The 19th century was knocking the wheels of steam locomotives, flickering incandescent lamps, ringing telegraph poles and leaving the first black and white photographs when he came... the Black Duke. His retinue had been waiting for him - the Messengers of Chaos, loyal to him. Who is he, and what brought him to cold lands where winters seem eternal? What are the rules of his Game, and how will it change the participants? Who will win the main prize - the treasures of an abandoned mine? And what can Esia, the daughter of a poverty-stricken peasant from a remote northern village, change?..The first book in the fantasy adventure saga about Russia in the 19th century.