Avtandil's Quest

The Knight in the Panther Skin, Book One: Avtandil's Quest
Storms gather on the far reaches of the Arabian frontier. The King grows old, and the throne lacks an heir. To avert disaster, he appoints his only daughter as regent, but just days after her coronation, a Black Knight appears from edges of the realm.

He wears the skin of a panther and rides a midnight steed. When the King and his foster son Avtandil give challenge, the stranger butchers countless soldiers before vanishing before their eyes. Despite searching the empire, no one can find a trace of him or where he went. It's as if the man never existed.

To learn the secret of the Knight in the Panther Skin, Avtandil is given an impossible quest. He must risk all he has ever loved and undertake a perilous journey to lands no Arabian has ever seen. Alone and lost to himself, he has no choice but to scour the edges of the world in search of his quarry. But first, he must overcome himself.

If he succeeds, he will return home to the heart of his beloved. Yet, failure will bring all he has ever loved to ruin. His home will become no more than a wasteland of the hopes and dreams he once had. The problem is, no one knows how to find the Black Knight, or if he is a man or a monster...