The Adventurer Author:Mika Waltari I, Michael of Finlandia, started life a nameless orphan brought up by a witch . . . Before I was twenty, I had tasted power and barely escaped the headsman's ax. The bawdy taverns of Paris and Germany were my home till I met and married a redheaded girl who was all a hot-blooded man could want. But on the day she died, screaming, in a torture ... more »chamber, my life changed. Wherever danger was to be found, there was I. I fought across Germany and intrigued in Spain. When Rome was burned and looted, I stood amidst the chaos, bloody sword in hand. They called me The Adventurer, and no man better deserved the name. For as Rome lay behind me, my eyes were already turned to the East and the glory that awaited in the army of the Sultan.« less