July 2005. In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a
volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a
startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the
walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth.
Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will
rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and
a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says,
contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a
labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading
armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a
tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.