Plunged into the darkest period of her young life, Elizabeth O?Suilleabhain of Spain finds herself the prey in an international triangle between two kingdoms in this fictional dramatization of historical events that occurred in the mid-1600s. Elizabeth realizes she is isolated and abandoned after the mysterious death of her father, an Irish-born knight who, for almost sixty years, lived in Spain under the protectorate of Kings Felipe III and IV. Elizabeth believes her responsibility is to Ireland and is driven to fulfill the dead knight's duty to free Ireland from English rule. Elizabeth's title and inheritance are now precariously held by her one-hundred-year-old grandmother, Johanna O?Sullivan, who is living at Seafield Manor, Ireland. Exposed and unprotected, Elizabeth must adapt. She disguises herself as a commoner, wearing a long black cloak, and begins her escape atop her Arabian stallion, Aziz. Danger from the elements as well as villains, hooligans, and hired English spies challenges Elizabeth, and each encounter furthers her resolve. During her escape, Elizabeth is convinced the king has banished her from Spain after the poisoning of a palace servant. She sharpens her survival skills as she is forced to flee on a journey across Spain, chased by those who would use her as a pawn to control her land and possessions that represent her link to more than four hundred years of ancestral rule in her family's lost homeland. At every turn, obstacles confront Elizabeth. Rationally, she seeks out an escape route while negotiating the foot-hardened path of the Pilgrim's Trail. Then, traveling south through Spain with Aziz, she boards a ship moored on the Mediterranean Sea. The ship's sails are set for the misty isles where her grandmother awaits her return. Focused on her conflict-driven odyssey, she is unaware of two secret advocates who follow her at a distance: a Spanish Knight of Santiago and Patrick McGillicuddy, an Irish nobleman whose family has an ancient link with the O?Sullivan clan. Unknown to each other, these two allies advance separately, traversing land and oceans in pursuit of Elizabeth, suggesting to the reader that a spiritual link guides them, as they are seemingly drawn by mysterious sources to follow her as she endures one tumultuous event after another. Each ally, in his own way, demonstrates an ancient belief that in a previous life, each worshipped Elizabeth as his goddess queen.
