Book excerpt: How many people have met a Crusader King, and . . . a man renowned as a living saint in their lifetimes? Marcus Tychon Triarius pledges his life to the Crusades after saving the life of King Richard the Lionheart in a terror attack on the island of Rhodes. Coming from a military heritage, Marcus can handle a bow like no man before could ever have envisaged. His world changes when love enters - a Christian wife and kids, along with two friends of opposing faiths, one Jewish and one Muslim. The three families retreat to the solitude of a remote Mediterranean island but trouble seeks them out. Bereaved and broken, Marcus heads back to the Crusades to forget his woes, but there he meets the friar who would later be known as Saint Francis of Assisi - everything changes, with startling results. A bible or a bow?