The Talisman is is set during the Third Crusade and centres on the relationship between Richard I of England and Saladin. The piece features many schemes from within the alliance against Richard the Lionheart's plans to complete the Crusade.
Scheming and partisan politics, as well as the illness of King Richard the Lionheart, are placing the Crusade in danger. The main characters are the Scottish knight Kenneth, a fictional version of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, who returned from the third Crusade in 1190; Richard the Lionheart; Saladin; and Edith Plantagenet, a relative of Richard.
