Chapter 346: The Winter Is Too Long

"….We should ask Master Anjelo first, he is a master in this things and shall make sure that the Ottomans will plunge in to a civil distress waging wars against themselves, and as time passes and the gap widens they shall never be able to get united back under one banner against us."

Antonius seems to be still hesitating on some thing as Abdullah sensed it, he immediately stepped forward grabbing his friend by the arm and further persuaded staring in to his eyes. "Admiral, my friend, I know that you are kind hearted and compassionate being unwilling to see the amount of casualties in Thrace soaring up with the situation in the Ottoman court escalating, but trust me, if the plan is successful we shall have a much easier time conquering it, with much less casualties in our armies and greatly reduce our friction when making policies to rebuild the area, remember what I told you last time? Chaos are not always on the bad side, we can benefit much more from chaos."

Hearing this Antonius finally sighed and nodded. "Alright, fine, It is just that I had recalled some memories from my earlier years… forcing to become a pirate in a screwed up situation filled with chaos when the governors keeps sending out fleets waging wars to soothe their greed for gold, it just seems like I have became that kind of governor I despised last time."

"My friend…" Abdullah wanted to say some thing further when the curtain of the tent is suddenly opened with Antonius' guard coming in with a report. "Admiral, there is a suspicious man caught loitering a distance away from our camp, he claims that he has an important letter for you. We found no blades or sharp objects on his body, what do we do with him?"

"Call him in please." Antonius ordered.

After the guard left the tent, Abdullah too bowed down a bit and sighed. "If it is a really important letter, then I shall excuse myself… Please, consider on what I have said."

"No, my friend, you shall stay here with me." Antonius replied with out any thoughts. "There is no secret between you and me."

Abdullah has nothing to say, a few minutes later a man is being dragged in to the tent with his hands tied up and two guards watching him from the back. Judging from his rugged face, cracked lips, thorn outer wears and powerless eyes Antonius knows that this man has went through a lot trying to reach him, especially with the mood building up within Antonius' soldiers he can almost be certain that his men will not let any Ottoman man go away that easily, even if he is a messenger.

"Give him some water." Antonius told his guards. "Untie him, what harm can he possibly do to me? I am not Alp Arslan… You, messenger, what important letter do you have for me?"

After getting some water to rinse his throat the man immediately came back to life kneeling on his knees. "Your utmost prestigious excellency, may you listen to the words of a humble diplomat from the Sultan, I have a word from my Sultan which is highly confidential and may you…."

Hearing this, Antonius nodded towards the two guards, and the later obediently walked out of the tent telling the other guards to stay at a distance away making sure that no one can hear the conversation inside the tent. The messenger then looked at Abdullah standing beside Antonius hinting that he should be going too, but instead Antonius Shaked his head and asked. "You have no letter with you right? Then just tell me what you are here for, this person beside me is a man I can trust."

"Affirmative, your lordship…. I have a word from my sovereign, the Sultan of the Ottomans. He has a proposal for you. He wants a faithful truth being signed between the Ottoman Sultanate and the Rumelians, he also promises that no soldier in his army shall step their boots on to the honoured land of the Rumelians. He says that if you are still not satisfied by this, he will… have a mock battle with you with you, of course, being the victor and him as the one being defeated, with this battle you can call you campaign a victory, may I know what do you feel about our Sultan's words, your honourable lordship?"

"Wait a minute." Abdullah interrupted with a sneer on his cheeks. "These words, together with this proposal, it is not from your Sultan right?"

The messenger lowered his head refusing to answer Abdullah's question.

"Allow me to think about it." Antonius clapped and shouted for his guards. "In the mean time, please have a rest in the guest's tent and allow us some time to discuss about this."

The messenger had nothing more to say and left, leaving only Antonius and Abdullah alone in the tent, again, all keeping quiet for a period of time with various wild thoughts running in their head regarding to the direction where the current war is going.

"What do you think, Abdullah." Antonius broke the silence. "Do you think that we should…"

"Yes… and no." Abdullah replied firmly, giving a response totally different to Antonius' expectation. "We can agree on the child Sultan, or whoever behind his proposal, but while we look out for potential chances where the Ottomans might play tricks on us, we ought to also restrain on the victory that messenger promised us, at least not make it way too simple or make it look like a one sided victory… Of course, there are multiple reasons behind my words, but who knows, there might be mistakes in my thoughts."

"Fine, then we shall take the opportunity to agree on the little Sultan's proposal, and see what kind of Greek's play has he staged for us." Antonius replied sitting behind his table staring back at the map again. "Guards! Call that messenger back here! And in the mean time, tell Helio to get his troops ready for potential battle!"

The Ottoman messenger went back in one piece, with a good news for the person manipulating the Sultan. Antonius and his comrades  watched this man as he waved good bye running towards his camp. Anjelo too, having been informed about this matter ran up the stairs to the walls grasping for air, a sign that he is getting up the age.

"My instinct tells me that there are some sort of trap in this proposal, admiral, I urge you to…"

"The messenger has already left, Anjelo." Antonius halted his sentence with a peaceful tone. "I have made up my mind, and furthermore… As a sovereign there is no taking back of words, that is what you told me last time, saying that it shall decrease the trust and prestige for a ruler's words if he takes back his words way too many times."

The old man is startled by his admiral's words, took a deep gaze upon Antonius who is increasingly becoming like a true monarch, made a bow and obliged with Antonius' decision.

The Ottomans did keep their promises as the scouting ships of Antonius' fleet and the scouts on the mountains spotted some Ottomans packing up demolishing their camps and making a retreat. They even sent another letter of appeasement trying to compliment the admiral, wishing that a better relationship can be developed between the Sultan of the Ottomans, and the Caesar of the Rumelians which will eventually achieve a better tomorrow for every one calling this region a home. 

Antonius must say that he is pretty impressed that the Ottoman Sultan, or the scribe they found, could make a letter written in a fluent Latin language combined with a vivid artistic design of the Alphabets that is mainly used by only the Ottoman Royal family. But still it is only till the last paragraph that did the letter finally expose some useful information, that is the Ottoman army, out of their modesty and faith for this truce, decided to pull back by ten Roman Miles sacrificing their own land to serve as a buffer zone between the two states, and the battle shall commence tomorrow, with the results already been dictated. 

Antonius is indeed appeased by this letter, he cannot deny that as a smirk appeared on his cheeks. 

The final date is decided to be the twentieth of December, five days before the Christmas, a date when Antonius promised to his men that he shall conclude this battle and bring them home allowing them to celebrate their festival in their warm cozy homes, instead of this chilling army camp. Although it is already mid winter, but the region of Thrace does not get that much snow as compared to its Alermanian counterparts, though strangely speaking since a hundred plus years ago as the Historians has recorded, the climate seems to get colder and colder. The winter too, longer and longer.