Friends and Heroes

Episode 1

Gladiator School

Macky and Portia finally arrive in Rome, but under very different conditions: Portia is welcomed as the privileged niece of Rome's new prefect of police, Tiberius, while Macky has arrived in chains... and that's just the beginning of his problems. Roman officials have decided that the trial he was supposed to get isn't really necessary, and Macky has been sold to a school for gladiators. There, he meets Aemelia, the school's owner and a former warrior herself, and Babatunji, the chief trainer. Together they impress on Macky that the only way out is to kill or be killed. Macky soon makes friends with Absolom, a Jewish trainee who seems to accept his unjust lot with little more than a shrug. Macky tells him the story of Amos speaking out about an unjust king, but Absolom remains unconvinced. Soon, hope arrives in the form of Luciana, a mysterious and apparently influential older woman who convinces Aemelia to arrange an obstacle course contest between Macky and another prisoner at the school: Toadie. The prize? Freedom. Macky soon finds that his side of the course is booby-trapped, but despite this, he wins - or so he thinks, until Luciana prevails on her Senator friend, Marcus, to say that the winner is Toadie - who turns out to be Luciana's son! Despite the unfairness of the decision, Macky's faith is unshaken. He tells Absolom the story of John, who spoke out against corruption, but then recalls that John was eventually beheaded...