1588: as the Spanish Armada prepares to sail, rumours abound of a doomsday device that, were it to fall into enemy hands, could destroy England and her bastard queen once and for all.

Enter Will Swyfte. He is one of Walsingham's new breed of spy and his swashbuckling exploits have made him famous. However Swyfte's public image is a facade, created to give the people of England a hero in their hour of need - and to deflect attention from his real role: fighting a secret war against a foe infinitely more devilish than Spain...

For millennia this unseen enemy has preyed upon humankind, treating honest folk as playthings to be hunted, taken and tormented. But now England is fighting back. Armed with little more than courage, their wits and an array of cunning gadgets created by sorcerer Dr Dee, Will and his colleagues must secure this mysterious device before it is too late. Theirs is a shadowy world of plot and counterplot, deception and betrayal, where no one - and nothing - is quite what they seem. At stake is the very survival of queen and country...