In the summer of 1138, the war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda leads Brother Cadfael from the peace and quiet of his garden beds to the battlefield of passions, deceptions and death. Shrewsbury Castle, next to the abbey, fell after a siege and its ninety-four defenders, loyal to the Empress, were executed by order of Stephen. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, and makes a terrible discovery: not ninety-four, but ninety-five bodies lie in the ditch, and an additional victim was not hanged, but vilely killed...