18th CHRONICLE. In May 1144, an envoy comes from the Bishop of Lichfield to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, and requests the services of Brother Cadfael as his interpreter on a journey to the newly revived fourth Welsh diocese of Saint Asaph. Not at all adver to a change of scene, Cadfael welcomes the invitation, but neither man anticipates what an eventful errand it wil turn out to be. For at the royal seat of Aber, they learn that a Danish mercenary fleet has been sighted approaching the Menai Strait; and as if that were not enough, a young girl goes missing and a corpse is discovered.
