Spartacus: Blood And Sand (2025)

He walked calmly to Batiatus’s private study. The lanista was there, trembling, a dagger in his fat hand.

He took a heavy coin purse from the dead man’s belt and walked out into the burning ludus. Spartacus, bloody sword in hand, stood amid the wreckage. He saw Pelorus emerging from the smoke, the purse in his hand, Batiatus’s blood on his tunic. spartacus: blood and sand

His name was Pelorus. He was older, his back a lattice of scar tissue, his left hand missing the last two fingers. He had been a champion once, ten years ago, in the time of Titus Batiatus, the current lanista’s father. Now, he was the ostiarius —the gatekeeper. He did not fight. He did not train. He sat on a stool by the inner gate of the ludus, oiling straps, sharpening practice swords that would never see a real throat, and watching. He walked calmly to Batiatus’s private study