King of Jerusalem and Defender of the Holy Sepulcher, Baldwin IV walks the sword's edge between the intriguing barons of his own Court and the jihad of Islam. Between the two, however, a sinister presence lurks--a heretical society called the Order of Sion that will stop at nothing to see its own dark designs come to fruition. Baldwin is young, innocent, and a military strategist of no small measure. And, he is a leper. In the midst of mounting political tensions and war, a mysterious woman unexpectedly befriends the lonely sick king--a woman who claims she is Mary Magdalen.