As Alys and Geoffrey de Villacours rode out in the warm spring sunlight of the year 1212, the violence of feudal days seemed far from their peaceful corner of France. but the news brought that day by the battle-scarred Crusader stirred them both to dreams of high adventure. To the north a young shepherd, Stephen of Cloyes, was gathering a Children's Crusade to march on the Holy Land to free the Holy Sepulchre from the Saracens.

Heralded by a fascinating and mysterious piper whose flute seemed to breathe the very magic of Araby, Stephen and the children's army stop to rest round the castle beauregard. At dawn the next day the young Villacours steal out to join the long line marching to the sea.

Even Geoffrey, high tempered and afire with the ideals of chivalry, is dismayed by the events of that summer's march along the dusty roads of France, but before brother and sister can share their doubts, Stephen and the children are betrayed. The dangers and adventures they undergo in the strange and fascinating Arab world are recreated with a master hand to bring stirringly to life one of the most extraordinary episodes in history.

From the dust jacket