The Albanian Dragon
Chapter 3, part 1
Afrim Kastrioti
Conquest of Anatolia, part 1
Murad II's lust for war had not ended in Serbia. He turned his eyes on Anatolia, territories that had belonged to the Turks before Timur had invaded and plunged the nation into civil war.
In the year of of Our Lord 1433 a perfect opportunity arose. It was an incident that very much involved my brother and I.
We were both present when the Sultans prayers were heard and answered by his god.
Gjergj and I, together with the rest of the 21st orta, were stationed at the Ottoman-Karaman border almost immediately after the Serbian war. Our job was to hunt down robbers and rogues who constantly harassed the local population and to escort the caravans that entered from the east and vice-verse travelled east.
I will describe the situation as it was in Anatolia at the time so the reader may fully understand the reasons behind the war and not judge any of the nations involved wrongly.
As a result of Murad's capture of Kosovo and his increasing political pressure on the Anatolian states which culminated in the annexation of the Ghazi tribe in 1429, the nations of Karaman and Candar allied and attacked the Ottomans.
It was in the summer months of 1433, Gjergj and I were escorting, together with 100 men from the 21st orta that Gjergj had command over, a merchants caravan from Bursa to the Karaman border where it would continue on its own.
We had escorted countless caravans like this and it was nothing but routine, this time, however, we had a surprise coming for us.
When we were within 50 miles of the border a rider was spotted on a ridge which the road followed. Gjergj, thinking that he probably wasn't a threat only send out two men to check the surrounding area. The caravan continued, but after two hours the riders had not returned and Gjergj was becoming uneasy as foreign riders kept making themselves visible to the caravan.
As we made our way over a small plain of sand that was littered with small ridges, we spotted a large cloud of dusk on our right flank. As soon as we had spotted the cloud, a large group of riders made themselves visible on a ridge no more than 100 meters from our position.
Gjergj, fast to realise what was going on, ordered the men forward regardless that no formation had been formed. There simply was no time to pull up in line, instead he just screamed, ”Fall in behind me, it's an attack!”
The enemy group plunged forward and I pushed my horse to a pace that it should not physically be able to reach. I lowered my lance and pulled up on Gjergj's side, the enemy came closer and in a chaotic moment the two forces collided.
Just before the collision, certain that I would perish, I closed my eyes and firmed the grip on my lance. In a moment of ecstasy, as I realised I had survived the first seconds of the battle, I felt the lance splinter against an enemy body. Loud screams confirmed my suspicion that I had hit the man and I opened my eyes to see that he had been pierced in the chest by my lance.
I drew my curved sword and exploded forward against an enemy whom was busy duelling with one of my comrades of war and slashed my sword across his back. He threw his head backwards in agony and a sword soon erupted through his back, and the aforementioned motion was reversed as he collapsed over his panicked horse and fell to the ground lifeless.
I kicked my horse in the sides and forced it forward against an enemy who was charging me, with his longer range provided by his lance, he plunged the tip in the neck of my horse which collapsed in screams of agony that only increased once the ground was hit and the neck broke.
The horse rolled over me and it was only by pure luck that I was not crushed under its heavy body.
I rose to my feet and saw dozens of men fighting with no particular lines separating them. I grabbed my sword with both hands and walked around in circles, worried of an attack from another mounted enemy as he would have had a clear advantedge over me. This happened not, though, and instead of being charged I saw the enemy riding around me, fleeing for safety while being chased by angry Janissaries.
The battle had ended as swiftly as it had started.
Twenty of Gjergjs men had fallen and several others were badly wounded, including myself.
The enemies, however, littered the ground far greater numbers; fifty-four of them were found death together with 16 wounded, whom all were interrogated on the field and it turned out, to no-ones surprise, that they were Karamani soldiers. Those of them who had turned their tails and fled were out of danger as Gjergj ordered the initial pursuit to a halt as he feared other enemies would await beyond the ridge.
Gergj, not willing to leave the merchants unprotected, ordered ten men to bring the four prisoners that weren't too badly wounded back to the military base at Konya. The remaining twelve prisoners were ordered killed. Why, I do not know as I never dared ask Gjergj why he ordered this barbaric and heartless action to take place.
The order was followed swiftly by the angry janissaries though, as they had just seen friends and countrymen die.
A few days later we were back at Konya and were greeted as had we just defeated the entire Karaman army.
Not because we came home victorious or because we had saved the lifes and goods of the merchants, but because we had initiated the war, regardless of the fact that we were the defenders.
Murad II had spread his lust for war to the entire army and now they finally had what they were waiting for.
A simple servant and brother of God's hand on Earth, Afrim Kastrioti.
