Synopsis: The story imaginitively constructs the events prior to the Arthurian legends from the real history of Britain during the Roman occupation. The Singing Sword picks up after book one, The Skystone, where the two main characters, narrator, centurian and ironsmith Caius Julius Varrus and his former commander Caius Brittanicus, have established a colony outside of Roman Law in preparation for what Brittanicus believes will be the chaos to follow the withdrawal of Roman forces. The Singing Sword develops the conflict between Claudius Seneca, a depraved but powerful Roman, and the main characters. The story builds on the seeds sown in book one regarding the development of cavalry in the military, Varrus' mission to discover and smelt a meteorite (the skystone) into something special and the development of the colony at the Brittanicus Villa during the withdrawal of Rome's power from Britain at a time of great mobility for the enemies held at bay behind Hadrian's Wall.