The king is dying, his heir is only a few months old, a foreign regent has seized power after a lost war, the people are grumbling and ready to start a revolution - and the royal interrogator Guy de Solerne, with the help of a witch and a master of coercion, is trying to save what is still possible. His task is to find a wild master who helps the revolutionaries, fulfill his duty and not lose the remnants of conscience and honor along the way.