This powerful poem narrates the fateful return of Count Lara to the British Isles after spending years abroad traveling the orient. Returning to his patrimony with a retinue consisting of one foreign-born page, Count Lara resumes the management of his landed estates. Lara's first efforts are crowned with success: only to be undermined by the jealousy and envy of his his peers. After a successful duel to defend his honour, the count becomes inexorably caught up in local blood-feuds; which quickly escalate to open warfare between his own followers and the private armies of his enemies. - Count Lara remains a bold and skillful leader: is he strong enough to triumph yet over adverse fortune? - And what is the secret of his mysterious foreign page: who left kindred and homeland behind in order to follow Count Lara to the uttermost ends of the earth? (Introduction by Godsend)