After dealing with the Shut in the Balkans, Kara Ben-Nemsi ('Karl the German') receives a firman (precious passport) from the padishah (Ottoman sultan) before he continues his travels through Kurdistan. Achmed El Corda, the son of Halef's Hadedhin Beduin tribe's sheik Mohammed Emin, has been captured by the machredsh (Turkish governor) of Mossul for resisting water seizure by his Turkish troops. Kara takes charge of the rescue. On their way, they help eccentric Lord David Lindsay and his butler Archie, who gallantly try to rescue an Oriental lady, as well as pir ('holy man') Kamek's sun-devoted Yessidi sect.