From Gaul, now the land of the Franks, comes young Clothar, the son of one king and the nephew of another. He has just survived a fierce civil war in Benwick, the land of his childhood -- a war involving his own family, pitting brother against brother -- to discover that his fate is not in his own hands. Instead it rests with his teacher and mentor, the renowned and powerful Bishop Germanus; Germanus's old friend, the elusive and enigmatic Caius Merlyn Britannicus; and Merlyn's young ward, the future king, Arthur Pendragon. Clothar's story is the story of Lancelot -- his past, his loves, his loyalty and his role as King Arthur's friend and betrayer.