"This book will sink its teeth into you. "—The Kansas City StarBorn the son of a supposed witch, Aleric discovers his own uncanny ability to communicate with the great predator birds of the forest. Soon his skill becomes known to the Baron, who puts the young man in charge of his falcons. Now called Falconer, he rises fast and far. Still, to those at court, he remains the bastard son of a peasant whore. And when his forbidden love for the Baron’s daughter is discovered, he is conscripted as a soldier and banished to the Holy Land to fight the Saracen infidels. There he becomes a mighty warrior—and a man without faith or conscience. Then, in an ancient, ruined city, he finds a new love. She calls herself Pythia—and in her passionate, bloody embrace, he also finds his destiny...