The Broken Sword

In a Moroccan bazaar, amidst gunfire and chaos, a battered cup falls into a blind girl's hand, and her eyes are filled with light. But Beatrice is not alone in her appreciation of the Holy Grail, and her vision goes deeper than the surface. She meets Taliesin, who brings her to Arthur, and they join forces to protect the power of the Grail from abuse and to protect themselves from a soulless, amoral man who will stop at nothing to possess it.

The Broken Sword is almost too fast-paced, packed with agonizing cliffhangers as peril presses young Arthur, Beatrice, and Hal (Galahad, now a retired FBI agent) on all sides, though the lengthy recapitulations of Arthur's and Taliesin's previous lives detract from the real story in the 20th century. But The Broken Sword has a complete-feeling ending that puts Arthur, his recovered knights, Beatrice, and Merlin happily in place for future victories.