- Crusader (Sara Douglass novel)
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Crusader 
Crusader first edition cover.Author(s) Sara Douglass Country Australia Language English Series The Wayfarer Redemption Genre(s) Fantasy novel Publisher HarperCollins Publication date 1999 Media type Print (Paperback & Hardback) Pages 505 pp (first edition) ISBN 0732265290 OCLC Number 154318041 Preceded by Pilgrim Crusader is the conclusion of The Wayfarer Redemption Trilogy and Sextet by Sara Douglass. It is preceded by Pilgrim.
Plot introduction
"For countless millennia the Star Dance and the TimeKeeper Demons have battled their way across the universe, destroying innumerable planets, and laying waste to civilizations across the cosmos.
Choosing the land of Tencendor as their last battleground, the demons break through the Star Gate. The Gate is destroyed, all magic in the world is gone, and the three races of Tencendor are plunged into a vortex of chaos, madness, and death.
Caelum SunSoar, son of the near-immortal Starman (sic) Axis and beloved ruler of all the land's peoples, is dead. Leaderless, those not killed outright or driven mad flee to the one place left to them, Sanctuary, a magical place created ages past to shield all who are good from the wrath of the demons.
For some, there is one hope left: DragonStar, Axis's other son. Many believe he is the true StarSon, the only being that can save their world. Others are just as convinced that he is in league with the demons and will be their doom. Only DragonStar knows the truth, and as he and his companions go forth to do battle, he prays that he may convince all that his motives are pure.
What he does not know is that there is a traitor who plans to hand Sanctuary over to the demons. A betrayer whose actions could force DragonStar to make a sacrifice so bloody and horrific that it could mean the destruction of everything that he holds dear in this life or the next.
And if DragonStar fails, could doom Tencendor to an eternal hell." (from bookjacket)
Plot summary
Raging at the escape of the StarSon, Qeteb has the Hawkchilds scour the remains of Tencendor. Although they don't immediately find Sanctuary, a Hawkchild does find and return the wooden bowl given to Faraday by the Mother, though they do not know how to use it. Unaware of this oversight, the Mother, Ur, and the Horned Ones wait in the Sacred Groves, slowly dying. meanwhile, at sanctuary many are discontented and impatient, finding it more of a prison then a sanctuary. Axis walks to the bridge and begins talking to it, though halfway through it begins screaming and it dies, and Axis nearly falls into the chasm below until Drago saves him, and though Axis notices a some sort of power in him, he still stubbornly refuses to forgive him for Caelum's death, thinking he is still the malevolent man he was when he was a baby, who always wanted Caelum's inheritance. Drago then talks to Azhure, who also recognises he has some sort of power, and on departure recognises him as Dragonstar, not Drago
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