Publius Quinctillius Varus was a man on his way up in the world. He had married the great niece of Caesar Augustus, and this connection led to the achievement of a life-long ambition, to be the Roman governor over the Germanic tribes north of the Rhine. Amongst the men he trusted completely and upon whom he depended was Arminius, the young chief of the Cheruski tribe. Varus' greed and ambition was his undoing. With supreme patience and skill his trusted ally turned into a mighty foe while Varus ignored all warnings -- even those from Arminius' own kin. On an unproved rumor planted by Arminius, Varus plunged into the Teutoburg Forest with 20,000 soldiers, their women, children, slaves, and livestock.

Rannvig (an RTL invented aunt of Arminius) was brought up with her younger sister Nilda in Rome, part of an early hostage exchange arranged by the Roman general Drusus. Placed with a good family, raised to be Roman ladies -- under the names of Drusilla and Antonia -- neither sister was ever really accepted into Roman society. Both married soldiers, provincial mercenaries in the service of Rome. Rannvig learned to be an artist while Nilda became a healer. Rannvig is also credited with being a prophetess, whose visions of the future are more trickery than magical.

Two years after Varus took up his position in Germany, Rannvig and Nilda travel with their adopted father Gaius back to the land of their birth. Their adopted mother is dead and Gaius desires to keep his "daughters" near, to cheer his spirits. It never occurs to him nor to his companions that the sisters are still Cheruski at heart. Informed by their nephew of the planned attack, Rannvig and Nilda find excuses to remain behind as the legions plunge into the forest, only to find treachery, betrayal and slaughter at the foot of a hill called Kalkriese.

The now decoded messages between the two women and their nephew Arminius reveal their complicity in the massacre.

In addition to talking about the specifics of the battle, Rannvig and Nilda talk about life in the Roman middle class, how they tell time,and why the width of modern railroad cars were set by ancient Roman engineers.