up a little straighter. “Yes, sir . . . It shouldn’t have happened. I take responsibility. And I’ll talk to Scapax about it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Scapax was back with me, at the . . . with the Sixth.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That would be part of the problem, then.” Corbulo grinned wryly. “But stopping like that? The First Cohort? I’m surprised they didn’t break into a run, straight at her.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“So am I,” said Marcellinus. “So am I.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCorbulo glanced past Marcellinus, grimacing. “Ah. Here comes our Britannic ray of sunshine.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAelfric, Tribune of the Fourth and Fifth Cohorts, gruff and mustachioed, was walking down a lane toward them. He had shed his armor, but retained the padded jerkin that went between that armor and his tunic, and the scarf that prevented chafing at the neck. Unlike the other legionaries he wore braccae, the woolen breeches of his countrymen. The overall effect was unflattering. Corbulo sniffed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAelfric eyed Corbulo with trepidation but addressed Marcellinus directly. “West rampart is up and ready for your inspection, sir. And most of my lot are tents up and set for the evening.” He looked leftward at the northern ramparts, where the Second and Third were still toiling, and grinned at Corbulo. “Your fellows need a hand, do they?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hardly,” said Corbulo, frost in his tone. “They just do a proper job.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Oooh,” said Aelfric. “Is that a fact? And what do mine do, then?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gentlemen,” said Marcellinus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCorbulo raised a sardonic eyebrow. Certainly he himself was a patrician, a Roman citizen of the Imperium. The Briton could never be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDropping the matter, Aelfric looked at the skies. The wind was picking up, the tents flapping behind him. “Might rain in a bit.” To Marcellinus he said, “Want me to stop by the Sixth? See if Tully needs anything? He’s probably got his hands full, what with the burials and morale and all.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m sure he can’t wait to see you,” said Corbulo. “Well, sir, my centurions will be expecting me. Enjoy your interrogation.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Interrogation?” said Aelfric.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Up with the news as always,” said Corbulo, and with a curt nod to Marcellinus he strode forward to heap invective on a soldier of the Second who had stopped to lollygag with his shovel mate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAelfric watched Corbulo go. “He seems out of sorts. What did you do to him?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Two more dead,” said Marcellinus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I hadn’t forgotten,” said the Briton. “But they weren’t his men.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Shouldn’t matter. Either way, it’s my fault.” Marcellinus was their Praetor. As Corbulo had just made very clear, it was his job to stop things like this from happening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you say so. But at least it’s a slow bloodletting. At this rate we’ll have time to walk twice around the world before they get us all.”","brand":"Del Rey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301181411557,"sku":"NP9781101885307","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781101885307.jpg?v=1767723793","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/clash-of-eagles-isbn-9781101885307","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}