The boyar had stood in the front line of battle and was taken prisoner during the first skirmish. But the fact that he was released quickly and without demand of ransom did strike some of them as very peculiar though the boyar swore the Mongols released him in deference to his valiant heroism. The truth of the matter was never brought to light. However, all at the king’s court began to shun Tuhar and even the king himself no longer trusted him as much as he had in the past. In the end, the boyar himself becoming conscious of the change, had asked for a grant of land in the Tukholian region. Without so much as even asking the boyar his reason for withdrawing from Halich to bury himself in the inconceivably wild and dismal woodland wilderness and especially with a pretty daughter, king Danilo yielded him the grant, obviously glad to be rid of him. And when he prepared to leave the city of Halich all the boyars who had been his comrades in battle for many years were very cool in their parting farewells.
All this came back to Peace-Renown’s mind in one flash and all that had perplexed and exasperated her in the past, now seemed very clear and understandable. It meant what the gossipers had said was true, her father had been in league with the Mongolian marauders ten years back, therefore, he was already a traitor! Peace-Renown, crushed by the weight of the realization of her father’s guilt, bowed her beauteous head in sorrow. Her heart ached terribly. She felt the strong, holy bonds of love and respect for her father which she had carried from her childhood, one by one snap and lie broken. How alone in the world and forsaken she felt now, though her father sat by her, how miserably forlorn and unfortunate though a short while before her father had assured her that he was doing everything he could to insure her welfare and future happiness.
The boyar sat there also none too happily, his heart evidently disturbed by turbulent emotions. Whatever it was he was thinking, his eyes never once left the flickering flames of
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