Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: Crusader's Torch

In the year 1189 AD, battle rages on the islands of Crete and Cyprus. Olivia dares not face its occupation by Islamic forces, she is determined to return to the city of her birth... and death: Rome, the Eternal. Accompanied only by young Valence Rainaut, a Knight Hospitaler who much against his will has fallen in love with her, she makes her desperate way by land and sea through a world ruled by Death … and by men whose bloodlust runs stronger than her own. 459 pages, paperback. Tor Horror 1989.