The journey across the Arabian desert is dangerous: Tehuti is abducted by a band of brigands, but she is rescued by Taita and Zaras.

He is then to attempt to convince King Nimrod of Babylon to likewise ally with Egypt, and from there proceed to Crete. Since the most direct route to the Minoan homeland of Crete would require passing through Lower Egypt, the domain of the Hyksos, Taita and the princesses have to instead use an indirect route across the Red Sea and the deserts of Arabia to Babylon. Tehuti meets Zaras when these plans are announced, and they quickly fall in love, much to Taita's chagrin, and she arranges to have Zaras join them in their long journey to Crete to marry the Minoan ruler.

Taita is to lead the journey, and is delegated Pharaoh's full authority when negotiating with foreign rulers. He plans to make an alliance with the Minoans by giving their ruler, the Supreme Minos, his sisters Tehuti and Bekatha in marriage. With the vast treasure obtained thanks to Taita's efforts, Tamose now attempts to recruit allies among the neighbouring nations against the Hyksos. With the help of the young captain Zaras, Taita successfully undertakes a covert operation to steal the Minoan treasure while blaming the theft on the Hyksos, breaking their treaty and enriching Pharaoh at a single stroke. Taita receives intelligence that the Hyksos and the Minoans have signed a secret treaty, and that the Minoans are sending a large shipment of silver to a fortress they have constructed on Hyksos territory in an effort to expand their maritime empire. Pharaoh Tamose has succeeded in securing a capital at Thebes in Upper Egypt, and the brilliant eunuch Taita is his chief advisor, even as he continues to try to expel the Hyksos from Egypt. The story is set a few years after River God.

It also depicts an attempt to forge an alliance between the Hyksos and the Minoans. It depicts a conflict between a Pharaoh ruling from Thebes in Upper Egypt and the Hyksos rulers of Lower Egypt. The setting of the novel is the 2nd millennium BC. It is part of a series of novels by Smith set to Ancient Egypt and follows the fate of the Egyptian Kingdom through the eyes of Taita, a multi-talented and highly skilled eunuch slave. Desert God is a novel by author Wilbur Smith first published in 2014.

Wilbur smith river god series