Under the white glare of a late June sun, Constantine led the first column westward away from Thessaloniki. There were no trumpets, no cheers, only the crunch of boots in dry soil and the creak of wagons rolling out in measured ranks. The siege lines they had carved into the earth were already half-filled, abandoned trenches slumping inward as if relieved.
No songs. Only the steady thud of footsteps and hoofbeats kept time, a quiet order imposed by discipline and fatigue. Constantine rode at the head, armoured shoulders squared to the road ahead, casting one last look toward the city's distant walls.
He guided his horse onto the old Roman road of the Via Egnatia, its worn stones peeking through the dirt. Behind him stretched a snaking column of infantry, cavalry, and ox-drawn carts loaded with powder and shot. Where once camps and siege towers had encircled Thessaloniki's landward sides, now only flattened earth remained and beyond, the sun-glittered masts of Venetian blockading ships still in the gulf. Constantine could just make out those ships far to the east, holding their line as agreed. The fleet stayed behind to tighten the noose, a message to the Sultan that the city remained under threat even as the army withdrew. Seeing those sails, Constantine felt a pang of disappointment sour on his tongue. So much effort to come here, weeks of marching and digging and now to turn away. But he mastered the feeling with a hard blink and fixed his eyes forward.
The road carried them across the plains by the Axios River, past fields gone fallow and reeds that swayed in stagnant channels. By afternoon the heat was formidable. Waves of cicada drone and marsh vapors rose on either side of the causeway. The column's pace slowed where the old road sank into boggy stretches. Muck clutched at the wheels of the supply wagons and men grunted as they heaved them free. Insects swarmed the sweating flanks of horses. A pair of mules squealed in protest when drivers whipped them through a particularly deep mire. Constantine tasted salt on his lips and dust in his throat; the air itself seemed to weigh too much. He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the ache that had settled between his blades.
Up ahead, General Andreas reined in his mount and cursed under his breath as another cart sank to its axle in mud. Constantine raised a hand, signaling a halt. No frustration showed on his face, but his jaw was clenched so hard it sent a throb down his neck. He dismounted in one fluid motion. One of the foraging sergeants approached, shaking his head. "Nothing, Majesty," the man reported quietly. "The villages here… all empty. We found only damp straw and a few skinny goats."
Constantine watched one horse splash through a black puddle and nearly lose its footing. He drew a slow breath and forced his hands to relax at his sides. He would not voice the urgency gnawing at his gut. Instead, he turned to Andreas, who had swung down from his saddle and was now standing by the mired wagon, barking orders to the infantrymen prying it loose. "We're losing time," Andreas muttered, low enough that only Constantine could hear as he stepped closer. The general's cheeks were flushed under a layer of dust.
Constantine answered without looking at him, eyes on the distant western horizon. "We make it up once we're clear of the river," he said. His voice was calm, controlled, the tone of command belying the tension that coiled in his belly. A few more hours of daylight, he calculated, and they would be beyond this swampy stretch. They had to be. Every delay on the plain was time gifted to their enemy.
Andreas wiped his brow with a dirty sleeve. "Murad won't tarry in the North" he said in a hushed tone. Constantine gave a single tight nod. He shifted, feeling an ugly crackle in his spine. Days of riding and sleepless strategy sessions had etched a deep weariness in his muscles. "He'll come," Constantine replied, equally quiet. "But we'll be ready on our ground, not his." He imagined Murad's banners unfurling somewhere beyond those hills, an unseen storm gathering. Then he turned back to the west. "Double the men on the wagons," he ordered briskly. "We move on."
By dusk, the army reached Pella, a desolate scatter of marble ruins poking from the earth. The setting sun painted the broken columns and weathered stone foundations in long copper light. Constantine called a brief halt; the men murmured in relief as orders went down the line to rest and water the horses. The camp followers and wagoneers began to settle in a circle of half-collapsed walls that once had been something grand. Shards of ancient mosaic glinted among weeds at Constantine's feet as he walked a short distance from the road. He recognized the place from descriptions in old manuscripts, this was once Alexander's capital, the pride of Macedon. Now only ghosts inhabited it.
