The Saracen

Daoud ibn Abdallah moves through a world where faith is a disguise, loyalty is a weapon, and every alliance can turn fatal. In 1263–1264, the young warrior-spy and thief crosses into Christian Italy on a mission for a powerful ruler, arriving at Lucera and later navigating the glittering danger of courts, prisons, and hidden passageways. There he must survive as a Muslim in hostile territory, while Sophia Karaiannides, a brilliant courtesan and king's mistress, becomes part of a secretive alliance charged with intrigue, danger, and passion. But Daoud's skill is forged in trauma. Once David Langmuir, the son of a crusader, he was shattered by slaughter, captivity, and sexual violence before being rescued by the one-eyed Mameluke Baibars and remade into Daoud ibn Abdallah. Trained as a weapon of empire, he is tested in brutal ways: by Messer Lorenzo Celino's probing hospitality, by the risk of exposure over wine and pork, and by the constant pressure to perform belief. In Egypt, Daoud's violent loyalty in a Mameluke polo match wins him Baibars's protection and promotion. Yet vengeance brings no peace, only deeper questions of honor, identity, and the cost of becoming a warrior. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.