Book excerpt: This novel in the scintillating Tyrant series brings the epic siege of Rhodes in 306 BC to spectacular life. The death of Alexander the Great was the signal to begin the greatest war in human history - a war that swept like a firestorm from one end of the known world to the other, as his former generals fought like jackals to make his vast empire their own. By 305 BC, the most powerful players in this deadly game faced each other across the Mediterranean: Ptolemy, the master of Egypt, and Antigonus One-Eye, master of Asia. And between them, the island of Rhodes, a strategic fortress city that neither could afford to cede to the enemy. But trapped in the city was one man with the courage and determination to save it from destruction. A man who, surrounded by his closest friends and the woman he loved, simply could not afford to fail. A man called Satyrus.