Chapter 31: Up High In The Sky

Antonius got another special 'guest' on his ship that came with the Varangians.

It is an Ottoman man in turbans, wearing the uniform of an ordinary Janissary. According to Yuri he was caught on a hole leading to the cellar, Yuri pulled his head out of that hole like how village folks pulls carrots from the ground, blocked the hole with crude oil and gun powder, tied him up with a rope they could find on the ground and sent him back here.

"I am a Boluk-bashi of the Janissary, release me immediately and you shall be compensated with a high ransom." The man approached Antonius with a strange Greek accent,

Antonius gave this man an ordinary look and asked. "If you are a general of the Janissaries, why are you donned in an irregular soldier's uniform?"

"Because I am here to retrieve something that I have accidentally lost here by mistake couple of days ago."

"A pound of cheddar? A barrel of mead? Or a loaf of stiff bread?" Antonius asked back, sending the sailors on the decks jeered sinisterly.

"No, it is Rumelihisarı, our fortress."

Antonius peeked at him with a sarcastic look and replied. "You have my utmost apologies friend, because soon, this beautiful fortress will be standing on her feet no more."

Soon after Antonius finished his words, a blinding flash came from the horizon, in the directions of the fortress, as a black cloud rose above the fortress, barely visible in the dark night. After the blinding flash that is like a lightning, a huge ball of scarlet and amber fire belched towards the sky as the mushroom clouds disperse.

The new 'guest' is shocked, with his eyes and jaws open in the direction of the explosion, but soon with his discovered that the fortress walls, are in fact remain standing, he gave a cold humph and started mocking the Romans.

"So, this is Roman engineering and explosive hmmm, don't seem too impressive for me…"

"Wait." Antonius smiled, waving his fans to disperse the hot air, and stopped his guest. "I am not done yet, watch."

Soon, a second daunting glare came from the fortress, this time even more powerful than the previous one, producing an overwhelming heat and sound wave as it travels, scrapping all the leaves and bushes as it goes. This explosion even shocks the ground, as the Ottomans feasting, thinking it is a depremi, ran to find cover. The same goes on the ships, the sails and flags flied up high in response to the explosion, a rogue wave came splashing onto the hulls that made Antonius fell off his stool.

The explosion, with extraordinary force, sent piles of bricks and rocks soaring through the air, landing in the water and the Ottoman camp, sending the Ottomans running around covering their head exclaiming "Taş büyüklüğünde dolu yağdı!".

One rock landed right before the feet of Zaganos Pasha, as he watches the whole explosion with a dim face, his ears tingling from the shock wave. His left man, with a twitching lip, responded. "Selim Pasha and his men would not have survived that…"

"I know."

Zaganos Pasha continued staring at the site of explosion, no one knows what he has in his mind, until he continued, silently. "Go write a testimonial for Selim Pasha, say that he fought bravely with the Romans…to his last minute, and then died."

"Affirmative."

"…then annex his troops, replace the captains with our men, don't make it too obvious."

"Affirmative."

…

The fortress burns as smoldering, glowing embers leaped and twirled in the night sky. The fire licking the fortress like a serpent devouring its prey. The choking clouds of toxic smoke became thicker and thicker until it formed an eerie silhouette, illuminated by the pale light from the moon.

"Oh, my blimey… what wicked trickery of the Şeytan is this!" The captive cannot move his eyes away from the explosion, mumbling to himself.

"Nothing special…" Antonius answered him. "Just some black gun powder from Serica and Khitannia… and some petroleum from Baku, the gun powder blows off first, and then the oil burns…"

Just as Antonius is talking, the walls of Rumelihisarı finally scrambled and collapsed to the ground. Same goes for the knees of the captive, as he suddenly keeled down in the direction of the fortress.

"I built that fortress… I designed it, I laid its first brick, I…." The captive weeps and cries as he continues to mumble in Ottoman language about his past stories with the fortress. After a moment, he stood back to his knees, facing the burning fortress, and ordered Antonius.

"Roman, I know the rules and laws of your Christendom, I am just merely a captain in the Janissary, I can pay a ransom that is worth a hundred times of our earnings on a ship, now I demand you to treat me like a noble, return me my properties and untie me!"

"That is a great proposal…" Antonius replied, while he picked up another wooden fishing rod and started fishing. "But I refuse…"

Antonius looked back and saw another man walking in his direction on the deck. "Furthermore, it seems like my friend here want to have a word with you…"

"Selim Pasha, how long does it takes for your mouth of ash-shaitan to stop lying? Have you forgot the teachings of the Grand Mufti, that 'Lies are accepted once, not twice'?"

Hearing this voice, the captive, or Selim Pasha, looked back startled as he sees the man behind him. He gave another complicated look on his face and sat down on the wet deck, leaning against the port side.

"Abdullah, it is really you, they say that you went missing, probably killed in action by a pirate in the Aegean… and you have slimmed down, I will report back to my Sultan about your presence in the Roman court, Abdullah."

"Well…Selim Pasha, your old useless head forget a thousand things everyday, why don't make this one of them?"