It features a young king Tamar who leaves Sundari Palace on a quest in a land of humans and talking animals, which are inspired by Indian mythology.

The book includes an author's note, a list of characters and places, a map, and a glossary with 27 entries, from acharya to suta.

[1] In the author's note, a preface, Alexander acknowledges that "mythology of ancient India has always delighted and fascinated me—but, at first, in bits and pieces"; later, he studied it.

Tamar, the king of the fictional realm of Sundari, is rudely awoken by the procession of a passing maharajah named Jaya.

They play a fictional dice game called aksha, increasing the wagers placed on each successive roll.

As a kshatriya, Tamar is honor-bound to make good on the debt he owes to Jaya because to him, dharma is the most important thing in the world.

On the road through the forest, they reunite with Hashkat and are saved by Mirri when she discovers them stuck in thornbushes' cement-like sap.

They continue north to a clearing where they meet Kana, a ruthless general of the kingdom of Ranapura who obeys no code of conduct.

He and his men set upon Tamar in an unfair matchup, but the group is saved by Ashwara, exiled king of Ranapura.

Finally, Bala reaches the decision that he will take neither side in the struggle, giving neither military support to Nahusha nor protection to Ashwara.

They leave the city cautiously, as Bala has warned Ashwara that Nahusha will only be unable to harm him inside Muktara, and are charged by a large talking elephant named Arvati, who ran into them while fleeing from her captors.