The Cardinal’s Sword

Flavio Sabatini returns to Corneto in the Papal States with a reputation formed by piracy, soldiering and service as a condottiere. Italy is divided by the Western Schism and by rival cities whose alliances shift around papal power, money and military force. As factional war threatens his home town and raiders menace the coast, Sabatini is drawn back into violence and must decide whether his sword will serve private survival, civic loyalty or the ambitions of the men who seek to control him.