King Charles has raised his standard at Nottingham declaring war against his parliament and consequently his own people. Mathew and his friends are caught up in the middle of it all. Mathew refuses to give up his search for the last of the murderers of his beloved Elizabeth and so they must all follow the King as he crosses the country enlarging his army.The road Mathew now travels leads him to Shrewsbury and his showdown with John Franks, but whoever it was that said ‘vengeance is sweet’ had never tried to kill anyone, let alone a ruthless murderer.Changes take place within Mathew’s group of friends as they learn Shrewsbury is not to be their final destination and that the Earl of Essex, with a large parliamentarian army, is in close pursuit.Torn between returning home and following his career as surgeon to the King, Mathew has to make decisions that will inevitably change his own life and affect the outcome of the civil war in EnglandThe historical background events to this story are all true, only Mathew had his friends are made up. All the medical procedures have been taken from 17c medical books, so have the medicines.