Constantine stooped and picked up a fragment of tile, its painted surface worn almost white. How many empires have risen and fallen on this soil? he wondered. Alexander the Great rode out from here to conquer the world, and centuries later the world had returned to dust at his birthplace. He closed his fist around the bit of tile until its edges pressed into his palm. In the silence, he could almost hear the echoes of that bygone age: the clatter of chariot wheels, the triumphant shouts of phalanxes departing for war. Now there was nothing but the whisper of a hot breeze through the ruined stones and the distant cough of a donkey from his own camp.
Andreas approached quietly, not wishing to disturb his thoughts. Constantine sensed him and spoke without turning. "Pella," he said, rolling the name on his tongue. "The glory of one world, now rubble in another." He opened his hand and let the ceramic shard fall back to the dust. It struck with a soft thud. "Even the greatest cities…" he murmured, mostly to himself. Even the greatest empires become ruins, given time. A swallow darted overhead, its shadow flitting across a toppled Ionic capital half-buried nearby.
Andreas shifted his weight, armored boots crunching ancient gravel. "We won't let ours join them," he said quietly, as if reading his commander's mind. Constantine finally looked at him, the general's broad face was smeared with grime, creased with exhaustion, but his eyes held a steady resolve. In that moment, Constantine felt a brief kinship across time with the ghost of Alexander. Had the young conqueror felt this same mix of determination and fragility? Standing on history's fallen ground, did he know it could just as easily swallow him too?
Constantine placed a hand on Andreas's shoulder. "No," he agreed, voice soft but firm. "We won't." The two men stood among the silent remnants of empire until Constantine gave a brisk nod, emerging from his reverie. There was work to do. He turned back toward the makeshift camp where men were already gnawing on hardtack and tying off horses. The sky in the east was bruising to purple, a few early stars glinting above the plain. They would push on at first light; he dared not linger longer.
He beckoned a young officer from the scout corps, a wiry captain named Markos whose horse was lathered from a long ride. The captain bowed his head, awaiting orders. "At dawn, you ride ahead to Edessa," Constantine instructed. "Take a white banner. Inform whoever holds the city that the army of Constantine Palaiologos will arrive in force by tomorrow evening." Markos's eyes gleamed in the twilight; he was a man who enjoyed his role. "And if they refuse to open the gates, Your Majesty?" he asked. Constantine's jaw set in a hard line. "Then tell them we shall demand their surrender, and if they're wise they'll give it. If not, we'll take Edessa regardless, quickly." He paused, then added in a lower tone, "No bloodshed if it can be helped. Promise them mercy for compliance."
Captain Markos saluted, a tight grin on his face. "I'll see it done." He strode off, already calling for two fresh horses and a pair of his best riders to accompany him. Constantine watched them depart into the falling darkness, the white pennon unfurling as they sped away westward. The message was clear: Edessa could either surrender by the time he arrived, or face the consequences.
That night the army camped amid the bones of Pella. Cookfires flickered in roofless halls where Alexander's governors once debated and feasted. Constantine sat wrapped in his cloak against the nighttime chill, his back propped on a fallen column drum. The warmth of the fire before him barely touched the cold knot deep in his spine. Around him, soldiers spoke in low voices or sat in weary silence, each alone with his thoughts. There was a tautness in the air, as if every man felt the same thing: a race against time, a weight on their shoulders that no one dared name aloud.
Constantine woke before dawn and roused the camp. Bats still wheeled against the paling sky as men stamped out coals and shouldered their packs. Constantine's breath fogged in the cool pre-dawn air, even though the day promised to be sweltering once the sun rose. He swung into the saddle, grimacing at the stab of pain in his lower back. How long had it been since he'd slept in a real bed? He could scarcely recall, perhaps back at Lamia weeks ago. No matter. Comfort was a luxury reserved for peacetime. He rolled his neck to one side until it cracked, then raised his voice to give the signal to move. Standard-bearers lifted the double-headed eagle banners anew, and the long column creaked back into motion, leaving the haunted grandeur of Pella behind.
