A ferocious attack on a caravan en route to Jerusalem forever changes the life of young Talon de Gilles, leading to danger, adventure, and romance.

Talon, son of a Frankish Christian knight, is only 13 when Saracens attack his family's caravan and take him captive. Instead of selling him into slavery, slaying him for their amusement or ransoming him, his captors impose a dire fate upon the boy, forcing Talon to become one of them, an Assassin of the Ismaili, the most feared and hated sect in all of Persia, and far beyond.

The Master of the Ismaili has plans for this young ferengi, who will be able to pass unnoticed among Europeans to reach victims that not even the most skillful Saracen could approach undetected - but only if he survives his training and initiation.

But when Talon, his friend Reza, and Rav'an, the Master's own sister, become targets of treachery in the stronghold of Alamut, they must flee. Using all their skills to evade the ruthless assassins who are sent to hunt them down, they cross frozen wastes of snow-laden mountain passes to the flowering gardens of Isfahan and beyond, in search of an elusive sanctuary beyond the reach of the Assassins of Alamut.