It was late in the day that the men were sitting in the dining room of one of the noble houses of Buda.
Most of their number were members of the Hungarian Diet, the others members of some of hungary´s most powerful and influential noble families.
They met at this unusual hour not because they wanted to, but because they needed the secrecy of the dark streets of Buda so they could come and go undetected.
For most, in fact, it was the second time this day that they met, having already sat through a diet session together; one in which they spoke little, and not at all with each other. The most that they´d done was to exchange glances and nods, and even at that they had to be careful. Too many in the diet would loath the chance to gain something against them.
But now they were embroiled in a heated discussion that dragged on for hours, and more than once were angry words exchanged and fists shaken; but the fact that they had a common cause, but even more importantly, a common fate if they failed, had helped them to an agreement.
And so, after hours of discussion, in the early morning of the following day, a secret alliance between some of the most powerful men in Hungary was bonded; one, they knew, would alter the hungarian state, and it´s people, forever.
