Soldier From the Sky, Book One: The Jewels of Saladin

Soldier From the Sky
A sweeping tale of love, war, time and treasure in six books
World War II. Nick Mancuso, a Brooklyn-born, deadeye gunner on a B-24 bomber is severely wounded in aerial combat, bails out over the wintry Apennines and loses consciousness while still in his parachute, his last thoughts on his lover, Theresa.
He awakens displaced in time, under the care of Italian partisans. By ancient magic and force of fate he’s become his own medieval ancestor and leader of a peasant rebellion in collusion with the tyrant's dangerously enchanting daughter.
To return to Theresa and parallel existence Nick must fight for his life in a world of hidden treasure, superstition, star-crossed love, intrigue, brutality and betrayal, and show fierce bravery in an epic battle for gold, glory and survival in 14th Century Italy.

Book One: The Jewels of Saladin
Early in the 13th Century, a trove of gems, The Jewels of Saladin, is discovered in the ruins of Constantinople. Bound for Rome, they are lost in great sea storm.
Two decades later, a newly married, fugitive, on-the-run Cathar peasant couple find the jewels in a coastal cave. They disappear with their treasure far into the Apennine outlands, where they assume a new name, Montagna, and start a new life.
Biding time, using the treasure wisely, they build their reputation and the prosperous commune of San Michele, under the seal of their count, to guard and collect tolls and taxes on a caravan road through the mountains. Their secret faith, treasure and status are handed down to last-born sons. The village grows into a well-known town. In three generations, the bloodline of the Cathar runaways is granted barony. A century later the newest Baron Montagna is murdered by his brother and takes the location of the hidden treasure to his grave. The Montagna power and wealth grow, and the story of the Jewels of Saladin become fireside lore and lure.