1590 B.C.: Rahotep is more than a simple captain of the Nubian Desert Scouts. He is heir to the Nome of the Striking Hawk, which for over a generation has been under the harsh rule of the Hyksos. Accused of a crime he didn't commit and driven out of Nubia by the ascension of his scheming half-brother to the throne of Viceroy, Rahotep flees north to Thebes, accompanied only by a loyal band of Nubian archers. Here he takes refuge in the court of the Pharaoh Sekenenre III. Treachery, this time at the hands of murderous and power-hungry priests, throws Rahotep into a cell, deep beneath the Temple of Anubis. He must escape, not only to prove his innocence, but to join in a battle upon which hangs the freedom of Egypt.