Meanwhile Sviatoslav, brother of Igor, fled with small forces to Chernigoff, and inquired of the sons of David if they intended to keep their oath to his brother. “We do,” replied they. Leaving with them his boyar, Kosnyatka, Sviatoslav set out for his own lands to take an oath from the people there. Once he had gone, the sons of David made their plans apart from Kosnyatka, who, learning by chance that they were plotting to seize Sviatoslav, sent at once to warn him. The sons of David, since their cousins could now obtain nothing west of the Dnieper, feared that they would take land from them in Chernigoff, hence they decided to join the Grand Prince against their cousin, and sent to Izyaslav, saying:
“Igor is as hostile to us as to thee; hold him firmly.” To [[66]]Sviatoslav they sent this message: “Take Putival and abandon thy brother Igor.” “I am seeking my brother, not land,” replied Sviatoslav. “Take land and kiss the cross,” said the sons of David. Sviatoslav wept and sent to Yuri of Suzdal, saying: “God took Vsevolod, and now Izyaslav has taken Igor. Be gracious; march against Kief; free my brother, while I, with God’s aid, will bring forces hither to help thee.”
Then he asked for men from the Polovtsi Khans, his wife’s uncles. They sent a detachment of warriors with promptness. From Murom came Vladimir, a grandson of that Yaroslav whom Vsevolod had driven from Chernigoff in order to take Kief later on, which he did successfully.
This Yaroslav, who founded the Ryazan line of princes, had two sons: Sviatoslav and Rostislav. When the former died in Murom, Rostislav took his land and sent Glaib his own son to rule in Ryazan, giving nothing to Vladimir, his nephew, who came now to join Sviatoslav. After him came the nephew of Vladimirko of Galitch—Ivan, surnamed Berladnik, from Berlad, a town in Moldavia, which was filled with adventurers of all kinds. Ivan had found there a refuge, and next a small party of daredevils to join him. The sons of David wished now to crush Sviatoslav at all cost. “We have begun a hard task,” said they to one another; “let us end it. Let us kill Sviatoslav and take his possessions.” They saw that while alive he would fight to free Igor; in that his success lay. Triumph and love for his brother had for him become one thing. They remembered that in the late reign Igor and his brother had continually insisted upon having land in Chernigoff, and had been restrained only by promises of Kief and of places about it. What now could restrain those men? Of course only lands in Chernigoff. They could not get lands in another place.
David’s sons begged aid of the Kief prince, who sent his son, Mystislav, with warriors to help them. The allies attacked Novgorod Seversk and fought three days there. They plundered the region about, and seized all the horses belonging to Igor and Sviatoslav. News came at this juncture that Yuri of Suzdal was Sviatoslav’s ally, and was marching to aid him.
Izyaslav, the Grand Prince, now asked Rostislav of Murom to attack Yuri’s country. The Murom prince moved at once. We have seen that Rostislav’s nephew and enemy, Vladimir, was in [[67]]Sviatoslav’s camp, being thus an ally of Yuri, hence Rostislav was ready to fight against Yuri. Besides, Rostislav could not have been friendly to the sons of Oleg, one of whom had driven his father from his throne in Chernigoff.
Yuri had reached Kozelsk, when he heard that Rostislav of Murom was attacking his country. This forced him back, but he sent his son, Ivan, who received Kursk and lands on the Seim as reward from Sviatoslav. It was clear that the latter would give what he had to preserve the alliance, and, with Yuri’s aid, redeem Igor. After he had given half his land for this ally, he tried, at the advice of his boyars, to win the sons of David to his cause, and sent to them his priest with this message: “Ye have ravaged my lands, seized my herds and the herds of my brother. Ye have burned my provisions and destroyed all my property; nothing remains for you now, but to kill me.” “Abandon thy brother,” answered the sons of David. “I would rather die,” replied Sviatoslav, “than abandon my brother. I will strive for him while life is in me.”
The sons of David now plundered on every side. They took Igor’s town, where he had a residence. In his cellars were mead and wines, in his storehouses goods of much value. All that men could remove they took with them, then they fired the place, burning nine hundred stacks of grain.
While Izyaslav was hastening from Kief with his warriors, David’s sons moved on Putivl, but the town was held firmly by the people till the Kief prince appeared before it. They yielded to him, when he kissed the cross to respect them, and merely installed his own posadnik, instead of the old one. He and his allies, however, seized all of Sviatoslav’s wealth in Putivl,—wine, mead, provisions and seven hundred slaves. Sviatoslav himself, advised by his allies, had fled northward, to be close to provisions and near Yuri of Suzdal, taking with him his wife and children, and also the wife of Igor. Some of his warriors had deserted, but the best remained faithful. The sons of David were infuriated by this flight of their cousin, and at once resolved to capture the man or kill him. Izyaslav said, “Let us follow Sviatoslav. If by any chance he escapes us, we will at least seize his wife and children, and take all of his property.” And with three thousand horsemen he set out to hunt down his cousin. When this force was [[68]]gaining on him, Sviatoslav pondered whether it were better to save his own person by flight and let his warriors and family be captured, or remain with them and lay down his life fighting. His men were not many, but they were of excellent quality,—Ivan, a son of Yuri of Suzdal, Ivan Berladnik, Vladimir of Murom, the Polovtsi party, and some others. He had to meet thousands with hundreds, but he chose to remain, and, turning on the son of David in a forest, he routed him thoroughly; then he fled farther as swiftly as possible.
The Grand Prince and Vladimir, the other son of David, following on at some distance behind, had stopped to take food, when news came that Sviatoslav had defeated his pursuers. The Kief prince was enraged at this failure, and set out himself in immediate pursuit of the fugitive. On the way he was joined by stragglers from the scattered force, and at last came the son of David.