While a warm summer sun was shining through the window Abel over thought his life and his adventures so far. Is this what he wanted for the rest of his life? And would he arrive home safely? He hadn't been back home or to his fiefdom in years. And he received a letter this morning from the king himself. With orders to get back to Saxon castle. With a detour over Irish lands.
But Abel had other plans. He would travel the fastest way. He had made some friends during this Saxon Polish war and he hoped they would keep him out of prison. Being watched over was already worse enough. He was glad that the Norwegian king was so nice to give the orders that Abel could stay out of the jails of Mecklenburg. The prison he himself lead not so long ago. The Norwegian Thane had even send him two letters while he was in Mecklenburg. Laying on his sick bed he had read them and was grateful for such a ruler amongst the enemy lines. The Thane of Norway had offered him hospitality till he would recover and threaded him dignity and respect. And now he had recovered he would not forget so much kindness from such . But how exactly did he land in the middle of this mess. In the middle of this war. Travelling from a Norwegian to a Polish shrine, hoping for forgiving counts who would let an enemy knight, a former count pass through their lands.

*Abel looks into his journal before leaving this wonderful place*

Born in Utrecht early in 1005. The winter was just over. Born as the 3rd son of a respected philosopher, he had a good childhood. But as usual with older brothers he lost every contest. Always came in 3rd. Duel contests, running, wrestling, nothin' he could beat his brothers in. But he soon discovered brains take over brawl in a lot of ways. He focussed on his studies, he learned his Latin and could out speech his brothers at the age of 12. The charisma would take him far he hoped. To adventure's, beautiful ladies in distress. To friendships and to experiences.

But he wouldn't be able to experience all that much in Utrecht. His father told him to go out and find his own path in life. So he went to the castle of Utrecht. In search for a knight, a count or perhaps even the king. Someone to make him a knight! Someone who could teach him how to use his experiences from his childhood for a better good.

*Abel looks through the Journal again and again, there is a page missing. The page on which he had described how he became a knight. But the next page contains stories of his early knighthood*

Spending all the money he made on his fiefdom. The fiefdom he was granted by the King himself. A fiefdom in Friesland, not far from the place where he grew up. A new place to call home. But sadly he hadn't been there yet. Abel kept sending his money there, but he had to join an army. The Hamburger Tour.

He had helped King Alrik to conquer Hamburg. The first battle he ever fought. During that fight he had made a good friend. The Minstrel, who had now left him. To become a Prince.
His friend with whom he had fought his way through Poland, was off to become a Prince. Abel still had a hard time believing this wasn't a dream.

But the fight in Hamburg had sparked a war. Abel was enthusiastic about it at first, but soon learned his old father had been right. War is only beautiful for those who have never experienced it.

Looking back on it, his journey through Poland was a black page in his journal... he had to fight and hurt honourable people and while he had made sure to keep the casualties to the absolute minimum, not every man or boy could be spared in a war. It had saddened him deeply, as every human being deserved to be treated like one. He had tried to spare as many people as he could. But sadly he had learned that casualties are part war.
During this war he had fought to earn respect in Brno, Orawa and Sudety. He had battled to free his fellow countrymen in Wielkopolska. He had seen Irish nobles ill from fever and screaming from their nightmares in their bedrooms while fighting in the castle of Wielkopolska. He had used his mace in Lusatia alongside with kings and queen's from all kinds of nations of the SRI. He noticed the many run away children, driven away by this horrible war. He had fought near the Baltic sea to gain Saxon passage to this sea. But none of this really

And these battles and his braveness during those fights had not been unseen by the Saxon King and his councellors. Abel had earned himself the title of Count a couple of times, but was always to lose the title due to Saxony losing the lands he became Count of.He had seen Merseburg, Mecklenburg, Pommoran and again reconquered Merseburg under his command, all to be lost during this war.

But this wasn't the time to mourn about it. He had to follow the King's orders. He had to go to the Saxon castle. He did mourn about leaving Mecklenburg though. He had a good time there, the people helped him recover after losing a fierce battle in the Nordmark. Those Polish really had shown him how to fight over there. He would carefully remember the lessons he had learned there.

*Abel closes the journal, puts it in a side pocket of his bag and goes down to the kitchen to thank the monks who took care of him while he was ill. After that he starts walking towards the south-east. Towards home, or towards new adventures*

It would take Abel 4 days to travel from Mecklenburg to Altmark. This is what the monks told him when he left for his journey to the capital. But Abel expected that his travel time would be 5 days minimum. He wanted to enjoy the beautiful landscape's in the regions of Altmark and Mecklenburg now he could finally travel again. And also reducing his travel time were the bandits that were strolling around in the Altmark. Ever since the war the Saxons had not enough men to patrol all the lands and keep such unhonourable people under control. Abel would have to keep his eyes out for such men. He hoped he would face them and that he could teach them a lesson they would never forgot. Do not hurt innocent people!

But for now Abel was spending his time making drawings along the way. Trying to capture the beautiful sights around him. After the first couple of hills and nice sights he started to quicken his pace. Till he saw one hill where he hoped to find a good rest spot. When he climbed up the hill he was astonished with what he saw. This wasn't some beautiful area, this was the horrible sight of war. It was clear that the battle of the Altmark was fought here. He had heard some rumours about it along his way. 12 Saxon peasants had tried to defend the Altmark versus 70 Polish and their Northern allies. As he could see the peasants hadn't stood a chance. Their weapons were laying all over the place and it was clear to see in the ground that they had been taking away after that battle. Abel wondered if they were still alive. He hoped the Polish would respect those Peasants as they were only trying to defend their country, their land and their families.

Abel then looked around the battlefield again. It was like he heard something. When he listened to it more carefully it seemed to be a song. A Polish song. A song that he had heard before. He thought about his earlier battle encounters with Polish soldiers and they always sung before going into battle.
Abel tried to sing along to remember the words. And while singing this Polish battle song a reassuringly calm took over his body and mind. Would the Polish always feel this calm when they charged into battle? Cause that might explain a bit of their power in battle. And how they remained calm during the fights.
And if the Saxons only knew a way to take this calm away. Abel pounded about a solution but he couldn't come up with one.

Abel decided to write these thoughts down in his Journal and make a quick drawing of the surroundings. As he would have to continue his journey quickly. The skies started to weep again, as they did more often lately then usual. God must be sad that Christians were fighting Christians in central Europe. If only both sides could see that this war was going on for too long now.