Sands and winds, ifrits and genies, the treasures of the Sultan himself, and even the mysterious order of Ashins - the east, full of secrets and mysteries, does not want to let go of Ildiar de Nota from its hot embrace. To return home, he will have to listen to the voices of the Desert and learn to play by its rules. At the same time, his former squire, and now friend and ally, Sir James Dawson, who is assisted in his enterprise by the Old Testament paladin Procard Norlington, follows in the footsteps of the master sent into exile. But, to their misfortune, the knights make a stop at an old roadside inn, the doors of which do not lead to where its guests would like. Now their path lies through the Thorn Hills - a gray and joyless land, where living people lie in graves covered with earth, yellow-red leaves circle in the sky, and dangerous and eternally hungry creatures roam between the bushes of prickly thorns and flowering thistles...