They pressed on through the morning and into the afternoon, veering northwest where the road split. As the terrain began to rise, the swamps receded and gave way to drier ground. Low foothills striped with oak and cedar emerged ahead, the first ramparts of the Macedonian highlands. By midday, clouds gathered in smudges above the distant peaks. The air grew heavy, pregnant with the smell of rain. Constantine kept a close watch on the sky even as he urged the march faster. If a storm was coming, he wanted to reach the next valley before it broke.
The climb into the hills tested every man. Steep, winding paths replaced the straight Roman causeway, forcing the wagons to slow and teams to strain. In places, ancient paving stones slick with moss peeked through the dirt, making the footing treacherous. A shout went up as one supply cart lurched over a half-buried stone and a loud crack signaled a broken axle. The column faltered again. Constantine bit back a curse. He dismounted and strode back along the line to oversee as soldiers scrambled to redistribute the load and abandon the shattered wagon. Barrels of powder and bundles of arrows were hoisted by sweating infantry onto their shoulders, extra burdens that would have to be carried now. It couldn't be helped.
Night had fully fallen by the time the vanguard's scouts signaled the lights of Edessa ahead. Word filtered back through the ranks: the city was close. Though bone-tired and hungry, the men tightened formation, energised by the prospect of imminent rest or battle. They emerged from a line of oak trees to see Edessa's silhouette rising on a rocky prominence above the plain. Even in darkness it looked ancient: crumbling Byzantine walls patched with Ottoman timber palisades, a squat round tower at the corner still bearing scars from wars long past. Lights twinkled here and there within, cooking fires or torches, and perhaps the reflected glow of something much brighter beyond the walls. As Constantine's eyes adjusted, he realized what it was: a waterfall, pouring from the cliffs just outside the city, moonlight turning the cascade into a white ribbon. He could hear its roar faintly on the wind. The sight was strangely beautiful, a cascade spilling out of the black crags as if the earth itself wept an endless stream of tears.
There was no time to admire it. A trumpet sounded two short blasts from the front: the scouts had made contact with Edessa's outskirts. Almost immediately, an answering flash and boom came from the walls, a signal cannon or arquebus shot, a warning from the Ottoman garrison. They knew an army was upon them. Constantine lifted a hand to halt the column out of range. The men, drilled well, spread into their nighttime encampment routine: companies peeling off to form a perimeter around a low ridge that overlooked the town. Orders went out in hushed tones. Entrenchments, but no assault yet. Picked men moved forward with shovels and mattocks, breaking ground for a protective ditch line. Others began unlimbering the field cannons that had slogged this far. Sappers carried baskets of gabions to fortify those positions, while archers and crossbowmen took posts in case of a sortie.
Constantine dismounted and walked among his soldiers as they worked, offering a wordless nod here, a steady gaze there. He could see exhaustion in their faces, hollowed eyes, mud-streaked cheeks, but also a steely resolve. They all knew why they were here. Edessa was a small prize, perhaps, but a necessary one. On this high ground they would make their stand, come what may. The Emperor's presence in the dark gave heart to the men: he moved calmly, inspecting a half-dug trench, helping heft a timber for a mantlet. When at one point a young Cretan gunner fumbled with a powder keg, nearly dropping it, Constantine himself reached out and took the weight, steadying the barrel before handing it back. The surprised gunner stammered an apology. Constantine managed a thin smile. "Carefully now," he murmured. "We'll need every shot." The man nodded vigorously and hurried on, more alert than before.
