Ocyrhoe, a young, cunning fugitive from Rome, safeguards a chalice of subtle but great power. Finding herself in France, she allies with the persecuted, pacifist Cathar sect in their legendary mountaintop stronghold, Montségur. There she resists agents of the Roman Church and its Inquisition, fights off escalating, bloody besiegement by troops of the King of France, and shields the mysterious cup from the designs of many.
Percival, the heroic Shield-Brethren knight from The Mongoliad, consumed by his mystical visions of the Holy Grail, is also drawn to Montségur—where the chalice holds the key to his destiny.
Arrayed against Percival and Ocyrhoe are enemies both old and new who are determined to reveal the secrets of the Shield-Brethren with the hope of destroying the order once and for all.
Wrapping up The Mongoliad Cycle, I finally finished reading “Siege Perilous” by E. D. deBirmingham.
Book Five picks up the Rome/Pope/Grail storyline from Books Two and Three, introducing Ferenc and Ocyrhoe to the Shield-Bretheren knights Raphael and Percival and Shield Maiden Vera. Also making a re-appearance is Dietrich, of the Livonian order of knights whom we last saw at the Circus of Swords outside of Hünern in Book Three. There aren’t any more Mongols (i.e., Gansukh and Lian) in this final installment, as that story was wrapped up at the end of Book Four.
