Outremer. It is this land of ours that is the harsh mistress. She has spawned saints and false prophets for centuries, and I have lost nearly all that I have loved in her service β Honfroy dβToron.
The Harsh Mistress is the blazing sequel to The Templar's Apprentice.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Marj Ayyun, the Kingdom of Jerusalem is once again under threat from its most powerful enemy, the Sultan of Damascus and Egypt, Salah eh Din.
Honfroy, a young lord of Outremer, is in a conflict that rages along the River Jordan, the frontier between the Christians and Moslems. Once a truce has been agreed, he yearns to return to Toron and his beloved Elspeth, but King Baudoin has further tasks for his favourite baron. Honfroy finds himself once again embroiled in court intrigue, and with its major participant, the devious but beautiful Agnes dβCourtenay.
The greatest threat to Honfroy, and to his beloved Elspeth and their unborn child, lies not in the court at Jerusalem but in the forests of Lebanon. An enemy has sworn vengeance and is now ready to strike.
Set in 1179 against the backdrop of the bloody period that was the crusades, THE HARSH MISTRESS is a tale of lost love, of passion, retribution and high adventure. Its story will relentlessly sweep you from the banks of the River Jordan to the mountains of Lebanon, from the deepest dungeon in Damascus to bitter hand-to-hand fighting aboard medieval war galleys as they clash on the Mediterranean Sea.
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