'Hark to the Beating Wings of the Angel of Death!' When Nostradamus, wild-eyed and trembling, proclaims to the French court his prophecy of a great massacre, the young King Charles only laughs. His mother, Catherine de Medici, pays more heed to the soothsayer's words - she believes he can truly see the future. But Nostradamus' prophecies are not only for those who rule: he also has a message for Melisande, the minstrel's daughter. For he is certain that Fate links him and Melisande together. And as the Angel of Death approaches, the soothsayer gives into her safekeeping some very special parchments - parchments that the titled heads of France would do anything to see. A rich, dramatic adventure set in the tumultuous years of the alte sixteenth century in France - a time of assassination, poisons, seers and the sword. A time when a king must be saved...