War after war after war....

Ban was so sick of it , hearing that wars are being declared around the world. The Pechenegs getting besieged buy 4 times larger forces to new sultans and war of new sultans , Castille declaring war , Saxony declaring war... Ban was tired of it...

Then because he let his guard down for one second , everything was in jeopardy , Bavaria was being besieged because it wouldn't let the Saxons pass towards Serbia , Serbia threatening to break the peace agreement and start a new war.

Ban's armies were stretched on all sides. Confused to what he should do , he sat on his throne with his face in his hands. Then he heard an argument in the hall.

...I can't believe you're so stupid not to notice it - Jelled Borna and continued when he saw his king with a better tone. - My lord , grof Marculius thinks that we should declare war on Saxony , they are of course invading our brother nation of Bavarians and... - He was cut off my Marculius

My Lord, vojvoda Borna wants to wiggle out of this one - We should declare war on Saxony for threatening Bavaria and insulting them and for crossing their border without their permission , PERIOD! We shouldn't be thinking about ourselves , when we were in danger of war they fought for us...- and now he was cut by Erwin the youngest grof.

And my liege , Niestanka your wife went to Zahumlje to buy new armors we have heard , during a war she went into their territory , then her 2nd in command forgot to order the army to help us in Slavonia and that's how we got captured. I can only say that the only thing that's good done by the Bavarians , was the battle of Dalmatia , the rest of it is pure and utter... -now he was cut off by Ban.

Not another word! Erwin or else you'll be hanged for insulting our brother nation and my wife , but she would do that personally if she found out! - Ban gave a quick glance at Erwin and gave the signal that they can continue , while Erwin was embarrassed and didn't say another word.

Where was I? Aha! We should ultimately help Saxony with this war my liege , it's a chance to get back our regions lost in the war - Continued Borna - But I think that would break our peace agreement.

That is indeed correct Borna - said Ban as he stood up - Indeed it would be violating the peace agreement. I've got some messages from Ljudislav here , he speaks that if we let them through we are breaking the peace agreement , I've sent him a reply that that isn't breaking the treaty and he didn't say another word....yes Marculius? - Ban stopped as he saw Marculius trying to catch some attention.

So we're in an awkward position , If we let them pass and wage war we're dishonoring the call of Bavaria for war , If we help Bavaria we'll ultimately helping the ones that waged war with us and thus I doubt they will come to our aid on the front-lines , we would be like sheep to do that. And I don't see a way out of it.

There was an ongoing discussion about it. About how the Saxony intervened to help Croatia but then it pillaged their allies and brothers , how Serbia was trying to break peace and put charges on Ban's honor and prestige. On how the Polish are now using the NAP treaty with Saxony to help Serbia in this war , and other topics.

In the end the council went to sleep , after hours of discussing , no progress was made , but tomorrow is a new day!

To be continued...

Borna spend most of night thinking about discussion that happened some hours ago.
When he finally fell asleep he dreamed about Croatia on fire. Quickly after he fell asleep he woke up he took his spear and shield, but then he remembered it was only a dream.It was dawn. When he calm down he get out of his room thinking about war that is aproaching. He went to eat something, and when he came to hall there was already Grof Antimonius eating. Aperantly he was only one awake with some chefs and guards. Borna sat next to Antimonius and started to eat. He was still thinking about yesterdays discussion. Antimonius noticed that Borna acts strange.

"Whats wrong my friend?" Antimonius asked.

Borna told him everything about yesterdays discussion with Grof Marculius, Grof Ervin and King Ban.

After he finished with speaking Antimonius stood up and started to walk around. After minute or two he sat down again and sayed :

"This is bad, really bad. Whatever we do we will be judged. But my opinion is that we should help Bavaria and declare war on Saxony. Bavaria did some mistakes while we were in war with Empire of Serbia and Kingdom of Hungary, but they deserve our help. They were here for us when we need them most."

After his words Borna remained on his chair and was thinking about what he sayed. He came to conclusion.

"Yes i think you are right my friend. Yesterday it wasn't my opinion, but now after your words I think we need to help Bavaria too."

After that talk they relaxed and started to talk about Christian victory over Petchengens. They both shared opinion that 3vs1 war is not fair, but also they shared opinion that Pethchengens deserve it. Then they started to make jokes on Petchengenian account.

After hour of fun and laugh Borna was felling much better. Then other people started to wake up. One of them was king himself. Borna called for Ban to join them. Ban saw that Borna and Antimonius are in good mood and walked to them smiling and Borna and Antimonius stood up and bowed to their king. Ban gave them signal to sit back with his hand, but they waited untill their King sit down. When Ban sat down they sat next to him, Borna right and Antimonius left of him.

Borna started to talk about yesterdays discussion and his new opinion.

King was sitting, eating and thinking about it.....

