Years have passed since the clash of shieldwalls echoed across the land. The Saxons are now the lords of Britain. And yet the bards still sing of Arthur – ‘In our darkest time, when we need him most, shall he come again.’ Yet old Beran has no love of bards’ songs. Nor of people, unless they are paying him to steal or kill. He is a mercenary, in the employ of the cutthroat Nabor ap Nabor, and he has been ordered to murder a boy fleeing a burning city. No ordinary boy either. No, this boy is the son of King Constantine and the grandson of High King Ambrosius. And he could be the hope of Britain – if he lives. Betraying his companions and returning to a world he thought he had left forever, Beran gives his word that he will take the boy to the one place that still holds out against the Saxons: Camelot. Crossing a hostile land, they will meet the runaway lovers, Tristan and Isolde.