After centuries of power and tyranny, the Byzantine Empire is falling. Fierce Turkish armies attack the empire's borders from without; treacherous aristocratic intrigues attack its heart from within.Young Leo Ducas, heir to a noble family, goes to battle to serve his emperor and his God. But even on the battlefield, Leo's worst enemies are not the Turks, but his own treasonous kinsmen.Shattered and scarred, Leo returns to Byzantium in disgrace. There he finds only dissension and madness. His cousins are in exile, his parents dishonored. When the holiest of churches proves no sanctuary against the evil magics that brought down an emperor, Leo flees to the borders of the empire.On the caravan routes and in the crude hermitages, Leo sees wonders and magics that no Christian man has a right to behold. Among the ruins of empires older than Byzantium, he encounters plots and conspiracies even more insidious than those he has fought before ... and finds a beautiful Jewess who may hold the key that will unite all the peoples of Asia Minor. Read Less