Chapter 429: Skanderbeg

The Venetians are not the only one contesting for influence in the region of Epirus, they are now facing a severe threat from the north. Not from the Ottoman remnants, but from their former Catholic ally Skanderbeg, who also raised in the power vacuum. Skanderbeg managed to reverse the situation he is facing several years ago pushing back the Ottomans, gaining back a complete control of the municipality. His supposed liege, the king of the Normans in Naples Ferdinand gave him a brand new title on top of his original one, 'Dominus Victoriae'. The pope Pius II came in to join the fun too, calling Skanderbeg the defender of faith, the frontier of Christianity. 

It can be said that this is Skanderbeg's high time of his life, he has reached the climax of his career reaching an achievement that not many people can achieve like him. Now with the old borders restored and the Ottoman Sultan out of reach, Skanderbeg is planning on some new enemies and foes to expand his country, and he chose to concentrate on spreading his influence south wards, there is a reason for it of course.

Many might remember Skanderbeg only for his superb military achievements and battle records, always defeating a larger army with a much smaller force, but people might not have realised that he too is a fair player in the world of diplomacy. Throughout his reign in Albania, Skanderbeg maintains the relationship with his surrounding states carefully. He always attempted to borrow or use the power from the bigger powers in the Mediterranean's to counter the Ottoman advantage.

He could try to go north wards getting a bite on Serbia which is now controlled by a widow, but by doing this he shall upset both the Despotate of Serbia and the Despotate of Bosnia, as the later's monarch has been seeing the title of Serbia as his meat in his plate for a pretty long time, both states can be turned in to Skanderbeg's natural allies and it would be indeed a foolish act if they are turned in to enemies instead.

Or, Skanderbeg could have turned to expand in to Bulgaria, but the uncrowned ruler of Bulgaria Abbas Pasha devoted his time and effort building his state in to a fortress against the Christian coalition from the north and west by allowing regional land lords and influential characters to assemble their own army, and build their own forts. Thus, now Skanderbeg and his Albania has only one direction to spread their influence, that is towards the south, which automatically brings them a conflict of interest between Antonius and the Venetians.

In the mid of the year 1461 AD, a few horses galloped in to the fortress of Tiroma, carrying the flag of the white lion. They claim that they are the ambassadors of the Caesar of the Roman Empire, but the Albanian guards at the gate are wandering where is their iconic banner of the double headed eagle. Just as they are hesitating whether they should let these Roman ambassadors pass through the gate in to their capital, the newly appointed procurator, Đorđe Pelinović.

The newly appointed middle aged head of diplomacy soon halted the potential quarrel between the city guards and the ambassadors, for he recognised these colours the riders are flying. He was one of the Venetian ambassador who went to pay Antonius a visit after his victory in the Aegean against the Ottomans and acquired the Aegean islands, in the wish of acquiring a specially granted charter for the Venetians to dock their ships freely, trade freely and establish trade bases which might have garrisons in exchange for Venetian monetary and naval support. Although this offer got rejected, but Đorđe Pelinović is astonished when he found out that the admiral managed to feed his men, solved his shortage on precious metals and currencies, beat the crap out of the Ottomans seizing their largest city, and continued his expansion directly facing the bulk of the Ottoman non believers.

This made the procurator remember this legendary man by heart, and together with it his banners of the white lion, which is the one these riders are flying now. He went forward welcoming the riders in to the city, smiling and patting them on the back of their hands, expressing his apologies for his men's negligence, and went on explaining that the recent tense situation forced the various Albanian cities and outposts to tighten their security, especially for the ones from the east.

The riders forgave the guards, for sure, and expressed the purpose of their visit; They are here on behalf of the Caesar of Romania, coming here to convey their Caesar's good wishes, promote the relationship between the two states, and they have a letter, from their Caesar himself, which needs to be handed over to the Dominus Albaniae.

The procurator had nothing to say, he knows his position in the Albanian court and would not do any thing that is out of his job scope. The ambassadors from Antonius are led in to the high castle of Kruje, where they finally met the lordship of the Albanians. Now the two states that are the main European opponents of the Ottomans finally came in to official level contact with one another.

Gjergj Kastrioti, or better known as Skanderbeg, is there in the court yard seating on a stone bench eating plums, while he instructed a little boy that looked no larger than six years old on how to use a bow. The boy tried his best with a beaming red face, pulling the bow made from soft wood and launched the arrow. It flew a slanted curve in the air, and fell on to the grass patch before it could reach the target. The boy threw down the soft bow, wept and ran to Skandebeg, the later laughed cheerfully with his thick white moustache trembling from the motion. He picked up the bow again, held it in to the hands of the little child and instructed him on how to hold the bow in a correct posture once more with patience.

At least in this court yard with this little kid, the supposed legend looks like he got no difference with any humble elderlies that one can find in any villages, if one ignores the weapon racks full of blades, and the array of shining armours being hang in the surrounding. The procurator went in to the courtyard to have a few words of exchange with Skanderbeg, and came back to the Roman ambassadors. "That must be his lordship's grand child." The ambassador commented. "I doubt that it is a suitable time for us to disturb his lordship at this moment."

The procurator grinned and replied. "That is his lordship's son, actually. Indeed it is not a great time to disturb this rare family bounding session, and looking at these equipment it seems like his lordship is preparing for another expedition, apologies for the inconvenience prestigious ambassador. How about this, you are here with a letter and gift right? I can convey your intentions on your behalf, and pass him the letter… If not, I can allocate a suitable hostel for you prestigious ambassadors to spend a few days, I can guarantee that his lordship shall be able to see you when the time is right, it shall be my top priority."

The ambassadors can see the hidden message inside the procurator's mouth, that is the lordship of Albania does not want to see them yet; He must have known that they are here, but due to some unknown reasons, it seems like he does not want to meet them yet. The ambassador is obviously a rookie in the art of diplomacy, as he hesitated after hearing these words and remain rooted on the ground, unsure what to do. The clear instruction given to him is to hand this letter to the ruler of Albania himself, not through a second pair of hand. But after a while of discussing among themselves, the ambassadors still handed the letter to this supposedly Master of Diplomacy before them, and excused themselves, saying that if the lordship does not want to meet them, they shall leave the fortress at once and go back to Thessaloniki to fulfil their duty.

The procurator Đorđe Pelinović simply stood there all the while with a warm smile on his face, while counting the number of diplomatic mistakes and booby traps these rookie ambassadors just made detonated. Sometimes he just wandered on the way here listening to these supposed ambassadors, whether they are legitimate ambassadors, or a bunch of college students who have little social experience coming here for an internship or vacation.

The procurator watched these people's back as they leave the inner castle, shook his head and turned back in to the terrace with the letter in his hands. Upon seeing this man, the lord of Albania handed the kid to the servants, and turned in to the room with the procurator, bringing the door with him.