Dirge for John Prester

This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, 12th-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible....

The Christian Patriarch of Constantinople is fighting a holy war against the forces of Islam. His attempts to rally the support of Europe fail to give him the strength he needs against the forces of Islam. Fearing defeat, he sends his appeals to the great Christian king in the East, Prester John - for the Patriarch was once a boy named Kostas, a novice in the service of John, long before he became king. The Patriarch’s message, seemingly via divine providence, manages to cross into the world of John’s Kingdom, where John’s devotion to Christ overcomes his wife’s misgivings.