King's Dagger: The Loyalist Book 1

The kingdom of Israel is young, and its king is untested. Having arrived late on the scene in Canaan, Israel has forced its way into the Promised Land, taking much of it by force and carving out a difficult, tenuous existence at best. Now the kingdom is completely surrounded by brutal enemies, all of whom have larger armies, more defensible cities, and more advanced armories.As their enemies close in around them, Israel's first king, Saul, sinks into a dark, festering depression, and he begins to turn a paranoid eye on members of his own household. At a time when an iron embargo has relegated the Israelites to the Bronze Age while catapulting their enemies into a new military frontier, their most ruthless and hated foe, the Philistines, launch an all-out assault on Saul's capital city in a final bid to crush the Israelites.Saul must find a way to even the odds. He dispatches a merciless assassin, known throughout the region only as the King's Dagger, to terminate those tipping the scales against them. The Dagger can bring Israel's enemies to their knees . . . but only if he can first escape his own doom.