In the ancient Northumbrian town of Fulwich, there is an old man whom nobody knows. This man, Thorston by name, has lived a secret life so that he may stay alive--forever. -Call him an alchemist but-his posession of The Book Without Words contains the secret of immortality. - But to make this secret a reality, he must sacrifice his minion, Odo, a coal-black raven, and Sybil, his thirteen-year-old servant. - Just as Thorton is on the brink of imortality, Sybil decides she wants to live her own life, and Odo wants the gold he believes Thorton as made. - Who then will live, and who will die? - And who will get the gold?