The Knights of the Cross, Volume II

Zbyszko’s bond with Danusia deepens while her father, Jurand of Spychów, continues a private war against the Teutonic Knights responsible for his family’s suffering. The Order’s officials exploit that hatred by abducting Danusia and sending false demands designed to draw Jurand into their fortress at Szczytno. He submits to humiliation in the hope of recovering his daughter, only to be imprisoned and brutally mutilated.

The second volume exposes the gap between the Order’s religious and legal language and the violence practised by individual commanders. Zbyszko begins a determined search for Danusia, while Jagienka and Maćko preserve the estates and relationships he has left behind. Personal revenge now threatens to merge with the widening political dispute between the Order and the Polish–Lithuanian monarchy.