For centuries, the Lord-Inquisitors of the Church of the Holy Ark have hunted Mindrippers with a single-mindedness that bordered on obsession. In an age of musket and cannon, the hunt leads them to the ancient city of Dilgan where women are being butchered by an unknown killer. Here, Enk Gueye, the young scion of a noble house, wakes from a nightmare to discover he can read—and control—other people's minds. He thinks he's a god, but the Lord-Inquisitors have another name for what he has become: Mindripper.