Miriam was so kind to invite me to post today! 

One of my favorite historical books from the Centurion series is The Gladiator Prince. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and now hardback! So I'm celebrating by publishing fun facts about gladiators, Rome, etc. etc,. I'm also having a contest this week. If you leave a comment on the article on my FB page, I'll enter you in a drawing to win a signed copy of any one of my books. See you in the past! xoxo M;o) 

THE GLADIATOR PRINCE
https://www.amazon.com/Gladiator-Prince.../dp/B07PX3RGW9

IN THE ARENA - FIRST DAY AS A GLADIATOR

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Thought I’d share a bit of what it was like to be trained as a volunteer gladiator in the world of The Gladiator Prince. Many elite families would send their sons to train under well-known gladiators to prepare them for life. Below is just a little peak into that world…

EXCERPT: Phaedra fought the chill of titillation skimming down her back as she watched the golden-skinned gladiator thrust his gladius towards her younger brother Bahar. A shudder of disgust followed. Throwing a guilty glance from side to side, she pushed her long dark hair behind one ear to cover the motion. To think she could be so moved by the flex of muscles of a nearly naked slave. Worse, a gladiator. She knew better.

Her father would skin her alive had he caught her at the ludus, especially when the familia gladiatorium were out in force. She studied the forty-two men with skins in shades from pale birch to darkest black, fighting to the rhythm of each deadly blow of wooden gladii against beaten scutum, each exquisitely muscled and slick with sweat. The Gladiator Prince, Chapter I

SWEAT & BLOOD IN THE SAND – FIRST DAY (a narrative short story)

Young Markus stared for the first time at the crowd of men and boys fighting on the hot sand of the ludus. A particularly large man, maybe a Brit, maybe a Gaul, with piercing blue eyes and odd, amber-colored hair, hefted a wooden sword and tilted his head. A strange half smile contorted the right side of the giant’s face and he waved the boy to come to him. Uncertain, Markus stepped out into the sun, glancing quickly behind him to see if the medico and Lanista were still standing in the doorway. It was empty.

“Now, boy!” 

The accented Latin cut through him. Glaring at him, the gladiator threw heavily muscled arms over one another in disgust. Cold chills and sweat fell down Markus’ spine, soaking the loincloth he wore, the only garment he was given after the Lanista and medico had stripped him, examined every corner of his body and flayed his nerves. 

He launched more than walked toward the gladiator. Hiccups quaked in his chest fueled by fear and exhaustion. 

When he came within slapping distance, the gladiator pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “What do they call you, boy?”

“M…Markus,” he blurted out.

“M…Markus. My name is Thane, but you will address me as sir or Doctores.”

Markus’ chin bobbed on its own and he could not stop his tongue. “I know who you are, sir.” The words burbled out of his mouth. “You are The Prince. I know all about you! I could not believe my luck to get you as a trainer…”

“You call it luck?” the gladiator roared and then laughed. In one step Thane’s shadow blocked out the sun. Markus’ neck ached trying to stay focused on the gladiator’s eyes. “Believe me, son. After this day, you will not consider yourself lucky.”

Markus swallowed. “Yes, sir,” he whispered.

Without warning, the gladiator smacked the back of the boy’s hands with the wooden sword sending stinging needles of pain up both arms. Fumbling, he caught the suddenly airborne sword before it hit the ground.

“That is your weapon, gladiator,” Thane said, pulling a very real one out of his balteus. The highly polished bronze dazzled the young man’s eyes until he had to shield them. “One day you will fight with one of these.” That bright blue stare cut Markus to the bone. “But not today. Defend yourself.”

That night, exhausted, hungry, bruised and bloody from sandals to hair, Markus fell onto a hard cot where he fretted again about whether he would survive the next day. 

Thane watched the boy from among the familia gladiatorium and had to smile, remembering his first day in the sand. He knew the boy would do well, even if the youngster did not know that himself. 

XOXO M;o)