It was early in the morning , he took a stroll in the woods again before he went to the court , where he saw two of his grofs chatting , seeing them in a good mood he didn't want to disturb them , at least not yet. He went into the tower to think , the highest tower...You could see all of eastern Istria and the prosperous city of Rijeka. He sat down and thinked for an hour he hadn't spoken a single word. Then he said:

This is a lose-lose situation...No way out , no good thing to do , nothing absolutely nothing right to do.... - He putted his hands on his face then continued with his hands through his hair , sitting back in the chair and going to sleep for awhile. He woke up after a few minutes and went into court , where he saw Borna saying that He has changed his mind , he entered and greeted his fellow counts , then they seated and started to eat and drink.

Then he decided to break the peace of silence...

You know Borna - and took a sip of wine - Croatia will defend Bavaria , but another war would be too costly for Croatia and it's peasants and our warriors. We have fought an empire , two times our size and twice our strength , I doubt that we can take on again a kingdom 4 times stronger. Even if honor demands it , I will not declare war on Saxony - Then he looked down and took a bite of chicken meat - ...Although we will send all of our troops to Bavaria to defend their lands , that I will do , at least that we can salvage what little honor we have. Our troops are now Bavarian troops. But we won't be going on the offensive against Saxony , we'll just go and protect Bavarian lands...Did I made myself clear? - and took another sip of wine.

Yes my liege perfectly clear - Borna looked at Antimonius and continued - But what if when the Saxons are done with their war continue to wage war against Bavaria? We would be traitors not to...-and was cut off by Antimonius.

He said that we will defend Bavaria , without declaring war Croatia isn't endangered in it , but yes our honor will be diminished....

And silence once again continued as the Croatian nobles continued with their meal.

Then grof Strahimir and grof prle entered the great hall laughing.

...you really nailed those boars prle - Continued strahimir - now all of our brothers will be jealous of us and our hunt. - Then he noticed the king and his two counts having their feast.

Mind if we join you? - asked Prle

Come right in , soldier! Send word to our cook that we need two more....

Make that three more meals my lord - Marculius entered the hall through the armory - now where were we with our yesterdays discussion?

Ban nodded to the solider to make it three meals and continued eating as the grofs discussed on what to do.

Borna started - We should declare war on Saxony in order to defend Bavaria , that's mine opinion.
Antimonius continued - I agree , but we don't have to declare war to defend Bavaria - and then he took a sip of his favorite beer.
Marculius happily said - Finally Borna you agree with me , yes we should declare war on Saxony to defend Bavaria , they need our help!
Prle and Strahimir looked at each other and then prle said - I and Strahimir have discussed this in the woods while we went on the hunt for some boars. We both think that we should help Serbia and trap the Saxons to prevent them from escaping any further , that way we would help Bavaria and Serbia at the same time. And we would get better relations with our eastern neighbor.

The counts were split , some of them didn't want to help their former enemies and just wanted to fight the Saxons , while Prle and Strahimir fiercely argued that if we help Serbians we will be rewarded with peace. And then the third opinion arrived when Sokmund and Erwin entered the halls.

What is this all about? - Asked Erwin - Is this yet another discussion about what we should do about Saxony and this conflict? Well I and Sokmund here have came with another option. Why don't we ally with Saxony and let them pass through Croatia , whitish defending Bavaria. I've heard rumors that the Saxons wanted with a peace agreement for our lands to be granted back to us , namely Slavonia and Buda. That sounds pretty well , but then Bavaria would be left alone....

The discussion was now engulfed in fire and Erwin added more alcohol to it with his opinion. Some were sending insults to their fellow members. And Ban decided to end it.

Ok now lads shut up! - The whole hall went silent , you could hear a fly passing through - It seems that we can't come with an conclusion , so I'm going to say that we've got 4 options.

1. Defend Bavaria without declaring war on Saxony.
2. Defend Bavaria AND declare war on Saxony
3. Defend Bavaria , let Saxony pass through our lands to fight the Serbians and bring us our lands back.
4. We do not defend Bavaria and let the Saxons pass to bring us our lands back.

Think about this lads , we will continue this discussion before we go to bed.

After fierce discussion Borna stood up and went out of hall with Antimonius. They were talking about their options while walking toward training ground. They shared opinion about helping Bavaria, but Antimonius told that we should not declare war and just defend them, while Borna sayed that we should declare war on Saxony. They were arguing about it all the way to training grounds. When they arived there they saw some soldiers practicing there. Antimonius and Borna joined them. After two hours of intensive training they went to their rooms.


On the way to his room Borna heard some strange noice not so far. He went to see whats happening. When he arived he saw prle and Strahimir arguing with Sokmund and Erwin. Erwin was holding Sokmund away from prle, not to hit him. Sokmund was really angry. After 2-3 seconds of standing, watching and not believing what he see Borna shouted:

"SILENCE"

"But my lord..." started Strahimir, but was cuted off by Borna:

"Not a single word", he sayed. "Sit down, all of you."

