1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 284: Cross

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(The Tyrant shall never fail to find an excuse to serve his tyranny) 

-        The Wolf and The Lamb, Aesop.

A man wearing a grey robe riding on a stallion horse is pulled by a Janissary to a safe distance beneath the walls, together with him there are two large wooden planks of a height slightly taller than an adult male.

"What are they trying to do?" Alexios asked curiously. "Is this some sort of ritual of the Ottomans that they must do before any battle?"

"Nay, this is a public execution." Explained the Mamluk Calvary commander Mamsriqwe as he eyed the ongoing event emotionlessly. "It is called armh, done by nailing the naked man on to two wooden planks crossed together and then whip him to death. A kind of execution ritual that is quite popular among your Rumelians I remember it is called"

"Cruxification!"

"How dare they!"

"What is the purpose of them doing this?" 

"Is this a threat to us? Is this a threat to us!"

"But who? Who are they going to crucify?"

Hearing the Mamluk Captain's explanation various people went in to different emotions. Some started raging feeling that this is a form of disrespect, while most are bewildered on why the Ottomans are doing this here at this moment, and who are they going to execute.

Antonius thought for a while and made a guess. "Is it our scouts that have not came back? Are they captured by the Ottomans?"

Abdullah by the side sighed and turned back unwilling to see the following bloody scenes. "If it is our guys, brothers, please prepare your cross bows with the longest ranges later, and fire at both our guys and those Janissaries. Cruxification is a long enduring process with lots of pain, and since we cannot come out of the walls to save them, it is better if we are to release them of the agony as soon as possible, bringing some bastard Janissaries along side with them."

Antonius nodded in approval, and Abraham too started giving orders in the forms of flag to all cross bow men to prepare their weapons.

"You all got it wrong, admiral."  The Mamluk Cavalry commander continued to explain. "We don't execute peasants and ordinary soldiers through armh, we simply behead or hang them armh is only used when the man sentenced to death is a man of the noble class, a man of high prestige, or he has committed sinful deeds like trying to assassinate the Sultan."

"A noble?" Antonius is startled thinking if he got any noble in his team; A pirate, a former slave, a fisher man, a butcher, a mercenary, a merchant, a servant of a Sultan, a farmer, a black smith Almost including every single occupation of this age, but definitely no one is a noble.

Suddenly, another man is pulled out of the Ottoman formation dressed in a rather fancy way; His upper body is completely nude, riding on a donkey and wearing a crown that looks like it is. Made of paper? Antonius scrutinised at this donkey riding guy thinking that this man looks familiar, but he cannot recall the name of this man. But as he is thinking Abdullah by his side pulled his shirt diverting his attention.

"What is it?" Asked Antonius.

Abdullah replied with no words, but just a point with his index finger beneath the tower on the walls. Antonius looked in his direction and saw the brother of Anna Notaras, Jacob Notaras acting as a regular archer holding a bow, gaping at the man beneath with his legs shaking, and after a while he could no longer support himself and kneeled on to the wooden walls with a loud thump. Seeing Jacob Notaras behaving like this, added with his own further observations on the man beneath Antonius finally understood the true identity of the man going to be executed.

"It is the Mega Doux of Constantinople, that cunning old Greek fox called Loukas Notaras. "Abdullah informed the others. "But why are they going to execute him? I have always thought that that with Loukas Notaras in their hands, the Grand Vizier can get all the information he needs about Constantinople."

Abdullah's words are bluntly interrupted as the Ottoman Janissaries began working hammering the taller wooden plank in to the soil and nailing another wooden plank at its centre forming a cross,  while the clergy that looks like the Mufti started singing some sort of rhythms that the people up here does not understand, even for Abdullah. It sounds like some sort of ancient Bedouin language mixed together with a little Persian and Babylonian together.

Antonius stopped looking at the weeping Jacob Notaras, who is dragged down by three of his pals down the walls howling the name of his father and continued concentrating on the Ottoman activity beneath. The Mufty finished his ritual with an high pitched ending clause and went back to the side of the Grand Vizier, then the several fancily dressed man came out and started hopping in circle around the former Mega Doux singing weird melodies, shouting strange words carrying a small whip and a blade, leashing their whips towards the direction of the half naked Mega Doux in the process.

"What is all of this about, Mamsriqwe?" Antonius being curious for knowledge as always.

"I am not really sure This Should be an ancient tradition of the Turks back when they are in the lands of Transoxiana." The Mamluk commander squeezed his eye brows together thinking. "It is to curse the person who is going to be executed that he shall go straight down to the deepest level of Jahannam and suffer there both physically and spiritually in crackling fire, boiling water, scorching wind and black smoke for an eternity until te end of time."

Antonius remained silent watching. After the cross is finally finished, the man in grey robes on the stallion horse rode forward giving a speech to all the Ottomans, this time Abdullah is able to understand him. What he says basically means that this man, called Loukas Notaras, is a traitor who betrayed the previous Sultan the glorious Mehmed II, that is why the mightiest force on the entire Earth did not manage to conquer the city and even causing the dear life of the previous Sultan. And thus this wicked traitor shall be executed today, right on the spot by the cruellest  punishment ever made possible.

Hearing the man in grey robe's words the Ottoman infantries broke in to a thunderous wave of vulgarities cursing this 'Loukas Notaras' guy. If it is not for their military discipline and the officers there maintaining law and order, Antonius almost felt that these crazy people want to eat him alive.

The Ottoman executioners finally started tying Loukas Notaras up on to the cross made from two wooden planks, pasting his two hands on to the two sides of the horizontally laid wooden plank. Antonius sighed looking at him; A year ago this old fox was the one standing up there on the stage, and he Antonius is the pirate mercenary standing beneath in a far away corner. But now every thing has changed, he is the one on top there while this Mega Doux is going to be executed by his 'old friend' very soon.

Antonius wanders that whether Loukas Notaras have thought that he shall end up like this last time when he was selling information to the Ottoman sieging army giving stabs after stabs on the back of Giovanni and himself. If he has, then what motive does he has while doing this? If no, then Antonius just hopes that this event shall serve as an example to the future people reading this piece of history, that traitors are always the number one priority to be removed by his own people he is betraying, and to the side the traitor is trying to appease, he shall get thrown away like a worthless piece of garbage one day when his master finds him of no more use.

"Ah!...." The first nail is sunk in to the hand of Loukas Notaras, driving him awake instantly from his dizziness and started bawling in agony. Followed by the second nail, then his entire body started trembling violently trying to get off this wooden cross but he failed. Then suddenly his eyes met the eyes of Antonius on the tower, the Mega Doux stopped screaming and maintained his stare on the former mercenary like his soul has been taken away, gaping but without saying a single word creating a serious of dry "Ah, Ah" sounds.

It is then that some one noticed that this man's tongue has been cut away.

Seeing this man in this state, Antonius suddenly feels like he has lost all of his hatred towards this old croak over his actions done in the past. He turned his head away and then gave the order to the cross bow men beneath him to unleash their arrows and bolts on to these people beneath the walls.