章 110: Legacy of the Last Viking

The men in the city should be strong enough to keep the weak, the children, the elderlies and the maidens out of blood shed.

Antonius made up his mind, came down the balcony with a stony face, walked to the gate of the warehouse and shouted. "Summon me major of the Varangians!"

A moment later, Harald rushed forward briskly and kneeled down on one knee. "Aye! De' major of the Varangians, Harald aye here reporting for duty! Admiral!"

"Harald…" Antonius places his left hand on the Norse giant's shoulder and asked. "How many Varangians do you have?"

"Two hundred of them!"

"All fully armoured?"

"Aye!" Harald answered. "All quipped with either battle axes and hammers, although they might not be as battle hardened as the men Yuri brought with him, but I can swear that their equipment, training, and combat capabilities are top notch among all other Norse warriors!"

"I only need one response Harald!" Antonius took a deep breathe and bellowed before Harald's ears. "Can they fight for me?"

"They will always form your most loyal and trust worthy bridge carrying you across every obstacle you face! Sir!"

That is just the response Antonius wants to hear.

"With that answer, I will burden you with the lives of everyone standing here, including me." Antonius laughed and pulled Harald holding his hands firmly. "I will give you another one hundred and fifty sailors… Leaving only fifty men by my side, use the advantage of the night, storm the enemy spear head by surprise from the south, I will just be behind you watching, any questions?"

"What if the Ottoman commander got our movements prior and rushed back to strengthen the defense? Then the situation will be in a much disadvantage state for us…."

"They won't." Antonius interrupted and answered without hesitation. "They wont…. In this darkness even I cannot figure out what is going on at Yuri and Mauro's side, and further more how is the enemy messenger going to find their commander when he did not carry a flag in this utter darkness?"

"…. Besides, if I am not wrong, the Ottoman commander should just be in that position, now go!"

Hearing this, Harald immediately got up without wasting one second, called one hundred and fifty men and went off to where his Varangians are stationed, and then went into station, leaving only fifty men with Antonius behind.

With the forces of Harald joining in Antonius opened a fourth frontier which can be said to have superbly disrupted the deployment of the Ottomans, but now Antonius has no more back up left over in his hands, if the three hundred and fifty men of Harald does not achieve success, the Romans will not be able to last until day light.

On the other side, a five hundred meters away on the furthest end of the battle field, Mauro just acquired the report by his soldier when he noticed the sudden increase in torches at Antonius' direction joining the action, with a sharp eye sight under the dense light he can even see the royal purple admiral flag of Antonius moving alongside with the troops. Seeing this, Mauro took a deep breathe, thrown away the blade in his hand which is already full of dents, picked up another blade from a deceased soldier and jumped back into combat.

It did not take long before Kudret Suvari is notified of the sudden offensive of a new Roman force, presumably the back ups. Although appalled by the news and baffled by the intentions of the Roman commander why he chose to place all of his bet at this time and this place, he still quickly led his men to withdraw and support the defense over there.

The battle over here has become a grinding warfare, both sides contesting their level of determination, well, endurance and durability. The Romans are in critical danger of their blockade failing as the Venetians, the first to engage, is already on the verge of collapsing under waves after waves of charges. If they collapse and fall back, it will be just like a blood vessel being poked a hole and the blood – in this case the Ottomans, gushing out no longer limited by the lines after lines of defense, and soon to occupy the entire city becoming no longer able to be controlled and quarantined.

With the withdrawal of troops by Kudret Suvari back to the defense and endless amount of new Ottoman Janissaries refilling up the gap, the pressure applied on Harald and his men increased rocket high. They are merely able to keep up in their formation and has to withstand the Ottoman archers on the walls who have all their action diverted to them now showering them in a rain of black shafts in the night. Some Varangians without sailors are pinned to the ground in the blink of an eye never to get up again, while the ones at his back, with no where to retreat, has to raise his wooden round shield close to his body hope it wound block the impending fatal bolt.

The results did not turn so good for the Varangians fighting on the front line too. It did not take long before Harald realised the brutality and fatality of this place. In less than five minutes he has already lost around thirty men, with another twenty of them no longer able to fight and dragged to the back by their pals for immediate bandaging treatment, often finding out that by the time they start bandaging the casualty he has already bled heavily enough to see Jesus.

Although the price of the stakes placed on the battle field is high, but judging from the sudden messiness and disorder among the Ottomans, it can be said that the tactic of a surprise attack right on where the commander of the enemies are did achieve some surprising results, with the price of dozens of brother in arms that Harald can even clearly remember what is the names of each and every one of them, where did they come from, when did they join the his lead…