VAGABOND: The Grail Quest Book 2

The follow-up to the bestselling Harlequin, this is the second instalment in Harlequin. Thomas of Hookton travelled to France as an archer and there discovered a shadowy destiny which linked him to a family of heretical French lords who sought Christendom's greatest relic. Set in 1346, Thomas has survived the Battle of Crécy and is sent back to England charged with finding the Holy Grail. But he is an archer and when chance comes to fight against an army invading northern England, he jumps at the chance. Plunged into the carnage of Neville's Cross, he is oblivious to other enemies who want to destroy him and discovers too late that he is not the only person pursuing the Grail. While King Edward III fights in France, England lies exposed to the threat of invasion and Thomas is back in the north just as the Scots invade on behalf of their French allies. After hunting and wounding him, Thomas's rivals for the Grail turn him into a fugitive. Fleeing England, he travels to Normandy, determined to rescue Will Skeat, his old commander from Harlequin. Finally Thomas leads his enemies back to Brittany where he goes to discover an old love and his pursuers at last trap their reluctant pilgrim. We recall that Thomas's father bequeathed him a mysterious notebook confirming the Grail's existence, and all of Europe wants it. 496pp, paperback.