The rules for slaves are simple—keep your head down and train hard. For it is only your training that can save you in the Coliseum. All this Thrace knows.But he forgets it in a moment when a young slave's cry of terror rouses him from his sleep. The boy, young Africanus, has found a body—and a mystery. On the training grounds of a gladiator school a mystery is a dangerous thing, as treacherous and lethal as any opponent a man might face in the Coliseum. Thrace SHOULD turn aside and forget the mystery.But he cannot.He'll have to be careful. Because this mystery has the power to defeat him.Steven Mohan, Jr. has published scores of short stories in markets as diverse as INTERZONE, POLYPHONY, and PARADOX, as well as several DAW original anthologies. His short fiction has won honorable mention in THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION and THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR.