His name is Wolf. He is efficient and ruthless. They call him the King's Killer, because whenever there is trouble in Chivial, King Athelgar sends Sir Wolf of the King's Blades to investigate. Now there is very big trouble. Unknown raiders have stormed the hitherto impregnable castle of Quondam, slaying its defenders and carrying off the castellan's wife. Wolf's own brother has been gravely wounded. Who are these strangers, what are their motives, and who -- or what -- was their sinister cat-faced leader? With the unwelcome help of an inquisitor from the Dark Chamber, Sir Wolf rides posthaste for Quondam. But the answers he will find and the terrible results that will follow lie beyond his wildest nightmares.