Showing results by author "Derek Birks" in All Categories

Derek Birks is an #historicalfiction author who is interested in all matters historical. Sharon Bennett Connolly is a #medieval #historian who writes mainly about women.

For a long time, the Elders and the Radcliffes have been, at best, uncomfortable neighbours, but when Ned Elder's father and brother are murdered and his sisters abducted by the Radcliffes, the young knight is forced to flee from his home. With only a few loyal companions, he is hounded across the land by the Radcliffes.

454 AD. Northern Italy. Dux Ambrosius Aurelianus has served the Roman Empire with distinction. His bucellarii, a small band of irregular soldiers, have helped to bring a fragile peace to the beleaguered empire in the west. But, with the empire now at peace, his master, Flavius Aetius, decides to chain up his dogs of war. Ambrosius and his men are left to idle away their days in a rural backwater, but Ambrosius’ boredom is brutally swept aside when old rivals seize the opportunity to destroy him.

It is 1464. Ned Elder and his two sisters, Emma and Eleanor, have won a hard-fought peace and their feud with the Radcliffes seems long over, but one man never accepted the outcome. After three bitter years of waiting to destroy the Elders, a new ally provides him with a fresh opportunity for revenge.

The Last of the Romans: Book Two. 454 AD. Even after years of Roman rule, Britannia is a conflicted and largely untamed land. Disgraced Imperial Officer, Dux Ambrosius Aurelianus, flees to its shores seeking sanctuary in the land of his deceased mother. His years of loyal service to the emperor count for nothing now. He must carve out a new life beyond the empire. Accompanying Ambrosius is a disparate group of fellow refugees: Inga, a freed Saxon slave, his bucellarii - warriors sworn to him - and the surviving members of his estranged family.

England in 1468 is a nervous kingdom. King Edward IV has fallen out with his chief ally during the Wars of the Roses, the powerful Earl of Warwick.

Late spring, AD 455. After a brutal winter struggle against the High King Vortigern, outcast imperial officer Ambrosius Aurelianus has led his weary followers to southwest Britannia in search of his mother's kinfolk. But Vortigern, thirsting for revenge, is already forging a dangerous alliance against him. Taking refuge in a ruined Roman fort near the decaying town of Vindocladia, Ambrosius finds an ally in Lurotriga, the widowed queen of the Durotriges. Though still sworn to his Saxon lady, Inga, he is soon beguiled by the British noblewoman.

After wintering at Villa Magna to recover from his bitter struggle against the British High King Vortigern, ex-Imperial Officer Dux Ambrosius Aurelianus leads his motley company westwards. He hopes to find a safe refuge in the south-west near Durnovaria, where he believes his dead mother’s kinfolk might be found. Arriving in the area, Ambrosius finds a small abandoned settlement where his company can take shelter for the night before moving on to the town of Vindocladia—just north of Durnovaria. But Vortigern has put the word out.