• Chapter 1: The Beginning

    The story I am about to relate, (and which I must confess, is not a story I would like to remember), is the story of my life. My full name is Yannos Bleda Dorvinos. My middle name is taken from Attila's older brother Bleda. Bleda was the older of the sons of Mundzuk. The reason my mother gave the name Bleda, was because she claimed that we were descended from Attila and Mundzuk, and the it was a family tradition to give us the names of our predecessors. It was an old tradition dating back to my Hunnic ancestors, who along with the Magyars crossed into Hungary with the fall of the Roman empire. My name was a badge of pride, a sacred birth-rite given to me as a way to honor my nomad ancestors. As a result I was raised on Hungarian traditions and taught Hungarian ways. I was the oldest of 8 children in my family, a family that also hosted a slew of important and powerful people. My father was the venerable Carmine Micheal Dorvinos, a royal huszár who fought in the Austro-Hungarian empire. My mother was the grand and sublime Carmillia Anna Lazlo, the daughter of Duke Alfred Kisler Lazlo the Grand Duke of Bajna. My family built it's reputation on having a long line of military successes and powerful military leaders in our blood line. My parents, who were themselves aristocrats, taught my brothers and sisters how to be refined and taught us how to behave amongst the powerful Hungarian and Austrian elites that ruled my ancestral home of Budapest. We were by no means without persecution in Hungary. Being Hungarian then meant that were were under the rule of Austrian kings including his holiness Emperor Francis II, the second to last of the great Holy Roman emperors to rule the so called, "Empire of the Germans." My family lived blissfully under his rule, although many of my fellow Hungarians felt that being ruled by a German Conqueror was too much to bear. Ah but that was the age that we all lived in. We were foreigners in our own land, subjected to the ravages of an empire built on corruption and greed. The year 1817 holds a particular bit of interest for me. That was the year my father Carmine had to hand down the proclamation, to the peasants of the city of Székesfehérvár, the people of the city had gone up in revolt, and as usual it was the increase in taxes that had set them to rebellion. The Holy Roman emperor, was in a heated war with the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Mehmed the 17th, who was trying to invade Europe. The Turks and Hungarians had been enemies for 300 years, with Poland the only ally that we had in the struggle. The emperor had also handed down a royal proclamation, one that had set the whole damn rebellion into action.

    A magyar nép és őszentsége, a Nagy-Kaiser Ferenc II, valamint a Legfelsőbb szabály az Ausztria-Magyarország kormánya az ő császári felsége, az erőszakos támadások megtörtént a birodalmában van, hogy azonnal le kell állítani. Ez a nép akarata Ausztria-Magyarország, az adóemelés és 45 védjegyek tenni annak érdekében, hogy finanszírozza a műveletek a magyar határtól elleni védekezés terén a hadseregek a pogány török szultán Mehmed 17. Kinek hadseregek, mint mi beszélünk a portyázó mi román szövetségeseink, a Dél-, és hamarosan a határok megsértése. Ez a kötelessége és kiváltsága minden magyar állampolgárnak, hogy vagy kifizeti a növekedését az adók, illetve küzdelem a hadseregben. A 13 június ezek lesznek tervezetét katonák a császári hadak. Minden bevethető ember ezt jelentenie kell az ezred toborzási állomások erre az időpontra. Ha ezt nem veszik figyelembe, akkor az összes katonaszökevényeket hajtja végre kivégzőosztag, és a családok is börtönbe. Ez a végzés a bécsi. A nevét a mi Kaiser és a Magyar Kormány e megrendelések kell, és kell tartani.

    Ebben az évben a mi Urunk, május 30, 1817.

    Éljen Ausztria, Magyarország és Ausztria mentse.

    Or as it would sound in English:

    To the people of Hungary and from his Holiness the Great Kaiser Francis II, and by the Supreme rule of the Austria-Hungary Government of his Imperial Majesty, the violent raids that have taken place in the realm are to be stopped immediately. This is the will of the people of Austria-Hungary, the increase in taxes to 45 marks was done in order to fund the operations at the Hungarian border to defend against the armies of the heathen Turk Sultan Mehmed the 17th. Whose armies are as we speak are raiding our Romanian allies in the South and will soon be breaching the borders. It is the duty and privilege of every Hungarian citizen to either pay the increase of taxes or fight in the army. On the 13 of June, their will be a draft of soldiers for the Imperial Armies. Every able-bodied man must report to the regiment recruiting stations by this date. If this not taken into consideration, then all deserters will be executed by firing squad, and your families will be imprisoned. This is the order of the Court of Vienna. In the name of our Kaiser and the Government of Hungary these Orders must and will be obeyed.

    In the year of our lord, May 30th 1817.

    God save Austria, and Austria save Hungary.

    As usual, the Austrian government was bent on sending us into war against the enemy. We were always the first to go into battle, and were always the last ones off the field of battle. My father was no exception, and soon he to would go to war with the Turkish forces. Székesfehérvár,was not a well defended city and would soon fall to the Turks, unless the army was prepared to defend it. This would mean building fortifications, loading cannon and bringing in weapons, bringing and gathering supplies from the area, and only fighting when necessary. This also meant that the local people would have to supply the excess grain, and man power. That was what my father called the first act of war, to defend ones country, men and grain must be supplied in defense of their country. My father also knew that the emperors decree would be unfavorable to the people of Hungary, as the taxes would have to be increased. So in order to maintain peace, even with the decree, my father gave everyone a simple ultimatum:

    "The people of Székesfehérvár need your help, and your grain. How many men can we muster here in this town?" My father said. He knew the cost of war was going to take a heavy toll of the locals.

    "500 men, and about 1200 pounds of grain. However, the people in the region will need the excess grain, but we can ask for about 1300 pounds if they are willing to open the grain storage." Said Janus Klenter. Janus Klenter was a high commander in the army, and more important, a Hungarian with ties to the royal family. He was a tall man, and had short brown hair, with green eyes. He had served under my father for 8 years and was one of the best cavalrymen in the empire. He earned the nickname "Attila's Spawn", due to the fact that he had succeeded in conquering a Tatar force from Lithuania. The Tatar forces had road from Siberia and invaded Poland, the Poles being our allies then sent the Tatars flying. However, the Hungarian forces depended on Poland for protection. Lithuania also wanted the Tatars gone, due to the fact that after the Poles handed the Tatars the crushing defeat, the Tatars invaded Lithuania in order to establish a permanent foot hold in Europe. However, the Poles couldn't defend against the Tatar force for a second time. Then in that same year, Klenter came into the fray, and told the people of Poland that he would bring a relief army to defend the Poles and Lithuanians against the Tatar threat. Due to his connections with the royal family in Vienna, he was given an army of 30,000 men with a cavalry force of 3,000. However the army soon found themselves in dire straits, when the Tatar commander named Chomagi Zalken, launched his forces against them in the mountains of Lithuania. The ambush was the master stroke of genius, the Tatars positioned themselves in the canyons, and sent one of his commanders beyond the region and waited for the right moment to strike. The Tatar forces would allow the men to enter the canyon, and would allow them to get in far enough, so that they could seal the back entrance. When the army went in far enough, they would be waiting at the other end, and would fight the Hungarians. If the Hungarians were broken, then the slaughter would begin, any chance of escape would be cut off. The Hungarians would die in the canyons. Janus was in for the fight of his life. What chance would he have against the Tatar Mongols, and their armies, even in this environment? The Mongols would have him right where they wanted him. and there would be much blood, Hungarian blood, spilled in the canyon.