Upon the Summons of Silence (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798289628039)

Ezekiel al-Saheli, a man of mixed blood, was born between two worlds - sea and desert, where mistakes harden into destiny. He never sought power. He served in silence as an al-barid, a courier in the empire's secret postal service, a shadow of a great medieval state that once fed the known world with gold.
Formally, he was a Muslim. In truth, he grew up between two faiths and carried within him the legacy of two great lineages, both fated to know more than was permitted. One descended from gifted architects who raised the mosques of Mali and introduced new building techniques in the early fourteenth century. The other from wealthy Genoese merchants who dared to seek a direct sea route to the "land of spices," bypassing deserts, intermediaries, and borders.
The first were drawn into courtly intrigue.
The second were erased from memory.
They were not swallowed by the elements - they were removed. The path they sought threatened too many interests and terrified those who held the keys to trade.
When the empire begins to rot from within - not through invasion, but through the loss of moral bearings and the recurring hunger for profit - Ezekiel falls from favor. The al-barid who knew too much and remained silent for too long becomes a target of the very forces that once sealed off his ancestors' path.
Yet he is not destroyed.
He is meant to be used.
Pulled by rival powers, each seeking to turn him into an instrument of their will, Hizkiil finds himself trapped in a fate familiar to his bloodline: between a road forbidden to be known and a call paid for in blood.
For the disappearance of his kin was not an accident -
it was a decision.
And if his father was the key, then Ezekiel is the door not yet opened -
but already guarded.
This is a story about a man placed between life and death, submission and choice.
About an empire that trades not only in gold, but in its own future.
And about a path that does not forgive those who dare not only to see it - but to walk it.

Author: Volodymyr Tsarikovsky,Worrel Kingsmith
ISBN-13: 9798289628039
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 06/25/2025
Pages: 356
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.74d