Crocodile and Leopard

Managing the beast-fights at the Colosseum was never going to be an easy job, but this time MARCUS had really made his Emperor angry. To make up for his latest blunder, he would have to hunt down the fabled crocodilopard - half leopard half crocodile - and bring it back to exhibit in Rome.

Accompanied by DIDIUS SENECA, a scholarly but scatter-brained senator, and BRUTUS, a bullying, blustering centurion, Marcus must journey to the headwaters of the Nile in search of his quarry, said to be found only in a lost jungle valley infested with giant saurians.

It seems impossible. He doesn't even know if the creature truly exists. But the Emperor holds his wife and son hostage, and he will have them executed if Marcus doesn't succeed...

"GLADIATOR meets THE VALLEY OF GWANGI..." David Christopher, former editor of Schlock Webzine (www.schlock.co.uk)