Chapter 245: Thirty Men

"History is not like some individual person, which uses men to achieve its ends. History is nothing but the actions of men in pursuit of their ends."

-    Karl Marx

"Okay! We have rested enough! Let's get moving!" 

The thirty plus men got up carrying their blades and axes in hand clumsily with the support of one another, and carefully prowled out of the battlements heading right towards the tower in the Eastern side of the fortress, where they speculated earlier on that it contains the mechanism to activate the gates. They need to make sure that they have the advantage of surprise at least going after a larger and superior equipped target. 

Julian took cover of the battlements crouching stealthily through the port side walls avoiding the sight of the archers on the towers, before he left he took another peak at the seas. And to his delight, there appears to be a few bright spots showing up on the horizon of the sea, Julian rubbed his eyes and checked on the horizon again making sure that it is not his hallucination. And indeed, it is not, because this time even more bright spots showed up becoming larger and to his eyes. 

Buffed with this scene Julian is boosted with esteem and confidence as he thought to himself with a smirk "Admiral, admiral, I knew that you will never let me down, I shall do this by myself and present this fortress together with this city as a gift to you, my admiral." 

Julian and his men reached the turning point of the fortress' walls, just a battlement away is the Ottoman defenders engaging with the protestors down there, and judging by the increasing noises and foot steps the Ottomans might have reinforcements getting in to the fortress from other parts of the city through the connection of the walls which only makes the task of Julian's difficulty increase by another tier. 

And with the situation growing worse, an accident happened. 

A man in Julian's team accidentally showed his head on top of the battlements which is caught by a sharp eyed Ottoman defender, giving the Ottomans a scare realizing that there are enemies crawling upon their back coming from no where. But out of their professionalism this sharp eyed Ottoman soldier hastily went down shouting and warning every other pals about this enemy, which completely exposed Julian's existence and intentions. 

"Captain!" Hearing the noise even the hard witted young Varangian Halfdan grow increasingly worried and consulted Julian. "Captain, what do we do now? They have found us!" 

In contrast to the young Varangian Julian looks completely disturbed by this sudden change of events as he gave his pal a bizarre look. "Huh? What are you talking about? The situation has already become like this, what more idea do you have?"

"What I mean is, Captain, why don't we take the time and run away before they amend enough men and come for us?" Halftan asked with a chattering set of teeth anxious as he had almost no combat experience before. "We have already tried our very best, and it is not our fault that we cannot conquer this castle, I can take the position here guarding you people to get away, with my axe I can hold them…."

Julian covered Halftan's mouth with his hand, and before the later could say any further, his captain Julian has already drew out the cutlass in his waist, picked up a torch  on the walls, and lit it with the flint on his belt.

Julian holds the torch light on his left hand shining his entire image in front of his men under the battlements, and on the right hand holding the cutlass that accompanied him for countless battles crafted by the master hand Orban himself. With a somber face he voiced out to his followers. "Men! Soldiers! Brothers! We have come a far for this castle losing the lives of many pals in the process suffering through a normal person cannot endure, and now is it really worth it if we are going to abandon the operation now?!... I will not force you, but for those who wants to come with me on the last charge, draw out your blade! For those who do not want to come with me, there is still a last chance of escape through the same route, use the cover of the night and run!...

"…And you, Halftan, what will your brother choose to do if he is in your position?" 

Before Julian finished his words, a series of sounds of knives being drawn can be heard from Julian's men as they picked up the torches, they can find within the distance lighting them up just like their captain, shining the entire portion of the battlement making their figures obvious abandoning all thoughts of a surprise attack. 

Seeing this, Julian nodded and made no further comments or speeches trying to boost the morales, he turned towards the enemy with his cutlass held firmly on his hands making a head start of the assault charging towards the flustered Ottoman defenders who are hastily trying to ready themselves for the new surge of enemies. Julian can almost see the anxiety in these foe's horror stricken pairs of eyes. Before he engaged, he shouted with te voice beaming right through the enemies making sure every one can hear him loud and clear. 

"Julian of Athyras is here!" 

Then he charged in to the Ottoman soldiers on the walls waving his cutlass and the fire torch with out any sense of hesitation. Inspired by their captains, the other thirty plus men in the assault team followed with Halftan in the second position turning shame to power in his mind, with veins bulging from his neck and hands and a scarlet face he too charged in to the enemies slashing his fritful battle axe through the neck of an Ottoman archer who dared to stand in front of his path. 

While for the Ottomans, they are still trying to figure out the approximate number of enemies who have made it on to the fortress. Under the dim light accompanied with the number of lit fire torches lighting up the other side of the fortress and the bunch of ferocious enemies charging right at them successfully made them have the false impression that a massive group of Rumelians under the command of Antonius De'Ricci have arrived at their back. In the middle of this panic, they diverted most of their defences towards the directions of the supposed 'mass group of Rumelian offenders' off loading the pressure applied on the rebels of the citizens allowing them to push further forward even erecting the ladders they found on to the walls.

…

"What is going on in Thessaloniki?!"

Out on the seas, merely half a Roman mile's distance away, Fisnik exclaimed in shock as he watches the massive city shines half of the sky with its scarlet red and orange light casted by the burning buildings and towers.

"It must be Julian and Nikolas have achieved their goals of causing a rebellion in the city and attacking the Ottomans who have not yet been captured." Antonius replied in a peaceful tone. Then he too drew his blade and pointed towards the city shouting out his order to the signal man on the decks.

"There is no more point of hiding our trails! All battle stations! Full speed! Set sail! This battle starts from…Now!" 

The massive fleet no longer tries to hide her trails, maneuverer difficultly against the wind following the monsoon tides towards the final destination, with sailors scrambling to their posts pushing their artilleries out getting ready for their 'wives' to reveal the power of the night. The varangian and marines sat there tidying their armour and knives.

Antonius awaits further intel standing right at the head of the ship and watched the port of Thessaloniki and the fortress. His emotions changed when he saw a small surge of fire beginning to spread inside the fortress which only can mean one thing; Some one has breached its defence letting through a tiny force inside right in the middle of the fortress. However, it also seems like this tiny spark soon dimmed facing the counter attack by the Ottoman defenders, yet still they pushed relentless all the way from this side of the fortress to that side of the fortress, seemingly unable to be stopped.

By now Antonius can make an assumption of who is there inside the fortress leading this tiny spark, it must be Julian, one of his best man, getting himself in to danger again fighting against an amount of enemies he definitely cannot win.

And indeed, in the fortress Julian has already caught himself in the scenario of total devastation surrounded in the center of the fortress. 

He did intend of lit this fortress up as both a distraction to the Ottomans and stop them in their path, but they forgot one thing, the dampened ground and haystacks inside the fortress made any attempts to ignite a big flame impossible, and they have to less men in this operation with insufficient torches, after times of attempts they had to abort this plan. 

Furthermore, their presence inside the fortress has successfully attracted the attention of the entire Ottoman army making them think that this is a more dangerous threat than the citizens rebelling outside, sending waves after waves of reinforcements after this tiny force of thirty men.