They all sat down.
After five minutes of silence Borna asked:

"What was that about?"

"Allow me, my lord," sayed Strahimir "we were arguing about what to do with Saxons..." but was cuted off by Borna again.

"Thank you Strahimir I'm aware of that. I wan't to know why was Erwin holding Sokmund."

Sokmund started: "Because I wanted to hit prle. He was arogant and was insulting me and Erwin."

"Is that true prle?" asked Borna

"Yes, my lord." answered prle

"And may I know why?"

"Because i was pissed off with all this crap with Saxony."

"Apologize to them, and thats an order:"

prle apologized to Erwin and Sokmund. Erwin accepted apologie easily, but Sokmund accepted it with strange look.

After few seconds of silence Borna sayed:

"Good, now that we solved this, I think we could all drink some beer don't you?"

They all agreed.

"Guard!!" shouted Borna.

Soldier came running: "Yes, my lord?"

"Go and get some beer over here." sayed Borna

Soldier saluted all of present, turned and went for some beer.

"Now one more think before we relax. If King find out about this he will punish all of you. So not a word about what happened." Borna told to all of them

"I don't know what you're talking about Borna." sayed Erwin smiling

Borna winked to him.

In that moment soldier entered hall with 2 people carrying beer for all nobles.

Borna grabbed his beer, dissmised guard, shouted "For Croatia" and drinked all beer. Nobles did the same.

Then they grabbed more beer, sat down and relaxed a bit before another discussion.



Finally after 2 hours of good fun, Borna saw soldier aproaching to them. When he aproached near them he sayed: "King wants to see all of you." Borna thanked him and dissmised him. Then they all went to King's hall.

Ban was standing in the middle of the hall greeting his vojvoda Borna and his grofs. He ordered beer to be given to each noble in the hall for the discussion to go more smoothly. Then when all were comfortable he asked them.

"Ok let's try and make some progress , this time there won't be a discussion , there will be voting on it. I'll first say that I abdicate from this voting , so the voting is on all of you." Ban sat down and so did the rest of the nobles. he raised his voice and said.

Those in favor for Defending Bavaria AND declaring war on Saxony let me see your hands.

Borna and Marculius raised their hands. two votes for this proposition.

Those in favor for Defending Bavaria WITHOUT declaring war on Saxony let me see your hands.

Antimonius raised his hand. Only one vote on this proposition.

Those in favor for Helping Serbia against Saxony and declaring war on Saxony let me see your hands.

Prle and Strahimir raised their hands. Two votes on this proposition.

Those in favor for Helping Saxony against Serbia and breaking the peace agreement we have signed with the Serbian Empire raise your hands.

Sokmund and Erwin raised their hands.

Ban sighted and sat down rubbing his forehead with his hands. Then after a few minutes he stood up and said.

The proposition that will be concluded is this. The only thing we CAN agree on is that we're going to Defend Bavaria. Now we've got 2 votes for war , 1 vote no war , 2 votes for helping Serbia (no allowing Saxony to pass and similar) and 2 for Helping Saxony (breaking peace agreement and going to war with Serbia).

I call this meeting closed for at least a week , for us to all to clear their heads and think a little. You're all dismissed and have fun!

The counts and the duke went out of the hall , leaving Ban alone. Ban was hasn't moved a single step forward with these meetings. Then he thought something.

"If we cannot agree on something , then I will take matters into my own hands , if the future meetings don't produce something , I'm taking drastic actions." Ban thought and then went into his room.

A week has passed and the new meeting was about to start...

In the free week Borna was mostly training and thinking. On his way to army encampment he was ambushed by band of robbers, but they were repeled and chased down.


When Borna came to encampment everything was usual, soldiers training, preparing. Borna entered into King's hall. There were already Grof Antimonius, Grof Marculius and King Ban. Borna hailed them all and bowed to his King.

Then Ban sayed: "Ah, good, now that we are all here we can continue our discussion."

Then 4 more people entered the hall: Strahimir, prle, Sokmund and Erwin.

"Oh Borna, glad to see you." sayed Erwin
"Hy Erwin, want to lose a duel again?" sayed Borna
Erwin just smiled and told "We'll see."

"Nice mace there Borna" sayed Antimonius
"Yes i took it from some bandit that tryed to robe me..." and continued after some deepbreaths "... but they were repeled, thats how i got it. Looks great doesnt it?"
"Yes looks awesome" sayed Antimonius.

"Yes yes it looks great but we have more important to deal with, like growing storm only few miles from us." sayed Ban
"Yea, sorry. Well my lord i had spent much time thinking about this and i still stand behind my words, we must honor Bavarian call for war and attack Saxony."
"So do I Ban, I share Borna's opinion." sayed Marculius.




"Ok, is there anyone here that changed his opinion?" asked Ban. He looked really angry.
Everyone sayed no.
Then Ban went out of hall, in terrible mood, and very angry.