Synopsis: From the flaps of the Warner first edition: "Generations ago, ships from Egypt and Ethiopia sailed west to the New World, bearing African colonists and savage European slaves. But the settlers in the proud young land of Bilalistan are not free from the conflicts of the motherland... Multiple award-nominee Steven Barnes returns to the brilliantly envisioned world of his acclaimed novel Lion's Blood - in which all the complexities and wonders of African civilization have flourished, dominant and unchallenged. Depicting profound evocations of African traditions and Irish-European cultures, Barnes presents a unique, insightful epic of American speculative fiction... The year is 1294 - or, to Christians, 1877, Egypt's Pharaoh threatens war against Ethiopia's Empress and plans to embroil the New World in his cause. While the Northern colonists are subjects of the Pharaoh, Southern revolutionaries are loyal to the Empress. Caught in the center of the storm is Kai ibn Rashid, married to the Empress's niece and lord of a vast Southern estate. A senator who only wants peace, Kai is opposed to the Pharaoh's war - a position that may cost him dearly, for assassins have targeted his family. Meanwhile, the New World's other major power, the unpredictable Zulu nations, has pressed Kai to accept their princess, the exquisite niece of Shaka Zulu as his second wife. Tantalized by her beauty, Kai also fears that the princess is a spy with lethal plans. Now in desperate need of help, Kai summons a childhood friend the freed slave Aiden O'Dere to go on a deadly mission. Aiden's reward is information to save his long-lost sister, Nessa, and safe passage home. Yet to succeed, Aiden must willingly submit himself to the greatest degradation has ever known - the cruel yoke of slavery. With war looming and betrayal threatening on every side, failure will mean execution for Kai and Aiden. But will success cost even more? For by challenging the will of the Pharaoh, Kai could be signing his family's death warrants. And by aiding the South, Aiden could be keeping millions of whites in bondage."