Bernard Cornwell · 2003 · overland

Bernard Cornwell's 2003 novel, third of the Grail Quest. With Calais taken and a truce declared, Thomas of Hookton is sent south into Gascony to break it - raiding from a captured town to draw out the cousin who killed his father. He saves a woman from burning, is excommunicated for it, and goes to ground in the valley where the Grail may be hidden.

1. 1
   Calais

   Calais falls after eleven months and a truce is declared, and the war stops for everyone except Thomas - who is given a company and sent south with instructions amounting to starting a private one.

2. 2
   Castillon d'Arbizon

   He takes the town of Castillon d'Arbizon and raids from it, provoking the country until the men he wants come to him - and saves a girl condemned as a heretic, which puts the church against him too.

3. 3
   Astarac

   In the valley of Astarac, his family's country and the last place the Grail was reported, Thomas hunts and is hunted through the woods - and finds an empty box, a siege, and the plague arriving behind the armies.