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Anno Domini 827,September-26-27
I walked with a torch in hand, replacing the guard who was watching a section of the wall, until I reached one of the city's guard posts where the opening of the gate was controlled. Since they normally wore a turban to completely cover their face during guard duty, I could replace the guard without raising immediate suspicion.
As I walked and pretended to keep watch, frequently looking downward, I came across two guards inside the guard post. One was repairing his sandal, cutting away a damaged leather strap, and the other was checking his belt.
''I really don't like night guard duty. Afterwards, when they put me back on day watch, I have trouble falling asleep,'' he said with a yawn, focused on the sandal.
''Nobody likes it… but at least we're not outside… watching the sea,'' replied the one who was checking his belt.
Both of them stopped when they saw me.
''Did you see anything?'' asked the first.
I shook my head.
''Bah… nothing ever happens… there's more drama during the day, when they catch someone breaking the rules,'' replied the second.
I kept walking as if I were going to pass to the other side of the guard post, but I reached behind my back and took my dagger. In a single motion, I slit two throats. The blood began to flow immediately.
Both grabbed their necks, trying to stop it, but their throats were already open and they could only let out a choking sound before collapsing.
I checked myself quickly. I had a few bloodstains, but nothing serious.
I waited a few minutes until the guard who was returning appeared. As soon as he crossed the entrance, I drove the dagger into his neck and dragged him inside the guard post, where I hid the bodies by moving the crates the guards used to sit on and repair their equipment. There was little that could be done about the blood, but it would buy us a few valuable minutes before anyone realized what we were doing.
Obviously, we did not open the gates, since the noise would have alerted everyone. Instead, the Varangians began to scale the area. It did not take long for several ships to beach on the nearby shore and move through the surroundings.
While they climbed up, I began to move down toward the city. The Varangians of my hird followed me, and I stopped at every intersection to observe both sides. The streets were empty, but they still had to be checked.
With the invasion in the north, it was possible they had fewer men, which made the attack easier. Now it remained to be seen whether we could take everything of value—the treasury—or whether we would have to settle for the thousands of prisoners we would take once we secured control of the city.
I kept moving until I saw a guard walking with clearly tired eyes, though he still watched the streets attentively. I acted naturally and walked toward him.
''Hey… it looks like there are thieves moving through the city, they tried to attack me,'' I said as I walked toward him and pointed to the bloodstains on the stolen uniform.
''Where…?'' he said, fully waking up as he brought his hand to his belt.
''At the docks, it looked like they wanted to rob a merchant. I caught them at a bad moment,'' I said, now standing in front of him.
''Let's warn the others,'' the guard said.
Before he could do anything, I struck his trachea with all my strength. He brought his hands to his neck by reflex. I grabbed his head and twisted it violently until I heard the dry crack of his spine snapping from the force of the movement.
I quickly dragged him into one of the alleys, where I changed the uniform for a clean one while the others following me stayed hidden among the alleys. I left the body lying in one of them, among some crates, and kept moving through the streets.
If I spotted a lone guard, I eliminated him quickly. When I saw groups, I walked as if I were patrolling, torch in hand, guiding my men who carried the ladders, avoiding the night patrols until we finally reached the inner fortress of Tripoli.
I noticed there was light from a fire in the guard post, but nowhere else. The Varangians set the ladder, and I quickly climbed the nine meters of height at great speed. I focused my gaze on the post and advanced crouched, muffling my steps, until I raised my head and saw two guards… sleeping.
They were clearly the personal force of the local lord, as they wore mail armor and scale armor with several straps, holding a reinforced piece at the center of the chest. Even so, the two idiots guarding the gate were sound asleep.
I noticed my Varangians had arrived and were watching the guards, who were breathing calmly.
Without missing the opportunity, I signaled Sigurd to attack the other guard. I drew my dagger and drove it through his eye, pushing it as deep as possible. The guard had a brief spasm and stopped moving. Sigurd did the same, though his dagger pierced the upper part of the skull, and he also died immediately.
We withdrew the daggers and let the bodies fall. I took one of the torches and gave the signal, moving it from left to right several times, until someone from the area we had entered through responded in the same way.
''All right, we only have this armor to deal with any guards who might get up,'' I said, pointing to the equipment, while Sigurd quickly put on the mail and the scale armor.
Some Varangians went down and opened the gate, removing the locking mechanisms of the massive wooden beams and pulling out the vertically placed iron bars, leaving it wide open. Then they began to climb back up, taking with them everything that had been removed from the gate to force the defenders to fight if they tried to close it again.
Shouts began to be heard in the city, giving the unmistakable news that the Varangians had entered in great numbers. Looking down, we noticed people coming out to watch, still sleepy and exhausted, trying to understand what was happening.
The same thing happened inside the fortress. Guards began to come out who were not even armed, simply to see what was going on. Many ended up with an arrow piercing some part of their body, while we held our position to prevent the gates from being closed.
