In the north, the barbaric Hyksos still rule with unimaginable brutality. Queen Ahhotep, meanwhile, has recaptured much of the south—but at a terrible price: her husband has been killed in combat and her elder son, Kames, was mysteriously poisoned. Ahhotep refuses to be crowned pharaoh and prepares her second son, young Amose, to take power instead. Thanks to her, the Egyptians are now ready for the final battle. They lay siege to Avaris, the Hyksos capital—and once the city is taken, nothing can stop them. After 100 years of occupation and thousands of violent deaths, it looks as though the Egyptian empire may at last rise from the ashes.