Post 2. To Survive and Preserve

Protected on all sides by guard posts and Cossack troops, stands thousand-year-old Moscow. Inside the three rings of Moscow’s defenses—and beyond the Kremlin wall—there is a palace. In the palace, the Sovereign Emperor rewards the very best—the bravest of the brave, the flower of the officer corps, the support and hope of the throne. They must leave the decorated, outfitted-to-the-day-of-Archangel-Michael capital and go into the dark lands that were once part of Great Russia—until rebellion swept through them and they were condemned with anathema. But before the Cossack units go there—past the murky Volga, past the impenetrable veil of fog—someone must understand: where did all the scouts vanish, and why did the border posts fall silent? A boy who didn’t want to study history knows the answer, and a girl who is pregnant by the murdered Cossack. But will they have time to tell?