When the Eagle Hunts is a 2002 novel by Simon Scarrow

Simon Scarrow

Simon Scarrow is a UK-based author, born in Nigeria and now based in Norfolk. He completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia after working at the Inland Revenue, and then went into teaching as a lecturer, firstly at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, then at City College Norwich.He...

, set in 44

44

Year 44 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crispus and Taurus...

 AD during the Roman invasion of Britain. It is the third book in the Eagle Series

Eagle Series

The Eagle Series is a military fiction series written by Simon Scarrow. The books describe the lives of two soldiers in the Roman army- Quintus Licinius Cato and Lucius Cornelius Macro. The first 5 books in the series are set in Roman Britain, between the years AD 42 and 44. The Eagle's Prophecy...

.

Plot summary

It is the winter of AD 44 and after a series of bloody battles, Camulodunum

Camulodunum

Camulodunum is the Roman name for the ancient settlement which is today's Colchester, a town in Essex, England. Camulodunum is claimed to be the oldest town in Britain as recorded by the Romans, existing as a Celtic settlement before the Roman conquest, when it became the first Roman town, and...

 (modern-day Colchester) has fallen to the invading Roman army.

As General Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

, legate (Legatus legionis

Legatus legionis

Legatus legionis was a title awarded to legion commanders in Ancient Rome.-History:By the time of the Roman Republic, the term legatus delegated authority...

) of the Second Legion

Legio II Augusta

Legio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in the 4th century...

, helps plan their next campaign, General Plautius's

Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.-Career:...

 wife and children are shipwrecked in a storm. They fall into the hands of a dark sect of Druid

Druid

A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....

s who now demand the return of their brotherhood taken prisoner by the Romans.

Two soldiers (Centurion

Centurion (Roman army)

A centurion , also hekatontarch in Greek sources, or, in Byzantine times, kentarch was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC...

 Macro and Optio

Optio

An optio , sometimes anglicized option , was a soldier in the Roman army who held a position similar to that of an executive officer in modern armies...

 Cato) volunteer from the Second Legion of Legate Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

to venture deep into hostile territory in an attempt to rescue the prisoners before they are sacrificed to the Druid's dark gods. Will Cato and Macro discover where the Druids are hiding their hostages? Can they find some way to rescue them before the time runs out?

External links

• The author's web page for this book may be found here