John Van Devender

Mindful of his mother's prophecy not to linger in the East, Merlin knows it is time to return to Britannia. He sells his business interests, bids farewell to his friends Empress Theodora and Emperor Justinian, makes Marika a gift of the Blue Dolphin and returns to Britannia with Captain Marius, landing at the port of Glevum. He buys a street of warehouses in Glevum and because of his politica...

The FIRST BOOK OF MERLIN is set in the late 5th Century during the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Merlin's Britannia homeland struggles to survive under Romanized kings and warlords hoping for rescue by a resurgent Byzantine Empire. Merlin comes of age on a manor estate. When his mother dies, he sells his inheritance and sails to Byzantium to study architecture, one of many skill...