A disgraced outcast samurai living in early seventeenth-century Manila, Kitazume is contemplating ritual suicide when a divine force of a sort intervenes Luis, a rogue Jesuit priest and Kitazumes longtime friend. At Luiss insistence, the samurai agrees to help smuggle a Manchu princess to Mexico. But little does he know that hes really been dragged into an epic struggle for power.As they become embroiled in the deadly politics of New Spain, Kitazume uses his lethal skills to save his friends—and to find redemption. Meanwhile, Luis secretly works as a member of the legendary Shield-Brethren, whose mission is to see that neither China nor Spain controls the silver mines owned by Luiss very father.As politics and greed collide, Kitazume must call upon his deadly skills once more.
