Listening to the shouts of men around him, Richard hardly dared to believe that he was about to fight his first Crusade. Only two years ago he had been a poor Parisian apprentice listening to a monk preach the Crusade of saintly King Louis IX. Here was a chance to see a new world, to fight with others who had taken the Cross, and to join the thousands of knights and common men who would rescue the city of Jerusalem from the Saracens. Now only a thin stretch of water separated him from the enemy, and the bright banner rallied the King's troops to face the onslaught of Saracens assembled on the Egyptian shore. Little did Richard know the challenges that may lay ahead for a raw young recruit, like bitter fighting, death, disease and starvation...
