Pilgrim: The Greatest Crusade

London: John Murray. Very Good/Very Good. 2008. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0719521130 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Red cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership inscription.372 pages clean and tight.The forces of Christendom are on the march again. There is much to avenge. Twenty-Five years ago,the Christian army lay shattered on the desolate plain of the Horns of Hattin,slaughtered by Mighty Saladin,ruler of the Moslem world. The Holy Land seemed lost.But now the Pope has called for crusade. Many take the cross for pilgrimage and battle. Among them is Otto,a young noble in search of his vanished hospitaller Knight father,and brother luke,a mysterious Franciscan on a mission of his own. And then there are the children-tens of thousands of them,pledged to redapture Jerusalem and find the True Cross,the holiest of relics lost to the forces of Islam. But nothing can prepare them for what they will face.From the island-fortress of the Templars to the mountain redoubts of the murderous Assassins,from the secret lair of leper knights to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,the pilgrims journey is beset by treachery and horror,violence and dread. There are allies at hand-the beautiful Lady matilda of Acre;the wayward Sergeant Hugh,a former bodyguard to Lionheart himself-but they may not be enough. For dangers press in and the way ahead is perilous. Some will not survive. .