Two thousand years ago, a God-man came into the world. He performed a great miracle and, leaving, left people the Word—through it it’s possible to accomplish the impossible. But the Word is accessible not to everyone; many long to possess it. And often those who tried to squeeze it out died a terrible death. It happened that the Word was in the hands of a teenage boy who found himself in the hellish penal colony of the Sad Isles. Many want to get the young Mark—capable of changing the fate of the world. But to defend him is willing only one seasoned thief, Ilmar.