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It happened faster than anyone expected. One moment, Ottoman troops were blasted skyward by cannon fire; the next, an Ottoman soldier scrambled over the wall, his scimitar catching the glint of light. A halberdier—one of Sforza's veterans—met him with a swift, practiced arc of steel, hooking the ladder beneath the man's feet. Down below came shouts, the ladder swaying perilously before more Ottoman hands steadied it.

Nearby, Matteo—long-serving man-at-arms—gripped his sword hilt. He had known this moment would come, had prepared in the abstract. Yet seeing the first Ottoman crest the parapet felt like a punch to the chest. No fanfare, no flourish—just the brutal business of war.

All along the rampart, Sforza's mercenaries braced themselves. A second Ottoman fighter lunged, only to be met by a curt thrust from an older halberdier who neither paused nor looked triumphant. Another Ottoman clambered up, scimitar swinging wildly. Matteo ducked the blow, driving his blade up under the man's ribs. The Ottoman wheezed, eyes wide with something akin to betrayal, before sliding back off the wall.

A sharp clang echoed: one of the attackers, armed with a small axe, had gained solid footing on the stone walkway. He swung at a tall man-at-arms, carving a deep gouge across a battered breastplate. The Italian reeled—blood on his lips—yet somehow kept his feet. Two halberdiers converged, their polearms biting into the intruder's flank. They dispatched him with grim efficiency, as though they had rehearsed it a thousand times.

No shouts of triumph rose from Sforza's men; they were professionals, here to earn their pay in flesh and fear. More ladders slammed against the wall. A handful of Ottomans surged onto the parapet, pressing the defenders back step by grudging step. It was a messy dance of grasping hands and feverish steel. Boots slipped in fresh blood, armor scraping on stone that threatened to crumble under the onslaught.

Somewhere behind the chaos, Captain Foscari—his visor pushed high enough to reveal a scarred cheek—observed each clash, directing the men-at-arms with curt gestures. Every few seconds, he shouted precise orders: "Hook that ladder!" "Close ranks to the left!" Sforza's company had weathered dozens of sieges, and if the captain felt any dread, he hid it behind the brisk logic of survival.

Matteo's arms burned with effort. An Ottoman foot soldier, younger than most, staggered up the last rung, spear aimed straight for Matteo's unprotected visor slit. Matteo twisted away, his sword slicing across the spear shaft. Wood splintered. The boy lost his balance and tumbled backward into the writhing mass below.

For an instant, the assault seemed to falter. A few remaining Ottomans on the wall scrambled back onto their ladders as the defenders advanced in a tight wedge—halberds jabbing, swords finishing the job. One by one, ladders were tipped away, their occupants cursing as they plummeted.

When at last the furious clatter subsided, the battered top of the Hexamilion wall lay strewn with wounded—Byzantine, Italian, and Ottoman alike. Captain Foscari wiped his blade on a tattered scrap of cloth, surveying the carnage with the detachment of a man too long in this trade. Some of the halberdiers bent to check if fallen comrades still drew breath; most did not.

Matteo leaned against a merlon, breathing hard. He forced himself not to dwell on faces—he had learned better. Instead, he focused on the immediate facts: the Ottomans had been repulsed but not beaten. Sforza's men held their section of the wall… for now.

Below, the encampment stirred once more, shadows shifting in the half-light. The next wave might come at any moment, perhaps with more ladders, or siege towers, or an idea still unknown. There was no time for celebration or grief. Sforza's mercenaries knew only this: they would fight again, with the same cold precision, until they were paid—or until there were none of them left to collect.

In the silence that followed, a halberdier whispered a prayer in a language Matteo didn't recognize. It might have been for the dead, or perhaps for those still living. In the grey hush of dawn, there was scant difference.

Smoke lingered in the early afternoon haze, curling in listless wisps around the battlements. Marcus rested his new Pyrvelos musket on the edge of the embrasure, ignoring the sting of gunpowder clinging to his throat. Beyond the Hexamilion wall stretched the Ottoman host, a restless sea of spears and banners shifting ominously in the half-light. It was quiet now—too quiet—but Marcus knew better than to trust such stillness.

A sudden movement caught his eye. Through the drifting veil of dust and haze, Ottoman infantry advanced in columns, accompanied by cavalry posted on either flank. Their standards fluttered in slow pulses of color, marking a fresh assault. Captain Nikolaos, crouched beside Marcus, let out a soft hiss. "They're coming."

Marcus's heart thumped in his chest. His finger curled around the trigger. Steady yourself, he thought, recalling Constantine's words about discipline and innovation being their greatest weapons. Across the parapet, his fellow Pyrvelos marksmen crouched in a tense line, guns trained forward. Below, Byzantine cannons—Drakos artillery—were readied by sweaty crews speaking in terse undertones. Marcus recalled the memory of earlier successes against Turahan Bey, but rumors abounded that these were Murad's elite, whipped into a frenzy by the Şeyhülislam's proclamations of divine sanction.

The first wave charged, boots pounding the earth. Marcus felt Nikolaos's hand grip his shoulder—an unspoken signal. Musket fire erupted in a rolling volley. A thunderous crack swallowed the air, echoed by the wall's stone façade. Marcus squeezed the trigger, bracing for the recoil. Smoke burst from the muzzle, the shot landing amid the press of men below. Through the clearing haze, he saw bodies crumple, pikes and flags crashing down in tangled confusion. Shouts—some in Greek, others in Turkish—blended into a grim cacophony.

He reloaded with practiced speed, deftly managing powder and ball even as the Ottomans pressed closer. The second volley tore into the advancing ranks. Again, the thunder of muskets merged with the deeper roar of Drakos cannons unleashing canister shot—harsh, metallic shards fanning out in arcs of carnage. Horses screamed, men toppled, and the charge splintered. Yet still, a knot of Ottoman officers urged their soldiers forward, their ornate armor glinting in fractured sunlight.

Marcus steadied his weapon once more. He could see a particular officer—tall, insignia gleaming—rallying the survivors, dragging them forward by sheer force of will. The man's eyes burned with conviction. Marcus felt a pang of conflict, but there was no room for doubt on these walls. Discipline. Innovation. Defiance. This was what he had pledged himself to.

He exhaled, led with his sights, and squeezed the trigger. The officer's head snapped back. For a moment, the man's body stood rigid, as though refusing to accept what had happened. Then he slumped to his knees, slipping from view amid the crush of panicked men. Marcus lowered the musket, a strange hush filling his ears. Around him, other Pyrvelos marksmen kept up the barrage, each shot chewing through the Ottoman lines.

Then it came: an immense thunderclap from the Drakos guns, followed by a withering blast of canister shot that shattered any lingering resolve. Ottoman soldiers, robbed of leadership and momentum, began to falter. Some threw down their arms; others fled, reeling away into the swirling dust. The great wave that had looked so unstoppable a few moments before now broke in confusion against the Hexamilion wall.

Marcus remained at his post, heart pounding. Sweat stung his eyes, and the taste of gunpowder lay thick on his tongue. But there it was—a victory, if only for a moment. In the yard below, Constantine's officers whooped triumphantly, while wounded men moaned among the debris. Marcus glanced at Nikolaos, who gave him a curt nod of acknowledgment before peering back through the gun smoke.

The Ottomans were pulling back, carrying their fallen officer's banner in disarray. Marcus felt no exultation at having struck down the man who led them. He only felt the heavy certainty that this day was far from finished. Soon enough, Murad would devise a new attack, or Theodore would plot another betrayal. But for now, the battlements stood firm under a cloud of acrid smoke, and the men of the Pyrvelos—and Marcus foremost among them—had proven their worth.

He stared at his musket. It was still warm against his palm, the polished wood stained with grime and powder. The swirling field below reminded him that war offered little in the way of clean triumphs. Yet in that moment, he knew he had done what needed to be done—and that was enough to keep the Hexamilion, and its defenders, breathing for one more day.

