Book excerpt: Jerusalem 33 AD A raw Roman recruit refuses to abuse a prisoner already condemned to death. This denial of a corrupt, sadistic order leads to a lifetime of trial and persecution for the Spartan born warrior. Marcus Tychon Triarius is sent to the dreaded Bithynia mines to die a slave but his destiny is yet to be decided. The Roman Empire is never far off his heels, particularly a brutal centurion who has taken the youth's honorable stance personally. Heartbreak follows for the idealistic Marcus who remains a non-believer, even when he encounters the mother of the crucified prisoner, someone about to change the world forever. It is easy to join in with a mob, to inflict cruelty on the weak and defenseless, but when the victim is someone extraordinary . . . beyond extraordinary . . .