It was a time when Spain was revered, feared, and hated in the eastern seas. Accompanied by his faithful son Inyigo, Captain Alatriste boards a Spanish galleon. The ship sails from Naples to the empire’s farthest and most unfortunate outposts: Morocco, Algiers, and finally Malta—for stunning and bloody battles on the open sea. Alatriste spares no effort to turn pirates into minced meat and free the Mediterranean for Spanish trade.