A summary of Boris Akunin’s "The Fiery Finger" Automatic translate

In 2014, a collection of three historical stories was published. The three independent stories cover completely different eras in the development of Slavic statehood. All the stories are united by the genetic line of the descendants of a Byzantine spy, marked by a distinctive birthmark on their forehead.

This collection marks the beginning of the author’s large-scale literary project, "The History of the Russian State in Stories and Novels." It is considered the first book in the series, followed by "Bokh and Rogue," "The Widow’s Cloak," "The Three-Haired Week," and other works of fiction.

Fire Finger

Damianos Lekas, a seasoned spy for the secret service of Constantinople, methodically carries out the most difficult missions of the Byzantine Pyrophylax Kyrian. Under the name Gad, the Byzantine assassin eliminates the aggressive Slavic leader Voislav. He cunningly lures the Severian flotilla into the merciless attack of a fire-armed Greek ship. Having destroyed the barbarians, the scout returns home. Damianos visits his mother, Vsenezha, brought from the northern forests. At night, the spy dreams of the beautiful Hecate — the white maiden of the underworld, for the sake of meeting her he always fearlessly seeks death.

Soon, the spy receives new orders. He is tasked with traveling to the banks of the Danapr to eliminate the threat posed by the clever Polyan prince Kyi. Damianos, posing as a wealthy merchant, takes with him mindless automaton-like battle slaves. He brings the prince a trained leopard, Hera, and a black slave, Helia, as gifts. In Kyiv, the spy deliberately breaks the prince’s spear during a bear hunt, so that he can then save the ruler’s life with a well-aimed shot.

Helia becomes Kyi’s concubine, secretly gathering information. A dangerous truth for the empire is revealed: Kyi plans to subjugate the great river route, while far to the north, the formidable Varangian king Rorik is gathering forces. Leaving his sister-companion in Kyiv, Damianos sets out for Lake Ilmer, navigating dangerous rapids and past burned villages. The scout is ordered to create discord between the Varangian leaders and prevent their joint military campaign against the southern lands.

In the northern forests, a spy unexpectedly encounters a young girl, Radoslava, from a local tribe. The naive Slavic woman mistakes the Byzantine for the forest god Lesen. Radoslava bears a striking resemblance to Hecate. The spy’s mind enters into a painful conflict with his heart. Damianos loses his former composure and begins to fear death. Meanwhile, the Byzantine infiltrates the Rus’ camp. He successfully causes a conflict between Rorik’s chieftain, Haskuld, and the other Varangians. The scout defeats the mighty Viking in wrestling, becomes his teacher, and provokes a schism in the army. Damianos removes the cataracts of the blind priest Urmu, restoring his sight.

His love for Radoslava makes Damianos vulnerable. Helia, who has fallen in love with the young Varangian commander Helgi, betrays her companion. The Ethiopian woman reveals a plan for schism, forcing the Byzantine to flee hastily. Faced with a crushing choice between loyalty to his mission and his own happiness, Damianos saves Radoslava from poisoning at the cost of the only antidote. He allows his beloved to fall asleep, while he drowns in the cold waters of the lake. Damianos thinks to himself: "He who saves his neighbor has already saved his soul."

The Devil’s Spit

Centuries later, during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, a high-ranking Roman ambassador, Agaphodor, arrives in the Russian capital. The cunning bishop intends to dissuade the Kievan ruler from the idea of ecclesiastical independence. The young Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, known for his violent temper and insolence, receives the Constantinople guest in a cart pulled by black oxen. At a lavish feast in Vyshgorod, Agaphodor recounts the story of Empress Zoya’s infertility. Svyatoslav, provoked by the caustic taunts of the eunuch Agaphodor about the decline of male virility, makes a strange wager for a ruby ring. The prince secludes himself with the palace’s terrifying monster, the hunchbacked Kikimora, who bears a black mark on her forehead.

