Deep beneath the seas of Escator lie the Veins - rich gloam mines worked by men sentenced to die in the darkness. Garth Baxtor, an apprentice physician, accompanies his father on Joseph's annual journey to the Veins to tend the barely remembered miners. He knows that these doomed men have experienced unimaginable despair and pain, but nothing could prepare him for what he encounters.In the dark tunnels of the mines, Garth discovers a dangerous secret when he heals a desolate criminal with a mysterious mark on his arm. Is it truly possible that the answer to Escator's greatest mystery is hidden beneath the hanging wall Could the fate of the lost Prince Maximilian finally be discovered Praise for Sara Douglass 'Douglass' books are a terrific read, compulsive page turners' Australian Book Review 'the best and most exciting writer of commercial fantasy fiction to emerge from Australia' Locus 'an epic imagination' the Age Deep beneath the seas of Escator lie the Veins - rich gloam mines worked by men sentenced to die in the darkness. Garth Baxtor, an apprentice physician, accompanies his father on Joseph's annual journey to the Veins to tend the barely remembered miners. He knows that these doomed men have experienced unimaginable despair and pain, but nothing could prepare him for what he encounters.In the dark tunnels of the mines, Garth discovers a dangerous secret when he heals a desolate criminal with a mysterious mark on his arm. Is it truly possible that the answer to Escator's greatest mystery is hidden beneath the hanging wall? Could the fate of the lost Prince Maximilian finally be discovered? Praise for Sara Douglass 'Douglass' books are a terrific read, compulsive page turners' Australian Book Review 'the best and most exciting writer of commercial fantasy fiction to emerge from Australia' Locus 'an epic imagination' the Age