Chapter 595: The Three Conversations
"I will grant you a majestic castle, and a stretch of land vast enough to house your entire kin. You shall still bear the title of a Sultan, exercising autonomy over your daily affairs without my interference. You shall be on par with me. Within your castle’s confines, you can enact your own rules, undisturbed by external laws. What say you?" proposed the Caesar.
"Do you suggest a life akin to a pampered bird, confined to a golden cage under the vigilant eyes of your hounds?" the young Sultan responded, his laughter echoing a mix of sorrow and scorn. "You are a wicked man, Antonius, you are indeed a wicked man."
"I rather thought you’d be steaming with fury at this proposition," Caesar replied.
"Why prance around like a jester, my temper ignited by your words?" the young Sultan retorted, raising his hands. "I’ve been fairly defeated in battle. Too many Ottoman lives were lost under my command. I lack the courage to return home, to face the questions about their missing sons. I am vanquished, I am defeated, and I have no other choice other than the fate you decided to put on me, but still, you are a crooked man, Antonius..."
"...You’ve mercilessly shattered the dreams of the Ottoman Turks, driven us from our homes, trampled our national pride, snuffed our national spirit, and plunged our Sultanate into civil strife. I despise you, Antonius De’Ricci. You robbed me of my father’s life, stripped my mother of joy, rendered my efforts futile, and now, you’ve stolen my dreams."
"I didn’t drive you from your homes," Antonius countered nonchalantly, turning his gaze to the fireplace. "Your people are now Romans, new Romans."
The Sultan laughed. "Funny to hear that from you, you’re not even a Roman yourself."
Antonius gestured towards the Turkish captain who had passed the message to him an hour before. "He came from Konya, a devout Muslim, yet he is a Roman."
He pointed to his soldiers. "Those men are Genoese, they journeyed from afar with me, they follow Catholicism, but they too are Romans."
He gestured towards his Varangians. "That two men, Cerberus and Halfdan is from the lands of the Nords, he is much taller and thicker than the rest, but he too is a Roman."
Finally, he pointed towards a bunch of Coptic archers a distance away. "Those men are born in Ethiopia, adheres to Coptic Christianity, looks vastly different than all of us, but he is a Roman, as they came with one of my old friend named Abraham, sacrificing and contributing towards our common end goal."
The Sultan was left puzzled.
"We Romans don’t bind ourselves strictly to race, religion, blood, appearance, or culture, but to a common identity. Whoever shares the vision of a unified Romania, speaks our language, uses our units of measurement, our currency, lives under the same governance, and nurtures a shared dream, is recognised as a Roman."
"I see," the Sultan said, locking eyes with the Caesar. "Then your ’Roman Empire’ will eventually collapse under the weight of racial tension."
"It won’t," Antonius assured, staring back. "Not while I am at the helm."
"I see," the Sultan said, rising to his feet, too tired to argue any further. "We shall see then, I am still young, and I still have plenty of my life time to witness the downfall and collapse of your dream state. Now, where then, is this castle you have prepared for me?"
...
"... I lack the courage to return home, to face the questions about their missing sons. I am a sinner, my friend, you are speaking to a sinner right now, my souls would be turned down at the gates of Heaven, and descend straight down the Hell, for I am a sinner, do you get what I mean, my friend?"
Halfdan shook his head, and snatched the wine away from the hands of Helios, gave his friend and colleague a smack on his head. "You are drunk."
"No I am not drunk, you Nords aint gonna look down on me... I feel that my mind is clearer than anytime before... Do you know how many Roman lives are lost in this battle, under my command? A total God Damn three thousand men! All solid good men of mine, prefects of the entire Romania. I trained with them, I drank with them, I ate with them, for years! All vibrant young lives vowing to achieve a career in the army, many of them are even married, with wives and kids! Look at that pile of body over there, do you know what else is buried beneath that pile of bodies? The fate and fortune of another three thousand families!"
Halfdan took a gulp of wine, and remained quiet listening to the words of his friend.
"Gimme that wine!" Helios snatched away the bottle from the hands of Halfdan, and took another big gulp before starting over his words of sorrow again. "I am a sinner, I have just created another three thousand plus unfortunate families, one thousand plus widows, three thousand plus orphans, one thousand plus handicapped. The entire, the entire eastern corps have been wiped out! This army, this army!"
Helios sprung up from the ground, bolted towards the flag of the Eastern corps, stripped it down and started tearing it before his guards could respond.
"The Eastern corps is deemed to be non existent from this point onwards! The entire army have been disbanded! It has lost the capabilities to continue any forms of combat!"
The shouts and actions of Helios naturally attracted the attention of all the soldiers lying nearby, who saw the pathetic state of their commander for the very first time before he is dragged to somewhere else. And soon the emotions of sorrow started spreading among the Roman soldiers, weeping over their broken limbs, or their lost pals.
Halfdan dragged the mad Helios all the way to the commanding tent where the later finally fell asleep.
Halfdan understands his pal, for he knows that no one, not even their Caesar Antonius De’Ricci, can remain silent after pushing such an amount of fine young men to death by his orders. Commanding an army is a stressful thing to do, and witnessing countless sacrifice due to him is even more stressful, and when these two things pile up and stagnate, it will eventually topple the maximum capacity of stress that a man can withstand, sinking him into an emotional collapse, but experiencing it for multiple times, the man’s heart is eventually turned to be as stiff as a rock, into an emotionless semi beast and have no more human like feelings.
Halfdan took a look at the flag of the scarlet lion.
...
The young Sultan finished his conversations with Antonius, he is brought to a temporary closely surveyed camp site behind the forts, where he, and a bunch of other Ottoman nobles, shall depart for Thessaly the next morning to prevent any possible change of events.
Antonius is then approached by his faithful companion Julian.
"Julian?" Antonius rubbed his face out of drowsiness. "I thought that you are fortifying the campsite. What brought you here?"
"Yes admiral." Julian seemed to be pretty anxious today. "There is something that I must tell you, that is we were joined by a ship with an honoured guest on board from Thessaloniki, and she demanded to see you right away."
"It’s a she? Oh comon man don’t tell me that its Anna please."
However, instead of getting a response from Julian, Antonius is replied by someone else. "It is not Anna, your Majesty."
Antonius looked up, and saw the face of a middle aged noble like lady in black whom he feels familiar with, but not sure who exactly is her.
"Greetings, your Majesty." The woman bowed down towards the Caesar. "It is almost ten years before we last seen each other, I am the wife of the chief of army of Constantinople Giovanni Giustinianni, Therma Sphrantzes Giustinianni, and this boy beside me is Giovanni Giustinianni Junior. We have come this far to..."
But before the lady could speak any further, Antonius jumped up from the ground, and eyed the lady before him filled with joy, as he held the hands of the lady speaking in a jubilant tone. "I have, been waiting for you and your boy, lady Therma, my men have been sending scouts into the city to look for the shapes of you for months ago but are to no avail and today you appeared here, thanks God you are safe and sound."
"Thank you, your Majesty." The woman graciously bowed down avoiding any eye contact. "I... have came to seek refuge under your domain, and I hereby request you to take Giovanni Junior as a servant in your court to receive a formal training to become a man, he will never be able to grow by my side, I request your aid to accept lord Mauro in joining your army, for he has no will of returning to Genoa with Giovanni dead, and I will need..."
"I accept all." Antonius sighed and gave a pat on Therma’s shoulders. "Whatever you say, I will accept all of them, for your husband, and my friend."
"I do have one final wish, if you allow." Therma bit her teeth, hard, without looking at Antonius.
"Please, seek revenge for my husband."
