The cage will kill you. And if it doesn't, well, then thirst and the blistering heat of the desert sure as hell will. Or drive you insane. Few legionnaires survive the cage. Fewer still live long enough to face the whipping post. Of those who do, few are in a state to know what is happening to them. One who does is an ex-sergeant in the legion etrangere. A stubborn, insubordinate son-of-a-bitch, Sven Tveskoeg feels the first lash fall, hears the desert tribes attack, and watches them slaughter his comrades before his comrades can kill him...Rescued from certain death, Sven joins the tribes. Until his ruthless skills come to the attention of the Death's Head, an elite special ops force so feared the mere sight of their uniform makes whole regiments surrender. The Death's Head want Sven to sort out an impending military disaster. It soon becomes clear that all is not as it should be. Sven is a pawn in a deadly game, and pawns have a bad habit of being sacrificed. But Second Lieutenant Tveskoeg, Obsidian Cross 3rd Class, is nobody's sacrifice. And even a pawn can checkmate a king...