ENGLAND, 1193 A.D.
With Prince John’s soldiers hot on their trail, Lady Alix Oliver, 16, and her younger brother, William, flee to the village of Sudwell for safety, but things go wrong from the start.
William stumbles across a murder for which he is accused. He is sentenced to undergo the ancient ‘Ordeal’ whereby he must plunge his arm into a cauldron of boiling water to retrieve the stone at the bottom. An alternative is open to him, but that punishment is even worse.
Lady Alix seeks sanctuary at a castle belonging to her mother’s friend, Lady Sudwell. But soon she has her own problems to contend with when she becomes a pawn in a crooked scheme hatched by a corrupt guard and a thieving housekeeper.
Meanwhile, far away, a wounded knight, riding a milk white horse, sets a weary course for home.
