This is the professor’s story. The professor, who is not named, is an archaeologist who is nearing the end of his professional life without having made that career-defining discovery. Professionally and personally he has become jaded and continues his work without enthusiasm, until he employs a young assistant who begins to rekindle his passion for the past.

With the discovery of some human bones, the fragments of an eighth century grave-marker and a book called “Raven-Fish!” the professor’s long dead hopes begin to rise again. The story is made up of two books. One is told in first person by the professor. The other is “Raven-Fish!” the book that he has discovered and in presenting them enmeshed like the entwining fingers of two hands, certain curious links become apparent and among the first questions that arise is one concerning the professor’s assistant. Is he really more than he appears to be?

As the professor chases down the truth in the present day, so the novice monk Elmo (the main character in "Raven-Fish!") tries to avoid capture, torture and assassination while carrying out the last task assigned to him by his one-time tutor, Alcuin of York. The net tightens upon the truth and upon Elmo and both stories end in a way that links them together.