The muffled groans of wounded and dying men propagate through the cool morning fog.  They seem to come from all directions amidst shattered shields, broken spears and burning wagons.  Drawn to the scent of death, carrion birds swoop down blind through the mist to feast on entrails, eyes, and puddles of rich pooling blood.  The battle is over and the so-called "Mayor of the Palace" and the "Duke of Franks", Charles Martel, Charles "The Hammer", has won a decisive victory against the armies of the Umayyad Caliphate.  With the death of their leader, Abdul Rahman al Ghafiqi, the invasion of Gaul has been stopped.  What remains of the Saracen horde is in full retreat across the Pyrenees to Iberian al-Andalus, relinquishing the great walled city of Carcasona.  However, while the Frankish soldiers and commanders revel in victory and the liberation of Aquitane, something sinister has been found in the hastily abandoned baggage train of the Saracens.  Something un-natural, something unholy.  

 

Called from their rest amidst the carnage, four footmen are tasked by Charles himself with a quest that will test them in ways that battle never could.