The second swaggering instalment of Fortunes of France, the first volume of which, The Brethren, took the UK by storm last year Montpellier in 1566-only fools walk the streets at night unarmed, while a profession of faith in the wrong company can lead to a knife in the back. Not even this proud city of philosophers is safe from the menaces that endanger the peace of France. The city militia are struggling to contend with the lawlessness and religious hatred that threaten to tear the whole country in two. Now an adult, Pierre de Siorac must travel south on dangerous roads to the great univer.