Book Cover: A Swiss Novel / Middle Ages, drama, action

Want to win a job like this?
This customer received 27 book cover designs from 13 designers. They chose this book cover design from iztok.brodnjak as the winning design.
Join for free Find Design JobsBook Cover Design Brief
We are looking for artwork (covers front and back back) for a paperback novel (480 pages, 5 x 1 x 8 inches) about William Tell to be published via Createspace or other self publishing platforms, so PDF for printing. The novel is called "The Stronghold" written by Albrecht Behmel. Theme: we'd like to have the image of a red apple with a square white cross (= the Swiss Flag) carved out of it with a knife or better a crossbow bolt, very much like the attached images); the cover should convey the medieval setting, action, grit, drama, heroic alpine panorama, it would be nice if the finished book looked like a blockbuster movie poster. The artwork might show the crossbow bolt as well or perhaps the cross itself looks like two arrows in cross formation, perhaps even like skull and bones...
Target Market(s)
young adult, adult readers, action fans, history lovers, tourists in Switzerland,
Font styles to use
Colors
Designer to choose colors to be used in the design.
Look and feel
Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.
Elegant
Bold
Playful
Serious
Traditional
Modern
Personable
Professional
Feminine
Masculine
Colorful
Conservative
Economical
Upmarket
Requirements
Must have
- classy design, must be understood quickly by browsing visitors of a book store. It needs to jump off the shelf - instant recognise: this is a fun to read novel about William Tell, Switzerland, like Braveheart but in the Alps.
Should not have
- this is how the previous edition looks like https://www.amazon.com/Stronghold-Albrecht-Behmel/dp/1909273708
- it wasn't enough of an eye catcher