ready
gathering ships and men for a crusade. But Charles is trying to divert
Louis's crusade to Tunisia, which would make it harmless to us. He is a
very persuasive man, and I think he will succeed. Truly, this Charles is
God's gift to me. He does just what I want. And I do not have to pay
him."

Tilia heard no mirth in Baibars's deep laughter.

"And so," Baibars said, "Daoud has won for us the time we needed and
changed the fate of nations. And he will be avenged."

"I do not think he would feel a need to be avenged, my lord. He would be
happy just to know that he saved his people from destruction."

Baibars nodded. "True. But I, too, am a sword in the hands of God. And
if it pleases God to wield me, then in a generation there will not be a
crusader left anywhere on the sacred soil of al-Islam. That will be
Daoud's vengeance and his monument. Hear me, O God."

By the light of the crescent moon hanging over the Multicolored Palace,
Tilia watched the Mameluke sultan raise his right hand to heaven. Tears
ran down his jutting cheeks. Baibars's tears, she saw, ran as freely
from his blind eye as from the eye that could see.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Shea is co-author of the famous ILLUMINATUS! trilogy (Dell). His
other works include SHIKE and ALL THINGS ARE LIGHTS. He lives in
Glencoe, Illinois.

A TIME OF UNCONSTRAINED PASSION,
INCREDIBLE MAGIC, AND, ABOVE
ALL, HEROES WITHOUT EQUAL
IN THE CENTURIES
TO COME....

Destiny will not wait. At last, the
final confrontation between East
and West, Saracen and Crusader, is
about to take place. The awesome
magic of one civilization will be
pitted against the unslaked thirst for
conquest of its rival.

Daoud ibn Abdallah, the fair-haired
spy and assassin known as
the White Emir from the palaces of
Cairo, will have his long-anticipated
duel with Simon de Gobignon,
the young French count entrusted
with the guardianship of King and
Pope. And Sophia, the beautiful
courtesan richly trained in the arts
of both love and treachery, must
make her agonizing choice between
the two warriors, a choice whose
consequences will go dangerously
beyond the hungers of the heart, or
of life and death itself....

End of Project G