Chapter 251: Leave It

"Why, sir, for my part I say the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five senses"

-        The Merry Wives Of Windsor: Act 1, Scene 1, Willian Shakespeare

Antonius dropped the blood dripping head on the table and stared at Yuri kneeling down there in disbelief. "You killed Nikolas?" 

Yuri's body shook as he stared back remaining complete silent. 

Antonius raised his voice. "Nikolas contributed the most towards us taking this God damn city, and I have not awarded him with any thing yet, now you are telling me that you have chopped his head off and even bringing it to me?! What kind of nonsense is this!" 

Yuri retorted staring back with his bull's eyes. "Say no more, admiral, I shall just follow the rules and compensate this maggot with my own head!" 

"Okay! That is what you said! Guards! Drag Yuri out of the palace, and execute him in the forum showing his head in front of every person!" 

"Yes! My lordl!" Two sailors rushed in towards Yuri, but is stopped by Julian and others in the path as they rushed to Yuri's side persuading Antonius to draw back this order. 

"Admiral! Yuri has been by your side shielding blades and arrows for you ever since you came to Constantinople, you cannot do this to Yuri!" 

"Yes, admiral, forgive Yuri for this mistake he has committed accidentally, please!" 

"Hell no!" Antonius swept the cups and documents down to the ground from the table and shouted across the room. "It is written clearly on the laws that I have set in black and white that if one commits a murder, he shall be severely dealt with, and he did not just murder any ordinary person, he killed Nikolas who have made an immense involvement in us getting the city. Even this alone is enough to have him persecuted, drag him to the forum and chop down his head!" 

"Admiral! He is just acting impulsive from Nikolas' words; it is merely an accident he has definitely no intention of committing a murder! Please forgive him!" Some captains hurriedly came forward to the stairs too trying to convince Antonius to change his idea. However, Yuri being that Yuri, being honest and frank, roared out to the captains which made the situation even worse. 

"I did it intentionally! I have despised this clown for a long time ever since I met him, and I have always wanted to run my axe through his neck for this entire time!" 

"You guys heard it!" Antonius looks like he is fuming to the brim. "You guys heard it! He is not a bit ashamed of what he has done showing completely no signs of remorse for his sins, this is a crime added on to a crime! Guards! Carry on!" 

In the mess Abdullah stood out going up the stairs and continued trying to convince Antonius. "My brother! Calm down! Raging does you no good." 

Seeing it is Abdullah, the admiral surprisingly seems to have calmed down all of a sudden as he sat back down at his seat showing completely no sign that he was mad at Yuri. 

"My brother, listen please. In my point of view, Yuri is indeed, undoubtedly guilty for committing a murder which is one of the direst sin. However, I must remind you that Nikolas too have committed the crime of intentionally spreading rumors in the city among the crowd, that can potentially harm our foundation of governance, and it is also stated in our laws that a criminal can get his crimes deducted if he brings another criminal to justice and turn himself in, which is exactly the case here…." 

"….I suggest that we should sew the head of Nikolas back up with his body, then organise a luxurious burial ceremony following the etiquette and ritual of a Doux. Then we should send a letter to the emperor of the Greeks in Constantinople to offer him a lordship, a noble title of Protokomes, and award his family members in Imvros a sum of wealth. Then severely punish Yuri and make him kneel before Nikolas' grave confessing his crime." 

Antonius leaned forward looking at Abdullah and sighed. "Abdullah, my brother, you should know who Yuri just killed right? It is Nikolas, I can say that he contributed almost half of the contribution making us conquer this city with out suffering much loss all by himself, and instead of thanking him, the first thing we did after entering this city is to have him killed right under the gates in front of every one by my most trusted Varangian leader. Think about it, my brother, how are the citizens of Thessaloniki going to see me? Are they going to refer me as a ungrateful bastard? How are those professors and intellects going to look at me? They are going to write plays and scripts further discriminating me, and I can forget about getting their help? Are they going to think like, oh, I, Antonius De'Ricci, had him killed plainly because he said a few bad things about me?"

Abdullah replied confidently as he stepped one more step forward covering Yuri with his body. "I can assure you that no one will think in that way, my friend, the people are clear in their mind that what Nikolas was talking about is full of bull shit with not even a single word is trustworthy and reliable, and furthermore the memories of ordinaries citizens are short, if we do nothing about it, this piece of memory shall disappear from their heads within no longer a month." 

"No, what he said is partly true." Antonius shook his head and disapproved. "I am indeed, illiterate and is still trying to catch up with my studies differentiating the different Latin alphabets. You know what, I shall write and publish an article posting it on all the gates admitting to the portion of Nikolas' words…."

"No! Admiral! You cant do that!" 

"No! Admiral, that is not how you do things!"

"My brother squeezes this idea back in to your head, please!"

Anjelo, Abdullah and Alexios hastily objected Antonius' idea before he could even complete it.

Anjelo said rapidly "Admiral, I agree with Abdullah's words, that is the memories of the ordinary people are relatively short busy with their every day activities, but if you are going to admit it and publish copies of your words pasting it on every postern, many people will not see you as a hardworking student trying to learn how to write, they shall only see you as a still illiterate lord, which is a grave disadvantage to our reputation."

"Yes, my lord." Followed by Alexios. "I suggest that for now we would better lay our hands off and not do any thing about this rumour, and if the rumour escalates, we can organise a public examination or a talk to the lord session, with you as the host, then you can display your literacy to the public giving a tight slap on the faces of those who are spreading rumours."

Antonius pondered upon this idea for a moment massaging his chins walking around behind the empty table, then he sat down on the seat and continued glaring at Yuri with a still serious pair of eyes and declared his final punishment. "Yuri, you have committed a crime of murder, which is punishable by a death penalty, but I can see that you only committed this crime after you have gotten yourself drunk…"

"I was not drunk…" Yuri murmured to himself.

"Shut up!" Hissed Julian as he gave the giant a kick with the tip of his boot.

"After you have gotten yourself drunk…" Antonius emphasised on this again raising his voice. "Thus, with full consideration of this I shall withdraw your death penalty, but you are now banned from drinking even a drop of alcohol and wine until further notice… And you are now relieved of your duty as the commander of the Varangian as a regular Varangian foot man, until you climb back to your rank through battles and contributions proving your abilities… Clear?"

"Huh? No alcohol?" Yuri panicked hearing the admiral's judgement as he hurriedly stood up and tried to persuade the admiral. "Admiral, please, you can put me as a regular Varangian I don't mind, I can go on to the most dangerous front line of the realm… But Alcohol…"

"This judgement is final!" Antonius declared as he bent down picking up the items he threw off the table one by one cleaning them and putting them back on to the table. "Yuri, you may now leave, report back to your camp, your vice commander Fjodor will take over you for now."

"But…" Yuri still wanted to resist.

"But no but, Yuri, come on, just accept it and leave!" The others in the surrounding started kicking and pinching Yuri pushing him all the way out before he could say any more word that might end up turning the result for the worse.