ISBN-13: 9780595471201 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 176 str.
Twelve warring tribes await the birth of the leader that will unite them all. This King will be the Royal heir of all the tribes and the People's mandate to combine the bloodlines of each ruling clan into one offspring, is already more than a century old. One child in every generation is brought to the People to be bred with the offspring of the previous until the blood of each burns in the heart of the Promised Calf. These children are kept, watched, nurtured and cared for by the whole village. No harm can come to them until they have served their purpose and nothing can prevent them from being mated together. Treated more like cattle than human, they're kept ignorant of what is expected of them while the People guide them by teaching and punishing them into fulfilling their destinies. Yusuf bin Dawood's destiny is to be the father of the Great King to come. Always aware of being special in the village, he is gifted and honest yet treated like an inferior. When his son is born, the People's mandate is almost executed, and the attention makes him fear for his family.