<p>In 1089, the powerful Abbot of Cluny in western France sends a Benedictine monk by the name of Ramiro on a secret assignment to Jerusalem, giving him a mysterious cross to deliver. But what begins as a simple mission soon becomes a wild and terrifying excursion through the extraordinary and exotic kingdoms of the medieval Middle East.</p><p>Determined to complete his assignment, Ramiro is thwarted time and again by emperors and sultans, monks and mystics, slave-warriors and savages-and a carpenter's daughter who haunts his dreams.</p><p>Hunted down by a Turk warrior from Antioch, Ramiro rushes into the last leg of his journey only to encounter a new enemy-the bloodthirsty crusaders of Europe. And when he finally arrives in Jerusalem, he is shocked to discover that the Cluny Cross could cost him his life.</p>