FINAL December 1096. Crusader troops arrive at Constantinople, preparing to march on the Saracens. And Basileus Alexei Comnenus, fearing the mighty knightly army, is trying to impose an oath of allegiance on the crusaders... After all, among the European feudal lords is his personal enemy, the Norman Bohemond of Tarentum. But Roman “Samson,” the centurion of the Varangian Guard of the Basileus, hates the Normans from Southern Italy even more. The Russian once promised to take revenge on Bohemond of Tarentum - and now the Varangi manglabit will go on a crusade to fulfill his promise...