'Honour is purchased by the deeds we do.' On the morning of the wedding of Princess Beatrice of the kingdom of Trasimene to the south of the brooding shadow of the Black Mountain, news was brought to the royal court that the feared one-eyed beast had broken free of his imprisonment and was rampaging through the land towards Trasimene. The beast was coming for Princess Beatrice, it was said, to avenge the loss of his right eye and the jewel...