In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gave him a magical seeing stone which showed him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to have many parallels to his own.
The first message sent to Tom Thorne's phone was just a picture - the blurred image of a man's face, but Thorne had seen enough dead bodies to know that the man was no longer alive. But who was he? Who sent the photograph? And why? While the technical experts attempt to trace the sender, Thorne searches the bulletins for a reported death that matches the photograph. Then another picture arrives.