When Prince Wenambe hands the little kingdom of Kotengbi over to Mansa Musa to protect, he wins the throne from His father. To ascend the throne though, he must find a wife. His choice is the beautiful Soraya who is betrothed to Dume the hunter. He is Prince and what he wants he gets, Wenambe marries Soraya in the time when Mansa Musa begins to sell the Kingdom of Kotengbi to slave traders. The folly of choice. Wenambe becomes a pawn of the gods; taunted daily by Alarka the old seer, he turns into a man troubled and confused, not even the son Soraya bears him is able to wipe away his shame. He becomes a ruler of slaves, but the gods still weave an intricate web, yarn after yarn, a new era is born, a new hope, though lined with the arrival of other slave traders even more powerful than Mansa Musa himself.