The gladiator slave pens of Thanus, capital of Byrunthus, were renowned throughout the Southern Kingdoms. A life wearing the iron collar was a life unforgiving and harsh, and often brutally short. There was only one rule within the arena: kill or be killed. It was into such a grim existence a young farm boy named Titus found himself thrust. He was the youngest slave ever sent to the pens in Jax's long memory as master of combat. A slave himself, it was Jax's responsibility to train the new slaves in the ways of sword and shield, of spear and axe. He would train this new lad as well, but there was something about Titus that pulled at a part of his heart that Jax thought long calloused over. Yes, he would teach the boy to become a killer of men because he had no choice, but he would fight for the spirit of the lad as well. He could not strike the chains from Titus' body, but he could strive to keep the boy's soul free. And in so doing, the fabled master of combat of the greatest gladiator stable in the West would start a lost and lonely young boy down the grim, often violent road to becoming a hero that would change the course of the world.