IN THE explosive fourth book of the Demonata series, horror writer Darren Shan throws us back to the time of crannogs, druids and murderous demons. Bec, a young trainee priestess, was discovered as a new-born baby 'struggling feebly' in the arms of her newly deceased, mysterious mother by Goll, an old warrior, who took pity on her and took her to his home — a ringed, wooden fort. For many years, Bec lived there, playing and working as well as training to be a fully fledged priestess with Banba, her mentor and fellow priestess. Although she never truly fitted in, Bec was content to plod along in her normal, gener­ally eventless, life. Until the demons came.This edge-of-your-seat story follows Bec as she sets out with a small group of warriors to destroy the source of the demons — Lord Loss and his miserable kind. But the journey is not to be a straightforward one — pain, loss and unthinkable sacrifices are in store for the cursed heroes and Bec, her magic weak and untrained, can do nothing but get over the horrendous deaths of her friends and continue on her heart-wrenching journey.What will happen to Bec? Will she live and succeed — or perish and fail?