Crown Prince Arslan leads a sheltered life, but his curiosity leads him to seek out slaves recently brought back from a successful military campaign. When one of those slaves escapes and takes him hostage, he gets more than he bargained for.
Three years later, Arslan is still training and still sheltered. Peace seems a certainty for the Kingdom of Pars, widely known for its mighty army. But Lusitania is suddenly back and this time, the Kingdom of Maryam falls and Pars faces war.
Daryun finds Prince Arslan in time to save him from Kharlan's betrayal, but Kharlan's treachery runs deep, affecting the course of battle even where he is not present.
Prince Arslan and Daryun seek refuge with Narsus deep in the mountains. Narsus's obvious gift for strategy would be an asset to Arslan, but Narsus is intent on remaining a hermit and dedicating his life to his questionable art.
Now that Narsus has agreed to join Prince Arslan, they must figure out a way to get to Ecbatana without getting caught by Kharlan. And in the meantime, the Lusitanian army closes in on the Royal Capital.
Ecbatana falls and the Lusitanian King, Innocentis VII, enters the city to see what he has conquered. And the once-enslaved boy soldier, whom Arslan befriended, returns to search for his old comrades.
Kharlan sets out to hunt down Arslan and Narsus works to turn this situation to their advantage, so that they can finally learn why Kharlan turned traitor.
The Lusitanians relentlessly pursuing them has forced Arslan's group to flee separately in smaller groups and now, they struggle to make their way to Peshawar and bring their group back together.
With no time to absorb Bahman's shocking revelation, Arslan must decide how to deal with the invading army led by Rajendra, Second Prince of the Kingdom of Sindhura.
Having formed an alliance with Rajendra, Arslan and company face their first hurdle in their military campaign to win Rajendra the throne of Sindhura. On their way to Sindhura's capital of Uraiyur, they must first get past the Fortress of Gujarat.
With the fall of the Fortress of Gujarat, Gadevi sets out to meet Arslan and Rajendra on the battlefield. Vastly outnumbered and facing war elephants, Arslan and company must find a way to win.
Rajendra asks Daryun to be his proxy in the duel before the gods to determine the next heir to the throne of Sindhura. Faced with the fearsome knight in black, Gadevi arrives at a terrifying solution.
With Rajendra now firmly on the throne of Sindhura, it is time for Arslan to put his affairs in order and prepare to return to Pars to deal with Lusitania.
Lords and generals from across Pars rally to Arslan. But now, Arlsan must contend with newcomers jockeying for position and the very real possibility that he will have to fight Hermes for the throne.
The newcomers continue to make trouble within Arslan's camp and they must find a way to settle these squabbles before they leave on their campaign to take back Pars.
The siege of the Keep of Saint Emmanuel begins in earnest and Parsian generals, who once fought on the same side, now find themselves facing each other across the battlefield.
Étoile wrestles with the knowledge that the prince, whose head he had wanted for so long, was someone he knew. And the battle for the Keep of Saint Emmanuel continues.
