Traces on the Water. Volume I

Catalia and Dangar are two countries and two incompatible ways of life. Where in Catalia the power of the spoken word rules, in Dangar they decide with cannons; where one relies on meritocracy, the other holds on to slavery; where some trust science and technology, others rely on miracles and faith.

Álvaro da Silva is a Catalian: a famous writer, a ladies’ man, and a little bit of an adventurer. A failed argument over a duel leaves him without a penny. To keep from drowning in poverty, he takes on a commission—to write the biography of five people whose fates are too strange to be accidental. But for a book, facts alone aren’t enough: Álvaro will have to uncover other people’s secrets and untangle the threads reaching out from the past.

Dietrich von Dort serves in Dangar’s artillery. He was fortunate enough to be born not as a “stone,” but as an “eagle”—a nobleman. Only he doesn’t have the height or bearing to match, and promotions and honors keep passing him by. Dietrich loses confidence, thinks about resigning— and then, as if by some higher will, his destiny is suddenly changed by someone’s touch.