Once he was a banker—then he was gone. He got involved in someone else’s conflict and died, falling into the beginning of the seventeenth century. Now I’m no longer a money mogul, but a boy, Andrei Belev, bound to serve and protect the Fatherland. In Moscow, Tsar Godunov still reigns, but False Dmitry is already near. Ahead lie harsh years of the Time of Troubles and upheaval. The country is awash in blood; the Poles and the Swedes trample its land. Hide away? Sit it out behind a high fence? No! I won’t be able to.