Mathias Eynon’s dreams were small. A dabbler in magic, he expected to live in obscurity in his home in the Welsh hills. But fate has other plans for him. It is the Year of Our Lord Fifteen Eighty-Nine, and a revolution is quietly brewing. Richard the Fifth has overstayed his rule, some say; the line of Demon Kings must be burned out. When the Inquisitor Charles Weaver comes to Mathias’s village, he is thrust into events beyond his understanding.

Mathias is sent, with his betrothed, Tagan, to the corners of the known world – the frozen lands of the north, the pirate-haunted ports of Spain, the mountains of the German Empire, the burning sands of Africa – to bring back masters of the magic arts. With the fanatical Weaver close on his heels, he sets out to gather his allies.