Painted in blood - Pip Vaughan-Hughes

1242. An immense pyre is being kindled in Europe.A Christian army is gathering. The King of France, Saint Louis, has decided to destroy the heretic Cathar sect. They have challenged his authority for the last time. But the Cathars have something else the King desires; a weapon of their own. An ancient shroud bearing the ghostly image of Christ crucified, the "Cathar Crucifix", is the rallying point of the heretic rebellion.Petroc of Auneford knows the power of this relic. It was Petroc who, along with Captain de Montalhac, stole it from the Pharos Chapel in the ruined city of Constantinople and gave it to the Cathars. Now he and the Captain - a Cathar himself - find themselves snared in the struggle for the relic, precious beyond reckoning, but possessed of a deadly, maddening power...