This Gothic novel, the second book in the Dredgemarsh series tells the story of the Greyfells: King Cesare, his beloved Queen, Lucretia and the tragedy that overwhelms them at the apotheosis of their personal and public life as rulers of Dredgemarsh. Fate deals a devastating blow to Cesare Greyfell and, to compound this, a traitorous menial, Shoveller Fairgame, finds himself in a position to end the Greyfell dynasty forever. He does not hesitate. To make matters worse, the brutal Volmar Cawdrult, King of the Brooderstalt, has amassed an invincible army to grind Dredgemash and its people into the dust of history. The reader will experience the smells, taste, rawness and baudy humour of medieval life in this odd Gormnghast-like fortress city of Dredgemarsh. The idiosyncratic characters are real flesh and blood that one might image as ideal subjects for the artistic genius of a Breugel.