Thomas Harlan ~ The Oath of Empire #4 The Dark Lord

But despite early victories, that war has not gone well, and now Rome is hard-pressed. Shahr-Baraz and his Arab allies stand at the brink of victory. Constantinople has fallen before the dark sorceries of the Lord Dahak and his legions of the living and dead. Now the new Emperor of Persia marches on Egypt, and if he takes that ancient nation, Rome will be starved and defeated...Emperor Galen and his Legions seem outmatched and out-numbered.

But there is a faint glimmer of hope. The Emperor Galen's brother Maxian is a great sorcerer, perhaps the equal of Dahak, lord of the seven serpents. He is now firmly allied with his Imperial brother and Rome. And though they are caught tight in the Dark Lord's net of sorcery, Queen Zoe of Palmyra and Lord Mohammed have not relinquished their souls to evil.

The key to victory - to the survival of Rome herself - lies in the hands of a young man with a terrible burden, and the wits of a general dead for two thousand years. But Dahak is determined to strike - regardless of the cost in human life - and restore his ancient reign over the Earth and all her peoples.