Shadows of Al-Bara

The fog mixed with smoke, the smell of fire, the smell of blood, sweat, and urine, the smell of death. Was this God's intention? Rogier was holding his sword, shaking from exhaustion, painfully breathing. The ground around him was soaked with blood. His eyes mechanically scanned gory surroundings covered with the dead and the dying. At last, he could stop, for there was nobody left to fight...

Vanda, an archaeologist, is thrust into the world of organized crime and forgery of antiquities while investigating an artifact connected to the helmet of Saint Wenceslaus. The story begins with the First Crusade and two knights, brothers, who go to the holy land to fight for God, but only find pain, suffering, and death. We follow the two brothers and the reverberations of their journey into the present day. While following the trail of the crusaders, Vanda, who has a rather unconventional personal life, not only finds herself in a dangerous world she did not expect, but finds both love and sorrow in a place she did not imagine.