He was exiled by a paranoid emperor for teaching peasants to fight. His ship sank en route to Persia. A sea dragon princess saved him – and made him her husband.

Master Liang Wei hasn't touched land in nearly a century. Bound to the ocean by a magical pact, he spends his days meditating in a sunken wreck off the coast of Lamu, growing stronger for his wife and his status as the son in law of a sea dragon king.

Then a boy finds him.

Jabir is a fisherman, a descendant of the shipwreck's survivors. He comes to Liang Wei with a warning: a local shaman has seen a vision. Enemies are coming from all sides – tribal raiders, slave traders, European warships, and even the Chinese emperor himself, sailing with a thousand ships to steal the master's forbidden techniques that may be plotting another revolution in secret. 

Liang Wei cannot leave the water. But he can train the boy who can.

Now Jabir must learn to fight while holding his breath. He must defend his village wave after wave. And far below, his master wages his own war against sea beasts and rival dragon kingdoms.

Two worlds. Five enemies.