Chapter 308: Here Lies...

Ibrahim Pasha is dead. 

He died in a rather peaceful manner. Antonius gave him the last bit of respect and honour by not leaving any open wounds or marks on his body by suffocating him through covering his face with a few cloths soaked in the best grape wine he got in a local wine yard. The former chief commander of the Ottomans too laid down the burden of his former elusive shadow self and died like a man, with out even making a groan or a wimp at the place of the trial, dying quietly hugging his hands before his chest. 

He who came to this world quietly being filled with the talent of intrigues destructing the lives of others through the use of his mouth and brain, eventually left this world quietly with his souls and body in tact as one with no more sinful thoughts inside him. Now his only mission is to seek Allah's repentance up there above the world of the living. 

That is what Fahim, who got called here doing the sermon said in his final conduct. Antonius is indeed merciful enough to give him a noble's death, he rarely does such things to his enemies. Even him has decided that he has seen enough blood shed for the time being, and it is best that for future deaths that are necessary it is better to let them go in a more humane way with out the need of spilling any more human blood. 

He is no vampire, he still has a warm beating heart, he is still a compassionate human, or at least he makes sure he is still one after going through so many things. 

After Ibrahim's corpse is bathed, shrouded, it is placed in a plain coffin that is hastily made from six wooden planks that is initially used to repair walls, and then buried right beside the battle field where he was captured, with several flowers spread evenly on the tomb and a plain cobble stone tomb stone with a line of plain words. 'burada yatıyor Taslim Ibrahim Farhat." 

No matter how much money, how much power, how many honours and prestige this man had when he is still walking on Earth, he cannot carry it with him when he is now lying beneath the surface of Earth. 

Antonius watched all of this process with no facial expression. Only he knew in his heart that no matter what Ibrahim has said from the start he would eventually disagree with all proposals and kill him. Every one who is not familiar enough with him will think that he is a gambler, a guy who throws in his stakes every time to gain the maximum amount of profit. They are right, only partially, because Antonius found out that he has changed, he is now no longer a pirate roaming the seas, or the owner of several isles on the seas when he has nothing to lose. Now he has some thing to lose, he is already too big to fail. 

Slowly the burial ended, and the crowd dispersed. But Antonius is still seating down there looking at the tomb stone of Ibrahim against the chilling night wind. Abdullah is about to leave too and seeing this he pulled the cloth of Antonius whispering. "My brother, you need to go, it is way too cold down here." 

However instead of going off like what Abdullah has said, Antonius sighed pulling his friend to have a seat with him and murmured. "Abdullah, mind seating beside me for a brief moment? Tell me, did I make the right, or the wrong decision?" 

Abdullah sat down beside Antonius and sighed. "Once you have made a decision I don't recommend you to think back about it, unless that decision has failed… Thinking at the things in the past will only make you hesitate when you face another decision picking session next time, which can be fatal when it requires you to do some thing in a split second, and one second late can cause a tremendous effect on the entire operation." 

"Well, I know that…" Antonius groaned and huddled himself together within his arms against the cold. "People always tells me that I need to be cautious when acting, but apart from that I also feels like I might have missed a chance to grip the fruit of gambling…"

"There is no need for us to gamble, look there!" Abdullah pointed towards the horizon of the sky, where there is still a glimpse of the last rays of sun light casted above the lands going to get down hiding itself in to the horizon in no time. 

Antonius scrutinized a far for a while and shook his head in confusion. "There is nothing over there." 

"That is the Ottoman Sultanate, its fate and destiny is like the lowering sun diminishing in its light and influence as time passes, eventually when the time comes its light shall completely dim dwindling in to nothing. While for us!" Abdullah turned around pointing towards the full moon slowly rising in the night sky. "We are like the moon, slowly but steadily we climb up in to the sky casting our moon light over the vast land beneath us, replacing the original position of the sun." 

"I understand you!" Antonius slammed the handle of the wooden chair in delight. "You are saying that being steady is much better than being reckless, having a long term plan is more important than a short term action, and a self cultivation of my own power is more useful in the future than the benefits from a military adventure?" 

Abdullah nodded and grinned. "Yes, the Ottomans will be stagnant over there for another decade fighting among one another for the control of the Sultan being disjointed, while for us we are all united under your banner and will continue strive to progress if you are still alive and leading them. Remember, we have the support of the people on our side. This power, if used well, can surpass the power from any other things in this world, while the Ottomans force the people in to slavery we liberate them." 

"Liberate them?" 

"Yes, liberate them." Abdullah replied with sparks of hope for the future in his eyes. "Liberate the mass republic from slavery, give them food, arm them with weapons, distribute them land, teach them how to read and write, pay visits to them to make them remember who their ruler is, and with their support you can achieve wonders when you need them; In war you get a full clear view on every corner of the field and an never ending amount of manpower joining your forces willingly; In peace you get a healthy economy and agriculture system, and in politics you get a stable country with out any thing going hay wire like rebels you see erupting in every corner of the Ottoman Sultanate. 

Hearing these words Antonius lost himself wandering what would it be like for him in the future and cried out in anticipation. "Then with this in time I shall be able to expand my territories in to a far beyond with immense wealth to be shared with my captains, and an never ending piece of land to be granted to my friends as the new nobles, may be I will even be able to replace that old emperor in Constantinople who almost failed his state in 1453… I might be able to revive the Roman empire under my lead… And I shall name it 1453: Revival of Byzantium… How about I grant you a duke next time by then? My friend?"

Hearing these words Abdullah could not resist himself making a pfft smirk standing up shaking his head and walked away. "It is either you need a good sleep, or you are drunk." 

Antonius is left there on the chair bewildered about his friend's comment, for he is neither filling dizzy or drunk as he only drank two cups of alcohol today. But why did Abdullah say that?

…

Two days later, Abraham's cavalries have already reached the out skirts of the city of Serres, a central fortification and holding of the Ottomans that kept its gate shut for the entire time according to the prior reports.

Abraham and Khalid stopped at an one Roman mile distance away from the city built on the foot of the mountain of Thraki with a brick wall of at least six meters high. They stopped their riders from continuing to advance, for they know that there should not be any more Ottomans who could have made it out from their pursuit so far for a staggering near fifty Roman miles here in merely four days, and for those Ottomans who have already made it out of here at this point of time it is already impossible to chase them back. 

Khalid's heart is bleeding when he gallops on these horses, because many horses have collapsed due to tiredness running non stop for so long and he knows that these horse's hooves have went beyond repair that after this battle they will not be able to step on to battle field ever again.