1453: Revival of Byzantium

Nikolas is a big fan of the Thessaloniki ball game playing it with his pals every single week, he focused his sight on the two big and round backside of the snoring Yuri, lifted his most powerful foot up, took aim and with the exact way how he kicked the ball. Nikolas kicked the two big and round back side of Yuri with the full of his force only to find his toes hitting hard on to a hard surface that feels like a metal plate, the sense of pain immediately instantly spread from his toes to his head, making him almost kneel down on the ground huddling his toes in pain.

Seeing this Antonius almost bursted into laughter again, and came down here personally to wake this drunkard up by himself. He tried poking Yuri on his soft belly, tried lifting his arm up and dropping on to the floor, shaking his entire body but soon he realised that no matter what kind of method he uses, Yuri simply scratched his moustache, turned around and continued sleeping. Suddenly an idea came to Antonius' mind, with an unfamiliar Ruthenian tongue he whispered before Yuri's ears. "Wake up, lets drink!"

Upon hearing these words, Yuri instantly opened up his eyes turning his heads and looked at the direction of the sound, only to find his superior over there looking at him with a smirk. Yuri immediately understood what has happened as he wiped the saliva beside his lips clean, and clumsily stood up from the ground. Then he remembered the deeds he and his men have done in the past night as he noticed all the broken wooden barrels, spilt wines and sleeping pals. The Varangian that is almost two meters tall stood rooted to the ground, not knowing what to say or what to do to appease his admiral in to forgiving him.

Antonius is in no mood of arguing with this Varangian on what needs to be done and what is not supposed to be done which is all being briefed to him a long time ago and clearly he did not listen to. Instead, he got some bigger plans in his head, he tipped his toes and gave a pat on the tall faithful Varangian's shoulder and ordered. "Go get a wash up and wake our brothers up, prepare your weapons and gears just in case there is any dangerous situation outside, I am going out for a while with you by my side, stay watchful but never be aggressive unless I told you so."

Upon hearing this the emotions immediately changed on Yuri's face as the battle instinct thriving in his head is activated again. The rest of the gang is activated too upon hearing this battle order, geared up hiding their armours within those tunics and linens, with their axes and blades behind the backs and they themselves taking positions beside the doors, on the stairs, in the corridor holding the Milano one handed cross bows. The two kids are brought upstairs to be remain hidden in their rooms despite they are having expressed their strong urge to join the fight.

"You two? Fight?" Yuri laughed and gave a light tap on Nikolas' head, which to him felt like a slap making him almost fall forward with stars appearing round the head. "You two fight wars with your brain and your quill, do not get yourself wasted holding blades with those puny arms of yours… Kid, if by one day your arms can be as thick as my calf, perhaps I can give you an axe that I used last time… But now, stay safe and get the hell out of here!"

After the conversation, Nikolas got carried upstairs by a Varangian under his armpit like how he carried his goat in his home town the Scottish highlands. Antonius and Yuri ventured out of the hostel, the guessing of Nikolas is true and logical as they cannot see any passing by people around the build, despite the fact that just a distance away there is a herd of sheeps grazing the newly formed plains. There must be some thing wrong when you see a herd of sheeps but with not a single person guarding them, as sheeps are a valuable asset to even the richest person in the region.

The two men went to check their horses, they are still there chewing merrily on the dried grass with no signs that they have been touched by others. Antonius went out in to the open, facing the direction of where the herd of sheeps are with Yuri holding no weapons behind him, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Oi! The chief of this town! I am here on behalf of the person you people are looking out for! My lord wants to meet whoever that is in charge over here! At once!"

The herd of sheeps continued grazing the newly grown grass patch being restricted in to one single area by two dogs, one of them looked backwards at Antonius with a face as if saying what is this crazy dude shouting over here towards no one, and then went off barking to warn the sheeps not to go out of that square. A whirl of gentle wind breezed through the plains, and nothing seems to have happened. It all seemed like it is merely a fantasy, an assumption that there is some one watching over here. Yuri stood there feeling embarrassed by the deeds of Antonius, and the admiral himself is questioning whether Nikolas' assumption.

But still he went forward and shouted again, and this time too nobody responded. Finally he decided to stop doing such meaningless things and head back, then he finally heard some noise coming from a bush nearby, and two men emerged out of that bush waving towards Antonius and shouted back. "Sir! Please, wait for a moment please!" Then the man ran to the front of Antonius and Yuri, still gasping for air as he has been crawling down in the bushes for way too long.

Antonius scrutinised this man's face, a handy young fellow with sturdy arms, sun tanned skin and a pair of hands full of thickened callus, showing that this man is either a farmer working for years in the crop field, or he is a professional in holding weapons. Seeing the mixture of sweat, dirt and mud on the man's forehead Antonius turned back and ordered. "Yuri, pass me the handkerchief that I asked you to bring along with you, I need to give this sturdy young fellow a wipe on the face to erase the tiredness away from him."

But Yuri did not pass him the handkerchief, instead he asked back with an ignorant face. "Emm.. What handkerchief admiral? I do not have any handkerchief with me…"

Antonius does not know what to say, the young man hurriedly pleaded. "Thanks for your good heart, may Jesus Christ bless you for your kind souls, but I do not need it. I heard that you are the follower for the prestigious guest currently residing in that hostel, and I am just a… humble and helpful emm… farmer that is not affiliated with any one, but I do can help you pass the message to some where else, may I know what kind of message does the guest inside wants to pass to the chief?"

"Thank you, young man." Antonius grinned and patted the man on the back of his hand, calling him a young man despite he himself having just went into the age of thirties. "It is not really a long message, just say that my master wants to have a little chat with the village chief, or whoever that is in charge over here regarding the future developments of this region."

"Got it, I shall be there with the guest's word at once, please await for my return." The man bowed, and hurriedly ran away in the direction of the town, disappearing in a whirl of wind.

"That guy can perfectly suit the position of an archer." Yuri narrowed his eyes and observed the body shape of the man. "Look at those hands, look at those long arms, look at that muscle, it is such a waste that he did not join the force..."

"Indeed…Indeed." Antonius nodded as he sat down on the ground with his legs crossed waiting for the messenger to return with the fruit he desired. "By the way, Yuri, have you realised that ever since we arrived in this region, the spring each year seems to be arriving later and later as compared to the last years?"

"Huh? Nah I don't have that sharp sense like you admiral, I just feel like the mead and wine from Cherson each year is getting later each year… They always had this excuse that it is now relatively harder to grow grapes in that region, but that must be a complete bullshit, I went there myself two decades ago and the climate over there is…"