After taking Yaroslav’s chambers as his own not so long after his master’s death, Dmitri was facing a number of serious problems. Many minor noble families, merchant guilds and parts of military corpus organized themselves against his usurpation of power and the contact between Malensk and its minor settlements was thus lost. Even more frustrating was sudden disappearance of Batutin family, which at first seemed to go in his favor as he believed Nikolai Batutin and his mother were just too afraid to confront him and left the principality before they were purged. As for the purge itself, the execution of it went quite clumsily: not only Batutin’s but also many other nobles managed to avoid or bribe the guardsmen, who weren’t too loyal to new regime. Right now, of all five successors, there was only him and the high priest who were present within the city. Dmitri walked around his new chamber, thinking about his next move. His head ached from all the reports coming to him from all over the principality. If the rest of Belgorod finds out how weak right now Malensk is, the vultures will come from all sides and destroy everything he worked for so long. He decided to take a walk through the small garden outside of palace. It was chilly outside, even though it was already noon. Autumn will soon end and another harsh winter will come. He walked along a small path, passing statues and centuries-old bare trees that were planted by his predecessors. This walk would have calmed him down before, but now it had absolutely no effect. He now realized why Yaroslav was always so distrustful and paranoid; everyone would react the same. The guards and nobles that he passed by seemed to him like they harbored ideas of taking power from him.

  “My lord! My lord!” A tall man in all black robes ran towards Dmitri, calling him to stop.

  “What is it, Kazimir? Any news about Batutin’s or the others?”

  “Indeed, my lord. They’re still here, hiding in Malensk.” said Kazimir with fear in his voice.

  “W-Well, did you arrest them? Why are you trembling so much?!”

  T-They raised their personal levies and called others in the city to rise up against you”

  “What?! Impossible!

  “They are still in their mansion but in some secret hallways where they started organizing and amassing their forces.”

  Dmitri could feel his heart pounding faster and faster. This reaction against him was expected, but not this quickly. He knew there was no time to waste.

  “Kazimir, go to the temple complex and tell the high priest to come here immediately. And tell Pyotr to raise the alarm in all garrisons in the city. Now go!

  Yes, m’lord!

  Kazimir ran off to the palace, alerting Pyotr and all the guardsmen inside and then left for the other garrisons. Several minutes latter, Pyotr and the squad of elite guardsmen marched out of palace, wearing gilded armor and armed with long halberds and presented themselves to their new lord.

  -“My lord, me and my guardsmen can easily take on those rebels. Please, allow us to march there immediately.

  -“Not yet. We still need Nekarios to defuse situation. The people would never go against the wishes of high priest. Wait here for now. I’m going to the balcony. Inform me immediately when you see Nekarios”

  -“Aye, sir.” Pyotr dismounted and decide to inspect the guard one more time. Dmitri went to the balcony with his right hand in his pocket, holding a knife and wearing chainmail under fur coat - everyone right now was suspicious to him and he didn’t want to give his rivals any chance for assassination attempt. Arriving on the balcony, he could clearly see in how dangerous situation his whole regime was; all streets were packed with mob chanting against him, attacking guards or seizing important outposts and buildings. But the most crowded part of the city was around the residence of Batutin’s, with their coat of arms on flags fluttering in the wind.

  -“You won’t be celebrating for much longer. , he thought, In couple of hours, you’ll start begging me to spare you.”

  Suddenly, the gathered mob started chanting even louder, and they began to move away to make way for a limping man in black. Dmitri couldn’t see his face, but the man’s fatness, long beard, his limp seemed very familiar to him. And then, he realized in horror who it was.

  -“Nekarios!? But how?”

  ***

  -“Long live Nikolai Batutin!”

  -“Return the old order of Batutin’s!”

  -“Down with the traitor Dmitri!”

  For past couple of hours the armed mob that gathered around the residence of Batutin family chanted this lines for almost an hour, waiting for Nikolai and Natasha to answer their calls. Natasha Batutin stood beside the window, watching with excitement how the mob grew bigger and bigger by the minute. Just a little more and they’ll all march to the palace and demand Dmitri’s resignation. But there was still one person they needed to start the march. Just as she was about to ask her guards about the arrival of High Priest, the crowd started chanting even louder as the the person she waited for had finally arrived. High priest Nekarios slowly limped up the stairs with Nikolai by his side, brought here against his will, but the sight of unruly mob at the doors of main temple convinced him that he had no other option. As they finally climbed up the stairs, the gates opened and Natasha, wearing gilded armor, bowed down before him and gave her thanks for supporting her cause. She didn’t wait for Nekarios’s reply but turned to the gathered crowd.

