Aurelius' legion is ready to make the attempt to reconquer Britannia, but powerful forces are ranged against him; the tyrant Vortigern and his Pictish mercenaries, and the vast forces of Angles, Saxons and Geats who are beginning to take over the country. To succeed he needs a symbol to rally every Briton to his banner - The Sword of Albion. But it has been well hidden, and all he has to help him to find it is a cryptic clue. This is the final part of the English Dawn Pentalogy, which tells the story of the conquest and settlement of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, set against the broad sweep of events in the Dark Ages: the decline of the Roman Empire, the rise of Attila the Hun, the raids by the Picts and the Scots, and the usurpation of the kingship of Britannia by the tyrant, Vortigern. These events are a prequel to the age of Arthur, and the final chapter of the pentalogy sees Merlin setting up the sword in the stone for the king who is to come.