Satan's Fire

In 1303 the Old Man of the Mountain remembers back to when he nearly killed Edward of England almost thirty years before. He never forgets his prey – and now decides to release an imprisoned leper knight to avenge old grievances.

One windswept evening a few months later two nuns are hurrying to their mother house in York when they smell the sickly odour of burning human flesh. Rounding the corner, they confront the macabre sight of a man being hungrily consumed by a roaring fire.

News of this grisly death meets Edward I of England as he arrives in York for secret negotiations with the leaders of the military Order of the Temple. His unease deepens for, as he enters the city, a would-be regicide attempts to murder him. When the assassin, wearing the livery of the Templar Order, is found dead – having been engulfed by a mysterious fire – Edward immediately enlists the help of his Keeper of the Secret Seal, Sir Hugh Corbett, to investigate.