William de Scotia's gentle blood flows with the ancestry of Scottish Kings and the malevolent taint of the murderous Lion of Islam, Sultan Baibars I. Born to an innocent mother, who was stripped of her nobility and dignity, then sold into bondage by a diabolical Genoese slaver, William is the lesser son of the Mameluk Sultanate and fated to be his eldest brother's elite guard. When his barbarous father is suspiciously poisoned, his eldest brother ascends the throne and William prepares to embrace his destiny. But when one is young, the future is but a mirage in the desert--cruel and deceptive. William is forced to flee his beloved Cairo when an ambitious emir, Qalawun, and his cunning son, Khalil, overthrow his brother. With the aid of a mysterious Templar Knight, he escapes to the Christian stronghold of Acre. A fugitive orphaned by fate, William must enter life's crucible and become more than just a boy.Through the eyes of a boy, The Lion of the Cross: Tales of a Templar Knight transports you through actual events of the 13th century, an age in peril, where a delicate peace between Christians and Muslims exists and hangs on a precipice, and holy war is sermonized from minarets and pulpits.