"I've heard of him, of course," William said, drawing the gaze of all three of his companions, both the living and the dead. "But my little knowledge of him doesn't give me a clue as to what happened tonight. He led an uprising against the Normans, didn't he? Eleventh century?"

Queen Bodicea nodded gravely. "To a point, he did. And quite successfully. Edric was a wealthy landowner who gathered up some of the miners who worked for him and trained them as soldiers. He led them against the Normans, but later he made peace with William the Conqueror, even allied himself with the Normans. He was cursed for that betrayal, condemned to haunt these lands."

William listened to her, but his eyes were on Doctor Nichols.

"And you, doctor," he said. "What do you know of Wild Edric?"