For centuries, the Tatars of the Crimea have captured and sold more European slaves than have ever been taken out of Africa. This is the story of some of them. In 1882, as the British capture Alexandria, Amanishakete is given the gift of an ancient codices written by St Clement that hints of a lost library in the Crimea. Invited to an audience with Queen Victoria, the Queen asks Amanishakete and Sabine to rescue her niece, who's been captured by Elbrus Yakhin the leader of a heartless gang of slave trading Tatars. Their mission takes them to Malta, then as pirates to North Africa and the Crimea where, joined by Colonel John Bartholomew-Pearce an agent of the Court of St James, Amanishakete becomes ensnared in Otto von Bismark's secret plans to rule Europe when an agent of Bismark tries to kill them while travelling to Germany on the new Express d'Orient, and Amani falls in love.