  -“Citizens of Malensk, as you can see, the high priest sees our cause as just. With the blessing of Guardians and the high priest, we are ready to finally punish the traitor Ryazanovich once and for all. Follow me!”

  The crowd cheered and raised their banners, ready for march. Nikolai was in front, in his father’s armor with sword in his right and banner in his left. Beside him were his mother and Nekarios and their closest advisors. After them came the levies and armed mob, which numbered in thousands. Like a swollen river, they broke one barricade after another, driving the guards towards the center of the city. Part of the army and officers decided to join the unstoppable mob, believing that it no longer makes sense to fight for the new regime. The last large barricade they encountered was in the main town square. Most of the guards still loyal to Dmitri gathered there, ready to clash with the mob. But before there was a fight, Natasha stopped the column.

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  -“Nikolai”, she turned to her son, “send our officers to negotiate a surrender.”

  “Yes, mother.” Nikolai picked three officers behind him and sent them to the barricades. Three of them nodded and went to the barricades with white flag. But before they could get close enough to even utter a word, all three were shot down by crossbowmen in an instant. Seeing this massacre, the mob went wild and demanded revenge, but Natasha quickly silenced them and told them to wait a bit more. On the other side, guards were praising the crossbowmen, among whom was Kazimir, taunting the rebels.

  -“All who dare to challenge Grand Prince Dmitri Ryazanovich”, he shouted,” will be put to the sword! Beg for mercy while you still can!”

  -“You’ll be the ones who will kneel before me and my son! Take them down!”

  Levies in the front moved to make way for commoners to attack (as they didn’t want to risks their lives when they have so much cannon fodder) and a large wave of citizens armed with clubs, daggers and maces charged forward. The crossbowmen unleashed their arrows, completely decimating first few lines but the charge still went on. Kazimir drew his sword and ordered his soldiers to defend the barricades at all cost. Soldiers drew their weapons and raised their shields, ready for the oncoming onslaught. Dmitri watched all this from his balcony, shaking with great fear like never before. Kazimir, Pyotr, his personal guard - all of them were loyal to him, but that was all he had. Everyone else was against him in one way or another and it seemed that his end was near. Should he try to escape the city and fight again another day? He knew there was a secret tunnel beneath the palace built by Yaroslav not so long ago in case of emergencies like this, but that seemed useless as all settlements and outpost were in hands of his opponents. He was surrounded and his only option now was to fight till death. As he was pondering his options, a great cloud of dust began to form a few miles outside the city walls. Now he was sure - his demise will come soon enough.

  ****

  -” And that’s the whole story. He just wouldn’t stop so I had no choice but to kill him. I understand that some of you want revenge but I’m telling you again, it was his fault, not mine.”

  Aleksandr went silent, waiting for response from Kiril’s company. It’s been two hours since Kiril died and two nearly started fighting when they saw Kiril’s lifeless body. They agreed to a truce and now they were sitting around the campfire they made an hour ago after Kiril’s death. Both groups were dead silent. Aleksandr’s men sat around their leader, just in case if any of Kiril’s men tried to attack. On the other side of campfire, Kiril’s men sat beside Viktor, who was Kiril’s deputy and current leader of their group. Between both groups sat old shaman, trying to find some solution to this problem. After almost an hour of uneasy silence, Viktor stood up with the help of his men (as he was still wounded from fight with yeti) and decided to speak for his men.

  -“Aleks we know that our boss was always fiery and quick to anger. Maybe you are speaking the truth and he was the one who started the fight, but…“, he paused, giving look to his men behind him and then turning back to Aleks,”but he was more than our boss. He was our friend and supporter. What you did to him is unforgivable.” The old shaman quickly stood up and stood in between two leaders.

  -“No, no,no, I won’t allow any bloodshed here!”

  -“Calm down old man”, said Aleks, “let him finish. Please continue.”

  -“As I already said, what you did is unforgivable, but since some of our boys were your friends before, myself included, we will give you an option to leave Malensk unharmed.”

  Aleksandr’s men protested against this, especially Nikita.

  -“Aleks isn’t going anywhere! He is a successor and your superior, so you better apologize right now.”

