Tom Swan is a not a professional soldier. he's really a merchant and a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome- temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals and unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to. Having used his wits to escape execution, he begins a series of adventures that take him to Tom Swan is a not a professional soldier. he's really a merchant and a scholar looking for remnants of Ancient Greece and Rome- temples, graves, pottery, fabulous animals and unicorn horns. But he also has a real talent for ending up in the midst of violence when he didn't mean to. Having used his wits to escape execution, he begins a series of adventures that take him to street duels in Italy, meetings with remarkable men - from Leonardo Da Vinci to Vlad Dracula - and from the intrigues of the War of the Roses to the fall of Constantinople. (Parts 7 - 13 of the Tom Swan story)