““Giustiniani pointed toward the rows of tents. “By my estimations, there are almost two hundred thousand men out there.” Cyprian let out a breath, as though he had been hit in the stomach. “That many?” Radu nodded. “But roughly two men in support for every one man fighting.” “That still leaves sixty thousand? Seventy thousand?” Cyprian covered his mouth with his hand. Radu was shocked to see tears pooling in his gray eyes. “So many. What could Christianity accomplish with a mere fraction of the unity Islam has? How can our God ever withstand the ferocity of this faith?” “Do not blaspheme, young man.” Giustiniani’s tone was sharp, but it softened when he spoke again. “And do not despair. The odds are not so against us as they look.” He patted the stone in front of them with one thick, callused hand. “With a handful of men and these walls, I could hold back the very forces of hell itself.””
