Siege

'The stockade cannot hold up to their cannons,' Dalmata said. 'The soldiers draw lots to see who will defend it each day, and who will rebuild it each night.'

Dalmata's words were punctuated by a tremendous boom. A moment later, the stockade below them exploded in a shower of dirt and splintered wood. As the dust settled, Longo saw that a gap five feet wide had been blown in it. In the middle of the gap, an enormous cannonball sat buried amidst the wreckage.

Longo shook his head. 'What was that?'

Dalmata pointed to where a huge cannon sat on the Turkish rampart some two hundred yards away. 'The men call it the Big Bastard,' he said. 'The Turks call it the Dragon. Either way, it's a monster. Nothing we build will stand up to it.'

A palace messenger approached them along the wall. 'Signor Giustiniani, I bring a message from the Princess Sofia,' the man said. He handed Longo a folded note. It read: I have important information. It is urgent that I speak with you. Come to the palace, quickly. – Princess Sofia.

'I must go,' Longo told Dalmata. 'We can continue this later.' Longo hurried to the palace, where Sofia's maidservant guided him to the library. Longo found Sofia standing at a table examining a large map. 'Princess Sofia,' he said and bowed.

Sofia looked up from the map. 'Come, look at this,' she told him. Longo moved to stand beside her. She smelled of honeysuckle, and as she leaned forward over the map, she revealed the soft curves of her cleavage. Longo forced himself to look away to the ancient map spread out before him. It was a plan of subterranean Constantinople, detailing cisterns, sewers and underground tunnels. 'This is part of a series of surveys from the twelfth century,' she said. 'Do you see this underground chamber, where the many tunnels come together?'

'What of it?' Longo asked. The chamber in question looked to be near the wall. Tunnels radiated out from it towards the palace and to other parts of the city.

'The map is incomplete,' Sofia said. 'Look at the edge of the chamber here, where these lines are indented. Do you see the smudging? A tunnel has been erased.'

'Are you sure?' Longo asked.

Sofia smiled. 'I found the tunnel myself this morning. It leads out past the walls and beyond the Turkish army. The entrance to the tunnel is beneath this palace.'

'Have you told anyone of this? The emperor? Notaras?'

Sofia shook her head. 'No. Secrets are not easily kept in this city. If our enemies find out about these tunnels, then we are lost.'

Longo looked back to the map. 'You are right. If the Turks make their way into these tunnels, then they will have access to the entire city.' He looked up from the map, and their eyes met. 'But why tell me and not the emperor?'

Sofia lowered her eyes. 'You are in command of the city's defences,' she said, and then looked back at Longo. 'And I trust you.'

Longo stared into her hazel eyes. 'I will not disappoint you,' he told her. From the doorway the maidservant coughed, and Longo straightened and looked back to the map. 'I will have my men destroy the tunnel. Is it the only one that leads under the walls?'

'It is the only one that I have found,' Sofia said. 'There could be others.'

'Let us hope not. In the meantime, I need to see this tunnel as soon as possible. Can you take me to it?'

'Not now,' Sofia replied, lowering her voice. 'We would draw unwanted attention to the tunnels and ourselves. I do not wish to fuel idle gossip. Meet me at midnight, outside my quarters, and make sure you are not seen.' Longo consulted with Constantine until late that night. He suspected that more than information on how the siege was progressing, the emperor simply wanted company. He did not blame Constantine. The emperor was battling to prevent the end of an empire that had lasted more than a thousand years.

Longo left the emperor's quarters near midnight but did not leave the palace. Instead, he made his way to Sofia's apartments, sticking close to the shadows. The palace was all but empty at this hour, and he saw no one until he reached Sofia's quarters. She was at the door, waiting for him.

'Come,' she whispered. 'Follow me.' She led him into her apartments. They passed from the waiting room into her bedroom, where Sofia pressed a tile on the wall and a portion of it swung open, revealing a hidden passage. She took a candle and stepped into the darkness. 'This way. We can reach the kitchens without being seen.'

She closed the door behind him. The passage was narrow, and the tiny light of the candle only reached a few feet in front of them. 'I did not know of these tunnels,' Longo whispered as they walked. 'Are they for servants? Who else knows of them?'

'I do not know why they were originally built,' Sofia said. 'But I have never seen another person in them. I found them as a child.'

'Do they run throughout the palace?'

Sofia nodded. 'Shh,' she added, dropping her voice even lower. 'We must not talk until we reach the kitchen. The walls are thin here. We might be overheard.' They walked on in silence; the only sound the quiet scuffing of their feet. The tunnel branched several times, but Sofia moved on without hesitation. They went down two tight spiral staircases, and then came to a dead end. A tiny spyhole in the wall before them glowed red from the light outside. Sofia put her eye to it. 'We are in luck. No one is here,' she whispered. 'Come. We must hurry before someone returns.'

She pushed on a hidden catch and then pulled. The wall swung open towards them, and the dim red light of a banked fire lit the passage. They stepped out into a little-used corner of the kitchen. Knives and pots hung everywhere, and on the opposite wall was a huge fireplace – twenty feet wide and ten deep – where a banked fire smouldered. Sofia pointed to a torch in a bracket on the wall beside the fireplace.

Longo took the torch, and they hurried through the kitchen to a stairwell leading down to the storage area, where barrels and sacks of grain were stacked to the ceiling. Sofia led Longo to another staircase, and they descended into the damp darkness of the dungeons.

'We can talk freely now,' Sofia said as she led Longo into the high-ceilinged entrance to the dungeons. 'No one will hear us down here.'

'What is this place?'

'These were the palace dungeons, but they have been abandoned for many years now,' Sofia answered as she led Longo to the right down a long passage. 'Now only bones remain.'

They entered another room, startling a group of bats. The bats swooped down from the ceiling, squeaking shrilly and flapping about their heads. Sofia raised her arms to protect her head, and Longo put an arm around her, pulling her close as he waved the torch above them to keep the bats away. When the last of the bats had disappeared, Sofia stiffened and stepped away. Longo could still feel the warmth of her body beside him. They stood still for a second, but the moment passed. She turned and led the way to another stairwell.

'You came all this way by yourself?' Longo asked as they descended. 'In the dark?'

'Does that surprise you?'

'Most ladies are not overly fond of dark dungeons, or bats for that matter,' Longo said, looking around him. 'In fact, most men would hesitate to come here alone. There is something unnerving about this place.'

'Well then, you are lucky to have me to protect you,' Sofia said with a smile as they came to the end of the hall and stepped into the old torture chamber. Sofia went to the far side of the room, where she had rehung the tapestry as best she could. She pulled it aside and tugged the door open. 'I fear the fall of Constantinople more than bats or darkness.'