Tira has always been fascinated by ancient Egypt, but circumstances and finances have kept her from becoming an archeologist. Her dream of seeing her older sister drug free is shattered when Luci is murdered by her drug dealer. Tira must flee to be safe from the killer. A crumpled flyer offers an escape...The answer is in your stars. Tira tries to evade her pursuers and reaches a brownstone where two elderly women cast her horoscope. She is offered a refuge but must undertake a dangerous quest. She will be unable to speak of her world, or anything alien to the culture she enters and... she will remain there forever. Kashe is the unloved middle son of the nomarch of Mero. He reminds his father of the Nubian slave ancestor the nomarch wishes to forget. Though Kashe wants to become a warrior of Horu, his father has other plans. A desire for power drives the nomarch. To see his eldest son, Pian, as pharaoh, the nomarch plots with the priests of Aken Re. Since the rebellion twenty years ago the Two Lands has been without a ruler. By making Kashe the leader of the priests' army the nomarch will have his desire satisfied. The arrival of a sacred hawk with an amulet naming Kashe as chosen by Horu thwarts the devious plans and tells of the three who will come from afar, one of whom Kashe must aid in the sacred quest. Tira and Kashe begin the dangerous journey - the quest for the symbols which may prove the salvation of the Two Lands. Tira learns this Egypt has many differences from the Egypt she has studied, and the two face nearly insurmountable challenges as they pursue their sacred quest.