The Hawks are the Pilgrim Church's elite regiment, soldiers entrusted with missions far beyond the scope of the conventional army. Blessed Master Helligraine - one of the Church's highest ranking, most beloved holy men - was abducted one year ago, his corpse found rotting in a river. When evidence emerges that Helligraine is still alive and being held against his will, three Hawks are dispatched to bring him home. But Helligraine's past - and present - is not what it seems, and two nations are drawn into a conflict whose seeds were sown millennia ago.