Its 526 BC & the empire of the Pharaohs is dying crumbling under the weight of its own antiquity. Corruption & decay cripple its cities infects its leaders & cripples its armies while across the great expanse of Sinai like jackals drawn to carrion the forces of the omnipotent king of Persia watch & wait... But all is not quite lost. For leading the fight to preserve the soul of Egypt is the Phoneician warrior Hasdrubal Barca the pharaohs deadliest killer
- possessor of a rage few men can fathom & fewer can withst&. But the defection of one of Egypts most celebrated generals the Greek mercenary Phanes to the Persians triggers a savage war that will test Barcas military skills & his humanity to the limit. But Barca is changing
- a girl who was once a slave but with a gift for healing
- tends to his wounds & as she does so eases his tortured soul & teaches him how to be truly human again. From the political wastelands of Palestine & the searing deserts east of the Nile to the streets of the ancient city of Memphis Barca & Phanes play a desperate & brutal game of cat-&-mouse that culminates in the bloodiest battle of Egypts history. In the dusty hills east of Pelusium a reckoning will unfold for there over the dead of two nations Hasdrabal Barca will face the same choice of as those great heroes of old: death & eternal fame or long life & obscurity...