Mary Gentle's magnificent tale of the gutsy and beautiful mercenary leader Ash will take you on an unforgettable ride through mediaeval Europe as it never quite was: For Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. But she doesn't realise that the voice in her head is not the Lord and His Saints, but something far, far stranger...

And on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare.