Patrick

Born to rule

Although born to rule, Aidan lives as a scribe in a remote Irish monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. Secure in work, contemplation, and dreams of the wider world, a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life. He is chosen to accompany a small band of monks on a quest to the farthest eastern reaches of the known world, to the fabled city of Byzantium, where they are to present a beautiful and costly hand-illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, to the Emperor of all Christendom.

Thus begins an expedition by sea and over land, as Aidan becomes, by turns, a warrior and a sailor, a slave and a spy, a Viking and a Saracen, and finally, a man. He sees more of the world than most men of his time, becoming an ambassador to kings and an intimate of Byzantium's fabled Golden Court. And finally this valiant Irish monk faces the greatest trial that can confront any man in any age: commanding his own Destiny.

Stephen R. Lawhead's Celtic Crusades saga has won widespread critical acclaim and a legion of loyal readers. Now, he returns with the final volume in this magnificent series -- a tale rich in history and imagination, filled with danger, betrayal, courage, and faith, as the third generation of a Scottish noble family continues its eternal quest to secure the divine on earth, and preserve humankind's last true hope for salvation.

While undergoing the initiation into the highest order of a secret religious society, Scottish lawyer Gordon Murray discovers the greatest revelation of all ...

A thousand years after its disappearance, the Mystic Rose, which is the fabled Grail -- the Chalice of the Last Supper -- has been found, and the Knights Templar will stop at nothing to possess it. Led by the ruthless and corrupt Renaud de Bracineaux, the warrior monks embark on a dangerous and deceitful quest to find the Holy Cup.

Only one person stands in their way: Cait, a young woman from the windswept hills of northern Scotland. Raised on the Crusader tales of her grandfather, Murdo, and her father, Duncan, the redoubtable Cait has determined to claim the prize for her own.

The trail is long, and it is treacherous. Guided only by a handful of coded clues gleaned from a stolen letter, Cait and her small band of knights will make their way from the shadowed halls of Saint Sophia to the marble palaces of Aragon, from Constantinople to Santiago de Compostela and beyond, deep into the heart of Moorish Spain and a world unseen by Christian eyes for over four hundred years.

Thus begins a race which quickly escalates into a battle of wits, will, and might between two implacable, cunning, and resourceful foes for the possession of the most valuable object in all Christendom: the Mystic Rose.

Magnificent and breathtaking in scope, The Celtic Crusades traces the epic tale of one family fighting for its faith during one of the bloodiest epochs in history, and with The Mystic Rose delivers a powerful and moving climax to this unique and compelling historical adventure. Vividly interweaving the history of our own tumultuous time with events from long ago, and brilliantly blending sheer, visceral storytelling excitement with a powerful sweeping vision of human destiny, Stephen R. Lawhead concludes his thrilling trilogy of a Scottish noble family during the age of the Crusades and the secret society whose hidden ceremonies have shaped our world.

In book one of the Celtic Crusades series, a Scottish boy travels to Jerusalem to try to regain his family's stolen lands, and ends up saving the relic Iron Lance that pierced Christ's side.

In the second book in the exciting Celtic Crusades series, Murdo and his family search for a piece of the cross of Christ.

In a forgotten age of darkness a magnificent king arose to light the world.

They called him unfit to rule—a lowborn, callow boy, Uther's bastard. But his coming had been foretold in the songs of the bard Taliesin. He had learned the uses of power from his guide and protector, Merlin. He was Arthur, Pendragon of the Island of the Mighty—who would rise to legendary greatness in a Britain torn by violence, greed and war; the Lord of Summer who would usher in a glorious reign of peace and prosperity . . . and whose noble, trusting heart would be broken by treachery.

He was born to greatness, the son of a druid bard and a princess of lost Atlantis. A trained warrior, blessed with the gifts of prophecy and song, he grew to manhood in a land ravaged by the brutal greed of petty chieftains and barbarian invaders.

Merlin: Respected, feared and hated by many, he was to have a higher destiny. for It was he who prepared the way for the momentous event that would unite the Island of the Mighty—the coming of Arthur Pendragon, Lord of the Kingdom of Summer.

It was a time of legend, when the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. While across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for two thousand years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis.

Taliesin is the remarkable adventure of Charis, the Atlantean princess who escaped the terrible devastation of her homeland, and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. It is the story of an incomparable love that joined two worlds amid the fires of chaos, and spawned the miracles of Merlin...and Arthur the king.

The legend of King Arthur has been told many times—but never with the strength and resonance, passion and richness granted it in Stephen R. Lawhead's masterful

Pendragon Cycle

Drought, plague, and war have left the Isle of the Mighty battered and its heart, the beloved Arthur, grievously injured—until a secret relic is brought before the dying KIng; a Holy Grail that heals his wounds and restores his vigor.

But soon evil enters the royal court in the guise of a beautiful maiden; a soulless, malevolent force capable of seducing the King's loyal champion, confounding the sage whom some call Merlin, and carrying the sacred Grail—and Arthur's adored Queen—off into the dark unknown. And now Arthur faces the greatest challenge of his sovererignty: a quest of recovery that must lead the noble liege through realms of magic and the undead, on a trail that winds inexorably toward a grim confrontation with his most foul nemesis . . . and his destiny.

Drought, plague and war have left the Isle of Mighty battered and its heart, the beloved Arthur, grievously injured. But, astonishingly, the High King lives—his wounds healed and vigor restored by a sacred and secret relic: the Holy Grail.At Ynys Avallach, a dying Arthur was miraculously renewed. And now, in this time of rampant disease and death, the great king wants to share the Grail's curative powers with all who require it. A shrine will be built to house the holy treasure—and Arthur's fabled Kingdom of Summer will at long last come to be.But evil has entered the royal court in the guise of a beautiful maiden. Unbeknownst to Arthur, to his devoted warriors, to his adored Gwenhwyvar. . .even to the bard Myrddrin, the sage Emrys whom some have called "Merlin," malevolent forces, soulless and cunning, seduce the King's most loyal champion. And in an unthinkable unguarded moment, the Grail is carried off, vanishing somewhere into the dark unknown.Now Arthur faces the greatest challenge of his sovereig.

The hour fortold has come at last! Edward the Ninth, reprobate King of England, is dead and a proud an venerable institution is to be buried with him. A new political order—encouraged by an ambitious Prime Minister and supported by a public wearied by a succession of royal scandals—is about to render the old obsolete. With signed abdications of all potential throne claimants already in P.M. Thomas Waring's hands, it is a near-certainty that the British monarchy will not survive the twenty-first century.

But in the Scottish Highlands, a young man makes a remarkable discovery that will change the seemingly unaltered path of his beleaguered nation. For Captain James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be, but rather the scion of an obscure branch of the royal family, raised in ignorance of his true station. Even more astonishing, the monarch-to-be does not merely share the name of the legendary King of Summer—he is, in fact, King Arthur reborn!

Claiming a throune, however, is one thing, while holding it is quite another, as James—now ruling the land as Arthur II—turns to those most beloved and most loyal for support, guidance, and assistance: his adored wife, Jennifer; his best friend, Calum; and his enigmantic and mystical advisor, a certain Mr. Embries.. better known as "Merlin." Their road will be rocky and perilous, and there are powerful enemies arrayed against them—not only Prime Minister Waring and his ruthless political machine, but the forces of an ancient, far more potent , destructive evil. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned—and Merlin's magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries.

With Avalon, one of the premier voices in the literature of the fantastic offers us an unparalleled adventure as replete with bravery, treacher, romance, and magic as the beloved tales of the Table Round, yet cast in a setting as recognizably real as that which surrounds us.