On the slope just behind the forward line, George spread a map on a flat stone and anchored it with his inkwell. Even at this late hour, his quill flickered busily as he sketched the city's outline and noted the positions of Constantine's artillery and regiments. By a sputtering lantern, he squinted and plotted range estimates to the walls. Jean de Croÿ stepped up beside him, peering down at Edessa with open disdain. The Burgundian let out a soft snort. "A poor jewel, this," Jean remarked, keeping his voice low but ensuring Constantine could hear. "Hardly worth the march." He tapped the hilt of his sword against his calf impatiently. "Thessaloniki's a true prize, but this?" In the gloom, Jean's scarred face was set in a scowl.
Constantine's shoulders tensed under his damp cloak at the mention of Thessaloniki, but he did not respond. He continued along the line, pausing near a cluster of spearmen driving sharpened stakes into the turf. Jean's bitterness was understandable, many of them, not least Constantine himself, had hoped to be feasting in liberated Thessaloniki by now, not laying siege to a minor town in the hills. But he could not indulge such sentiments. There was purpose here, even if Jean did not see it. Live to fight another day, Constantine recited inwardly, echoing the simple motto of a modern soldier he had once known. He would not trade a future victory for a present folly. Edessa was ground they needed, ground chosen for its defensibility, for the chance it gave them to regroup and confront Murad on equal terms. Let Jean scoff; Constantine would rather have a poor jewel in his hand than a crown dashed from his head. He turned away from Jean and moved down the line, saying nothing more. The day wore on, the stakes went into the earth, and the hills held their silence.
Two days later, scouts returned. They came in at dawn, dusty and swaying in their saddles. Captain Markos was among them, his horse lathered and his face drawn with exhaustion. Beside him rode two strangers, a pair of ragged-looking Serbian soldiers, one with a bandaged arm and trailing them, three more of Constantine's own scout riders. A knot of men gathered as the scouts dismounted, whispering urgently. Constantine strode quickly toward them, Andreas and George close on his heels. The early sun was just cresting the eastern hills, flooding the world with pale gold light that felt at odds with the grim expressions he saw. Markos pushed through the small crowd and knelt on one knee in front of Constantine, breathing hard. "Your Majesty," he panted, "we have news."
The hush that fell was absolute. Around them, men paused in their tasks, half-heard rumors already running like wildfire. Markos took a steadying breath. "It's confirmed: the Western host is broken." He glanced aside to the two foreigners he'd brought. "These men rode from the north. They were with the Hungarian rearguard."
Constantine's chest tightened. He lifted a hand to bid Markos rise and continue. The scout captain's voice did not waver, but his words dropped into the morning air like stones. "Hunyadi is in retreat south of Prilep with maybe six or seven thousand survivors. Emperor Sigismund…" Markos hesitated, as if loath to speak the next part, but then he squared his shoulders. "Sigismund is dead, sire. Killed at a gorge called Demir Kapija. The crusader army was ambushed and shattered there about a ten days past."
A collective intake of breath sounded around the circle. Silence, shock, men looked to one another in disbelief, some crossing themselves. Someone whispered, "Christ have mercy," and another swore under his breath, a harsh Frankish curse. Jean de Croÿ's face went slack; he removed his helmet as if at a funeral and stared at the earth. Thomas closed his eyes and turned his face away, lips moving in what might have been a prayer or a curse or both. Even Andreas, ever-stoic, let out a long, unguarded exhale and muttered, "All-mighty God…" before catching himself. The news struck like a blow. The Holy Roman Emperor slain, his grand army lost, the hope of Western deliverance snuffed out in a narrow defile far from here.
Constantine felt the world tilt, a subtle shift as a future he had dared to imagine crumbled to ash. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. Sigismund dead? The seasoned crusader king who had survived Nicopolis decades ago, gone, just like that. And that Hunyadi noble left with a tattered remnant, nowhere near joining him at Thessaloniki as planned. The old world, the world of crusades and knightly vows, had just died in that gorge. He became aware that George was watching him anxiously, and that the eyes of his captains and guards were all turning to him now, searching for direction, for reassurance, for anything. Constantine realized his hands had curled into fists at his sides. He unflexed them carefully.
