1356

by Bernard Cornwell

Thomas of Hookton prefers to be known as le bâtard, the leader of the Hellequin, his band of mercenaries fighting in France. He and Genevieve have a son Hugh, already in training to use a yew bow. Michael, a young monk from England, walking to Montpellier for schooling, carries a message from the Earl of Northampton for le bâtard, gaining his education in battle while waiting for the message to be accepted. Fra Ferdinand, a Black Friar, retrieves an old sword from a tomb. Returning to the friend who asked him to get it, Fra Ferdinand is set off to wander with it, as his friend was murdered by men who said the pope at Avignon sent them. The Hellequin followed them, disturbing the local graveyard. The "nonsense" of the mystical powers of the sword, said to be the one Saint Peter sheathed in Gethsemane, has swirled up again, pushing many to seek it, in hopes a sword alone will give them the power they seek.