Chapter 65: Pasha of Saruhan

The only thing that the Ottomans want now is to get the hell out of this place. In a state of panic and disarray, their eyes have turned red and will tear anything that tries to stop in their way for survival, including their former superiors.

After Talmi executed three men hopelessly to stop the mass desertion, he suddenly felt that the tide has changed and something wrong in the atmosphere around him. Before he realises it, he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his abdomen. When he looked down, he saw something that he would never forget the rest of his short life.

There is a Kilij knife that ran right through his abdomen from behind. Shocked and feeling unbelievable, he turned back gaping only to see a pair of eyes filled with a mixture of hatred, fear and anger. Then with no further actions, the man laid his hands off the grip of his knife and ran away jumping into the water to escape, leaving Talmi in that state.

Talmi watches hopelessly as fresh blood of his own began dripping down from his abdomen and the corner of his mouth. He tried to pull the knife out of his stomach but is forced to stop by the sheer amount of pain in doing so, then he got pushed down by people for blocking their way of survival, and gradually died helplessly in a stampede, remains became hardly identifiable.

When a wall crumbles everything that once stands comes crumbling down, flushing away everything in its way, forgetting all values and virtues they once held, honour, prestige, courage, friendship, all of them. What replaced these things are only the hope to survive.

"Do not stop them! Let them go! Drive them towards the Eastern gate!" Amidst the chaos, Abraham picked two dozen sailors who have the loudest voices running around the battlefield shouting out the words of Antonius.

Yuri and Mauro immediately understood what Antonius wants. Mauro started compressing his flanks and forming a shield circle formation blockading the Ottomans from making a run into the residential area and joining the other portion of the Ottomans separated by them just now. While Yuri, after taking the entire dock, immediately ordered his Varangians and marines to spread out forming a line of solid defence along the beach side executing anyone who tries to escape by the sea. Julian and Abraham pushing the Ottomans from behind.

After seeing the collapse and mass desertion of southern portion, the northern portion still fighting in the residential area began deserting as well abandoning their posts making a run for the Eastern Gate, causing another stampede in the process. The Romans and Genoese on the other hand, followed them closely behind but maintaining a short distance making sure they all escaped by the Eastern Gate.

A Roman Mile away.

A scout near Antonius lies low with his left ear attached closely to the ground, he has maintained this posture for approximately an hour until he started hearing the sound of earth trembling stronger and stronger, climbed up, ran to Antonius and reported.

"Admiral! They are coming!"

Antonius opened his eyes, nodded and stood up slowly, then ordered. "Send the signals!"

Three guards climbed onto a tree, ignited three torches and started waving them in the air. Within a minute, countless torches began waving on various hills correspondingly which from above looks like the night sky with dozens of stars shining and waving in the middle of a totally darkness. It just seems like the hills and forests has came alive.

The strategy of Antonius has became clear by this point, he wants Mauro, Yuri and Abraham to chase the ill-willed Ottomans into the woods and hills where the terrain is complicated, then Antonius can take advantage of the preparations beforehand, blockade all the roads and exits, encircle the remaining two thousand plus Ottomans in the dense forest. If this strategy works successfully, Antonius can force all the Ottomans trapped into submission, get two thousand plus Ottoman prisoners of war, which he can choose to interrogate them to obtain valuable information, or choose to make a deal with Mehmed the Ottoman Sultan himself for a huge amount of ransom.

However, Antonius did not know one thing.

Ibrahim Pasha waiting outside the forest saw the torches on the hills and trees too. Being an intelligent and qualified military commander, he immediately realised that there is an ambush inside the forest. But he cannot abandon those Ottoman soldiers trapped because those men are his subjects, his army, his properties, without those soldiers his power and fame in the domine will be hugely deducted. Thus he must find a way to rescue them, although he only has a thousand men with him at the moment.

Millions of thoughts ran through Ibrahim Pasha's brain, without further ado he asked everyone in his army to raise a torch and spread out two meters apart, then have all the drums and horns being played by the musical company in order to try to make the Romans think that an Ottoman reinforcement five times the size of the actual number has arrived. Ibrahim Pasha led the thousand strong men forward slowly while maintaining their formations, stopping after they have reached a five hundred yard distance from the Roman torches.

This of course alerted Antonius and his men, they quickly extinguished all torches on the hills and trees ceasing all activities and sound. This further determined Ibrahim Pasha's assumption that there are not many Romans in the forest, but he is not here to fight. He removed his luxurious robe and jewellery decorated helmet and changed it into that of an ordinary Ottoman soldier, rode out with only one guard, stopping at the one hundred yard mark and shouted in a fluent Asia minor Greek tone.

"I am a messenger on behalf of the honourable Emel Pasha of Saruhan! I come in peace!"

…

"I am a messenger on behalf of the honourable Emel Pasha of Saruhan! I come in peace! I demand to negotiate with"

Antonius heard the voice too, he thought for a while and trudged down the hill, but Abdullah stopped him from the back.

"Wait! My brother! It might be a trap!"