September 11 - a strike force has been launched against one of Western Civilization's great centers of culture and trade. Funded by the most powerful man in the Middel East and carried out by his trusted lieutenants, this attack is intended to bring an end to western democracy...
... this is not the attack on the Twin Towers or Pentagon in the US, but the invasion of Europe by the Persian Empire in 490 BC. On a narrow plain that sweeeps down to the Bay of Marathon in Greece, citizens of the world's first democracy will make a desperate stand against thye greatest power of the ancient world.
Fourth Book in the Southern Swallow Series finds the Academician Li K'ai-men in exile on Hai-nan Island. China has a new invasion threat. A showdown between ingenuity and technology explodes as the Sung Dynasty tries to preserve itself.
