Rome, 799 AD. Pope Leo is viciously attacked by unknown assailants. Sigwulf, a Saxon prince who has been banished to the court of King Carolus in Frankia, is sent to Rome as a spy to find who was responsible. There, he discovers a web of lies--the only clue to the attackers' identity an intricate gold buckle, which Sigwulf links with a flagon in the home of the Pope's chamberlain. Could the attack have its source in the highest levels of the church?...