Bramble is a heartless and cruel henchman of the Unseelie Fey. He has been ordered to infiltrate the Black Citadel to capture and return the Seelie Fey princesses Zinnia and Hyacinth back to Fey world. But he has found his mission to be much more difficult to carry out than he had thought. He finds himself having to hide in small cracks and crevices much of the time, as when he tries to move around in the open he finds himself pursued by the filthy resident goblin Nob, who seems to have a taste for Unseelie Fey.