Siege

'And what will you do to me?' Sofia asked defiantly. 'You do not own me, whatever you may think.' She paused and looked him in the eye. 'I love him, Notaras. Don't you understand?'

Notaras smiled a twisted, painful smile. 'Yes, I do,' he told her. Then he turned and left, slamming the door to her apartments behind him. Half-dressed, his boots unlaced and his shirt untied, Longo stumbled through one of the many hidden passages that snaked through the walls of the Blachernae Palace. He had not taken a light from Sofia's chambers, and he tripped often in the impenetrable darkness, keeping his hands on the walls to steady himself. He had not gone far when he heard something unexpected: the distant sound of footsteps. Someone was in the tunnel.

Longo quickened his pace, hurrying down a spiral staircase. The sound of steps was growing louder, and when he reached the foot of the stairs, he saw the faint glimmer of a distant torch, headed his way. Longo raced down the corridor away from the light and then into a side passage. A few seconds later, he emerged into an empty side street next to the palace and breathed a sigh of relief. He had made it.

Longo headed away from the palace, towards the nearby house where he was staying. He was just turning into his street when he came face to face with Notaras, whose lips curled back in a wicked smile. Longo hurried by, hoping to avoid a confrontation, but Notaras reached out a hand to stop him. 'And what are you doing out at such a late hour, Signor Giustiniani?' Notaras asked. He pointed to Longo's half-tied shirt. 'And so clumsily dressed?'

'I heard that there was a disturbance at the palace,' Longo lied. 'I came as quickly as I could. I hardly had time to dress.'

'Indeed,' Notaras replied. 'You even seem to have forgotten your sword.' Longo reached for his sword, but it was not there. Notaras patted his belt, and Longo saw that two swords hung there, one of which was his. Notaras unsheathed the sword and held it between them. 'A fine blade. You should be more careful where you leave it.'

'I can explain.'

'And what do you wish to explain to me, Signor Giustiniani?' Notaras spat. 'You stole my post as defender of the city, and now you have stolen Sofia. I understand perfectly.'

'She does not love you, Notaras.'

'So I have heard, but it is not Sofia that you should be worried about.' Notaras slashed Longo's sword from side to side, testing its weight.

'You are an honourable man, Notaras,' Longo said. 'It is beneath you to strike down an unarmed man.'

'Who are you to speak to me of honour?' Notaras roared. 'She was my betrothed!' He swung out, and Longo stumbled backwards, dodging the blow but falling as he did so. Notaras looked down on Longo coldly but did not attack. 'But you are right,' he said at last. 'It would give me no satisfaction to kill you unarmed.' He tossed Longo's sword to the ground and drew his own. 'Come, Signor. Either I shall have my revenge, or you shall have my life as well as my love.'

Longo left his sword lying between them as he rose. 'We should be fighting the Turks, not each other. After the siege, then you may have your duel.' Longo picked up his sword and turned to leave.

'Coward,' Notaras spat. 'Fight me now or all of Constantinople shall know of your cowardice and of Sofia's shame.'

Longo paused, then turned and held his sword at the ready. 'Very well then,' he said. 'But let us fight only to first blood.'

'To the death!' Notaras snarled and attacked, slicing at Longo's head and then pressing him with a series of quick thrusts. Longo parried and gave ground. He had expected Notaras to be a skilled swordsman, but he was surprised by the extent of the megadux's control. Despite his anger, Notaras fought with precision and balance.

Longo spun away from Notaras's last thrust and slashed at the megadux's side, but Notaras turned and blocked the blow, then delivered a vicious kick aimed at Longo's knee. Longo sidestepped the kick, but in doing so he lost his balance. Notaras seized the advantage and pressed his attack. He cut at Longo's legs and then shifted the direction of his sword at the last second, thrusting at Longo's chest. Longo narrowly sidestepped the blow, leaving Notaras overextended. Longo stepped in close to finish the matter, but to his surprise, Notaras managed to recover at the last second. Their swords met and locked together at the hilt, each man pushing at the other with all his strength.

Suddenly, a giant explosion shook them apart, and they each stumbled back as the ground trembled beneath their feet. As the tremors faded, they heard shouts coming from the palace. Longo and Notaras's eyes met, and they each lowered their swords.

'What was that?' Notaras asked. 'Cannon fire?'

'No,' Longo replied. 'It was an explosion in one of the tunnels.'

'Tunnels? Then that means…'

'The Turks are in the city,' Longo finished for him. 'Come, we must protect the emperor.' The thick oak door to the emperor's quarters shook in its casings as a heavy blow struck it. The blow was followed by another and then another. The door had been blockaded with tables and chairs, and Constantine, Dalmata and a dozen palace guards stood ready to defend the emperor and his family. Sofia stood towards the back of the room, her sword in hand. She had hardly had time to recover from Notaras's visit when Dalmata had arrived and hurried her here, telling her that there were Turks in the palace.

The wood of the door began to splinter as it bent under the weight of repeated blows. One of its iron hinges was ripped from the wall, and the door sagged inwards. Constantine turned to Sofia. 'You should wait in the next room, with Sphrantzes,' he told her. Sofia began to leave but stopped in the doorway. She watched as Constantine drew his sword. 'Ready yourselves, men,' he said. 'If we are to die tonight, then let us sell our lives dearly.'

From the hallway, Sofia heard loud shouting in Turkish and the clash of swords. Then the shouting stopped and the door ceased to shake. In the silence, Sofia could hear her heart hammering in her chest.

Then, the pounding on the door started again, only this time it was less violent. 'Open the door!' a voice shouted from the other side.

'It's Longo!' Sofia cried.

'Let him in,' Constantine ordered, and a few seconds later the door swung open. Longo stepped into the room, followed closely by Notaras. A troop of palace guards stood in the hallway behind them. Notaras caught Sofia's eye, and she lowered her head.

'Thank God you have come,' Constantine said to Notaras and Longo.

'There is no time to rejoice,' Longo replied. 'We have routed the Turks, but we must stop them before they escape. If we capture one of their miners, then he can tell us where the rest of their tunnels are. Otherwise, we are still in danger.' Deep beneath the palace, Notaras followed Longo through a rocky tunnel only dimly lit by their flickering torches. All around him, Notaras could hear the sound of distant footsteps echoing off the tunnel walls. Occasionally, he heard loud Turkish voices. The sounds grew and fell in volume, sometimes sounding louder in one direction and then in the other. Several times Notaras was sure that they would find the Turks around the very next corner, but there was nothing.

Behind Notaras, several hundred palace guards followed, keeping well back so that Notaras and Longo would better be able to listen for the Turks. Notaras looked back, and in the subterranean darkness, the guards appeared as little more than shadows. He could kill Longo now, Notaras realized, and in the darkness, nobody would know what he had done. Notaras would again command the city's defences. Sofia would be his once more. He half raised his sword, but then stopped.