Siege

'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.

Ahead of him, Longo had paused before a split in the tunnel. 'Do you hear that?' he whispered. There were voices coming from the tunnel to the right, and then footsteps, loud and approaching fast.

Notaras turned and shouted to the guards. 'Men, come forward now!' He swung back to see torches appear in the tunnel ahead. In the darkness he could see the light glinting off approaching swords. Notaras raised his blade and stood ready beside Longo. Then, to Notaras's amazement, Longo sheathed his sword and strode forward to meet the onrushing men.

'Tristo?' Longo called. 'Is that you?'

'Of course it's me,' Tristo replied as he strode forward into the light of Notaras's torch. 'Where are the Turks?'

Longo shook his head. 'We can't find them. It's like chasing shadows.'

'We should split up,' Notaras suggested. 'We'll have a better chance that way.'

'But if we find them, will we have enough men to stop them?' Tristo asked.

'Notaras is right. We have no other choice,' Longo replied. 'We'll divide into three groups. Tristo, you take your men back down the tunnel you came from. Notaras, you take half of the guards to the left. I'll take the other half back to the last side tunnel. Leave a torch at every branch of the tunnel to mark where you have gone. If you find the Turks, call for help. We'll come as fast as we can.'

Notaras took his men and headed down the tunnel at a jog. Now that they had split up, the sound of footsteps was even more confusing. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Still, Notaras tried to follow the sound. After several twists and turns he stopped before a side tunnel. There was something strange here. The air smelled sweet, like earth and grass.

'You three,' he pointed to three of the men, 'go back and find help. The rest of you, follow me. We've got them.' Notaras set off down the tunnel at a run, his men following close behind. The breath of fresh air turned into a breeze as they ran down the tunnel, and their torches flared and guttered in the draught. Notaras could now hear Turkish voices mixed amongst the sound of tramping feet. Ahead, the tunnel turned sharply to the left. Notaras rounded the corner and ran headlong into the back of a Turkish soldier, knocking the Turk sprawling. The passage ahead was crowded with Turks. Some twenty yards ahead, they were squeezing through a small hole that had been broken through a brick wall.

'Don't let them escape!' Notaras yelled as he led his men into the crowd of Turks. If he could reach and hold the gap in the wall, then the Turks remaining in the tunnel could be trapped and taken prisoner. Notaras was only a dozen yards away from the hole when he noticed a barrel of gunpowder next to it. As he watched, one of the Turks touched a torch to the fuse leading to the barrel. Several of his men saw it too. 'Run! Quick!' someone yelled, and the men around him turned and fled.