Convicted of violence, Goudeau was given to the executioner... as an apprentice! Torture science was hammered into Goudeau with incredible cruelty, and with it medicine, history, and mechanics. In his hands were the secret books of the order, which was persecuted by the Church in the 14th century. But he never read them. All he cared about was the fate of the woman he had dishonored and their daughter! And for their sake, he is ready to fight with the one whose instrument he was—with Death itself!