On the Marble Cliffs

In the shadow of the Marble Cliffs the Narrator and Brother Otho lead a near idyllic life as dedicated botanists spicing frugality with spasmodic carnival. Then the Foresters of the Campagne take to roaming with incendiary torches in murderous midnight bands. Soon time-honoured rituals are being turned to baser ends... even in the towns of the Great Marina once famous for their now discredited poets and philosophers. In time a miasma of evil blankets the country and at last even the botanists are drawn towards the final appalling holocaust.