Travelling incognito on the Queen’s business involving a royal scandal which could imperil the throne, Faro’s fears are justified whem he leaves Edinburgh for the Scottish Borders into an area ruled over by the Elriggs, feudal barons still hunting with bow and arrow, making their own laws with murder treated as accident. Among the sinister forces at work, the ancient white cattle also roam dangerously free and Faro himself becomes a target for the Elrigg’s deadly games.