Battle for Glarentza Part 3

After the soldiers had made it back to Mystras, they had begun celebrating with wine, food, and women, many of the soldiers using up all the money they had been given by Constantine to go to the brothel in Mystras while many others used it to buy high quality wine. Constantine was hoping otherwise, but it makes sense to expect this of men who almost faced death. While the city was in celebration, he had mostly strayed away from the partying taking place by many of the citizens to plan out their next move. A messenger had arrived to the city a few days earlier to bring news that John was successful in raising a navy to fight the navy of Carlo Tocco, numbering almost 40 ships, and that he was on his way to Morea alongside Constantine's old frien George Sphrantzes. The messenger would inform them that John would arrive by 2 weeks time after preparing supplies and men for the campaign and for Constantine to prepare an army to besiege Glarentza. 

"This, this is wonderful!" shouts out Constantine as he read the message from his brother

Domianus who had been accompanying Constantine looks over and asks,

"What is it Constantine?"

"A large navy has somehow been gathered by John, and he is on the way currently, soon my friend we will be engaging them in battle once more! We've already taken care of their army, now all we need to do is take care of their navy." excitingly notes Constantine

"Now, back to what we were discussing, we will need someone to lead the army and someone to lead the navy in this engagement, the number of people we have that are experienced with naval combat is very low, however most of us have some experience regarding land battle incase the enemy raises another army. I believe Demetrios would be best for this role, he has had some naval experience from what I've heard compared to all of us. I think someone else should accompany him as well so they can help lead the ships. John has already informed me he plans to leave the plans up to us and will just be there for morale purposes, and Theodore doesn't feel confident in his abilities either."

"Hmmm.... what about you Constantine? I remember back when we were in Constantinople together, you would always go to the Venetian quarters to look at how the Venetians operated and their tactics regarding fighting against enemy fleets." responds Domianus

"That was years ago! I don't even remember what we had talked about during that time, I'm unsure if I could truly be of any assistance." remarks Constantine

While the discussion was taking place, Demetrios walks into the hall, clearly tired after he had taken an early nap, he then moves over to the pair and responds,

"You two are still discussing war? If I were as young as both of you I'd be out right now instead of being stuck up in this building, you both deserve to celebrate that miraculous victory near Glarentza!"

He then lets out a light cough before continuing to speak,

"I had heard my name mentioned regarding John's navy, I wouldn't mind leading it, however it has been awhile since I have done so. I will need another to help me lead the navy, if you choose to join me Constantine, I would be happy to teach you some of the basics, though I'm unsure if war on the sea is still the same!"

"I would be honored to serve alongside you Demetrios." speaks Constantine as he shakes the hand of the old man.

Demetrios then sighs a bit before sitting down in a chair between the two young men sitting in the hall and proceeds to speak,

"I have been meaning to say as well, I am growing too old for war, I think that commanding John's fleet will be my last act of service to the imperial family. I have noticed it for a while, and chose to ignore it, but I can't ignore it any longer. I'm growing weak, and frail, and my high spirit from when I was younger isn't there anymore. I can see a bit of myself in you both when I think about it, courageous, brave, stupid, etc.... I've lived long enough, I've seen my friends die and be buried, i've seen my wife die, and i've even seen my children die, all I want is peace for my final years, which is why I believe I will retire to a monastery after this campaign. Somewhere away from war, or the threat of Turkish raiders coming to destroy all that I have again, never again..."

The old man finishes his speech, his eyes looking partially defeated after coming to this conclusion, he then looks to Constantine and continues speaking,

"I have served many in the Palaiologos family, your father, John, Andronikos, and Theodore for a time, each of them are all unique, your father was a great friend of mine, and he trusted me quite a lot to take care of each of you. Whenever I look at you Constantine, I see that determination to survive, no, more than survive, to thrive, an ambition just like your father had. I can say that after I pass away, the future is sure to be in good hands with men like the both of you here."

The two young men sit silently as they listen to the old veteran, both being moved by his words. Demetrios then continues on to say,

"Now. Since both of you lousy men wish to plan rather than celebrate, I will accompany both of you while you do so! Now, take note for what I'm about to tell you Constantine, there are two ways to go about a battle, boarding and using ranged fighting. I'm unsure of what John has for the navy, but we've seen from the enemy, they have dangerous crossbowmen in their army. We should be sure to be careful of them, potentially boarding quickly may be the best path to go forth."

"And also, be careful of fire, once it hits a ship, things turn ugly, and can burn down any other ship in contact with it. This is really just some important things to know. It's not much really, but its better than knowing nothing."

"I see, I will remember this for our engagement in the future." responds Constantine

The three would continue to plan for the upcoming campaign over the course of the next 2 weeks, discussing strategies, movement, and who would lead what. It would be decided that Domianus and Alexios would both lead the ground campaign to besiege Glarentza while Demetrios and Constantine would fight Epirus by sea. They would also receive word that scouts had seen men move into the fortress of Glarentza during the whole affair, reinforcing their belief that they would need to win a battle by sea and blockade them to take over the fortress. 

