Chapter 200: A New Place

"Now, look at this place." 

Under the twilight of the dusk, Antonius kicks a stone with his boots on the shores of the biggest isle in the entire chain of isles of Prince. 

"What do we have here? A bunch of boulders, a chain of isles that adds up to no more than a thousand inhabitants, what can we achieve here? Collecting dung of sea birds? The port here is not even big enough to house all my ships!" 

"Oh, my friend stop ranting!" Abdullah said helplessly sitting on the beach. "Even if the island is as small as an ant, it is still officially the very first piece of land granted to you marking you as a noble!" 

"Okay, okay, fine." Antonius paddles into the sea water flushing his boots. "Do you know where are the local inhabitants? Where is their town?"

"Actually…" Julian interrupted. "I was here before fishing a decade ago, and I just recalled that their village… Should be on the other side of the island."

All the folks around Antonius stared at Julian.

"Why did you not recall it just now?" Asked Abraham.

"Ehmmm." 

"Fine, good that you remember." Antonius waved his hands helplessly and jeered about himself smelling his seller's cloth stinking from salt and sweat. "Lead the way Julian, we need to let the 'people' see their new 'lord'." 

"Yes, admiral." 

"I am no longer your admiral." Antonius turned a white eye on the poor captain. 

"Ehhh." 

Antonius thought for a while but could not figure out a better way for his men to address him, scratched his forehead and gave Julian a pat on his shoulder.

"Never mind, lead the way."

"Yes, admiral." 

…

The only outpost in the island is located on its North Western side of the island of Prínkēpos, which according to the documents being provided by the officials collecting taxation in Constantinople, should have a population of around eight hundred men. Antonius and his group of sailors, marines and Varangians scouts the shores watching out and marking those areas where there are boulders and rocks hidden beneath the water surfaces. 

Slowly as they walk on the sand the skies brightened as the sun gradually retook its height casting the sea water in a mixture of coal black and vibrant orange colour. Here the sky and the water surfaces seems to merge into one on a single colour palette. 

Though if one looks back on the island itself it is vastly different from the sea waters with exquisite Mediterranean habitat thriving and many unique things from its long state being isolated from the main land in Anatolia and Thrace making it getting a vibrant selection of colours from cherry red hues of fruits to flecks of greens on trees with freshly grown leaves. 

And of course, the only thing that spoils the eyes are the seemingly an endless supply of sea gull dungs lying everywhere. 

"Nevertheless, it is still a pretty adorable isle… and my virgin land." Antonius remarked enjoying the view of the sea. "I think that now I begin to understand my friend Giovanni why he has that mindset of settling down living a feudal life on an isle… It is a decent life." 

"It is a decent life." Anjelo continued from Antonius' sentence. "But it is not to enjoy life in a sheep fold when you are encircled by wolves." 

Just as the men speaks strolling around on the beaches, a vague noise came from a distance disrupting their chattering session coming from inside the woods immediately catching the attention of every one. The noise sending an eerie shiver down every one's spine, resembles that of a new born baby crying for milk. 

"Hey, go check it out, young man1!' Anjelo nudged Julian. 

"No, you are the senior here, use your intelligence." Julian stepped backwards. 

Their admiral Antonius drew his sword and trudged into the woods ahead, followed by Abdullah and others.

"…"

"…"

The group of men carefully approached where the sound came from deep into the woods, and slowly they encountered something like a sewage drain and the closer they get to it, the more they feel there are flies and mosquitoes buzzling around some even flying directly into the sailor's cloth. 

What they saw is truly shocking. 

A scout approached the moat seeing what is inside with the help of his torch, and instantly he puked vomiting all the stuff inside his stomach out. 

The rest followed and moved forward trying to take a look inside the moat.

"Do not look! Admiral!" The scout reached out his hand and stopped Antonius with his face still greenish from vomiting. "It is the corpses of abandoned infants, a dozen of them here." 

Antonius remained silent for a while and then pushed the hand of the scout away. "It is fine, it is just a couple bodies, and I have seen countless of them in my life." 

But soon as he finished his words and examined the moat, he immediately regretted his words.

What he sees is hardly truly shocking truly beyond the description of plain words. Around a dozen dead babies lying there stripped naked in the moat with insects crawling over them decomposing creating a pungent smell to the environment, with another dying baby whose ribcage is already visible, is howling at the top of its lungs trying to draw some attention to get food without realising that there will not be anyone coming for him. These babies, some have already been dead for couple of weeks almost getting reduced to bones, while there are also those who seems like have just closed their eyes forever in a mere few days' time. 

Everyone is shocked beyond speech having totally no expectation that this shall be the first surprise to welcome them after they have stepped their feet on this island.

"Go! Scatter around! After a brief moment of recovering from the shock, Antonius screamed frantically ordering the people around him. "Disperse and find who did this! This disposed baby is still clean, that arse who did it must be still nearby! Go!"