From the small coastal town of Senjan a young woman seeks vengeance for her lost family, and from the wealthy city-state of Seressa come two very different people: a young artist travelling to paint the grand khalif at his request, and a fiercely intelligent and angry woman, posing as a doctor's wife, but secretly sent by Seressa as a spy. Further east a boy is training to become a soldier in the infantry of the khalif. As these lives entwine, their fates will hang in the balance when the khalif sends his massive army to take the great fortress that is the gateway to the western world.