Through the pages of the popular series of historical novels by Perez-Reverte, a fearless warrior of the army of the Spanish king walks with a sword in his hand, and in his free time from battles, a duelist, adventurer, noble robber and assassin, a man of honor, Diego Alatriste, who is called for his incredible bravery captain. He constantly walks along the edge of the blade, fate is either unfair to him, or, on the contrary, favorable - Alatriste makes enemies for himself, enters into battle with the powerful Spanish Inquisition, participates in the long siege of Breda, glorified by the great Velazquez in the famous painting, wins gold from smugglers , illegally exporting it from the New World. And what does he get from this? Glory? Wealth? No. Because there are values in the world that cannot be replaced by the sound of metal or rewards from cold noble hands. Honor is above all! Honor and dignity. This is the motto of the brave captain Alatriste. Arturo Perez-Reverte, full member of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language and Literature (since 2003), author of the famous intellectual detective stories “The Flemish Board”, “The Dumas Club”, “Drum Skin”, in the series about Captain Alatriste boldly leads the game on a field where such famous masters of adventure-historical novels as Alexandre Dumas, Raphael Sabatini, Emilio Salgari left a bright mark, and is in no way inferior to them. The book combines the first four novels of the cycle.