1453: Revival of Byzantium

In a prison outside the city of Thessaloniki, interrogation room.

"You better say some thing today, if not I shall make you know all the kind of things that we can do to you! O trust me kid you are not going to enjoy the process!"

The rogue, now turned in to a prisoner struggled difficultly being hang on a pole, with his mouth filled with a rug. He too wants to answer the interrogator's questions, but the problem is the later did not even ask him any question in the first place, and he cannot ask what questions the interrogator has for him, because he got a mouthful of cloth inside his mouth since the start. He cannot remove it, because his entire body has been hang on the pole for several hours.

Later the day, another interrogator asked his colleague. "Aren't we supposed to question him first before torturing him?" But the reply he got is pretty vague and strange, his colleague replied that 'there is some one at the top' who wants to see these people suffer in agony. The interrogator dared not ask any further knowing that there is some thing he do not want to know as a smart man working in the prison systems, and so he remained silent hiding the last bit of his conscious deep inside his heart, and continued doing the same thing like his colleague.

The eighteen remaining rogues are locked away inside the deepest part of the prison, built by the known despot of Thessaloniki Manuel Komnenos Doukas two centuries ago, hide many darkest secrets underground, unseen by the day light and the general public. Antonius knows about this prison and the torturing mechanics here, and he wanted to close it originally out of his kind heartedness and self couciousness. Thus, following the admiral's wishes the prison was shut down for a year or two, until the evilness took over his head this time round over the death of his comrade, and so now this historical monument specialised for torture and terror, is opened again.

It is not always that easy for a man to keep his vileness at bey and has a tender mind at others, especially for a ruler running a state, especially when he is being triggered. Then they fall for the quickest solution to soothe their minds and enjoy their moment of vengeance, which is through torture. What makes things terrifying is that the power of the ruler sending his enemies to such deeds is often unrestricted, and so after some time the ruler often gets addicted in this quick solution, and apply it on any one else who dares to oppose him, even if the man means good.

The so called interrogation lasted for two days, the rogues are being tied being given a little amount of water, and entirely no food at all. Then at the third day they are finally being let free from that position, being tied to a chair and placed in a quiet room with no windows, no furniture, entirely nothing except for the door, the grey ceiling and the walls.

This is where the real questioning shall take place.

The rogues are already on the verge of collapse after such a long torture, and when the official who had little idea of what has happened to them there beneath the ground finally invited the whole lot of them to have a sit offering them cups of warm water as a standard of procedure, the prisoners could no longer take it thinking if it is some new method of torture, and spit all the information they knew out to the officials in an exaggerated form. It is the very first time that these officials have met such corporative prisoners, but soon they found out from their trembling words that this case is way too large for them to handle.

Half of these men say that they are sent by the despot of Epirus called Leonardo III Tocco sitting in castle of Angelokastron coming here to scout the situation over here in Romania, while the other half says that they are a bunch of mercenaries sent by a local Ottoman war lord called Ceylant Şemseddin stationed in Kesriye to disrupt the local law and orders, in the preparation to launch an attack on Rumelia through a surprise attack, since according to these people, their lord is having a difficult time against the Christian unions led by the 'canlı ve dinamik kimse' Skanderbeg.

This soon became from a large bandit gathering case to a diplomatic case, the officials quickly reported this thing back to the higher ups, and eventually reached the ears of Antonius.

The admiral is outside the city of Thessaloniki when the messenger found him, he is there waiting for his wife Anna who is bound to arrive today. Poor Anna, for she had never seen her busy husband for more than half a year, and when she arrived in Drama, Antonius is not there because he needs to attend to this issue. She showed a great understanding towards his absence and started coming back to Thessaloniki after the letter from Antonius arrived. However, now judging by this piece of news it seems like Antonius is not going to remain in the city for much longer.

Antonius frowned hearing this piece of news, thinking that it must definitely either be an exaggeration or a hoax by these rogues who are trying to make an intel big enough to let them escape the crime of brutally murdering Yuri and Nikolas. It is impossible in the minds of people in this era that a tiny state with only a few thousand men can rise up against a state of multiple size and win, that is just absurd. The legendary Ismail of Safavid is not yet born yet at this point of time, and the legacies left by Alexander is already way too ancient for people's memories.

Nevertheless, it is still a piece of vital news for Antonius, as now he finally has a valid excuse to intervene in the affairs of Epirus. The admiral gave up waiting for his wife and headed back to the city instantly leaving his servants and guards here. He ordered the rogues to each write a proof document each certifying their claims, and then made them parade before the government, the news papers and the citizens in various districts to give speeches spreading the news to every citizen of Thessaloniki.

The citizens of Thessaloniki already had their confidence buffed by the chain of victories through out the years and the economical revival in the state. Through a chain of propaganda and speeches by the government, Antonius managed to re ignite the people's thirst for revenge through war, knowing that their men are brutally slayed by enemy infiltrators, and they even want to launch an attack on their fertile lands. The eagerness for war soon began spreading to every where else of the state through the connection of the newly established news papers and merchants.

In just one day Antonius successfully rallied the people of Thessaloniki, through the few years of education, building roads and news paper he successfully made many people under his rule feel like they are one; For example, a man in the south most city of Larissa can feel the sense of belongingness to the state just like a man who lives in the city of Drama. This kind of things have never happened before in any other states of Europa where by people ranging miles away can feel that they are one. It is a new kind of spirit, a spirit that Antonius names it patriotism, giving every citizen a brand new national identity that is neither a Roman nor an Ottoman.

Anna Notaras arrived back in to the city in this situation. She came in to the city through the Gate of Saint Apollinaris alone seating on a carriage pulled by two cows, the moment she passed the arch of Galerius she immediately realised that the atmosphere today in the city is not quite right. It is already near the time of curfew where by all the residents ought to be restricted to their homes, but now hundreds almost thousands of people are rushing to the Hippodrome almost blocking off the road causing a gigantic traffic jam that Anna has not seen before.

Anna knows that there are only three situations where this kind of activities can occur, the first one is when the hippodrome is organising a celebrity activity like a chariot race, the second is when the citizens are gathering up for a revolt against the regime, and the last probably is gathering up for a rally by the leader of the city, which usually means that a war or a major reform is coming up. Judging by the nervous atmosphere and the boosted morales of the citizens, Anna knows that it must be the last one, some thing big is coming up.