A brief lull descended upon the battlements of the Hexamilion, akin to the uneasy silence that follows a sudden and violent argument. Below, the dead lay intermingled—Ottoman foot soldiers sprawled beside fallen Byzantine defenders and the occasional Italian mercenary whose face, in the half-light, betrayed a quiet surprise at death's intrusion. Yet, in this bleak tableau, a sliver of elation flickered among the surviving defenders. Sforza's men, old hands at the cruel arithmetic of war, went about their business with somber efficiency—examining wounds, collecting usable weapons, and casting anxious glances toward the Ottoman lines, now dipped out of immediate view.

From his vantage point on the highest battlement, Constantine surveyed the field with the measured composure of a man who long ago learned not to trust appearances. The sky—drab and formless—offered no hint of dawn or dusk, as though time itself had paused in deference to the mayhem below. Far beneath him, the clamor of victory arose from weary throats, Byzantines shouting "Ieros Skopos!" with a fervor that belied their fatigue. Even a few of Sforza's veterans joined in, their voices rusted from long campaigns.

Constantine let them celebrate—he owed them at least that. Repelling the first Ottoman thrust against such odds was a fact, if not precisely a triumph. But when Sphrantzes and Andreas approached, he spoke in a low voice, his tone sharper for its calm. "That was only their opening gambit. Murad won't let this stand. We've hurt his pride, and pride makes men careless—but rarely powerless."

For two days thereafter, the Ottoman camp remained conspicuously silent. In that encampment, unseen hands worked through the night. Murad II had ordered his artillery repositioned, hidden behind makeshift wooden shields and earthen berms. Their targets were now carefully chosen weak points along the wall, areas where the stone was already weathered by time.

The first thunderous report came just after midnight, a burst of fire and light that tore through the silence. The cannonball slammed into the base of a crenellation, dislodging stone and sending debris cascading into the trenches below. Moments later, another cannon fired, then another, until the night was alive with the terrifying rhythm of intermittent bombardment.

From the ramparts, Constantine stood with Sphrantzes and Captain Andreas. The three men watched the Ottoman cannons bark fire and death across the darkened plain. Constantine clenched his jaw, his mind racing. "They're probing us," he murmured. "Testing our nerves before the real assault."

Andreas nodded grimly. "Their new positions make counterfire nearly impossible. Our Drakos cannons can reach them, but they're well-protected."

Sphrantzes turned, his expression tight with worry. "How long can the men endure this?"

"As long as they must," Constantine replied. He turned to the nearest group of soldiers huddled around their cannon. "Load carefully, fire sparingly," he called out. "Every shot must count!"

Niketas, overseeing the artillery crews, barked orders from below. The defenders worked tirelessly, aiming their cannons toward the Ottoman lines. Occasionally, a shot struck home, scattering dirt and wood in a small explosion. But the enemy guns kept firing, their rhythm unbroken.

By dawn, the bombardment had slowed, but the psychological toll was clear. The men were exhausted, their faces pale and drawn. Constantine walked among them, offering what encouragement he could. "The wall still stands," he told a young soldier clutching his crossbow with trembling hands. "And as long as it does, so do we."

The soldier straightened slightly, his grip tightening. Constantine moved on, his voice carrying over the murmurs of the weary troops. "Every hour we hold is another wound to their pride. Another mark against their resolve."

Inwardly, Constantine fought his own doubts. The wall had held for now, but cracks were beginning to show—literal and metaphorical. How much longer could they endure?

The Second Assault

The second assault began with the sun low on the horizon, its red light bathing the battlefield in an eerie glow. The Ottomans advanced in coordinated waves, thousands of archers loosing arrows in unison. The air seemed alive with their deadly hiss, and the defenders raised their shields in concert as the missiles rained down.

At the main gate, Janissaries marched in disciplined formation, their shields locked together, creating an impenetrable wall of steel. Behind them, sappers dragged heavy battering rams, their rhythmic steps shaking the ground. At the southern section of the wall, diversionary forces surged forward, scaling ladders in hand and harassing any exposed weak points.