Life at the Wretched Yard is hard. Kikimora hates all people and secretly takes revenge on those who have wronged her, killing them on the sly. Nine months after the prince’s pleasure, the hunchback secretly gives birth to a strong, healthy boy in an abandoned basement. A pink spot glows on the baby’s forehead. Concealing this secret, the cripple, driven mad by fear, mercilessly strangles a bystander — the little, downtrodden servant girl Zhivka, who was hiding in the cellar to steal sweets. Before she dies, the suffocating Zhivka sees the ghost of the beheaded youth Yegory Ugrin.

The secret birth is accidentally discovered by the palace’s chief eunuch, Kut, through the disappearance of the belly. The cunning eunuch learns that Svyatoslav’s legal wife, the German princess Cecilia, has just given birth to a monstrous deformity without arms or legs. Svyatoslav is horrified at the thought of having given birth to a corpse.

Kut cold-bloodedly poisons the Greek doctor who delivered the princess. The eunuch discreetly replaces the dead fetus with Kikimora’s robust bastard son. Svyatoslav accepts the substitution with relief, promising Kut to make him the tutor of the newly-born heir. Kikimora is drugged with a powerful wine intoxicant and then left in the palace as a privileged milkmaid. The truth about his own son’s high status is hidden from his deformed mother forever.

Prince Cranberry

During a time of internecine fragmentation, the small Sviristel principality is ruled by the quiet and rather timid Ingvar. The young ruler, with a crimson mark on his forehead, strives to live by his conscience and strict Christian morality. The prince keeps meticulous records of his estate, protects the peasants’ lives, and conducts a census based on stove smoke. Ingvar wards off Novgorod river robbers with a bloodless ruse, placing barrels of beer and meat on the riverbank. His greatest sorrow is his unrequited love for the beautiful Irina, daughter of the neighboring Prince of Radomir. The girl devours the chivalric romances of Tryshchan and Izhota, given to her by Ingvar.

The tranquility of affairs is interrupted by frightening news about his older brother, Borislav. A former outcast who stole the treasury, a lover of military amusements and European adventures, he was captured by the Polovtsians after the Battle of Adrianople. Khan Tagyz demands a huge ransom of four hundred hryvnias for his insolent relative. Contrary to the stern advice of the old boyar Dobrynya Putyatich, Ingvar plunders the treasury. He sells warhorses and borrows from moneylenders to ransom his brother. Borislav returns in the luxurious European knightly armor of his warhorse, Roland. He quickly wins the affection of his retinue with his boastful tales of crusades and Byzantine plunder. Borislav loudly declares: "Either fly like eagles, or feed ravens."

The situation rapidly deteriorates when Borislav proposes to Irina. The girl had lusted after Ingvar, but the Radomir prince more readily accepts the proposal of his older, stronger, and more warlike brother. Borislav then treacherously murders the Polovtsian ambassadors right at a feast in Sviristel, feeding the khan his own severed nose. This savage act provokes an inevitable, merciless war with Tagyz Khan.

The Sviristel army, along with its Zabrod allies, sets out into the wild steppe. Borislav challenges the Polovtsian horde. A heavily armed horseman draws enemy arrows, but his horse is killed. Thanks to tactical cunning and a coordinated infantry strike led by Ingvar and Dobrynya, the Polovtsian fortified kurgan is captured. The wise Dobrynya perishes in a brutal, bloody battle. Borislav shamelessly appropriates all the military glory and the khan’s richest spoils for himself.

Upon returning home, Ingvar, mortally tired of betrayal and humiliation, prepares to leave for a remote monastery. He declares his love for Irina but refuses to flee with her into the wild forests. However, the vain Borislav decides to abandon Sviritel for new military adventures in warmer lands overseas. He takes his entire cavalry and all the steppe treasures, intending to reclaim his lost inheritance in Corinth. His younger brother is left with a devastated, defenseless principality and a wonderful opportunity to marry his beloved Irina. Ingvar humbly accepts his harsh fate.