Each book by Elizaveta Dvoretskaya is an exciting adventure, the world of Ancient Rus', into which you find yourself directly from the pages of the novel. Its heroes evoke involuntary respect, their actions make you worry and rejoice, and their fates are so exciting that it is impossible to put it down without reading to the end. In the spring of 914, the united army of the Russian lands returns from a campaign on the Khazar Sea and carries considerable booty. Having violated the agreement, Khakan Bek's cavalry would attack them at a camp near Itil, forcing them to defend their prey and their very lives in fierce battles. But even for those who managed to survive, the difficulties are just beginning. The southern part of the army, under the command of the Plesnetsk prince Amund Jotun, is trying to fight through the usual route, through the transfer from the Volga to the Don. The northern army, led by two brothers from Holmgard, Sveneld and Godred, has to go in the other direction, into the unknown. To return home, they will have to find a completely new path to their homeland through the possessions of unfamiliar peoples. And at home Sveneld is waiting for Vitislava, his young wife. Three years ago, when he captured the daughter of the Veligrad prince as booty of war, she was only eleven years old. While he was on an overseas campaign, she grew up and became an adult girl. When Sven returns, they will finally get to really know each other.