Constantine would awake as usual in the morning, and move to the library of Mystras again to attend the scholar Plethon's discussion in which it would be discussed, many interesting theories that Constantine would sometimes agree upon and sometimes not would be debated, and after the end of the discussion, Plethon would come up to Constantine and begin a conversation with him

"I have heard you will be commanding on the sea now correct? I wish you much success in your future endeavor young man! Also... I wanted to show you something very intriguing that I had received. A young man had come here earlier, fleeing from Germany and he had gifted me a possession of his, he calls it a hákovnice, I'm not sure what this means in his language, however it's like one of those cannons used, but can be held and carried around by a single man! By itself, the effectiveness of this he said is very little, but he informed me of when he used to fight alongside this man named Jan Žižka, they work quite well against heavily armored enemies. I think this right here and cannons may be the future of warfare, and could be key to helping protecting this land."

Constantine looks at the weapon carefully, observing it as having a unique design however having no idea as to how it worked. 

"Does the man still live around here? I would like to speak with him one day if possible." responds Constantine

"Perchance. If I am correct he lives in a small village north of here a few days away, I will have to go take a look, I was planning to set off around that way anyhow to try and encourage people to support some of my ideas. If I do find him, I will be sure to bring him back here with me." issues Plethon.

During their discussion, a crowd of people would begin to form around the city's gates, which would bring Constantine and Plethon to question what was happening. They would then join the crowd and push through people to get a look, and then find the emperor ahead of them, dawned in a black and golden royal garb with a golden crown with jewelry imbedded into it, he had long curly brown hair and a goatee, a smile forms on Constantine's face as he yells out to him,

"Brother! You have come!"

John then looks out to his brother and gets off of his horse to greet him with a hug. 

"You've done well here my brother! I had heard of your amazing victory a few weeks ago! I had expected sending you here would result in wonders, but you did great!" gleefully mentions John

Behind John would approach a man whom wore imperial clothing, and much more jewelry than John himself had wore, as soon as he and Constantine caught each other's eye, they both looked irritated.

"What is that brat doing here? I thought he ran away to Hungary after crying about how much land he was given?" spits out Constantine

"Our brother returned just before I left for Morea, I thought it best for him to accompany me. I would've left him alone in Constantinople, but I think we both know it wouldn't have been the best choice." responded John

"True, that ungrateful brat would have probably tried something. I'm guessing our mother is governing then?" asks Constantine

"Mhm, now, while I don't trust nor like him very much, we must at least try to give our brother some kindness as he is blood." whispered John to his brother

"I'll try"

Constantine moves to greet his brother with his hand out, however the man doesn't reproach, and instead keeps his arms crossed and begins speaking,

"Hello Constantine, I've heard you've been doing alright here in Morea, though honestly I've heard you lost quite a few men in the recent battle, if I had been here, John surely could've used me here."

Constantine closes his eyes and sighs a bit, and then responds saying,

"Nice to see you too Demetrios, it has been a while hasn't it? Last time I saw you, you were complaining about being given Lemnos to govern and ran away to Hungary after not being given what you wanted..."

"How dare you? You useless sh-"

John would jump in-between the two breaking them both up and suggesting they move to the imperial palace of Mystras for lunch.

"I'm sure we're all just hungry and all! No need to argue both of you, lets get going!" 

While Demetrios and John had started walking towards the imperial palace with their armed escort, a man calls out to Constantine,

"My friend! Its good to see you again!"

Constantine turns around and finds his old friend George Sphrantzes, whom he comes to hug,

"How have you been my friend? It's been a while since I last saw you! Also, did John approve of my request for you to enter my service permanently in exchange for becoming despot?"

"John has granted your request... if you plan to stay and be despot of Morea, I will be in service to you instead of the emperor." replies George

"Good thing I plan to do so!" laughs Constantine

The two make their way to the imperial palace as well, and meet with John, Theodore, Demetrios, Domianus, Plethon, and Demetrios Leontares. A large feast is set up for the arrival of the Emperor, laughing, drinking, and eating would occur over the feast until late night, in which then John would end his talking with the many people whom had come to greet him. He looks towards Constantine and asks,

"So, what did you come up with regarding the campaign my brother?"

Constantine stops sipping his wine and gets up to speak, he then begins talking,

"We have discussed the plan that will be carried out, Demetrios Leontares and I will command the navy to engage the Epirus navy and blockade Glarentza, Domianus and Alexios will command the land army to besiege the fortress by land. Overall we will raise a large number of Pronoia soldiers to cause fear in the city, Regarding our more trained soldiers and raised soldiers, it will number around 20,000 men. We're hoping they will surrender as they wont be able to be upkept for a long campaign. With this, the day after tomorrow, we will make way with our plans, the pronoia have already been called up and should arrive tomorrow, supplies are gathered for the campaign on land and sea, we are ready."

The celebration would continue on throughout the night, and preparations would continue throughout the next day until eventually the day of the campaign would initiate. Eventually, prayers would be held and then Constantine and Demetrios, along with a force of men to man the ships, would all would be boarded on their ships by the end of the day.