SEVENTEEN YEARS HAVE I, JAFFAR, SERVED AS Grand Vizier to the Sultan of Persia. Now the hour of my triumph is at hand. Already I sit on his throne, and soon I shall have his daughter as well — the Princess, whose beauty is like the stars and the moon.

Of course, I would never force myself upon this lovely creature. I shall give her a full hour to reach her own decision. She shall choose me of her own free will — or forfeit her life.

And yet she clings to her fantasy of rescue. The object of her childish infatuation? A young adventurer — a nobody — who is now, on my orders, a prisoner in my dungeons.

Even should he escape his cell and bypass my cunning traps and palace guards — he is still no match for the evil of my sorcery. Or is he?