Continuing the adventures of Quintus Honorius Romanus (a.k.a. Taurus)-legendary gladiator of ancient Rome-this second book in the series picks up in AD 68, when the emperor is dead, and the throne is up for grabs. Three contenders square off to take control of the government, and as civil unrest begins to build, Quintus and his friends, the beast hunter Lindani and the gladiatrix Amazonia, are forced to fight with the legionnaires of Rome in what will soon become bloody civil war. Meanwhile, in a remote corner of the empire, Quintus' former slave, Lucius Calidius, plots another rise to power-and not even Quintus will stand in his way.