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 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.