Aldenmere is a kingdom in the tradition of medieval England, though it is not England. Its capital, Thornwall, sits at the junction of two rivers in a plain that has been inhabited since before any record exists to say otherwise. Its northern reaches press against the Greywood, an ancient forest that does not behave entirely the way forests are expected to behave, and which the kingdom's oldest maps mark simply as: here. The Weaving is the magic of Aldenmere. It flows through ley lines beneath the land; subterranean channels of accumulated natural energy that cartographers of a certain persuasion have spent lifetimes trying to map. A Weaver is a person born with the ability to sense and interact with these channels. The gift runs in families without pattern or predictability. It cannot be taught and it cannot be removed. For forty years prior to the events of this novel, the Crown has required all Weavers to register with the Royal Weave Registry and obtain a license to practise. Those found Weaving without a license have been subject to arrest, trial, and, in cases the Registry deemed significant, execution. The law has never been applied evenhandedly. It has always fallen hardest on those with least protection. This is a story about what happens when a kingdom is asked to remember what it always knew.
