Deep beneath the ruins of the Roman fort, Gijs, a poor archeology student, follows clues to a treasure. He finds Marcus, a critically ill Shangri-Laan. Marcus asks Gijs to save him by tracking down the wizard Merlin, somewhere near Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. Gijs meets Maria, they fall for each other. She is a journalist and smells a good story. Gijs cannot use that, he has to save Marcus and wants to keep the gold of the alien Shangri-Lans for himself. He takes out the journalist with a bad move. He almost drowns in the flooded sea tunnel before he finds Merlin. Merlin doesn't like earthlings and threatens to kill Gijs until Gijs convinces him that Merlin needs Gijs. Together they save Marcus in the nick of time. When the Shangri-Lans leave Earth, Gijs only has one thing left to do: try to make amends with Maria.

This is part 1 of the series: The Rings of Merlin