"So," he said, very quietly, "the old world died in the gorge." The words escaped him almost without conscious thought. He hadn't intended to speak them aloud, but in the morning stillness everyone heard. His voice was calm, almost soft, yet it carried an undertone that sent a chill along those present. Many did not fully grasp his meaning, a few furrowed their brows, but those closest to him understood. George lowered his head, grief and apprehension in his eyes. The West's great champion was gone. They stood alone now, in truth.
For a heartbeat, nothing more was said. A lone hawk cried out somewhere high above, circling in the clean new daylight. Constantine took in the scene around him: his loyal officers, their faces lined with fatigue and worry; the rank-and-file beyond, murmuring as word spread like wildfire through the encampment; the walls of Edessa with their stubborn enemy banners still rippling defiantly. This was the moment that would break them or bind them. He drew himself up to his full height. The sun behind him cast a long shadow down the slope as he spoke in a clear, steely voice that cut through the whispers.
"Sigismund is gone," Constantine announced, pitching his tone to reach the ears of those nearby and beyond. "But we are not. We remain. And this ground—" he pointed with his sword toward Edessa's heights, the blade catching a flash of morning sun, "—this ground we choose, and we will hold it." His gaze swept over his men, catching their eyes. Some straightened their backs; others pressed lips together in renewed resolve. "We take Edessa," Constantine continued, voice rising with quiet authority. "We make it ours, today. And if the Sultan follows…" he paused, the weight of the world in his next words, "...we offer him battle here."
A few of the officers exchanged looks and nods. One or two even managed tight smiles, fierce and determined. There was no triumph in this moment, but there was resolve. In the distance, a horn from Edessa's walls sounded an alarum, as if in answer. Constantine sheathed his sword in a sharp motion. "To your posts," he commanded. "Prepare the cannons."
Activity exploded through the camp. Messengers, riders, were dispatched at once, galloping off in sprays of dew to carry new orders: some to the rear guard to hurry forward the remaining artillery, some perhaps to attempt contact with Hunyadi's ragged force somewhere beyond the mountains, and others to inform Admiral Loredan's fleet of what had transpired. Even as those couriers vanished over the ridges, cannons were rolled forward into their firing positions, wheels crunching on gravel. Gunners swabbed barrels and checked fuses in grim silence. Nearby, infantry hoisted the previously stacked scaling ladders onto their shoulders, ready to rush the walls on Constantine's signal. The whole camp moved with a kind of focused urgency, sorrow and shock transmuting into action.
The fighting was brief. Too brief. Edessa's defenders, already demoralized by isolation and the sudden, overwhelming display of crusader force, crumbled within hours. Constantine's cannons breached the western wall by noon; by dusk, the city was theirs. There was no need for massacre, only momentum. When the last tower was taken, and the banners of Constantine and Burgundy were raised above the citadel, the men barely cheered. They were too tired, too aware of what had been lost to get here.
From the walls, Constantine stood alone.
He looked north, toward the narrow mountain pass where Sigismund had vanished into dust and death. Then east, where the plains stretched toward the horizon and the Sultan's shadow loomed somewhere beyond it. His cloak whipped in the wind. Below, the streets of Edessa moved with the quiet machinery of occupation: orders shouted, wounded carried, standards planted.
He did not speak for a long time.
Then, low but clear, his voice caught the wind.
"Let him find us ready."
And the wind carried his words over the din, scattering them across the hills and ruins, to mingle with the dust of empires past on the ground they had chosen.
Author's Note:
The battle is near!
As Constantine's army digs in at Edessa, with the Sultan closing in and the Western alliance shattered, everything now hangs on the ground they've chosen and the resolve they carry. What comes next will not be maneuver or diplomacy. The storm that has long gathered will finally break.
Steel, powder, and will. Prepare.