Naples, Rome, and Milan are some of the backdrops in Captain Alatriste’s latest exploit. Accompanied by young Íñigo Balboa, Alatriste is given orders to intervene in a conspiracy critical to the Spanish Crown—a swift attack to assassinate the Doge of Venice during the Christmas Mass and to forcibly place a new head of government more conducive to the Catholic King’s interests in this Italian region. For Alatriste and his comrades—veteran soldier Sebastián Copons and the dangerous Moor Gurriato, among others—, the mission rapidly becomes difficult, risky and full of surprises. Suicidal certainly, but not impossible.