In April 1144 Brother Cadfael leaves his monastery once more, in the company of the youthful Brother Mark, representing the bishop on a matter of church diplomacy. Cadfael does not forsee trouble on their errand, but then the travellers become entangled in the affairs of Heledd, a young woman desperate to escape an arranged marriage, and in the conflict between Owain Gwynedd and his treacherous brother Cadwaladr, who has allied himself with a Danish mercenary fleet in order to vanquish Owain.
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