> An Esoteric Medieval Mystery < Mariana in Spain and Avignon. Mariana's first mystery, which begins while she is still a slave in Granada. In this case the mystery is not a death or even a disappearance but a mysterious child, a girl called Alazais, whom Mariana is charged with restoring to her home and family. But why did the authorities want Alazais dead, and why had the thugs despatched to murder her been so reluctant to do so? Out of sentiment? Surely not. They would have cut any child's throat for a few francs. Then out of fear? Of awe? And what is Mariana to do with her when she finally finds out where Alazais is from, and learns that her family were slaughtered along with the rest of the village at the time when she herself was so strangely spirited away by the killers?