The Lions of Al-Rassan

In the peninsula of Al-Rassan, the Asharite city-kings are losing their grip and the northern Jaddite kingdoms are gathering for a war of reconquest. Three lives entangle across the religious lines. Jehane bet Ishak is a Kindath physician forced from her home city after a political assassination. Rodrigo Belmonte is the Jaddite captain modeled on El Cid, exiled from his own king's court. Ammar ibn Khairan is the Asharite courtier, poet, and assassin who killed the last khalif. Kay places the three in the same mercenary company in exile and builds 600 pages toward the war that will force two of them to face each other.