Having refused a commission from the dowager queen of Scotland, Lymond turns mercenary, heading to Malta to observe the crusading order of Knights Hospitaller of St. John, a brotherhood of monks sworn to defend Christendom with swords instead of sermons. The knights' beloved leader, Sir Graham Reid Malett, is devout and charming, and openly declares it his mission to turn Lymond from his mercenary ways and bring him into the order. But as the Turkish fleet launches a series of devastating attacks, Lymond comes to realize that there may be a much deadlier enemy closer at hand-- an adversary who is as subtle as he is savage, and whose piety conceals an absolute genius for evil.

"Originally published in Great Britain in hardcover by Cassell & Company Ltd., London, and in the United States in hardcover by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, in 1966"--Title page verso.