Not All Hawks — Robert Nisbet

A thousand years ago the world was a dangerous place. Only the walls of Constantinople and the shields of its army protected the light of classical civilization from going out, forever. Bardas Dalassas, second son of a minor noble, has taken up the challenge and become a member of the elite core of the world's only professional army. Posted to the eastern frontier, he is quickly caught up in a web of treachery and intrigue that sets him on a path that could topple the very empire he has sworn to protect. On his first patrol, he is ambushed and captured by the leader of Pecheneg nomads. Brutally maimed, Bardas swears vengeance and begins a journey that takes him from the heart of the Byzantine Empire to the camps of the nomad barbarians. Along his journey Bardas discovers that there is no such thing as simple vengeance.