The Earl of Essenburg, Steven Hargraves, is dead.
Assassinated by an unknown assailant, his death plunges the earldom into a bloody civil war. Rival siblings of the murdered lord have vied for control of the region for three long years. Frederick, the rightful heir to his father's title, lies ensconced in Bode Castle, held under siege by his younger sister Catherine's army.
As alliances shift and unforeseen forces are brought into the conflict, an innocent newcomer threatens to upset the delicate balance of the warring factions. A gravedigger by trade, this one man seeking redemption could change the fate of the land. For a man prone to a solitary existence, his world will forever be changed. But his attempts to navigate the cut-throat world of the nobility might also lead to his downfall.
Brave knights, cunning mercenaries, and warrior monks, along with strange and wondrous places, await the gravedigger. He may hold the key to Essenburg's plight.