The new school year at Seekings, and the Michaelmas term is one like no other. Strange portents in the skies and colder than any in living memory.
The fleet carrying Carl Birch has set out from Portsmouth, heading for St Petersburg in the Baltic. The inexperienced Duke of York, Prince Charles, brother of the King, and Lord High Admiral has pinned his colours to the mast of HMS Ajax - a decision which will have far reaching implications for him, the Royal Family and the Kingdoms of Albion and Silesia.
Back home, the village of Linbury is still under a cloud due to the murder. Further disruption occurs when a new vicar and his daughter arrive to replace the old. The beadle, Gabriel Levens, insinuates himself effectively with the newcomer and continues his ruthless treatment of those who oppose him. As a consequence, Freddy gets a new responsibility, one that he welcomes with open arms.
Far less welcome is the arrival at Seekings of Basil Cholmondeley. Simon Blotwell might even lose his position as the most obnoxious boy in the school, though he is more concerned that he now has a rival in the school choir. His anxiety makes him have wicked thoughts which need the intervention of his vicar the Reverend McKellan, while his study mate, the unflappable Henry Perceval, has to serve innumerable cups of chocolate to calm him down.
Despite being worried about Carl and his other friends in the fleet, Freddy answers the call from Mr Newton to journey to London to give an account of his progress at the school. In the company of Harry and Simon, it's a visit he is unlikely to forget.