Cries of fighting, pleas, and screams of pain could be heard everywhere as we watched some guards emerge poorly armed from the city keep, trying to reach the gate to close it. Almost all of them ended up with an arrow lodged in their bodies, since they came out carrying torches to see where they were going, turning themselves into extremely easy targets.
Several minutes passed while some Varangians held the gate. Among them was Sigurd, who had already killed two Sarakenoi who had tried to reach it and close it, along with others from my hird who were wearing Sarakenoi armor.
At last, I heard a large number of footsteps and, looking outward, I saw a column of Varangians running toward us, killing with minimal effort anyone who blocked their path and moving straight for the gate.
''The two at the entrance are ours,'' I shouted to the Varangians who were about to cross.
I moved to the other side and watched as they ignored Sigurd and my other man, moving directly to secure the area. The guards who came out with swords in hand and barely any armor hastily put on began to retreat toward the inner fortress when they realized everything outside was lost.
Meanwhile, the hundred Varangians wasted no time and tried to force their way into the inner fortress. Securing the internal locks of the gate took time, and I still doubted they had managed to fully secure it.
With that ensured, we descended from the walls.
''Take that off, unless you want someone to kill you by mistake,'' I said as I removed the Sarakenoi uniform.
Quickly, all the Sarakenoi combat gear was left on the ground, and we began moving away from the combat zones. We were poorly armed and would not be of much help without our armor, so we moved through the streets, watching the groups of Varangians entering, killing every guard they found, or who had already begun looting, taking prisoners and killing civilians who caused too much trouble.
We reached the city gates, where the Varangians were guarding the exits to ensure that as much loot as possible remained inside. We went out through the only open gate in the city and began putting on our equipment. Then we returned to observe the fighting—if that could even be called fighting, given the massacre that was taking place.
We headed straight for the harbor, where what mattered most was located. There were the city's ships. There were dozens of merchant vessels and several war galleys that attempted to imitate the Byzantine dromon. They were similar, but not the same. Twenty ships moored in the harbor were now ours, something that would have cost around forty thousand gold coins in a shipyard. This time, we got them for free. All it took was driving an axe deep into their owners. We now had more ships for the defense of Crete.
Aside from the dozens of merchant ships, this was the most important loot in the city, perhaps surpassed only by the treasury, though that still remained to be seen.
Once again, we walked toward the city fortress, noting that no organized defense remained. There were only groups of people trying to get inside in search of safety, realizing too late that we were already deep within the city, with no hope of escape.
I entered the fortress again and found that the Varangians had already managed to get inside. Apparently, they had succeeded in opening one of the gates that had not been properly secured and had already stormed the interior. As I advanced to assist, I found dead from both our side and the Sarakenoi, though in very different numbers. The Varangians, heavily armored, had pushed inward without stopping.
I could still hear screams as we climbed. Looking more closely, it became clear that the battle inside the fortress was already won and that the place was now being looted. Many of the screams came from victims being dragged by the hair through courtyards and corridors.
With bodies scattered everywhere, we began searching for the city's treasury. While checking the multiple levels of the fortress, we found a library. Something I had already noticed among the Sarakenoi was that almost all their fortresses had libraries, small or large, depending on the wealth of the place and its importance.
There were many texts that I would probably need to review more carefully when I had time. Now was not possible. We needed to leave as soon as possible, since we did not want to remain there if any response force arrived to counter our attack.
We found the city armory, where there were hundreds of iron armors, mail shirts, scale armor, lamellar armor, piles of padded jackets, and hardened leather. All of this would likely end up equipping the Varangians in future raids. The more our appearance resembled that of the Sarakenoi forces, the more confusing everything would be for them.
Finally, we found the treasury. There were numerous sealed chests filled with gold and silver coins, as well as entire barrels of copper coinage. We did not know exactly how much there was, and we had no time to count it there, so the Varangians simply took the chests and carried them back to the ships.
Military equipment, valuable objects, and books began to be transported. We all started gathering at the harbor as the sun began to rise. Several hours of intense looting had already passed, and the screams had faded away. Only the sounds of Varangians making sure no one remained hidden could be heard, interrupted from time to time by a lone scream when someone was discovered.
The prisoners were placed at the oars of the warships or on the merchant vessels, kept as tight as possible, while more ships entered the harbor to load the loot. The warehouses were full of harvests, merchants' goods, fabrics, jewelry, spices, and animals. There was everything, along with thousands of prisoners. If it had not been for the sheer number of ships we had, I do not know how we would have managed to remove everything from the city.
By midday, we sailed with more than one hundred and fifty ships in total. As we moved away, the fire we had left behind consumed the city completely. We watched as the flames devoured everything while we headed out to sea.
It was time to return to Djerba and then stop by Malta. We would probably have to go back to Crete and unload everything, because we were carrying too much. Continuing to raid would only have meant killing people without gaining anything else, since we had no room for more prisoners.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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