In 1849, when Macau's governor is murdered, Vicente Mesquita, a lieutenant in Macau's small battalion is forced to avenge the murder of Macau's governor and ordered to attack a Chinese fort an action considered to be a suicide mission. Mesquita is trapped in conflict between two fading empires, China and Portugal. With a foot in each culture, he is torn between which masters to follow.. The Macau of Mesquita's time was a boiling pot created by three centuries of Portuguese expansion and assimilation. Mesquita fights his demons in a world of assassins, opium traders, politicians and slavers. Follow his adventures as he goes to war and steers his way through political intrigues, all the while being pursued by a maniacal killer. Lobo's novel is based on this tragic historical character, and has all the richness and intrigue of his first novel, award-winning The Witch Hunter's Amulet."