It is the sixth century in Aksum, Africa. Young Telemakos, King Arthur's half-Ethiopian grandson, is still recovering from his ordeal as a government spy in the far desert, trying to learn who was breaking the Emperor?s plague quarantine. Before he is fully himself again, tragedy and menace strike, and he finds himself sent, with his baby sister, Athena, to live with Abreha, the ruler of Himyar, a longtime enemy of the Aksumites, now perhaps a friend. His aunt Goewin, Arthur's daughter, warns him that Abreha is a man to be wary of, someone to watch carefully. Telemakos promises he will be mindful, but he does not realize that Goewin's warnings are not enough to protect him. The Sunbird (?Intense, absorbing, and luminously written, Kirkus Reviews, starred review) was the first book about Telemakos. The Lion Hunter continues his story, to be quickly followed by The Empty Kingdom?a two-book sequence called The Mark of Solomon.

In The Lion Hunter, Telemakos, the half-British, half-Aksumite grandson of King Arthur, was sent for his safety to stay with one of Aksum's former enemies. When Abreha, ruler of Himyar, allegedly the boy's protector, catches him in the midst of what appears to be treachery, he sentences him to a fate seemingly worse than death. Not only is Telemakos forbidden to see his beloved younger sister, Athena, but he is also commanded to reproduce the maps that Abreha plans to use in order to invade Aksumite territory. Countries away from his family, lacking any way to tell them what has happened, Telemakos must bring all of his subtle talents to bear in order to regain his freedom. The Empty Kingdom is a stunning conclusion to the Mark of Solomon duology, a triumph of historic suspense.