Alf and Thea have returned to the Kingdom of Rhyanna where he has risen to the position of Chancellor. However, the Pauline Order has raised an inquisition on the Kingdom, and is preaching crusade against the kindred. On the eve of the Legate’s arrival, Thea is delivered of twins and they are wrest away along with Anna Akastas into the hands of the Order in Rome. Trying to defend them, Prince Alun, the heir to Rhyanna is killed.

Alf, Nikki and Jehan travel to Rome to retrieve them and lift the Interdict and Crusade. The price is perpetual exile from the world.

The Hounds of God is the third and final book of the Hound and the Falcon trilogy by Judith Tarr. Of the five books involving Rhiyanans (or magical Fair Folk), The Hounds of God is the only one that takes place, though only in part, in the Kingdom of Rhiyana. I reread this out of sequence because I like the interactions between Alf and the saintly Fra Giovanni, as well as the reunion between Alf and Thea that so discomfits Simon Magus. But I get ahead of myself...

At the opening of the book, Alf and Thea, the romantic center of the trilogy, have been happily settled in the court of Rhiyana for some period of time, and Thea is expecting to give birth soon. Alf's devoted friend Jehan from the first book is now a bishop and visits on the way to his new see to warn the Rhiyanans of a papal embassy that includes members of the Order of St. Paul to visit the witch kingdom and possibly pronounce anathema and crusade. During the embassy, not long after Thea gives birth to a boy and a girl, an unknown powerful enemy strikes from a distance--killing and kidnapping. So Alf, Jehan, and Alf's adopted brother Nikki (from The Golden Horn) head to Rome to seek their missing loved ones and face the unprecedented magical power supporting the fanatical hatred of the Paulines, while Rhiyana prepares for invasion.

This book nicely ties together separate threads (and supporting characters) from the first two books. Once again, it is well steeped in the details of daily life in a medieval urban center. The story explores the tension between worldly authority and spiritual calling by touching on the politics of the Roman Catholic church, in terms of both papal succession and differences among religious orders and houses. This is played out not only between various religious characters including Pope Honorius himself, but also within Alf who spent his early decades as a monk and is truly called to serve God at the same time that he is the Lord of Broceliande and the White Chancellor of Rhiyana, knight and lover and father. It also explores some of the shadier motivations behind crusading movements, and the trauma and madness of being hated and feared and 'othered' for one's essential nature by everyone, alone without love. I liked it and thought it was an excellent resolution to the story arc while exploring various questions of identity and religion. ( )