SNEAKING OFF TO THE GAMES

In THE DEADLIEST LIE, Binyamin, Miriam’s twin brother, recalls when as a child, he’d sneak off to the games to see the gladiators:

I loved the entire spectacle beginning with the fanfare that starts the pompa. That’s the parade into the stadium when the gladiators, accompanied by jugglers, clowns, and acrobats, circle the arena in detachments according to their various schools. My own heart would beat in time with the trumpets, flutes, and drums that accompanied them.

And the gladiators! They’d look like gods as the early morning light defined every muscle in their well-oiled bodies. And the young women mooning over them! Intoxicated by their own erotic fantasies, they’d throw the gladiators kisses and beckon them with lewd gestures.

So, yes, Sis, one way or another, I’m going away to train as a gladiator, and I’m going soon. I just have to work out the details.

Could working out those details mean stealing Miriam’s alchemical scrolls to sell on the black market? That’s what Miriam is afraid of. Once the scrolls are in his possession, he could be arrested and executed for conspiring to debase the emperor’s currency. But if Binyamin is not the thief, then who is? Help Miriam solve the mystery of this high-stakes theft by clicking here: