1453: Revival of Byzantium

Chapter 322: A Man Without Hair

"Call me master Anjelo please, I have a word with him." After thinking through about it Sultan Orhan finally opened up his mind deciding to expose himself in a fluent Thracian Greek tone. "I am the one and only Sultan of the Ottomans, Sultan Orhan Please guide me to"

"Huh? Ha ha ha you call yourself a Sultan? Sultan Orhan?" The prison guard did not give much of a thought and laughed until he almost choked. "you say that you are the Sultan? Let me tell you what, if you are the sultan, then I shall be Julius Caesar! Why you want to role play with me?" 

"Please!" Sultan Orhan pleaded. "I am really Sultan Orhan!" 

"Shut up!" The prison guard changed his expression and hissed. "Be quiet before I open this damn gate and have a jolly good beating of you, who you think Master Anjelo is? You think that you can call him when ever you want? Let me tell you, Master Anjelo is way too busy doing good for the people and sending criminals like you in to justice, you want to meet him? Fat hope!" 

"Just once, please, pass me the message!" Sultan Orhan took out a few more gold ingots from a hidden pouch in his chest. "If you help me this time, this money shall be yours." 

The prison guard stammered seeing the gold ingots almost caught speechless and started hesitating. He gulped forcing a smile on his face and threatened. "You know, prisoner, that there is nothing stopping me from taking this gold from you now, right?" 

"Of course, I know." Hearing this Sultan Orhan also smirked and replied. "But there is also nothing stopping me and my boys from shouting for help from your colleagues, of course which includes that 'commissar' And then tell them that I have been robbed" 

"You trying to threaten me?" 

"Of course not, what made you say that?" Sultan Orhan seems to be shocked. 

"Fine, I shall take the gold, and then I shall send your message to Master Anjelo." The prison guard snatched the gold away, gave a cold humph and stormed away, leaving Orhan behind there smiling and waving towards the back of this man. 

Sultan Orhan did not wait long. Just merely one or two hours later when Sultan Orhan is there counting ants on the ground a series of foot steps can be heard from a distance, then an old face together with a group of people showed up outside the prison cell looking at the people inside. Yes, it is Anjelo, the two men have actually met each other for a couple of times back then during the days of Constantinople, and thus they actually recognize each other even after not seeing one another for around six years thanks to their proficient memories. 

"Sultan Orhan!" After scrutinizing the man behind wooden bars for a while Anjelo confirmed the identity of this man, laughed out and opened the gate for the Sultan himself entering the cell. "Prince Orhan! It has been so damn long since I have last seen you! How did you end up over here in the first place Sultan? Come, get up, let me remove these stupid chains off your hands" 

Anjelo then stepped in front and pulled the Sultan up from the ground patting the dust and straws off his robes. The later, behaving like a noble and a Sultan now, tilted his head away refusing to give the old man a look, and complained. "Is this the hospitality you have for a foreign guest? A monarch of a foreign state? A guest of honour? I must say that I have expected more of you and your sovereign Anjelo, especially after you people have blended in with the civilized world for so long." 

"Well, Sultan, I have an explanation for that." Anjelo grinned with his eyes narrowed until it is like a curved line. "Because I think that neither my patrol boats nor I have seen any Sultan, or at least a noble, being dressed up like a sailor cleaning the deck with a tinted face, and then lying to my custom officers that you are merely a merchant? No one would ever have the impression that you are a monarch! My Sultan! Am I right?" 

Sultan Orhan could not say any thing in retaliation. "Fine, bring me to my old friend Antonius, I must have some words with him to reinforce our friendship and brother hood." 

"Of course, of course." The old man laughed and bowed. "Just as you will honourable Sultan, my sovereign is also wishing to meet you too. Though I must advice you honourable Sultan that before you meet our admiral, I would suggest you to at least do a little  bit of wash up first" 

"Sure, I will, but since when is that Antonius so particular about this?" Sultan Orhan behaved kind of shocked not knowing whether he is exaggerating deliberately or truly shocked. "That admiral who only used to bathe every three months?" 

"Yes, Sultan" Anjelo found it kind of hard to say. "Because our sovereign just got a daughter, you know Sultan, after a man become a parent he can change by quite a lot in many areas, like for the case of our sovereign he began to have an extraordinarily stubborn manner towards aspects like hygiene and cleanliness, not only in his own rooms but also in every single office, streets, ship and even army camps, and actually in prison too But he never ever set foot in this place though." 

"I guess that it is to set a good example for his new born daughter?" Sultan Orhan's head is filled with question marks. "I guess to give her a good habit next time so that she would tidy up her room by herself with out getting any outside help?" 

"That is not the case." Anjelo shook his head while helping the Sultan wear a fur coat. "It is because there was one proffessur from the Institute of Medication inside the city who suggested to the Sultan claiming that according to his studies atrocious environments, especially the ones filled with dust, rats, insects, mud, decomposing waste and smoke can be a major harm to human body, and that harm can be doubled on the body of a child, that is why Come Sultan, let us not continue wasting time over here chit chatting, it is time to bring you to bathe."

Anjelo took a quick glance at those people sitting behind the Sultan. "These people, they are not ordinary sailors am I right?" 

The Sultan grew nervous again. "Why? What do you want to do with them? How do you know?"

"I can see through their eyes, their eyes                are not the eyes of sailors, it is the eyes of warriors, and warriors who have lots of people dead under their blade directly. Worry not Sultan, we will not do any thing about them, you are allowed to keep your guards in my city."

An hour later Sultan Orhan is given a decent set of new clothes just bought from the Ottoman merchants in the market that suites the social statues of an Ottoman prince. His guards too changed back to their usual out fits and are even permitted to carry blades by their waists, just that they need to be supervised at all times. The Sultan s then brought up stairs to meet the supposed old 'friend' that he has not seen for six years. 

Anjelo opened the wooden door of Antonius' room for the Sultan, and there he is, the same old admiral with the same rugged face, but the only things that made people's jaws drop is that he is hugging a baby in those wide arms, giggling and twitching his eyes while his gigantic hands which is trained for holding blades is now clumsily trying to tickle this little creature that looks like a monkey. This whole thing formed a tremendous contrast to the impression that Antonius used to give the Sultan last time, almost making his original image of this guy shatter. 

"Ah you are here Orhan." Noticing the incoming person Antonius passed the baby to the mistress beside him, who then went out of the room through another door leaving the space for the two men. "Come here! Give me a hug! What a pleasure and indeed surprise to be able to see such an old friend in this messy world!"

The two men gave each other a hug and gentle kiss on the cheeks, then Sultan Orhan gave the man in his arms a closer look and made an uneasy smile. "Actually, I still find it hard to believe that you are that same old Antonius I knows last time Where is your beard! Where is your hair!" 

"Ahhh my hair." Antonius felt his empty chin. "Aye, I now shave my beard regularly once per while and make sure that my hair is not too long, because the doctors says that if I keep too much body hair it would contain more worms, parasites and other dirty stuff which in turn will harm my daughter."