The English Lake District 1663 AD.Three young cousins are complicit in the disappearance of a woodcutter and rumours are rife in the village. Thomas is caught up in Major Rathbone’s persecution of Quakers and threatened with transportation. His friends shelter him whilst they devise an escape, but the major’s son Rufus learns of their deception and gathers his constables in hot pursuit. History, folklore and superstition are infused with dark humour as the escape to freedom races to its conclusion. MARY is a young widow of Viking and Spanish descent; the inheritor of a runic ring, a black Arabian colt and terrifying visions of her Viking Ancestors. DAMIAN is Mary’s loyal and simple-minded brother. He is the church gravedigger; curious about death, obsessed with secrets and fearful of the Dobbie-man. Thomas attends the Hawkshead Grammar school. He sees ghosts, is a kleptomaniac, and a flamboyant storyteller.