December, 1380. When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King’s coronor to investigate. For the late Sir Robert had in his possession a sacred bloodstone which he was planning to donate to the Abbey of St Fulcher-on-Thames.

The bloodstone has disappeared and the Regent is taking an uncomfortably close interest in the case. Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Kilverby and his comrades of the Wyvern Company. But then it is discovered that a second old soldier has been slain on the same night. As Athelstan begins to uncover the dark secrets surrounding the Abbey of St Fulcher, the bloodstone curse seems all too real.