The bones of heretics smolder on the auto-da-fe'… David is a merchant of deceit, a poet of lies. A dwarf, he claims to be a prince of a lost tribe of Israel. Along with his manservant Diogo, an actor, the masquerade enthralls the citizens of Rome. Jews whisper that David is the Messiah. Destruction awaits the Muslim Turks if Christendom joins with his powerful desert tribe. But why hurry? The food and beds are warm, the ladies plump and willing. In faraway France, a warlord struggles to regain honor. He’s the Duke of Bourbon, the victor in a great military conquest who has lost his family fortune. His mercenaries go underfed and poorly shod. The money to pay their wages is in Rome. Richly researched and irreverent, this story weaves actual historical characters and institutions into a wry tale of three men, each on a quest for fame and fortune.\t