1453: Revival of Byzantium

The others gaped in shock facing the sudden change of events, looking back at their boss with their jaws dropping and feet rooted, not sure what to do. While their boss slowly placed back his crossbow to his waist and comforted the others. "Do not worry my brothers, I only gave him that bolt because he retorted against my words too many times. You people can still leave this place as you will, there is nothing to worry about, really." 

However, after going through all these things, the rest of the gang has no more intention of leaving this place fearing that they might get a bolt in their back too. The boss nodded his head in satisfaction and went back to observe the target of their night. This is how he takes control of his men, not through democracy and love, but through harshness and fear. Which he thinks is the only way of keeping his men intact being long time in an enemy territory. 

The Varangian beneath still has no idea that they have became the target of a bunch of fully equipped rogues, still squatting there and counting the number of beeps he hearts from a random insect nearby. While the rogues have maneuvered to all angles of the small encampment ready to launch an attack, just from this tactical maneuver itself one can find out that these rogues are no simple enemies. The boss continued waiting, for he got the patience to stay here all the way until the next day. He is waiting for the midnight when usually a man shall be the drowsiest. 

Although they cannot see any thing five meters away in this patch of darkness, but they still know it is the best time to start the attack as soon as the half moon is now directly above their head signifying that it is now midnight. The boss of these rogues is feeling that the blood from all over his body boiling up, and his mind is filled with the revenge, lust for a battle. He pulled out his blade, lit his torch as a signal and sneakily trudged down the hills preventing himself from producing any bit of noise. Surprisingly he found out that the closer he is to his target, the more calm he becomes. Perhaps that is the direct representation of the hunter's instinct. 

Under the disguise of the darkness in the woods, the boss came to a dangerously close location to the Varangian, but just he has expected the giant is already dozing off with the support of his axe. Knowing that it is the time the rogue bulged out from the disguise of the woods raising the torch in his hands and roared in a heavy Sarakatsanika dialect accent combined with some Norman Latin words. "Charge! My brothers! For the vengeance of the brothers who ceased yesterday! And for the better future we all deserve tomorrow!" 

Accompanied with the roars and cries of his men, the boss took out his crossbow again, loaded it up and released the trigger. The tiny bolt flew in a curved line across the dark sky and hit right on to its target. The varangian is waken up from his slumber feeling a sharp pierce in his shoulder, but he did not scream, for he has already gotten used to the same kind of feeling for way too many times in the past decade he spent on battle field. With a better night vision compared to the rest by eating carrots he immediately spotted the shapes of the intruders. 

The other two Varangians are also awaken from their light sleep and rolled out of the tent, while Yuri hurriedly dragged the boy who is in his deep sleep away from the tent as he roughly knew what the mysterious opponents are going to do next in a sneak offensive like this. Yuri is indeed right, just a few seconds after he and Nikolas rolled out of the tent, it is penetrated by a ring of crossbow bolts.

"How te hell did these bastards acquire so many crossbows?" Yuri is stunned by the sound of the bolts tearing through the air in to his tent, crossbow is a kind of weapon that should be strictly under prohibition by law in the state and is only possessed by certain units in the armed forces. The appearance of so many crossbows in this place can only mean two things, either there is a breach in the security of the army leading to crossbows being leaked out by theft and bribery, or it can be because these people are highly trained militia from enemy states, most likely the Ottomans coming here for tactical sabotage missions. 

The later is the worst, because if they are militias under sabotage operations, this attack can only mean one thing; that is these Ottomans have a specific instruction to come here, and they must have the knowledge about who he is or else they would not have launched an attack; In other words, Yuri has been exposed to the direct threat of the enemies who now see him as a major thing that needs to be plucked out. For the first time Yuri is uneasy, no, horrified in a battle field, like a bloody new recruit. The hands of him holding his axe is already shivering, with cold sweat forming up on his neck and feet. 

"Gather around me! Gather around me! Gather around me!" Yuri roared in his native language towards his companions. "Do not just stare at those torches! There must be enemies coming at our back! Gather before me and get the hell out of here!" 

The Varangians huddled together, with Nikolas staying in the middle before protected by four burly men. But the instructions from Yuri came with a price, these rogues now roughly knows that the man who shouted must have been the commander of the four people, and inevitably he became the target with the highest priority. Though there are some good things, at least, that is the rogues have already finished the bolts they have in their crossbows, if not Yuri shall surely be poured with a wave of bolts. 

The four Varangians formed a tactical combat formation of a four men crescent, being separated in to smaller teams of two, each maintaining a close distance to one another. Two men covering the front and two men covering the back, an usual tactical formation taken by the Varangians if they want to get out of a place fast. But this time round their speed is lagged behind by a valued person they need to protect, whose speed is not in par with the rest of the team. 

After a few minutes in to the engagement, then did Yuri finally have a clear knowledge of the enemy they are facing. There are at least ten of them, equipped with professional gears like swords, round shields and cross bows, totally different from the usual bandits they faced in the last month equipped with chopping axes and cleavers. These rogues are obviously experienced in the various battle techniques too. They did not charge on to the Varangians head on in a messy cluster like their counterparts in Drama, the attackers separated in to three parts with one segment in charge of intercepting the Varangians ahead, one segment stayed reloading their cross bows harassing the defenders despite their accuracy is like crap in the darkness and the last maintaining a close contact with the Varangians, constantly assaulting them but not charging in to a close quartered combat. 

Yuri could not get a clear shot of the full scale facing this kind of messy situation, he only knew that there are four to five nasty pests dancing around them at all times, severely dragging them behind by giving them a hack or slash when they are not looking at the direction. The Varangians had no choice but to block using the axe or hammer in their hands, they want to fight back, but the offenders never gave them the chance to keeping a safe distance the moment their attack is being blocked. But still, after five minutes in to the battle, the offenders still lost two people lying there with their entire body slashed in to half by the furious giants. 

However, the Varangians too aren't in a good situation, Yuri's right arm is stricken by a bolt, two Varangians half several cuts on their backs and arms, and the last is already bleeding heavily from a direct slash on to his shoulder. The group of people have already reached to the out skirt of the mountain valley, but of course, there are no travelers, patrols or any people who can offer them any help on the rural mountain trail at this time. 

Now, Yuri and his team have lost all of their horses, their wares, their armour and necessities. The only things they have now is the weapon, their wives in their hands. But can these weapons last them all the way to safety? No one has an answer.