difference in status, the boys develop a strong friendship. Kai and Aidan grow up together and remain close, until a half-Andalusian Moor, half-Greek slave girl who was a gift to Kai comes between them. The break happens when the girl falls in love with Aidan, leading to a fight between the two. Though Kai has better fighting skills achieved via formal training, Aiden is far stronger, with greater punching power and endurance, achieved from several years of grueling labor. As a result, Aidan defeats Kai. Though angry and humiliated, Kai does not punish them further and allows the two to be together. Both boys go through several changes as they become adults. Kai converts to Sufism, begins to have feelings for his brother's betrothed, finds himself about to be in an arranged marriage with a Zulu princess, and begins to question the practice of slavery. Aidan, finally with something worth fighting for, begins to chafe at the bonds of his slavery, which drives a wedge further between the two friends. After his (also enslaved) wife and newborn son are transferred away to the plantation of Kai's uncle, Aidan becomes involved in a slave revolt among the slaves of Dar Kush and neighboring plantations. Using the revolt as cover, Aidan and other slaves attempt to flee, but are captured and Aidan's infant son almost dies. Aidan, however, is again spared punishment by Kai, who is mourning the death of his father in the revolt. Later Bilalistan finds itself at war with the Aztecs over a treasured Bilalian landmark, Mosque Al'Amu (the Shrine of the Fathers), which stands at the border between Bilalistan and Aztec territory. Both Kai and Aidan join the army heading to meet them. During the last stand at the Shrine of the Fathers, Kai takes leadership of the armies after the Zulus abandon the battle due to the suspicious deaths of their leader, Shaka Zulu, and Kai's elder brother Ali. Promising freedom to all of the slaves who came with the army, the Bilalians manage a victory by destroying the Shrine of the Fathers with most of the surviving Aztec forces inside it. Kai, now a war hero, keeps his promise to free all of the slaves who fought along with their families. On returning home he finds that his uncle has taken Aidan's wife as an unwilling lover and refuses to free her, forcing Kai into a