Patricia Taylor
Stories
11
Chapters
3,604
Words
1.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
5 d, 16 h
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Julian returned silently to Antonius' side after examining the statues of his men, tending to their wounds, encouraging the livings and commemorating the dead. "My admiral, I have a terribly sorry news for you." Antonius replied without tilting his head. "Speak." "Francesco is dead." … "I see." Silence took over on the beach, forming a clear contrast to the clashing and battle cries in the port. As the noise inside the port quietens down, Antonius suddenly stood up and asked Julian with the…-
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Time passes fast. By the time after Antonius finished his ridiculous ill quality piece of triumph poem and the Romans managed to hold their control of the beach outside the burning port, the sun is already finishing up his day of work and tilting west into the horizon. Antonius managed to find himself a stool out of nowhere that has two of its legs already burnt. Abraham managed to find a rock and stacked it under the stool, then Antonius sat down there with his fellow captains standing or squatting…
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"So, honourable Baltaoğlu Süleyman Bey, what you are suggesting that a Rumelian fleet came right down from the gökyüzü, hissing the breath of Şeytan, and bearing the inferno of Jahannam?" Ibrahim Pasha got off the horse, gave Kapudan Pasha a piece of blanket and a flask of alcohol to warm himself and shield against the cold, and then sat down together asking him a few questions about the enemy they are facing, being cautious as always. "Yes…" "…You are trying to suggest that those Rumelian now…
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Yuri led a task force consisting of five hundred Varangians and newly trained marines on this assault. They successfully made a hard landing on the shores half a mile away from the naval installations, sneaked all the way to the back where it is poorly defended, covered their exposed skins in soak wet rugs and rushed into the harbour like a spear, instantaneously creating even more chaos among Ottoman sailors leading to a massacre. The most feared military tactic or weapon from ancient to modern mostly…
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The fire continued burning casting the water surface, the sky and people's face in an erotic but charming colour of ruby and gold, fire dancing on the water surface like maidens in a pub. The fortified walls and barricades designed and built by Ottoman naval warfare engineers, and those smaller civilian ships levied in time of need became the greatest obstacle for any Ottoman ships to escape this abyss made of fire. Those fishermen, merchants and ordinary sailors, from all walks of lives and professions…
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Out of a fired ship, which by no way But drowning could be rescued from the flame, Some men leap'd forth, and ever as they came Near the foes' ships, did by their shot decay; So all were lost, which in the ship were found, They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drowned. - "A Burnt Ship" By John Donne (1572-1631) It is tenth of February, before noon. The natural port of Gölcük belonging to Kocaeli province has became a port harbouring nothing but a sea of fire. After the massive…
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Later that day, by the dock side of the Golden Horn Straits. Antonius awaits seating on a boulder in the seas as he watch his ships waiting to weigh anchor, and his marines, together with the soldiers provided by Giovanni, doing a last round of check on their gears before boarding the ships. They are once again, ordered to remain utter silence, as Antonius did not tell anyone else except Giovanni and ship captains on the fact that they are going to leave the dock. Only the sound of the creaking boats by…
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The figure in front turned back, revealing her gorgeous face under the hood. The woman is called Therma Sphrantzes, Giovanni's newly found lover in the city, or better known as the daughter of George Sphrantzes who is the Protevestiarites, Lord of the imperial wardrobe and the right-hand man of Constantine. Knowing that she has been discovered, she turned back and faced Giovanni blushing and fidgeting her hands, holding a basket covered in a pink silk cloth. Giovanni frowned and asked, removing his…
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The time, and the enemies of Rome it accompanies, shall not wait for the dear and honourable nobles on the high walls to finish their brawl. The majority of the Ottoman army arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople by dusk. It is a Sunday, when usually citizens of Constantinople are taking a break to do their prayers and mass in churches and monasteries. The Ottoman's war machines erect into the skies, their armies march under the sunset, casting them in a colour of shadows, they raised their crimson…
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A huge wave of different colours started appearing on the horizon. The walls below them tremble as-if it is going to come falling down. The cries and songs coming from the distance startled every single person with their familiar but unnatural tone. It is an army, an army that stretch all the way from the extent Antonius' eyes can see to another side. From the Southern coast of Constantinople stretching all the way to the Northern coast of the city, coming on all fronts, making Antonius almost lost his…
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