When the King IV comes home . . .

Good King Julian of Aravis has been dead for two hundred years but his kingdom still misses him. The current occupant of the throne is old and witless and has no heir. The true ruler of Aravis is the powerful Prince Bishop who controls both church and state.

When the King comes home all wishes will be granted.

Hail Rosmer wants to be an artist-not an ordinary artist but a great artist as great as the fabled Maspero who painted the famous Archangel altarpiece in the Palace of Aravis and made Good King Julians crown.

When the King comes home all dreams will be made real.

One day Hail sees a man catching fish from the river and eating it raw. The mans clothes are antique in fashion. He looks exactly like King Julian of Aravis. And there begins an adventure that takes Hail and her enigmatic companion from palace to wilderness to battlefield and teaches her and the rest of Aravis what happens when the King comes home in sober reality.