Prince Bashir Baha Al-Din - aka Bonbon - is about to turn fourteen. In the kingdom of Mirazhar, that means it's time to become a man: a warrior, a leader, a conqueror. But Bonbon is different. He loves animals, studies architecture, and dreams of building, not destroying. When betrayal strikes and danger coils in the shadows, Bonbon rides out - away from power, away from expectation, away from the snakes: both the ones that slither, and the ones that smile -- into the vast, shimmering desert. Alone and afraid, he begins a journey not just to survive, but to understand who he is, and who he might become.