Chapter 424: Exaggeration Kills

"They ought to have prepared themselves for this moment of pay back the moment they conducted this atrocity on my men… And who would negotiate with a bunch of rogues. Carry on with the operations." Antonius ordered in a flat voice, with totally no emotions on his face. But Helio knows from the years of accompany with the admiral, that the admiral has already reached the boiling point, a point of rage that can only be soothed by the blood of his enemies. 

Helio dared not ask any further, and went on waving the commanding flag himself. The archers plucked out their arrows from the quivers sticking them on to the ground and started testing their bow strings, and the infantries began lining up in preparation for the assault with ropes and hooks. The supposed messenger of the bandits obviously felt some thing seeing the sudden movement of the enemies, he frantically tried running back to behind the walls, but it is obvious that a two legged creature cannot be faster than a no legged arrow. An arrow soon got on to him penetrating through his spine, bringing him down to his knees at once.

Behind the walls, all the other bandits saw the outcome of the messenger getting shot at and collapsed on to the ground, which signifies that the only hope of them reaching peace and surrender to the government to return to a normal life has vanished. Some could not take this desperation and sat behind the walls unsure of what they are going to do, while the boss of these bandits took the chance to motivate the spirit of his companions, saying that it is clear that the Thessalonians are not going to let them off this time, and so they have no other choice then to die together here today, but even if they are going to die, they got to bring a few more men down with them so they can have some company along the way to heaven.

The Roman infantries began their assault after three rounds of covering arrows by the archers coming closely behind them. Each team carried a rope that is attached to a rounded hook, with the aim of tearing these short walls with no underlaid foundations. The bandits know the intentions of the government forces too, but their heads are often pinned down by enemy arrows halting any attempt to come out of their hiding and prepare their cross bow. In fact, many just witnessed one of their brother sticking out his head and got pinned down instantly by an enemy sharp shooter.

"We cannot stay here like this, those dogs of the authorities are going to pull down the walls at any point of time!" The boss of these rogues looked around at his men with a blood shot eyes, panting heavily as he juiced his brain in thinking of a way to survive. But one of his good brother has some thing else in mind, shivering controllably and hissed at his boss, with a wit and gut that he had never had before in the past. "It is all your fault; it is all your fault that got us in to this state…. Why must you pick on those five people? They are obviously here for revenge; you are the one who made us.."

The man did not finish his words, because there is already a dagger being slit right in to his throat, by a man who is not so unfamiliar in the art of killing some one who is friendly. The boss wiped his hand clean and continued persuading his pals. "Listen guys, if this wall gets pushed down we shall come in to the direct exposure of enemy projectiles, the only thing we can do now is to come out of the walls, and engage them like how we the sons of the mountains used to, by that we can at least slay a few more enemies with us! Trust me there are definitely no way we can survive this today, those bastards' dogs out there does not accept any surrenders!... Any one with me?"

Some hesitated, but most got back on to their feet with out saying any words in retortion. The boss nodded in satisfaction, pleased to see that his usual trick of leading the team through a high pressure and dominance never failed to work, he made a slight laugh in the middle of the rains of arrows, and commented. "Let us go, my boys, even if we are going to get a defeat here, we shall make those dogs of the authorities get a Pyrrhic victory, follow my lead!"

However, just as he is about to squeeze a few more words of inspiration out of his mouth, he felt a sudden sense of coldness coming at his abdomen, and then he felt a sudden drain of energy from his entire body as the grin is frozen on to his face. The boss looked down, he knows this feeling, he has felt the same thing on a frequent basis in the past. The man looked down with his body trembling vigorously from the rapid heat lose, and there he saw a blood stained dagger being penetrated right through his stomach. He tried pulling it out with his shivering hands but it is to no avail.

A voice full of hatred came behind him. "We had enough of your tyranny, and since you mentioned that you are going to give those dogs a Pyrrhic victory, then I am going to gift you an ending like Apollodorus of Cassandreia, you know who you just killed? That is my brother. Now die! Tyrant!"

The boss wanted to turn his neck, but he could not, then some other rogues pinned him down and stabbed him multiple times venting their rage and anxiety that they have accumulated for the entire past year working under his high pressure, until this man has finally stopped moving lying still in the pool of his own blood. The men in the surrounding looked at one another, panting heavily but at the same time questioning one another in their eyes; Now what should they do?

"We shall surrender ourselves, hang the white flag." Said the man who stabbed the boss first. "I knows that they might not accept our surrender, and I hate the feeling of letting your life be at the mercy of those dogs from the authorities. But if we resist, we shall definitely die in the coming battle, and if we surrender, we might still have a chance of living because remember guys? We still have a piece of intel that we can tell those people out there."

"But that piece of intel is way too insignificant to save all of us, they might not give a damn about it and even think that we have fooled them."

"That is why we must put in some exaggerations! Exaggerate it in to a major event, add in more stories, and make them believe that it is a major issue! Quick! They are already pulling the walls! Hang the white flag!"

A minute later, a flag made from a white bed sheet is being hang on the walls and threw their weapons outside. The soldiers on the outside seemed to be reluctant in accepting their surprise victory with the clear order from the higher ups to break in and slay every one. But still Halfdan, as a commanding officer who do things according to his job scope, reported this back to Helio and Antonius while his men continued performing their actions. Antonius could not care more or less with the thirst of performing his revenge and sent a signal back telling Halfdan that there are no changes in the original plans.

Seeing that their surrender did not work, the rogues panicked, and they quickly assembled a loud speaker cutting off the mouth of their horns, and shouted out at the top of their lungs to Antonius, saying that they have a piece of critically important intel for the Caesar, and they have already slay the main culprit of that accident. They shouted it again and again, accompanied by the persuasion from Helio about the unworthy loss of soldier's lives, until Antonius finally changed his mind and agreed to accept their surrender and listen to what they have to offer, then decide on the relative punishments.

The offensive is ceased, with the rogues coming out of the wooden fortress raising their hands high up in the air, escorted by a fleet of armoured guards. The process of the surrender did not go around smoothly, with the Roman soldiers taking the chance to beat the crap out of them, literally, for murdering their beloved Varangian commander. Antonius refused to meet them, and in the end they had to meet a bunch of interrogators from a military prison near by, who would probably be even harsher on them making them think whether it is really a correct option to surrender.

But at least, they lived for a little longer.