Chapter 577: The Bloody March of 1465
Thomas today finally got the knowledge on the amount of prestige, pride and honour that comes with the name ’your majesty’.
But he is still yet to feel the weight of the name that comes with it.
And certainly, he has forgot about the taste of something that comes along to all the Roman monarchs in the long run of her course of history – court political intrigues, just like all those tragedies that are portrayed in the classical Greek plays.
And the core part of these tragedies, I believe, is not just about lose and sorrow, but in fact lose and sorrow that comes immediately after a happy occasion.
Just like in this case.
A calvary came from a far, bringing a wave of early Spring dust along with the mount’s hooves, stopped in front of the crowd, and started observing the crowd.
Thomas Palaiologos noticed this man on horseback without any weapon as well, naturally he thought that this man’s got to be a messenger or some sort carrying some words from the senate. And hence he stood firm, waved towards the man and signalled him to come here. But instead of following the new sovereign’s orders, the rider just took a look at the corpse on the ground, turned, and galloped back to where he came from. Shouting repeatedly on his way. "The Megas doméstikos has been killed! The Megas doméstikos has been killed!"
Thomas is bewildered.
But immediately an uproar broke out after this message was spread back to Giovanni’s campsite. Dozens of folks who are loyal to Giovanni surrounded lieutenant Fabrizio, and questioned him again and again with the same questions.
"Where did you bring Lord Giovanni?"
"Didn’t you promise us that he is only going to have a round of talk with the Palaiologos?"
"Didn’t you tell us that our leader went to talk something out with that Palaiologos to wash us of our names of rebels?"
"Why is our leader dead? Why?"
"Is this how you do things?"
"Is this how you cheat us?"
The uproar had grown so large that some angry folks were already picking up their blades, eyeing Fabrizio. It was obvious that if this lieutenant didn’t give them a clear word on their general’s passing, he would land himself in a very damned, God-forsaken situation. But what could he have done? He had not expected an outcome like this. The people from the senate had not told him anything when they gave him the mission. All they had mentioned to him was to make a friendly white lie to the highest command and end this bloody war that had given him the bad name of a traitor. He had imagined the highest command getting imprisoned, but he would never have known that they were going to kill him using the blade of his enemies. He had certainly forgotten or failed to realize the sheer amount of hate that Thomas Palaiologos had for his general.
One can only say that Fabrizio, as a soldier, was simply being way too ignorant about politics, and now, after this event, he had also failed as a soldier.
Just as Fabrizio was caught in his dilemma, a rider came out of nowhere, with Senator Innocentius above, waving a flag towards the group of troopers and shouting, "Soldiers! My dear soldiers! My brave warriors of Rome! Listen to him!"
The old senator, with an energy that no one knew where it came from, grabbed the attention of all the men on the spot harassing Fabrizio. "Those goddamn piss pots there have mercilessly slain our beloved chief of the army without the goddamn permission of the senate! Remember, chads, only the senate has the ability to execute any high-ranking officer, no one else! That pretender king Thomas Palaiologos has decided to betray the state, go against the senate, and abduct the law by his actions! I, Senator Innocentius, and the governor of Mesembria demand that you people storm Hagia Irene and kill all those buggers inside that goddamn building!"
The soldiers’ target for hate and fury immediately changed from their lieutenant to the bunch of folks inside the Hagia Irene. Some troopers did have suspicions over the hidden reason why this senator suddenly became so empathetic for their commander and urged them to take their violent revenge on the supposed sovereignty of the state, but they too dared not say a thing, looking at the sheer atmosphere of revenge of their pals.
"Stop! I order thee to stop!"
Before the troops could embark, another old man with a rod appeared from the main tent, walked swiftly to the front of the crowd opening his arms wide. "I, as the Ecumenical Patriarch, order you to stop! No one, no one! Is allowed to attack that church without me and God’s permission and cause any more killings in a holy place! No one! Not before I die! Children! My children! You are now still beloved sons of Christ! Stop it! Get some help! Revenge and blood would not drench your thirst for revenge, but love and God can! Wake it my children!"
The troopers went back to utter silence as they stared at the old clergy, while senator Innocentius clenched his fist holding the lead.
"Your all holiness." A soldier came out of the line and asked. "But where is God before all of these happened?"
"Yes, your all holiness... My younger sister died because I could not pay the medications.... Not because I was poor, my general always ensured that I got paid, but he could not stop these bloody tax collectors of Demetrios Palaiologos coming to my house on a weekly basis to collect the money that I have just collected, resulting in her being unable to pay for her medicines, and I had to live with that pain when I heard about that death. You see the problem here your all holiness?"
"Your all holiness, the living of my whole family is dependent on the general, it is the general who ensured that my parents have bread and olives to eat, it is the general who protected my family from all the street hooligans and charioteers from the greens and the blues, it is he... who paid me, to me, he is my God."
"And, now, your all holiness." The soldier almost began sobbing this time round. "Now, the man who is like a god to me, has been mercilessly killed, when he supposedly went there for peace talks, and now, you came here, saying that we cannot even go there, slay the person who killed my God, and retrieve his body, I CANNOT, EVEN FOR GOD’S SAKE, RETRIEVE HIS DEAD BODY! WHY YOUR ALL HOLINESS! WHY!"
The face of the Ecumenical Patriarch turned pale white. "Don’t you believe in Jesus Christ, my child? Have you lost faith in Christianity, have you lost your faith in God?"
"I have lost my faith on Jesus H Christ on the day when my sister went to heaven, hopefully she did." The soldier answered firmly. "My God, is, Giovanni Giustinianni."
"In fact, if I knew that this would be the outcome, I would not have agreed with Fabrizio in the first place to not do anything making my general go for that peace talk... Now I would rather want to bear the name of a rebel."
The Ecumenical Patriarch went back to silence, for he now understands that any further words are futile in front of these soldiers.
Fleet after fleet of troopers marched past the lost old Ecumenical Patriarch, but no one bothered to take a look at him.
The fist of senator Innocentius slowly relaxed as he watched the sixty plus soldiers who are still loyal to Giovanni Giustiniani march off to Hagia Irene.
Reports soon came that these sixty plus men laid siege to the chapel, stormed into the building with ease, killed all the ill defended inhabitants inside, and brutally tortured the already fragile Thomas Palaiologos to death by pushing him onto the pool of mud again and again, kneeling down in front of the deceased Giovanni, banging his head into the muds, until he could not take it no more both physically and psychologically. The marble floor of the entire church is now painted red with the the blood of Thomas’ mercenaries. The soldiers bursted open the gates to the basement as well, and brutally murdered all the clergies and nuns that seek refuge there as well.
Their revenge is now over.
But before they could cheer, another two-hundred-armed men came, and surrounded Hagia Irene, once again.
They are obviously senator Innocentius’ men from Mesembria.
Their purpose here too is simple, the senate has declared these sixty plus soldiers loyal to Giovanni as enemies to the state by killing the successor of the empire.
Their fate is destined from the start when their hearts and minds are engulfed by the thirst for revenge which made them end up doing this dirty job for the senate, killing two of their most important steppingstones for power at once, and now after they are gone, there shall be no more stones on the path of the senate assuming power in the city.
The bloody march of Constantinople is now over.
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