Elisha was once a skilled barber-surgeon, having been dedicated to the healing profession since childhood, but it is his profession no longer. After being falsely accused of murder, an act which led him to slay the tyrant king, Elisha enlists the help of the true heir Thomas to fake his death and go into hiding. Elisha travels to the continent to warn Ludwig, Thomas's father-in-law and the Holy Roman Emperor, and to identify the goal that the mancers seek.

Caught up in the political and religious trials of 14th-century Europe, Elisha must forge new allies in order to stop the mancers as well as invoke the deadly magical abilities in his possession, a move which he fears will make him into the kind of man he strives against.