When the jealous high priest of Enki murders the king during a holy festival and stages a takeover of the palace, Crown Prince Ammon-shur must flee for his life with nothing more than the clothes on his back. His faithful bodyguard, Balashi, saves him from capture and death at the hands of his enemies, and together the two make their way to the ancient city of Uruk, home of the ancient and powerful temple of Inanna. Ammon goes to the temple to seek allies that he might recruit to his cause to unseat the high priest of Enki and retake his throne. While at the temple, he meets Iltani, the fascinating and beautiful high priestess of Inanna. Ammon scarcely gets to know her before discovering that she is enmeshed in her own struggles against the members of the temple council, who maintain her as a powerless figurehead. Far from finding aid for his own cause, Ammon finds himself promising to help Iltani free herself from the influence of the temple council as well as to help her investigate a darker plot....