  -“Or what, Niki? You gonna cut me down like my boss?”Viktor asked with growing frustration in his voice. Nikita gripped his dagger on his belt and slowly walked towards Viktor, followed by his men. Kiril’s men also stood and stood beside Viktor, ready for fight.

  -“Nikita, that’s enough! There will be no more bloodshed for today.”

  -“But Aleks-”

  -“That’s an order!!”

  Nikita hesitated at first but eventually turned back and sat back on his place and the rest followed. After everyone calmed, Viktor again approached Aleks.

  -“Please, just leave with your men. Someone will surely hire you and give you a new home.”

  Aleksandr knew he was right. But a part of him didn’t want flee like a coward. News of his blood spilling will definitely reach all surrounding principalities and he will be branded as a traitor forever. It seemed he was destined to be a lowlife mercenary. His inner conflict was shut down though as one of the riders from Kiril’s group returned from Malensk. He was sweaty, short of breath and red in the face and he desperately tried to say something.

  -“Calm down you idiot!”, shouted Viktor, “Someone give him water!”

  After getting hydrated, the soldier told them what was going on in Malensk.

  -“The whole city is in chaos! Everyone is fighting against each other and, and…”

  -“Hey, hey, calm down! What did you say?”

  -“There is… a war in Malensk. Dmitri took control of entire city, or at least seemed like that until morning today. The Batutins rallied enough support to challenge him and have now surrounded the palace and control at least two-thirds of the city. I woke up at dawn hearing crowds chanting for Dmitri’s death and immediately snuck from the city before the gates got closed.”

  Both groups sat in silence as they were too shocked to say anything. Viktor and Aleksandr looked at each other in horror, realizing in what crappy position they were right now.

  -“Well, looks like we’re not the only ones who’ll leave Malensk.”, said Nikita, looking at Kiril’s companions.

  -“W-what’s that supposed to mean?” asked soldiers from Kiril’s group.

  -“He’s right”, said Viktor with sorrow in his voice, “they know we have no sympathy for either of them so they’ll probably get rid of us once they finished their fight. Whoever wins will try to destroy any remnants of support of rival factions. Well, Kiril is now dead, but I don’t think they would risk incorporating us into their new rule.”

  Some men sat in silence, some started crying and other started cussing and cursing but all of them were sure that they have no place in Malensk anymore. Some of them had wives and children or were focused on their military career, but all of that now seemed destroyed.

  -“You think this is the end?” said Aleksandr, but nobody paid attention to him. Nikita took a bottle of bear, and was about to ask Aleks to share it with him, but his boss just threw the bottle in fire, making it rise bigger and wider, so it caught everyone’s attention.

  -“I asked you something!! Do you really want to run away without fight? Do you!?” He turned to Nikita and his men. “We worked for years to build ourselves a new home after our exile. Don’t you remember what we sacrificed to get here? Don’t you remember the words of man who brought us here? What would Karegin do if he was in our situation?”

  This last sentence hit the right string in his men. They all knew and loved Karegin, especially Nikita, who was adopted by by Karegin when his lost his parents.

  -“And you, Viktor? Are you going to run just like that?!”

  -“And what other choice do we have? Kiril’s dead, and with him gone we have no place in Malensk. We are dangerous to new regimes.”

  -“Then why don’t you join me?” This question caught Viktor and others by surprise.

  “You can run away and rot with your men in some desolate outpost or join me and make something out of our miserable lives. Kiril wouldn’t run away no matter how small his chances were.” This last bit really pissed off Viktor because he realized Aleks was playing on their feelings, but he didn’t say anything as he realized his men didn’t want to leave their wives, children and property to the mercy of their rivals. And as much he hated to admit it, Aleks was the only man who could guarantee him and his boys their place in Malensk.

  -“I pledge my allegiance to you, Sir Aleksandr.”

  Kiril’s men watched in shock as Viktor bowed down to the man that killed their boss. Some shouted in protest, but Viktor quickly silenced all of them.

  “Shut up, you idiots! I’m not doing this just for myself, I’m doing this for us! We can either become new rulers of our city or die trying. I’m not going to run for the rest of my life. Choice is yours.”

  For a few moments, the soldiers stood in their places, unsure what to do. But slowly, one by one, they bowed to Aleksandr with bitter hatred in their hearts.

  -“What is our next move, m’lord?”

  Aleksandr turned towards the direction of Malensk. His hands stopped trembling, his mind was at peace and his goal was now clear.

  “Mount your horses. We ride back to Malensk immediately.”