Anno Domini 1620. Europe is riven with the conflagrations that will grow into the Thirty Years War. Catholic and Protestant forces clash across battlefields ruled by sword and gunpowder alike, and mercenaries of every stripe ply their trade. Among them is Issak, a lone Japanese warrior bearing a matchlock of strange design, and fighting in service to his sworn mission-to find and kill the man who murdered his master and fled Japan for the other side of the world. Meticulously researched an...

The battle with the Dread Viscount rages on-but so does the siege of Breda! When Issak comes into possession of a new cannon meant to relieve the siege, he knows he must not let it fall into enemy hands, but he and his friends can't protect the gun. Instead, he comes up with an audacious plan so that the weapon can serve its purpose…whether it's in one piece or not! As the battle ebbs and flows, it becomes clear that the Viscount will hold the upper hand so long as he has the fortress of H...

After Issak puts a bullet through the eye of Spinola's gunnery commander, the Spanish cannons stop finding their mark. The defenders are elated, but their reprieve is a short-lived one. Spinola dramatically increases the length and ferocity of the cannonade in response-accuracy be damned. Under the relentless barrage that grinds on from dawn till dusk, it's only a matter of time before the fortress walls are pulverized into dust…that is, if the minds of the men within them don't go first. ...

With the Spanish siege of Breda underway, the fate of the Dutch defenders-and the whole war-hinges on keeping their supply lines open. Determined to aid their allies, Issak and Prince Heinrich set their eyes on the pivotal river fortress of Heusden, from which the ruthless Dread Viscount is slowly choking off the Dutch canal network. But when they come face to face with him and his pitiless men, hardened in their campaigns on the eastern frontier, the two quickly find themselves outmaneuve...

Pinned down in the fortress of Jülich by Lorenzo and his vanguard of elite marksmen, Issak and his Dutch allies can do little but wait for the Spanish army to arrive and crush them. Spurred by Zetta's prediction of a moonless night, they embark on a desperate gambit to construct forward fortifications under the cover of darkness. But with the work proceeding slowly and the approaching dawn certain to leave them sitting ducks, Issak decides to roll the dice-racing forward at first light und...

In hopes of finding Lorenzo and his master's guns, Issak and Zetta head for the Dutch city of Leiden, home to a skilled Japanese translator. If Lorenzo is to make more of his master's guns, he will need to have his instructions translated for the local smiths, and Issak intends to be there when he comes calling. But while sheltering from the rain on the outskirts of the city, they hear an ominous story about the arrival of a mysterious stranger some weeks back-a stranger with one leg, and ...

Caught in Wallenstein's brilliantly laid trap, the protestant army is destroyed. Issak barely escapes the carnage, but not before he loses his master's gun to Lorenzo. Demoralized and believing his allies to be dead, he's surprised to come across Elisabeth and Claus outside of town. When he learns from them that Prince Heinrich survived the rout and is being held prisoner by Wallenstein, they quickly hatch a plan to rescue him. But it will take more than a clever ruse to outmaneuver the cu...

Issak and Prince Heinrich's gambit may have worked, but the reprieve is short-lived. Crown Prince Alfonso's mercenary forces, led by an Ambrogio Spinola seemingly back from the dead, have issued an ultimatum to the nearby city of Rosenheim: cut off all resupply to Castle Fuchsburg-dooming it for certain-or be destroyed. Leaving his men to defend Fuchsburg, Prince Heinrich and Issak travel to Rosenheim to lead its small garrison as the city braces for a siege. There, Issak must survive a br...

Issak's skill with his matchlock gun has bought Prince Heinrich and the defenders of Fuchsburg Castle precious time. But while the immediate threat of Spinola's mercenaries has been stayed, the full might of the Spanish Army is but a few days' march away. 15,000 strong and led by the Crown Prince himself, the massive force will confront them with an impossible choice-try to hold out against overwhelming odds within the castle walls, or strike out and risk everything in a daring gambit beyo...

With the Bavarian Catholic forces hot on their heels, Issak and his allies take temporary refuge in Castle Clarenstein, where they must contend with two devastating losses-Heinrich's brother, the Elector Palatine himself, is reported missing after his army was routed in battle, and Zetta's grandfather Hans, weakened by illness and old age, passes away. As his final wish, Hans asks Issak to protect and look after Zetta, and Issak swears that he will. But the promise will be hard to keep-wit...

Through a bold plan and sheer tenacity, Issak and the defenders of Rosenheim managed to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. But there are sacrifices; among the many felled is the loyal Captain Bormann. Unbeknownst to them, the Spanish have also suffered a great loss-Lorenzo has murdered the crown prince and is lost in the wind, leaving their forces in disarray. When Prince Heinrich is ambushed by Spinola's forces on his return to Castle Fuchsburg, Issak races to rescue him. ...

When Issak and Prince Heinrich finally locate Elector Palatine Frederick V with the remnants of his shattered army, they find him a broken man. Retreating into his faith and insisting on fervent prayer over sensible military strategy, his men have lost confidence in him and ask Heinrich to lead them in battle instead. Issak and Heinrich depart with the army to confront the enemy, while Zetta stays back to watch over Frederick V. She accompanies him when he insists on consulting a theologia...