Chapter 289: Cant Afford To Lose

"Pati cum alio, pro aliis; pati propter veritatis et iustitiae amorem; pati ex amore et ut quisque persona efficiatur quae vere amet – haec sunt fundamentalia humanitatis elementa, quorum derelictio hominem ipsum deleret."

"To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves—these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself."

-        LITTERAE ENCYCLICAE SPE SALVI SUMMI PONTIFICIS (POPE) BENEDICTI PP. XVI, Chapter 39 (2007 A.D)

Abbas Pasha left, by himself, alone, with his shadow disappearing off the vast road towards the back against the tide of people drafted to transport supplies and food for the troops. From now onwards no one shall be here to stop the Grand Vizier to execute any other frantic orders. 

Power is indeed a sweet tube of poison, and it not only distorts the mind set of the person who drank it, the poison also toxifies his heart like Medusa's curse making his warm heart become a Heart Of Stone, or Iron Heart. 

The third day in to the siege, Candarli Halil Pasha executed his plan and forced thousands of slaves together with the women, mostly widows whose husband has died in the previous assaults as human shields charging in front of the Ottoman soldiers blocking off the Rumelian arrows. Hundreds of them laid dead on a foreign land meaninglessly moaning and shrieking in pain, helpless as always waiting for the final moment to die painfully by excessive bleeding or stampede. 

What made things even worse is that they are moaning in a language that the defenders too can understand which greatly shocked the Roman defenders on the walls pulling their bow strings and spears, making every one, including Antonius' heart soften hearing and looking at it and hesitated every time they aim and shoot at these poor folks who did not choose this kind of end. But not for the supervising Ottoman troopers behind yelling and whipping these Rumelian slaves and women to continue advancing forward. 

War itself is a destruction towards humanity towards the weaker in the end of the days, it never changed for the entire six thousand years of human civilisation from then to now.

Because of these kinds of relentless attacks totally not giving a damn about the loss of human lives the Ottomans breached the second wooden walls forcing the Roman defenders to fall back once more on to the third and toughest defensive walls. This time instead of trying to occupy the second wall the Ottomans pushed it down from behind. But this definitely does not mean a good thing for Antonius and his men, as they all know that there is only one kind of warfare that requires a clear vision with no obstacles in its path, that is artillery warfare.

"If things continue to go on at this pace, I do not think our men shall be able to hold this place for another three days." 

Later that night Abdullah sneaked in to the tent of Antonius and began elaborating his concerns on the recent situations. Being different from the regular soldiers who are still enjoying themselves from the propaganda being spread around on how many foes have they slain, Abdullah, as an advisor and chief is able to see things in a much clearer way from another perspective. 

"Aye, I am afraid that you are right." Antonius frowned as he pointed his leather quill on the map provided by Latin merchants. "Anjelo has already mobalised the population in Thessaloniki and began the construction of the fourth and fifth line of defense between the third wall and the camp…" 

Alexios interrupted urgently seating on the floor warming his frozen feet with the flames of the fire place. "May I remind you admiral that if the Ottomans continues to assault like this totally not giving a damn about the wastage of human lives, they would pluck out our wooden defenses one after another and in a week's time they shall force us back in to the city of Thessaloniki!" 

Antonius hesitated studying the map and replied. "Judging from the sheer loss of lives the Ottomans suffered from the last three days… I bet that the Candarli Halil man shall rest his troops for another day before he starts another assault…" 

"My brother, don't you understand that you cannot bet on your enemies in war." Abdullah shook his head and commented. "This aint a dice gambling game on the ships… Even if the Grand Vizier decided to rest his troops for tomorrow, that only means our fate shall be delayed by one day but in the end, it shall still be the same. They would still climb on to the walls and start brawling with our soldiers face to face." 

"It is a sad truth that our men are becoming complacent thinking that they have slaughtered so many foes on that two feces, and this third wall is much tougher than the previous two… But they don't know that it is only because of the combination between the archers and the walls that made them achieve that effect… If we lose this third wall our archers shall lose their high ground and be forced in to brawling, then our casualties will go straight up while the enemies killed will tremendously decrease." 

"It is not because we are weak in this defensive warfare… Our troops are superior in attacks with almost six thousand cavalries." 

"Then? So what? You want to lead the calvaries out of the walls? Our camp is way too close to their camp, they have a much higher amount of manpower" 

Every one remained silent inside the tent. 

A moment later Helio returned from the front line back in to the tent. "I have checked on the defenses on our left flank… and I must say that things over there are not very good. Those defensive walls, towers, barricades and moats are all only recently constructed with a relatively weaker foundation which means that they are relatively easier to be taken down by the Ottomans… Master Abdullah is right, the walls on the left might potentially fall first within three days." 

"Not only the left." Answered Julian. "The defenses are the right has been suffering the heaviest attacks by our enemies since the start of the battle. Our troops on the left side still got the rocky terrain of the Mountains to rely on at least, but the right… They are facing swarms after swarms of enemies right on the open plain." 

"If we lose either side of the defensive system, we have the potential risk of being surrounded with our retreating route getting cut off, and if that happens we shall lose the battle." 

The tent is back to silent with every one getting worried about their fate at the end of the day. 

"I am going over to the camp for the refugees and casualties." After a while Antonius stood up from his seat and spoke. "I will go there and comfort the weak and injures checking on their statues… After you all have finished please remembered to extinguish the flames in the fire place. If any of you have any ideas for the upcoming battle, come and look for me privately."

"Deeds of a brilliant general who truly cares for the people with humanity and a mellow heart." Alexios sent in his regards and praises as always. 

Antonius made a bitter giggle and went out in to the cold night shaking his head. He raised his head up looking at the bright eclipse hanging in the sky shining the night with all the stars around it. Only he knows that he went out of the tent not solely because he wants to go and take a look at his fallen men, but also to escape from those harsh realities having a breathe of fresh air outside relieving his own mind and pressure. However, it is only after he came out of the tent that did he realise that the air is not fresh by a single bit over here, it is filled with the smell of gun powder, burnt wood, blood and other god knows what smell, combined together they ultimately form the scent of war. 

Antonius shook his head and began strolling forward against the soaring winter wind letting it blow freely on his sea worn face.     

…

Meanwhile back in the Ottoman front line camp, they too are hosting a conference between the various higher commanders of the army, and strangely speaking these pashas and beys are equally feeling pressurised and stressed like the commanders and advisors on the other side. It is no doubly all because of one man, one elderly, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Sultanate Candarli Halil Pasha, seating high up there on top looking at them with nothing in his eyes as if he is day dreaming while listening to the messenger reading out reports from Edirne.