"Hold the gate!" Thomas shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos as he rallied the defenders. Around him, swords clashed against scimitars, and the air was filled with the cries of the wounded. Above, Pyrvelos marksmen fired into the advancing ranks with deadly precision, each shot felling a man in the tightly packed formation.

At the southern wall, Sforza's Italians fought desperately to repel the climbers. Ladders slammed against the stone, and Ottoman soldiers scrambled upward, their blades gleaming in the morning light. One of the siege towers creaked ominously as it rolled closer, its wooden sides bristling with arrows.

"Bring the cannon to bear!" Sforza roared. His men obeyed with practiced efficiency, dragging a small field piece into position. The cannon fired, and the explosion ripped through the siege tower, sending splinters and bodies flying in all directions.

On the battlements, Andreas stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his men, his sword rising and falling in brutal arcs. Blood spattered his armor, but he pressed on, his voice a rallying cry for the beleaguered defenders. "Push them back! Don't give an inch!"

The battlefield had fallen eerily quiet after the catastrophic failure of the second wave. The Ottoman dead littered the field beneath the Hexamilion wall, their lines decimated by the relentless fire of the Drakos cannons and the unerring precision of the Pyrvelos marksmen. Murad II, his forces battered and morale shaken, shifted his strategy. The Ottoman Sultan was no stranger to attritional warfare, and with his pride stung, he resolved to undermine the defenders in the most literal sense.

For the next two weeks, the siege devolved into what the Byzantines would later call the "Sappers' War." Ottoman engineers dug tirelessly beneath the walls, hoping to collapse the ancient defenses and crush the defenders in a single stroke. From his vantage on the ramparts, Constantine could see little evidence of the effort, save for the occasional shifting of earth and the faint, muffled sounds that carried through the stones. But he knew the threat was there, just beneath their feet.

Constantine gathered Sforza and his engineers, issuing strict orders to counter the subterranean threat. "They'll keep tunneling until they find their mark or until we stop them. Every one of their failures buys us time. Let's make sure they have nothing but failure."

The Byzantine and Italian miners and engineers, armed with their own picks and spades, worked relentlessly to intercept the Ottoman tunnels. In the dim light of torches, the air thick with dust and the acrid tang of sweat, the defenders dug countermines, their ears straining for the telltale sounds of enemy sappers.

On the thirteenth night, a breakthrough came. The Byzantines breached an Ottoman tunnel just outside the wall's foundations. The narrow passage echoed with the clang of metal as the opposing sides clashed. It was a brutal, desperate fight in the claustrophobic tunnels, where swords and spears gave way to daggers and pickaxes. The Byzantine defenders fought like cornered wolves, using their superior positioning to push the Ottoman sappers back.

The sappers' war continued, with both sides suffering heavy losses. The Byzantines collapsed multiple Ottoman shafts, sometimes sacrificing their own men in the process. By the end of the second week, Murad II's patience had worn thin. The sappers' efforts had failed to bring down the Hexamilion wall, and the Ottoman forces, already weakened by earlier defeats, were running low on supplies and morale. Prolonging the siege further would only invite more losses—a risk the Sultan was unwilling to take.

Under cover of darkness, the Ottomans began to withdraw, their campfires extinguished one by one as their army melted into the night. By morning, only the scars of their siege remained—shattered ladders, broken siege engines, and the bodies of the fallen.

Constantine stood atop the wall in the early half-light, his silhouette etched against a sky still deciding whether to favor dawn or hold on to the lingering shadows. Below him, on the pitted ground, weary men shuffled among the debris, collecting bodies and broken weapons. The Hexamilion had endured. By some grim arithmetic of will and chance, it had not fallen.

Sphrantzes, pallid and drained but buoyed by relief, climbed the last steps to join him. "They've withdrawn," he said, voice hushed as if reluctant to disturb the hush that followed so much carnage. "We've done it."

"For now," Constantine said, his voice charged with pride rather than caution. The Ottoman lines had vanished below the horizon, and he allowed himself a small, victorious grin. "They'll come again, no doubt—but this time, we've shown them our mettle. Next time, we'll be even stronger. This is only the beginning my dear George."