“Just because the peace treaty had been signed does not necessarily mean that the land is at peace.” - Old military saying.

In the end, the coalition forces from Jonkver and Algenverr never laid a siege upon Kolitschei City.

Sure, they advanced close enough to threaten and worry the soldiers atop the walls, but stayed outside projectile range and never initiated a battle. Instead, before the eyes of the watching enemy soldiers, they took their time to move the dispossessed slaves outside the city to the back of their lines, where the surprised and often despairing slaves were greeted with warm food and makeshift but reasonable accommodations.

Then they withdrew with the slaves in tow, before the surprised eyes of the defenders atop the walls. Some of those defenders likely breathed a sigh in relief, while others looked on, puzzled by the unexpected situation that unfolded before their eyes. None of what happened went according to what their lord told them to expect.

All of them had expected the slaves to panic when the enemies arrived. They had expected that panic to descend into wild violence directed at their enemies, which would trigger a desperate battle that should weaken their opponents at the cost of mere slaves. None of them expected their enemies to refrain from responding with violence and instead calmly took the slaves away, however.

The presence of old Duke Banitu, who helped calm down the slaves on Nestor’s behest, was a key factor in the relatively peaceful proceedings. The old Duke knew that it was unlikely for the gathered slaves outside the city to be able to trust their owners the same way ever again after the betrayal they suffered, so he chose the pragmatic option and traded them for his men’s freedoms, including his own.

It was a deal that Nestor was all too happy to take. He had achieved his purpose with minimal losses, while at the same time, the internal civil struggle that would grasp Kolitschei in the near future would definitely prevent the Duchy from making any sort of offensive overtures anyway. Nestor believed that the old Duke should emerge victorious over his son in that struggle, but even if he failed, that was fine as well.

The conflict would greatly weaken their neighbor either way and remove them as a potential threat for a good while regardless of who won.

After the coalition forces departed – the tens of thousand of slaves carried along with them – the confused defenders of the city were uncertain on whether they should celebrate or not. They maintained vigilance for another week and a half before they decided that the coalition forces had truly withdrawn, and the new lord organized a celebration in the city square.

It was during the course of the celebration that a courier arrived from the scouts sent to the east, bearing grim tidings. News that the old Duke had not only survived the battle, but had also gathered the remnants of the army loyal to him and denounced his son’s actions, proclaiming that he was unfit to rule and demanding that he step down before the old man made him.

Worse, the news spread throughout the city shortly after it reached the new Duke, despite his efforts to keep it a secret while he consolidated his position. A rift formed between the retainers loyal to the old Duke and those who supported the new Duke, one that spread to the populace as well. After all, many had disapproved of the new Duke’s commands to throw out the slaves as fodder.

While the new Duke tried his best to control the situation within the city, even jailing some of his father’s loyalists, he failed to stop others from escaping to join with the old Duke, while others laid low within the city itself. Within six months, the new Duke found himself isolated, his rule extending only as far as the city walls, as his father the old Duke had united the rest of the Duchy against him.

When the old Duke brought his assembled troops to besiege his own capital city, the battle was anti-climatic, as some of the guards defected and opened the gates wide for them before surrendering. The only fighting that took place, happened in the grounds of the Ducal manor itself, as those who had thrown their support wholeheartedly to the new Duke saw no escape and chose to sell themselves dearly.

Their attempt was futility itself.

History recorded that the reign of Duke Karo Banitu, often monikered “the Fool” by later generations, lasted a whole six and a half months, before his predecessor, Duke Orsla Banitu retook his seat of power after a mostly bloodless struggle. The fate of Karo Banitu was unverified, with some records claiming that he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life, while others claimed that he was imprisoned in the deepest dungeon and perished shortly afterwards. Some even claimed that he was forever exiled with nothing more than the clothes on his back as belongings.

Once he took power once more, the old Duke quelled what unrest remained. He pardoned some of his wayward son’s supporters who were forced to do so by circumstances, and made amends to his people over the losses they suffered in the past year. Those amends nearly drained the Ducal treasury, but the Duke successfully regained his people’s trust in that way, and also reassured the slaves that lived under him that what happened in Kolitschei would not be repeated.

The war left Kolitschei greatly weakened, and it took years before the Duchy regained a semblance of its former power.

Meanwhile, the cause of Kolitschei’s many troubles and their enemy – though now they had signed a treaty that called for a cessation of hostilities – returned home to Algenverr with tens of thousands of Kolitscheian slaves in tow. What awaited those slaves in Algenverr was something they had never expected to receive in all their lives, yet was suddenly thrust before them by a twist of fate.

Their freedoms.