[1] The story is told by a Roman Officer called Publius Varrus, who is an expert blacksmith as well as a soldier.

In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxons, Picts and Scots, he and his former General, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King known as Arthur.

After this encounter Varrus recalls how he and Britannicus traveled together to Britain to become primus pilus and legate, respectively, of Legion XX Valeria Victrix's Second Millarian Cohort.

Varrus begins to run the business again, striking deals with Cuno, Equus's brother-in-law.

While there Luceiia introduces him to a druid who has knowledge of meteor shower that coincides with when Varrus the Elder discovered his skystone.

Soon after the wedding Britannicus's friends, Tera and Firma, bring news that they lost their trading fleet to pirates.

This news shakes the men of the group and they spend a long night discussing Brittanicus's proposition of a military colony.

They all agree to begin recruiting in the colony and invest their livelihoods in the purchase of the villas surrounding Caius's and Varo's.

Varrus is also able to discover the main part of the meteor, which is buried under the bed of a lake in the valley.

By employing a handful of military engineers, Varrus drains the lake and retrieves the stone.

Meanwhile, agents of the King of the Pendragon clan, Ullic, approaches Britannicus and entreats him for a meeting between the two leaders.

Soon after Bishop Alaric passes through the region again, telling the Colonists, they now called themselves such, that Frankish cavalry was now running rampant in parts of the empire, and that the political tensions were rising.

Also, Alaric brings news of Caius's son Picus, who was now aligned with the Roman emperor in Constantinople and the a new military commander Stilicho who favored the use of heavy cavalry.

[2] Reception of the novel in Kirkus reviews was positive calling the novel "an earnestly heroic tale" with "old-timey manly sentiments, some battle grue, info about smelting iron, and a modestly clever Arthurian-linked gimmick".