Kirjahaku

It is 1487. For five years, the OclerkO HosZ has worked for the Knights of St John, constantly moving with them as they endeavour to keep safe their hostage, the Ottoman Prince Cem; but HosZ has barely escaped with his life after the reappearance of characters and intrigues from his past. He has to return to Nice and there are other changes in the air. Events in Papal Rome are set to alter the political landscape; it is not only HosZOs mission that will be affected. And there are several very personal imperatives that have to be faced before he can follow the Prince, and his black stallion Ylderim. HosZOs loyalties will once again be tested, and now so will his heart.

It is Spring 1496. For nearly thirteen years Sultan's Kul Hasan, using the name "Hose", has followed Sultan Bayezit's renegade brother, Prince Cem, in France and Italy. When the Prince's death finally brings that dangerous mission to an end, Hasan hopes to continue his service to the Sultan under his own name, back in the Dar al-Islam.However, although Hasan has been allowed to marry, the Sultan needs his particular skills and experience as much as ever and each new mission must take Hasan away from his wife and son.It is, curiously, on the island of Midlini that he meets again someone from his western boyhood. Even more curious is why Aegean pirates should go to such extraordinary lengths to take captive a minor member of the Urbino da Montefeltro family.Hasan's new challenges, straddling opposite ends of the Middle Sea as Urbino straddles its two hills, involve both familiar and new characters, the historical at least as colourful as the fictional.

The year is 1482; the exotic Prince Cem arrives in Nice. He has the protection of the Christian Knights of St John and their promise of help to regain the Ottoman empire; he receives lavish hospitality from the local Grimaldo family. He has high hopes for the future. But there is one in that family, the young clerk Hose, who knows that such hopes can easily be dashed. His own life has made him aware of the political and commercial complexities that can turn life unexpectedly and completely on its head. He finds himself working with the Knights, supporting their deceits and intrigues; but he has his own secrets to keep. He finds himself in mortal danger, his loyalty severely tested. Is blood relationship the one reality that all the sea cannot wash away?

The year is 1482; the exotic Prince Cem arrives in Nice. He has the protection of the Christian Knights of St John and their promise of help to regain the Ottoman empire; he receives lavish hospitality from the local Grimaldo family. He has high hopes for the future. But there is one in that family, the young clerk Hos , who knows that such hopes can easily be dashed. His own life has made him aware of the political and commercial complexities that can turn life unexpectedly and completely on its head. He finds himself working with the Knights, supporting their deceits and intrigues; but he has his own secrets to keep. He finds himself in mortal danger, his loyalty severely tested. Is blood relationship the one reality that all the sea cannot wash away?