The Plan

Durad Branković sat there on horse back with his army and the Hungarians behind him for the entire day waiting for the Ottomans to come out for a fair fight.

This is like a torture for his seventy plus years old body, staying here on a mount enduring the afternoon summer sun and dreadful eye sight of thousands of men, who followed him to here expecting a hard on battle with the infidels, not here starving and dehydrated all day standing here in full armour like a puppet parading before the Ottomans.

The same goes for John Hunyadi, who is also behind watching all of these going on, equally as disconcerted and annoyed he asked his consort Emeric Zápolya, who could reply him with absolutely nothing.

After noon, Stefan Ratković also gave up picking several soldiers from the line with a widened throat superb at shouting, and ordered them to continue to relentlessly lay siege to the fortress by verbal weapons.

It is not until approximately two hours before sun set did things turn for a change, a man showed up on the keep yelling a fluent Serbian-Croatian language with some Wallachian ascent, trying to address a so called 'Old friend of the Ottoman Sultanate'.

"Greetings! My brothers of Christianity!" The man on the keep shouted at the top of his voice conveying his message to all the Crusaders within a few hundred meters' distance. "I am Radu, you can call me Radu Drăculești of Sighișoara, I am a humble Janissary commander here on behalf of my superior the honourable Zaganos Pasha to have a few words with our old friend, the Despot of Serbia."

Shocked and confused, Stefan Ratković looks back at his lord, who is desperately waving his hands and shaking his head in a distance trying to signal to Stefan Ratković that he has no connections with the Ottomans or what so ever.

"We have seen through your bloody trick!" Stefan Ratković shouted back pointing at the man with his spear. "Radu! I know you! How can a prince of a Christendom like you betray the holy faith! Try no more to fool us!"

The janissary commander, Radu, did not retort against Stefan's words of aggression, instead he waited. It is not until he sees a few more riders with their plate armour glittering under the late afternoon sun and banners of the Hungarian Prince Regent came down hills towards the front line that he finally started shouting again in a fluent Serbian at first, then followed by Ottoman Turkish.

"Despot! My friend! Friend of all Ottomans! Please do not forget what Zaganos Pasha has told you the other day, day exactly according to the agreement, and Sultanate shall generously award you with the city of Skopje and Tetovo! Just that please do take note, that our plans cannot be known by the Hungarians, no matter what!"

The Despot is startled as he has no idea what this man is trying to talk to him, but that is not the case for John Hunyadi.

"Translator." The King Regent called for the translator by his side. "What is that man on the keep saying?"

"Your Grace." The translator, who only heard a portion of the words because of the distance, bowed and conveyed the message. "That man on the keep is saying that…. Saying that…."

"Saying what!"

"He is saying that… There is some sort of secret deal between the Despot of Serbia and the general of Ottomans, that Zaganos Pasha…"

The face of John Hunyadi dims with every word the translator speaks that in the end it made him look frightening.

"Carry on, I am listening."

"If he accomplishes a 'task' as agreed, he shall be awarded with two cities…"

"Let me guess." Emeric Zápolya interrupted. "Does the two cities include Skopje?"

"Yeah…Yes…"

"Pfft." Emeric Zápolya made a contemptuous snigger.

"Anymore did that man mention?"

"Yes, he mentioned that the Despot is not supposed to tell… The Hungarians."

"…"

Although John Hunyadi still don't have any facial expressions showing up, but the whiteness on his hands from gripping his reins and whip way with extraordinary strength, and the twitching of the corner of his lips shows that John Hunyadi, the leader of the Hungarian crusade, is having a mixture of complicated feeling of being betrayed, getting fooled, confused and unable to understand.

"Translator, you know that deceiving the King Regent can be crime punishable by hanging and beheading?"

"Your Grace!" The translator hurriedly fell off his mount kneeling down towards John Hunyadi. "I can swear to Allah! Your Grace! With all my life and wealth, that I did not lie in my statement!"

The last bit of reason halted John Hunyadi's mind from doing some reckless actions as he turned his horse, took a deep breathe and exhaled looking at the slowly darkening sky. "Move, nothing more to see here."

"Yes, your grace."

The group of riders ventured back up hills, and after a while the Hungarian formation behind the Serbians dissembled and went back to camp, leaving their 'ally' behind.

The Janissary commander on the keep, seeing that the banners of the Hungarians have left this area, went down the keep to report back to his commander as well, while the Despot and Stefan Ratković are still there under the walls with a face of ignorance.

"If I am to lead a group of Siphai Calvary now, I will lead the charge and scatter these unorganised unbelievers and send their morales straight to hell." Zaganos Pasha, who is actually in the tower all alone watching everything happen beneath him, laughed cruelled looking at the Crusaders.

"You can, but that would spoil the fun, my dear Zaganos Pasha." Selim Pasha laughed folding his arms leaning against the brick wall. "The best outcome we can achieve, is that we can create a surge of resentment and scepticism among the Crusaders themselves, in the future the minds of Hungarians will always think of the Serbians as people who conduct treachery and disloyalty, while in the future minds of Serbians they will always see the Hungarians in the same way, which will brew the seeds the troubles between them…."

Zaganos Pasha added on ."This will create a conflict between them as the Crusaders who are here goes back to their homes spreading the words, which will widen itself over time until it grows too wide to be closed over time, making these infidels rivals with each other in centuries to come."

"Indeed." Selim Pasha clapped in agreement with Zaganos Pasha's statement.