With the dawn, came the sound and sight of a flare releasing into the barely lit sky of Salonika. Those of the future Ottoman Liberty Society were in a panic. Who was it that could have fired a flare? It was impossible for the sultan and his men to have found out about this meeting. They had the support of everyone in this city so who could have fired that flare?
It was because of this sound that Ismail Enver of the third army corps in Macedonia stuck his head out of the window to see the visage of a young man with the fiery red hair of a demon atop of the building that housed most of the descanters. And before Ismail Enver could even blink, the young man pulled the trigger of his musket and a bullet flew right through Ismail Enver's head and so his body crumpled down two stories unto the hard ground. In another lifetime, he perhaps would have been more, but here he would be forever forgotten as just another decenter who had perished.
At the fallen corpse, shouts filled the dawn. Some went to see if there was still some hope for the fallen officer while others ran for their muskets to fire at the one who had done such an unspeakable crime. But, by the time that one had managed to procure it, the young man had vanished from the rooftop.
"Where did he go," nervously asked the soldier as he swung his musket around while searching for the murderer.
"What do you mean? He was right there! Atop the building," replied another soldier in a panic.
"Well he's gone now," shouted the soldier at him.
Instead of an expected response, the soldier with the musket saw the other soldier, who had been his friend, struck down by a scimitar or curved sword common to the Ottomans. Looking around, the soldier saw that in his confusion, the fifteen or so soldiers that had been gathered here had also been cut down by this flaming haired demon.
"You mon-" but before he could finish his curse and pull his trigger, a bullet blew through the throat of the soldier.
"You're always so flashy," commented Mostafa.
"Took you long enough. How's everything around the perimeter," asked Altan.
"Göker and Yildiz's troops are taking care of it and most of my troops are dealing with the soldiers in the city," responded Mostafa.
Altan nodded then asked, "Did you relay my order to your men?"
"You mean about leaving the civilians alone? Yeah, I made sure to put the fear of God into their hearts with that one," responded Mostafa with a grin.
"Why do I feel like you enjoyed that? Nevermind. Let's just deal with the rest in here then move out into the city," ordered Altan with a slight shake of his head.
"Of course, my prince," replied Mostafa.
At the chill he felt, Altan said, "And don't ever call me that. It just feels like an insult from you."
"You better get used to it. Because a lot of people will be calling you that after today," responded Mostafa with a grin.
"You spawns of hell," yelled a soldier who had arrived to the scene. And before he could reach for a weapon, Altan promptly shot him with his musket.
"I wonder why they always yell. It would be much more efficient to just attack," noticed Altan.
"Perhaps, but anyway, let's move. We still have to capture one of them for information," said Mostafa.
Altan nodded and the two made their way in search of an officer to capture while slaying everyone else who stood in their path.
At the sight of the flare, the troops placed under Göker and Yildiz made their move. Before the handful of guards could receive their proper reinforcements, Yildiz and Göker's soldiers had already disposed of them by means of musket and broke down the gate for Mostafa and his men to enter through it.
They had come so quickly and with only that flare as notice that there was no time to prepare and by the time the rebel army could be properly gathered, Mostafa's men had already reached the center of the city and the rebel army had to split up to deal with the two troops waiting for them at the gate, and the troop that had already invaded the city. Not to mention the golden eyed and flaming haired demon in the main hall
"First line, fire," ordered Yildiz as a group of rebels tried to make their way to the gate.
They immediately fell down.
Seeing some men take their positions atop the high buildings, Yildiz nodded at the far away Göker before running to scale the walls and taking out the first few men with her blade and the ones at nearby buildings with her musket.
"Remember, my master will be displeased if a single civilian is to be harmed so only attack the traitors," shouted Göker to the resounding agreement of the janissaries gathered.
The battle raged for hours with few casualties from Altan's side and a massacre on the rebel's side. It would be the first of many battles that the üçlü would see and history would remember it as the day that the one known as the Red Dawn had begun to sway the hearts of an entire empire.
And when the sun was highest in the sky, Altan stood atop the tallest building in Salonika and fired another flare before proclaiming, "This battle has been made ours."
And the Janissaries along with Altan's friends gave a resounding cheer that was heard throughout the fallen city of Salonika.
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