(Hungary), then a rich and prosperous country inhabited by a race closely related to the Mongolian whom the great Jinghis Khan had, in an act of self-aggrandizement, ambitiously asked to surrender themselves. However, the Hungarians were unwilling to capitulate and the barbaric Mongol Horde was subsequently ordered to reassert the supremacy of the great Jinghis Khan by attacking in his name and wreaking its vengeance upon them. According to the plans of Batiyem, the Horde was to march to its attack upon Hungary simultaneously from three different directions; from the east by way of Rumania, from the west through Moravia and from the north over the Carpathians. To carry out this purpose, the Horde divided itself into three sections: one under the leadership of Kaydan, advancing through the Bessarabian Steppes into Rumania; the second, under the command of Peta, separated itself from the main Horde at Volynia and advanced across Red Rus to the sources of the Dniester river, in order to ford it easily, and then invaded the Sub-Carpathian region, seeking trails which would lead it over the crest of the Carpathians. Those taken prisoners from this region as well as a few traitorous boyars, led the Mongols along the highway overlooking the bank of the river Strey, to the Tukholian trail and, as the Korchenian messengers had reported, their tents were already gleaming whitely on the wold below Mt. Senevid.
It was twilight. A heavy fog hung over the Sub-Carpathian valley. The wooded hills of the Tukholian region were enveloped in dense mists resembling smoking volcanoes ready to erupt. Foaming at the twists and turns, the Strey river rushed along its rocky bed. The sky was covered with myriad trains of shimmering stars and on earth, in the broad expanse of plain overlooking the Strey river, there began the glimmering of lights at first wide-apart, flickering pusillanimously, then spreading, flaring boldly, until the whole plain as far as eye could see was covered with their blazing glow. Like the gently
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