Chapter 479 - Voice Of Ḥājjī Bayrām Walī

"I am not afraid to die." Semseddin continued pleading. "I am only afraid of dying in a worthless and pathetic manner, I shall not close my eyes after my death if I never managed to achieve any goals for my reckless decision that is destined to bring along many of my pals with me on the path to the Great Prophet. So please, Sanjek, make my sacrifice useful!"

By the end of his words, Semseddin is almost weeping as he buried his head deep into the legs of the Sanjek. The later has nothing more to say, words are throttled in his throat as he fell into a state of remorse and sorrow for sinking his followers into such a state of despair, requiring the sacrifice of Ottoman noble blood for the glimpse of the chance of survival.

"Approved." The Sanjek finally made the decision. "But if possible, come back alive."

Semseddin walked away without saying a word, everyone kept silent as he goes, for they all know that probably this is te very last time that they are seeing this man alive.

Ten minutes later the main gate of the keep opened slowly with a screeching sound, for the very first time in month. Behind it seats Semseddin and his men, all donned in traditional Ottoman chainmail with leather coverings, holding spears, bows or Kilij blades, flying the imperial standards of the Ottoman Sultan and war banner of Semseddin himself, indicating that this troop is being led by a highly prestigious and ranking noble as not a lot of people in the Sultanate has the right to fly these banners.

"Iddia! For the Sultan! For our home!" Semseddin roared towards the back as he pulled out his blade and charged out of the gate head first. The rest of the five hundred riders followed closely to their leader whistling, waving the blades in their hands and slashing their horses with whips for it to accelerate. Normally for a state built on horseback by a bunch of horse loving people such things should be avoided, but in such desperate times even human lives can be wasted for survival, and there is of course no exception for the horses too.

Feeling the pain, the horses let off a series of neighs and accelerated, bursting out of the gate in pairs stepping onto the piles of muds and melted snow beneath their hooves splashing dirts onto their elegant and well groomed furs. These war horses, which most of them are raised along the side of their masters since young encountering numerous dangerous situations, and this time too these faithful creatures galloped on despite knowing of the danger lying ahead as the light from the sun is reflected by the shiny metal tips of the caltrops into the mount's eyes. Their hooves knocked against the sturdy ground in full force, and it is just five hundred calvaries along that is already formidable enough to cast an impression to everyone that they are dangerous.

The Ottoman riders flung a round of shots towards the trenches at around a twenty meters mark and just as what Semseddin has expected, the Rumelians working inside these trenches suffered a tremendous number of casualties with them being tightly packed together, the fabulous sound of metallic arrow heads piercing into the cursed meat of the Rumelians inside the trenches. Many behind started fleeing and now it is indeed the time for the Rumelians to have a taste of what they have just done to the Ottomans, killing one another through stampede.

The Ottoman cavalries fluently separated into two groups with each heading for a different side of the zig zagged shaped trench, while there are still consequences to be paid in the process. Multiple mounts fell over into the trenches by accident, never to get up on their hooves again, and some stepped onto Caltrops and collapsed right on the spot, ended up bleeding to death. While for Semseddin, he knew that there is something wrong the moment he led his cavalries out of the city, as the zig zagged shaped trenches seems to be specially designed with a pattern leaving a huge opening before the gate and an empty no man's land enough for large cavalry movements, obviously this is a way luring the cavalries into somewhere.

But Semseddin cannot care more or less, he is not even planning to be able to make it back into the keep alive in the very first place, he is just here to disrupt the activities of these Rumelians as much as possible.

"My lord!" A rider approached Semseddin from the side. "You are right! My lord! Those barrels inside are indeed filled with black powders, these Rumelians are trying to blow all of us up!"

"We got to find the depot of these barrels as soon as possible and set it off." Semseddin is trying hard to prevent the rushing adrenaline from taking his calm thinking. "If not our operation this time shall be completely useless."

"Your highness!" The soldier on horseback did not show any signs of fear when he heard the word sacrifice coming out from his lord's mouth, instead his mouth became wide open and chuckled, with a bit of shyness on his yet boyish cheeks. "The rest of the army shall be saved through our sacrifice, and we shall be victorious in the end of the day, am I right?"

Semseddin gaped and his thinking halted while galloping through the wind, unsure about how he should answer this young and naïve soldier. After a while he could only force a grin, nodded hastily and accelerated his mount going back to the spear head.

After a few rounds of flung shots on horseback, the group of cavalries entered what it seems to be an intersection and just as what Semseddin has assumed, the mass tremble of the ground can be heard from the two sides in the woods. Semseddin knows that it is impossible for the four hundred plus horses he has at his disposal is unable to produce such a noise. So the answer is pretty clear, the Rumelians are now finally here.

He is correct, Khalid and Abraham has been waiting for a long time at the flanks among the woods, eating and sleeping in the woods alongside with their horses, which is not a simple task to accomplish. All of these enormous amount of effort is just to have the prey to bite the bait =, and certainly they are not disappointed, there comes the catch for them. The plan is simple, the cavalries under Abraham and Khalid shall charge the Ottoman cavalries from the sides, while six hundred infantries with the support of archers led by the prince from Moskva Andrey Bolshoy aiming to intercept these cavalries, and then eat it up as a whole, even if the Ottomans are to make it out of this place, there are still some other surprises waiting for him ahead.

"Keep on going forward! Do not engage! I repeat! Do not engage!" Semseddin saw the intentions of the enemies and yelled at the very top of his voice towards his men. "They are trying to chase us towards a trap like how the hunters chase the goats into the barn! Just keep going forward!"

However, not all of the riders could have heard the voice of the commander due to the sound of the hooves and the howling wind, some Ottoman riders in small groups who did not hear the command and can no longer catch up chose to turn around and face the enemies in order to try to buy more time for their pals ahead. They made a valorous charge towards their foes, and their foes paid their bravery with respect. These riders are soon engulfed in the larger tide of the enemies like a boulder in the sea resisting against a tidal wave.

Semseddin saw the Rumelian infantries already lined up in formation waiting for them at the intersection, raising their spears and shields. Behind them stands multiple towers and fortifications with archers and crossbows behind, and of course, Antonius' favourite weapon; the caltrops alongside the roads forcing Semseddin to take a straight path ahead.

The owner of Kastoria can already see his destiny looming over him, but he is still not going to give up yet longing to take his last stance against this screwed up world, just like how a lion in the ṣaḥrāwāt usually fights the bloodiest battle in his life when it is nearing the end of his life "My sons! It has been an honour charging side by side with you today! Do not worry, we shall make it out alive of this hell hole today! The Great Prophet has promised me this! Through the voice of Ḥājjī Bayrām Walī! If we manage to make it out alive today, then I have proven that I have received the blessings of the Great Prophet, if we did not… Then I shall go to the Jannah and ask the Mighty Allah why myself!"