The Letter of Troubles

"No! Please don't, I know Mehmed, he is not a man… he is not a Sultan to accept threats!" Abdullah ran forward clumsily, waving his silver cup mid-air, yelling as he runs.

"Trust me! Lords! No one knows Mehmed here better than I do, trust me, he will definitely not accept a black mail like this and retaliate back, then most likely he will immediately end the peace with you and lay siege on the city, it is a risk that is way too heavy for us…"

Loukas, who grew worried at the sight that some advisors who are just now supporting his words turned thinking about this man's advice. This is not a good sign for him, he wanted to make full use of the chance when the people who can stop him from using his influence on the country is either not present or already drunk.

"Who are you, to dare to interrupt the Mega Doux. "Are you an Ottoman spy? Guards! Arrest this spy and place him in the cell! Right away!"

Two guards by the doors immediately ran forward and started dragging Abdullah, but he broke free and roared back. "Don't touch me you köylü peasant, I can walk for myself." He turned back and stared at Loukas. "I am Abdullah Miralai, a faithful friend and subordinate of Antonius, and a member belonging to the house of Grand Vizier. Today I foresee an imminent war because of you, Mega Doux, your decision, we shall see."

After he finished his words, Abdullah gave a loud humph and walked out of the ball room with his hands behind his back, looking up at the ceiling with his chins up high. After Abdullah walked out of the room, Julian, Abraham and rest of Antonius' men looked at each other, and then also gave a humph and stomped out to pursue Abdullah.

"We shall send a letter to Mehmed…" Constantine stood up holding his double-headed eagle sceptre and replied emotionlessly. "…But not asking for land in Thessalia, land that is gifted by a stronger power means nothing, it can be taken back once they change their mind. We shall ask for more gold, and hint that if he doesn't pay up we might release Orhan Çelebi."

"Yes, your majesty."

Loukas, Andronikos and the other nobles bowed towards Constantine and waited for him to leave too before looking up. Andronikos looked up at Loukas and asked unbelievably. "Sorry for asking, Mega Doux, are you really looking for political conflict with the Turks?"

"No, of course not, my dear Andronikos, I am always into the best interest for the Roman people and the Empire. Why would I want a political insult that might potentially hurt the benefiting peaceful relationship between the two states?" Loukas replied with a trusting smile on his face.

Andronikos certainly don't believe what this man is talking about. Question marks filled his eyes as he stares at Loukas.

"Trust me, from my years of diplomatic knowledge, the chance of Mehmed losing his temper and toss a tantrum is slim, extremely slim…"

"But no matter no slim it is there still a chance; I need to go advice the Emperor…"

Loukas, already slightly antagonised, interrupted Andronikos and said. "Don't worry my dear Andronikos, there is no problem in this action, but you are a careful man who is just the man I need. I shall nominate you for the next Patrikios…"

"I see, Mega Doux, I understand now."

"Good."

****

Antonius waked up in the guest room's bed the next day's morning with a headache from drinking too much alcohol the previous day.

He found his armour removed, covered by a quilt made from top notch Sinae silk, and sleeping facing down on a cool, velvet pillow. He can still feel that warmth in the bed and heavy scent of alcohol under his breathe. Also, he is not sure if he is having illusions, but he smells scents of perfume in the surrounding air.

The person who looked after him is clearly experienced in looking after a drunkard. If a drunkard is left sleeping facing up, he might have choked in his own vomit in the middle of the night. Thus, he must thank whoever that was there looking after him.

Antonius decorated himself back in his shining armour and Laurel Wreath and headed for the main Military encampment in the city, where Giovanni can be found instructing a bunch of recruits on how to shoot an arrow with a composite bow.

"My brother, you are awake!" Upon seeing Antonius, Giovanni paused the training and disassembled the recruits for a recess and greeted Antonius with a smirk. "How was last night? You do remember anything do ya?"

Antonius, clearly bewildered with confusion, replied. "I am here to thank you for looking after me last night after I lost my conscientiousness, never knew you had a side that would look after people with care…"

"No, it wasn't me my brother, so seems like you don't remember anything then… When I was about to leave last night, a fine young Greek lass came saying that she can look after you, that is when I knew I need to take my leave and allow you to have some 'private' space." Giovanni blew a whistle and laughed, patting Antonius heavily on the back.

"Stop… stop, lets forget about that 'fine young lass'… So, anything intriguing happened last night?"

"Can I spit vulgar? No?" Giovanni immediately changed to a face full of scorns and despise. "Then I have nothing more to say, typical Greek drama, Byzantine penchant for plots, word-plays and intrigues. They start by offering you a title that is totally worthless to start with… expecting you to be full of gratitude towards them so they can use you better, and since they cant disallow you from recruiting more men into the army, they legitimise it as a form of 'reward' or something. What else did they give you? Nothing right?"

Antonius remained silent for a while, then slightly nodded his head and confirmed." Ya you are right my friend, you are right."

"Furthermore…. After we left, they decided to make our job of defending them more difficult, by sending an intimidating letter to the Ottoman Sultan in Edirne threatening him."

Giovanni paused a while and saluted the training soldiers and waited for them to run away, then continued in a quieter tone. "Trust me, my friend, my instinct tells me that Mehmed is like a male lion, who will give everything to defend his herd of harem. He will show how sharp his teeth are in retaliation to this letter of insult."

"Ya you are right Giovanni. But I still think that the Emperor of the Greeks offered us quite a good reward for the tough job, an isle in the Aegean that we can call our home…"

"No, Antonius, our destiny and future is not here." Giovanni stopped Antonius and stared into his eyes, he continued. "We have no roots here, we are not seen and trusted as one of their own. The emperor might have faith on us, but once the crisis is solved he will also throw us away like a pair of old boots."

Giovanni looked at his pair of long sword and continued in a saddened tone. "After that… I will go back to Genoa with my fortune and reclaim my family properties there. Listen my friend, they won't accept us here, we are Genoese, not Romans."

Antonius cannot accept Giovanni's words, as he always felt that wandering on the sea as a Genoese sailor and pirate is no future, having a piece of land and start as a feudal life is much more appropriate, but he don't want to hurt his comrade's feeling, thus he remained silent throughout.

Giovanni noticed the silence, understanding that Antonius has a different view, he sighed and changed a topic. "By the way my friend, you better go look after your crew captain called Abdullah."

"Oh, what happened to him? Drunk beyond conscious?"

"No, he was jailed by Loukas Notaras, and is quite mistreated over there. It took me and my men quite some time and effort to organise a raid to get him out of there."

"Why was he jailed by the Mega Doux? He doesn't look like that sort of person to jail folks for nothing..."

"Because supposedly he opposed Loukas' bloody idea for that letter of troubles to the Sultan, now go Antonius, I still have matters to attend to."

...