Overview: In the darkness, Flavia and Nubia wake to cries and the sounds of a struggle. Flavia's father, has been stabbed and his life hangs in the balance. Only Nubia has faith that the gentle Aristo, their tutor, could not possibly be behind the attack. The children take a carruca into the hills outside Ostia, in pursuit of the murderer. But the murderer is willing to kill again...