The Welsh border is full of legends, among them the elite warriors of the SAS. Ex-trooper Syd Spicer knows all about pain and how to endure it. So what could possibly terrify him... and why won't he talk about it to his friend Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist for Hereford?

As urban crime spills into the sticks and old barbaric evils are revived, Merrily goes where neither a priest nor a woman is welcome, to unearth secrets linked to the area's pagan past. Secrets that she knows can never be disclosed.