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John Fitz

Physician by trade. Historian at heart. Storyteller of the untold fight for freedom in post-Roman Britain.

John Fitz is a practicing Ophthalmologist, and this is his first published work. Living in Southeast Missouri with his wife in their recently built hobbit house (see BrynDerwenBurrow.com), he has numerous hobbies besides writing historical fiction, including golf, fly fishing, playing bridge, hiking, listening to Celtic music, and collecting military miniatures and other militaria. He enjoys walking his two dogs and tolerates his two cats. He enjoys the company of a blended family of five children, their spouses and significant others, and his hopefully ever-expanding cadre of grandchildren. He started Precision Eyecare in 1986 and was one of the founders of the Surgery Center of Farmington in 1999. A lifelong student of history, he is the author of the Age of Arthur trilogy, a gripping tale of survival, loyalty and freedom set in the darkest of ages in post Roman Britain, when civilization was collapsing in western Europe.

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Arturius

The Reluctant Leader

Once a soldier of Rome, Arturius carries the discipline of an empire that no longer exists. He fights not for glory but for survival — for the fragile hope that law and order might outlast the chaos consuming Britain. His armor is worn, his sword plain, his ideals heavy. He leads by necessity, not ambition, burdened by the memory of what was lost and the knowledge that no one else will stand in his place.

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Cerdic

The Divided Warrior

Cerdic is a man between worlds — born of Saxon blood but raised among Britons. He fights beside Arturius out of loyalty and belief that strength must serve something greater than conquest. His brutality in battle is matched only by his unease with who he is. To the Britons, he’s a barbarian; to the Saxons, a traitor. To himself, he’s something yet undefined — a man seeking a home in a land tearing itself apart.

Caradoc

The Idealist in a Broken Age

Caradoc is brave, restless, and fiercely idealistic. He grew up hearing stories of Rome’s greatness and Britain’s heroes, and he believes, almost naïvely, that those ideals can still be restored. Where Arturius carries the weight of disillusionment and Cerdic wrestles with divided loyalties, Caradoc burns with conviction — the belief that the land and its people can still be united under something noble.

He’s quick to fight, quicker to forgive, and sometimes too eager to prove himself. His courage borders on recklessness, but it’s that same spark that gives the companions their sense of purpose.

Sister Brigid

The Divided Warrior

A deaconess in the Celtic version of the Christian church, she seeks to honor the words of the Christos in an increasingly hostile world. Regarded as a heretic by some, she is the target of hostile co-religionists for her unstinting support of social justice for the poor and formerly enslaved and not catering to any kings and nobles. A beekeeper and a healer, she founded a refugee community that welcomed all faiths with open arms, beloved by all despite her foul language and impatience with narrow-mindedness. Deeply in love with her husband Petrus, her marriage was a model for all to aspire to. The three young men who found safety in her community after escaping a life of servitude all viewed her as a sister, and they had vowed to protect her and her community, a promise that eventually included all of Britannia.

The Companions

The legends of King Arthur were born in the darkest of ages. After three hundred years of rule, Rome had recalled their legionaries, and ruthless barbarians scoured Britainnia. Three oath-bound young men join forces with a rag tag group of refugees led by an Irish deaconess as they strove to preserve their culture against annihilation.

“The forests of the Weald had never been kind to prey, and today the quarry had no fearsome teeth, horns, or claws; instead of sporting feathers or fur, this prey ran on two legs. But this quarry could fight back. Arturius, one of the hunted, was only certain of one thing: he would never be enslaved again.”