Once, the fastest clipper ship in the world, the USS Raven lies fifty fathoms deep in her cold, watery grave, battered and beaten by the Confederate steam-powered sloop CSS Alabama. Her owner and Captain, John Thomas Graves is dead by his own hand in an enormous explosion that left a lasting shadow on his children.Continuing here in Book III, all the remains of the formerly powerful Graves' family are Mark and Collie, John Tomas' two young sons, now mentored by their formidable grandfather, Warfield Blackwood Bunting. Warfield, however is not about to let the boys lament their loss and live a coddled life of luxury.With his friends, Monar, the mysterious former slave and presently Prince Monar, married to the Maharani of Tamil Nadu in India, and Archibald Feng Yun-shan, the erratic and at times terrifying Leader of the Empire of the Sleeping Dragon in Canton, China, Warfield arranges for the boys education in life.Their education becomes like no other. The spectacular wonders of ancient India with her vicious secret of the Kali worshiping Thuggee and the age-old customs of Japan, her hatred of foreigners and strict code of the Samurai set against the savage oaths of the Ninja, is all the intrigue needed for tragedy.Mark and Collie grow into brothers bonded together. Yet unexpectedly, they chance upon an enigmatic stranger who causes them to choose separate paths... paths that lead to far different fates.