Chapter 487: He Is Not Within Them

"Remember, Arthas, we are paladins. Vengeance cannot be a part of what we must do."

-        The Paladins

Semseddin is being allocated into a temporary prison cell first before the someone of the Romans whose rank is high enough to come here and acknowledge their surrender. Semseddin is being welcomed into an individual cell with a bed and sinkhole, and funny enough not knowing whether the Romans have done it deliberately or not, the rest of the men are being allocated all into the cell right next to his, separated by only bars made up by wooden trunks and branches.

Semseddin looked around this God forsaken place, there is only one way to go in, of course with absolutely no window on the bricky walls most likely because it is only a temporary cell that is used for solitary confinements. He has lost the sense of time the moment he stepped into this cell, he cannot even differentiate whether it is the day or the night now with little or no light sipping through the building, just like what it is being designed for, to make those who are wrong to have the feeling that he has been thrown away and disorientated from the world of the living. No light, no sound, no fancy furniture and definitely no comfort. It is cold, that even the thick stack of mouldy straws cannot do much to help, it is the first time even that Semseddin has felt such coldness and loneliness that is getting up to him.

The men who kidnapped him here are cuddling in the cold right next to his cell, with some of them choking and sobbing quietly not knowing whether it is the guilt of the acts of subordination and treason they have done or is it the fear of not knowing how will the Romans treat them, or is it both. But either ways Semseddin is dying out of the quietness and he desperately need some conversation, he has not spoke to any of them for the entire time since he came here, he has tried arguing with the prison guards sating his social statues and rank, the Romans watching over him is polite though, but it seems like the only sentence they know how to say is that their commanders are busy with something else and shall attend to him by the queue very shortly.

Semseddin is sure that this is an interrogation tactic of the Romans, a new way of softcore torture. He is paranoid thinking that there must be some place that someone is watching him and observing every step of his movement in secret. Semseddin ended up yelling out the names of the Roman commander he shook the bars repeatedly demanding to see them, he even yelled the name of their Caesar Antonius at one point, but of course no one paid any attention to him.

"Oi, you, Ahmad." In the end Semseddin returned to the people he used to lead. "Why did you people decide to betray me?"

"…" The man called Ahmad huddled around burying his head into his knees.

"I remember that you are a land lord owning a huge area of land just outside Kastoria." Semseddin leaned down against the walls with his back facing the man and continued. "I gave you a lot of land, I offered you a lot of gold, I gifted you a lot of slaves, I had granted you almost everything making you a landlord of the area even tolerating against your unruly behaviours against the laws in the city, but where is your loyalty? Where is your appreciations?"

"I appreciate you for your efforts, your highness." The man finally replied. "But I got other things to consider too, trust me your highness, if it was not for this war I would definitely be completely loyal and sincere to you without giving any other thoughts. I am sorry my lord."

"Don't call me your lord, I am not your lord, not any longer. Thanks to you I am now confined to this area, unable to do anything over here except to eat, sleep and rant. And also, thanks to you, I might not ever have a chance of returning to my hometown, never again! I might not even be able to have a view of the sunlight tomorrow! So please! For the Grace of Allah, tell me that what is the reason behind your betrayal to save my bewilderment and at least, let me die with a clear conscious."

"Well, if you insist your highness, I can save you from your curiosity… It is because of the war."

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"The war?"

"Yes, I believe that it is becoming increasingly obvious when the war escalated to this state, we are losing, badly, and for us who own lands and properties in this area, we must consider about the events that are going to happen after all of this. Like the occupation of the Rumelians, change of authority, a new arse sitting on top of that throne in Kastoria… And the new order that is going to come imminently."

"The new order? The rule of the Rumelians? What about that?" Semseddin seems to have gotten a glimpse of the idea. "Then? If you know about this, then we did you people do all of this?"

"You might not understand about the tricks of survival of us, the smaller characters that struggles to survive through this age, your highness. No matter who or what is seating on top of that chair in Kastoria, we must make sure that we, the land owners, does not lose our properties when the regime changes, and in order to prevent any displease with our new masters we got to show our appreciations towards them first, then even if the new ruler is going to do the usual practise of confiscating some of the local land lord's properties to sustain his spendings, he would target the other people first before targeting us, for the help we offered them last time."

"Oh, really?" Semseddin could not help himself but started laughing out loud at such thoughts. "They are Rumelians! They are a bunch of menacing, invasive, cruel and uncommunicable maniacs! Do you really think that your positive gesture can really make them listen to you bunch of bastards after they come into our heartland?"

"That is why you don't get it as a noble, your highness." Ahmad shook his head slightly. "You, as the noble that is the head of the government is always the top priority of the enemies that shall be removed from the region once you are defeated. But whereas for us, the local powers that are wide spread across the country sides, shall always be pardoned by our new masters, because they as new comers shall depend on our power and foundation in the local areas to ensure that they can smoothly build up their taxation and drafting system in the local region. So that is why we can always have the option of surrendering willingly."

"While I can't."

Ahmad never spoke a single more word after this, and neither do Semseddin. Instead of solving his frustrated Semseddin now became even more anxious of what is going to come next after the conversation. He now knows clearly that it is this man called Ahmad that organised all the betrayals, but he cannot do anything about it. He is now starting to miss all those true comrades who sacrificed themselves blocking off the Rumelians in the battle buying time for him to make his escape, he has truly disappointed them this time round. Maybe this happened only because all those people with true loyalty and valour sacrificed themselves over there, and now only those who are filled with cowardice and greed remains.

Semseddin heaved a heavy sigh, kicked the wooden bars to vent his rage and then lied down onto the pile of hays, worrying about everything from the current situation of the battlefield to his territories and his army.

What Semseddin did not realise is that after he and his corps are being trapped by the Romans, his Sanjek actually sent out wave after waves of reinforcements frantically in the attempt to save him, not only because of his noble statues, but also as the head of command the Sanjek knows clearly that his army shall totally lose the ability to start on an offensive if he loses his advantage on cavalries. But the combat ended even before the reinforcements could reach that place, everything happened way too fast, and it concluded within a mere twenty plus minutes time. The only thing that these reinforcements could do is to probably collect the corpses of those who have deceased under the watch of the Rumelians as their archers lowered down the tip of their bows.

The Sanjek watched the cavalries of Semseddin go out of the camp, he saw the fights and encounters Semseddin had along the way, and now once he is out of his sight, bad news started coming back as more and more knights came back covered in blood either on carts or on foot.

Semseddin is not within them.

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