What price immortality? Three of the Persian capitals have fallen to the pan-Hellenic army - Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. Only Ecbatana remains. Emperor Darius III is holed up in Ecbatana with his court, desperately clinging to his crown. But will Alexander - King of Macedonia, Pharaoh of Egypt, and would-be Emperor of Persia - give Darius enough breathing space to rebuild his forces? For that matter, will his own satraps, generals, and courtiers let the thrice-beaten Emperor keep breathing at all?Alexander is relentless in his pursuit of Darius. But, with victory within his grasp, he grows increasingly more intoxicated - by strong drink, absolute power, and intimations of divinity. The deeper he plunges into the darkest recesses of Central Asia, the more divorced he seems to become from reality.His friends and commanders - Ptolemaios, Parmenio, Hephaestion, Perdiccas, Cleitus, Philotas - try desperately to save him. But can anyone stand in the way of Alexander's rendezvous with destiny?By the age of thirty-three, Alexander is the unquestioned ruler of the greatest empire on Earth; he has traveled farther and seen more than any human before him; he's undefeated on the battlefield; and he's deathly ill. He has achieved immortality but at what cost? Read Book 4 of the Ptolemaios Saga to find out.