London is in ruins, the people are hungry, and darkness has fallen across the land. Prince Alfred, a poorly and bookish child, has never left the safety of Buckingham Palace. But now there are strange goings on inside the palace walls – and Alfred’s life is about to change forever. In the dead of night something terrible stalks the corridors. When Alfred’s beloved mother the queen is dragged off to the Tower of London, the boy must summon all his courage to embark on an epic quest to save her… and the entire world.