The Sarantine Mosaic

The Sarantine Mosaic is a historical fantasy duology by Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay, comprising Sailing to Sarantium (1998) and Lord of Emperors (2000).

The novels The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Last Light of the Sun, and A Brightness Long Ago also take place in that unnamed world, although in different settings.

The title and much of the thematic development alludes to the poem Sailing to Byzantium, a work of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

At the same time, and also ordered by Petrus, Flavius is murdered on the streets with Sarantine fire while wearing porphyry, a colour exclusive to royalty, and his eldest son is left hideously burned.

The royal request is sent with Pronobius Tilliticus, an Imperial Courier, who delays delivery of the message while pursuing personal pleasure along the road.

Crispin is reluctant to accept the prestigious summons, having lost the desire to live when his wife and two daughters died of the plague the previous year.

The Antae are suspicious that a woman, especially a young one, can rule effectively and Gisel is barely holding onto her throne and life after the recent death of her father.

Despite devising an ingenious plan that forces the innkeeper to give him ownership of Kasia, Crispin with his companions is still pursued as they leave the inn, deeming it necessary to travel on the Day of the Dead despite all warnings.

While admiring an old and impressive mosaic in a sanctuary along the road, Crispin is found by Carullus, a captain leading a squad of soldiers; he has been sent by Valerius due to extended time it has taken to respond to the Emperor's summons.

After an initial rough encounter, resulting in Crispin being knocked unconscious by Carullus and Vargos and Kasia almost being raped and killed, the group slowly become friends as they finally arrive in Sarantium.

It becomes clear that the Emperor will not put aside his beloved though believed to be barren wife - an assumed consequence of her former life as a dancer - but informs both that he had long since summoned the queen to Sarantium, where he plans to use her as an excuse to invade the west and reunite the kingdoms under his rule.

While returning home, Crispin is attacked by assassins, but survives due to the help of Carullus and the famous and beloved Scortius of the Blues, the most renowned charioteer of the city.

The next day, while relaxing in a bath house, Crispin finds himself alone with Leontes, the latter having arranged it to discuss his views on the blasphemy of depicting Jad in human form.

Before leaving, Leontes exposes another armed assassin entering the sauna, giving Crispin just enough time to overcome his attacker while looking on and refusing to help.

With the help of Vargos, it is learned that the assassins were hired by Pronobius Tilliticus as revenge for losing his job when Crispin indirectly revealed his inappropriate and disloyal services.

Zoticus, upon learning that the pagan god had not forgotten nor relinquished his right to the souls of the human sacrifices given to him, journeys to the forested area where Linon had sacrificed herself to the zubir.

Crispin further entwines himself into court life and finds reason to continue living through his task of decorating the great sanctuary, through which he sees a chance of immortality.

The reader is also introduced to Rustem of Kerakek, a physician from Bassania, an eastern empire roughly analogous to Sassanid Persia, who has also journeyed to the city, finding himself entangled in political intrigue.

This depiction is a dangerous one for the Empress to request due to dolphins' association with the god Heladikos, who some worship as the son of Jad but has been declared paganistic and heretical by the Patriarchs of the faith.

Alixana tells Crispin to return to the boat with one of her two remaining loyal guards and asks him how he found a reason to live after having lost his family.

She returns to Sarantium on a small boat with her remaining guard, discarding her royal robes, cutting her hair, and changing her appearance.

Emperor Valerius II is confronted by all three surviving Daleinoi children, including Styliane and Lecanus, in his personal passage between palaces, his guards having been bribed.

He almost succeeds escaping, but is stabbed in the back by Leontes's secretary, Pertennius Eubulus - a man who hated the Emperor and Empress, perceiving them to be impious.

It is also revealed Alixana had already visited the doctor in disguise as a commoner with fertility problems, and Rustem had informed her that she was not barren - thus the imperial couple's failure to conceive an heir is due to the Emperor's sterility.

She has also sent him materials from Sarantium, such as high-quality glass and stones, needed to create a great mosaic, promising the work would be protected as long as no image of Jad is made.

Leontes/Valerius III - Supreme Strategos of the Sarantine Empire, Valerius II's most trusted and successful commander, husband of Styliane Daleina.

Severely burned, blinded and crippled by the Sarantine fire that killed his father, he has lived ever since as a prisoner on a small island near the city.

Without any living heirs, he wishes to leave his mark on the world by creating a great sanctuary to Jad and uniting the former kingdoms under his rule.

Valerius I - A peasant from Trakesia who came to Sarantium and slowly rose in the ranks of the army to become Count of the Excubitors - the commander of the Imperial Guard.

This novel takes place in the same world as The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Last Light of the Sun, Children of Earth and Sky, and A Brightness Long Ago.