<p>Nyira, a seven-year-old healer, watched slave hunters burn her village and murder her father.<br />
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Hiding in the jungle, she befriends a young gorilla, named Gord. The slave hunters capture Gord, forcing Nyira to give up her freedom to save his life. She is transported by slave ship to Haiti.<br />
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Ten-year-old Enriquillo&rsquo;s tribe has lived peacefully&mdash;hidden in the Haitian mountains&mdash;for over three hundred years. French soldiers still managed to kill their chief&mdash;Enriquillo&rsquo;s father, and his best friend is murdered by a local planter. Now Enriquillo plots revenge. He meets Nyira on a day he sneaks into the town market, and discovers she is the dark princess prophesized as his future queen. But Nyira uses magic to save a friend&rsquo;s life, and is charged as a witch and condemned to burn. Will Enriquillo risk his people&rsquo;s secret existence to outwit the dangerous French troops and the determined archdeacon, to save his love?</p>