Nineteen year old David Crawfurd sails from Scotland to South Africa to work as a storekeeper, meeting again with John Laputa, the celebrated Zulu minster, of whom he has strange memories In his remote store, David finds himself with the key to a massive uprising led by the minister, who has taken the title of the mythical priest king, Prester John David's courage and understanding of this man take him to the heart of the uprising, a secret cave in the Rooirand