Gauthier and Osarias have reached Jebel Tarr, the city of the Flagellants, where the Breath of the Qa'dj now resides. They want to extinguish it forever, but can such a demon ever be destroyed? Meanwhile, the machinations of Guy of Lusignan, his thirst for power and blood, have brought the Cross and the Crescent to the brink of renewed war, one that only Syria of Arcos, torn between her feelings for the Sultan and Gauthier, can still prevent – maybe ...