Escape
Escape broadens the scope of The Caerwyn Chronicles, transforming a family saga into one that spans the Roman world. Set in AD 92, 93, and 98, it follows the descendants of Corin and Eira as they face love, loss, trade, persecution, and the challenge of building a future that reaches far beyond Britain. While Journey establishes the family and Freedom secures its survival, Escape expands both the family's world and its legacy.
The story centers on Taran, son of Aedan and Maeli, who leads a trading expedition to the Nabataean city of Petra. With his Greek partner Pyrros, he negotiates with the merchant Malik ibn Sahr and is welcomed into a culture of desert caravans, hospitality, and commerce. During dangerous negotiations, a sandstorm, and a bandit attack, Taran earns the trust of Malik's family, particularly his daughter Samira. Respect grows into love, and the two marry, bringing Nabataean heritage into the Caerwyn family. Along the journey Taran also befriends Gaius Felix Septimus, a Roman Christian whose faith strengthens the spiritual thread first introduced through Josephus.
In Caerwyn, Maeli struggles to lead the family after Aedan's death while Taran's sister Maired begins a relationship with Marcus, son of the Christian centurion Quintus Tiberius. Their romance results in pregnancy and an arranged marriage, but Marcus' growing cruelty casts a shadow over Maired's future and establishes a troubled Roman branch of the family.
A year later, tragedy strikes again. Riva, daughter of Cador, survives the destruction of her home when raiders kill her husband and much of her clan. Believing her son Artor dead, she nearly gives up hope until the adopted woodsman Cyn reveals the boy is alive. Together they risk everything to rescue him, preserving a bloodline that becomes vital to later generations.
In Rome, Maired raises her infant son Lupinus while enduring an increasingly difficult marriage. She becomes protector to vulnerable young women including Litana and Yrsa, revealing a quiet strength that contrasts sharply with Marcus' growing darkness. At the same time, secret Christian meetings at the Caupona Caureni bring Roman suspicion upon the family. Maeli is arrested, but her Roman citizenship allows the Christian procurator Aulus Plautus Sabinus to intervene before the situation becomes deadly. Though the caupona is damaged, Taran returns determined to rebuild both the inn and his family's future.
Five years later the family has emerged stronger. The Caupona Caureni has been restored, Taran and Samira are raising their children Ramon, Malik, and newborn Nura, and Llyr has married Litana, creating another important branch of the family. Although wounds remain, hope has taken root once again.
More than an adventure, Escape is a story about finding home across cultures. It widens the world of the series from Britannia to Petra, Gaza, and Rome, deepens the Christian thread, and introduces the relationships that shape Home, Duty, and Rebellion. Above all, it shows that true escape is not running from the past, but building a future strong enough to carry its burdens.
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