Three days later crescent moon rose into the throne of midnight and radiated curtains of azure light onto the royal blue sea. From the crow’s nest, if looked upon, one could see the waves roaring to the skies and rushing to the nearest shore possible under the cover of darkness. Their voices alone rumbled, and the ships on their way bore the brunt of these senseless tides without discrimination. To their luck, Captain said, there were no rain or storms coming their way, else they might have suffered some bad fortune.

Baybur gave great importance to the Captain’s words. He might have looked like a brute, and his actions proved so, but his interactions with Çetin Pasha and himself also proved him to be a capable man. That was why he liked, with his permission, going into his study late at night to bother him. Not to talk about mindless matters or tales, they were the sailors’ stuff, but to inspect the maps and ask about different realms on the world.

He planned to do the same this night, as he stood up from the stuffy bed with light cover. Baybur pulled off the bedding and grasped his sword’s sheath beside the railings. It made a clink as he picked it up, alerting Mustafa reading at his own bed across the room. Not the other five scattered over the ground and beddings, these household guards still managed to snore like bears even with complaints about the sleeping conditions.

‘’To the study, leader?’’ Mustafa asked, though his eyes only half-left the dilapidated book in his hands. He wondered how he managed to read with such little light in the room.

‘’Yes, don’t mind me,’’ Baybur said, ‘’And try to keep an eye on them, I don’t want them to make another commotion while sleeping.’’

‘’Of course, of course,’’ Though he replied and waved his empty hand with lacking confidence, Baybur trusted Mustafa’s sharp senses. He would be a good addition to the art school were it not for his identity.

Baybur didn’t make any further comments and made his way to the door, opened it, and closed from behind with a small thud. He already started hearing faint collapses of the waves against the ship’s bow, though they sounded harsher tonight, as captain said. After listening for a moment he looked right, to the flickering lights of a glass sealed candle blinking at the hallway.

Hm?

Baybur decided to check what it was, since he was slightly early today. He walked past the crystal prism embed to the ceiling at the middle and passed through the entrance to the inner quarters’ intersection where they would eat the meals. There were also four different doors that led to different quarters, though two alone was left for food and goods’ storage. Other one was for the crew’s own sleeping room, and since they were so few in number a lone space sufficed to contain their numbers. The last one was for storing tools, cannonballs, quivers of arrows, swords and other related things.

But the light came from none, instead the sealed candle stood open on the table at the center. There were six men snoring on, under, and around the table with their limbs stretched to wherever they could reach. One of them had their palm right over the sealed candle. Baybur took three wide steps and clutched the sealed candle from its handle, away from the men. The soft glow cast faint shadows over the room and Baybur counted one more man in the shadows, making them seven. Surprisingly, three were household guards and there was the scent of...ale, it was all around the room.

Baybur swept his gaze over them once more, then shook his head.

I don’t care, He thought and turned back to the hallway. If Çetin Pasha found them, however, there would be some harsh repercussions. Also there was the fact that he didn’t want to make his relationship worse with these people, at least for now.

He came before the room’s entrance again and slightly opened the door, a small squeal escaped from its rusty hinges. ‘’Mustafa,’’ He peeked from the entrance and pushed the candle to the man’s direction. ‘’Take this.’’

Mustafa raised his head to the source of light, then his pointy beard rose with a wide smile.

‘’Bless your heart, leader, thank you!’’ He shot to his feet and approached him with wide strides, plucked the handle without any hesitation and walked back to his bed.

‘’Oh,’’ Baybur raised a brow but didn’t say anything at the gesture. ‘’Be careful not to drop it,’’ He reminded and closed the door again.

Gratitude, gratitude, Baybur repeated in his mind, this time taking left to the exit the inner quarters. He came before the entry in no time and pulled open, then stepped out.

Moonlight washed over his attire first; the red gown, the white trousers, and the light blue quilted turban. All had a darker tinge in the night with the exception of his dark leather shoes. Well, their pointy heads were of a lighter hue in the day but it didn’t matter much.

Baybur took a deep breath from his nose to savor the clean and salty air and exhaled from his mouth. He looked around once, there were members of the crew standing for night shift. Two of them leaned on a railing at the right side, their backs to Baybur, whispering to each other about something inaudible. At the crow’s nest he saw another one, sitting on the cramped space to rest. Were it not for their gazes meeting, Baybur would assume the man was dozing off with how relaxed he seemed. The sailor waved a hand in greeting, Baybur returned the gesture and moved forward.

The doors of the Captain’s study and the ship’s inner quarters faced each other, and at the captain’s study there was another door that led to the upper deck instead of the ladder one climbed from the right side. Baybur also glanced at the lone sailor on the upper deck watching the sea, he seemed immersed in the scenery. At last he approached the door and knocked twice.

‘’Come in,’’ a voice said, Baybur pushed the door open.

To start with, there were more than a few candles sealed in glass compartments placed on iron holders. Three flickered at the left side, right next to the two rows of atlases, scrolls, books, and bottles of ink. Four of them brightened a large map of Mediterranean sea and the states bordering it; Ottoman, Spain, France, Genoa, Venice, Papal States, Mamelukes, Zayyanids, Marinids. There were streaked lines showing trade routes, cross marks on cities with seemingly important locations, and as a last addition were large amount of red circles around North African shores and Gibraltar strait.

‘’Welcome,’’ Captain raised his head from the table. A quill stood in his hand, put against a half-finished paper of writing among dozens of others. ‘’Was the barrelman awake?’’

‘’Quite alert, even,’’ Baybur leaned his sword right next to the entrance and approached the table. Instead of grasping one of the empty chairs he went around and came beside the captain, gazing at the yet to dry ink on the papers. ‘’He noticed me looking in mere seconds,’’

‘’Good, we wouldn’t want our scout sleeping sound at night, would we?’’

‘’He seems trustworthy to me,’’ Baybur replied, ‘’Why doubt him?’’

‘’Sailors are not trustworthy, brother Baybur, unless the matter is about adventure or war,’’ Captain’s eyes flashed under his thick brown eyebrows. ‘’And even if they are, being lax and appreciative of it doesn’t help their attitude.’’

‘’A reward would be ideal, though. Getting them hate you doesn’t seem safe in a long, alone voyage.’’

‘’That,’’ Captain put down the quill and stood up, ‘’we have some things to deal with it. Instead, brother Baybur, I have a question I want to ask- two, actually.’’

‘’Go on, captain,’’ Baybur leaned on the table’s side and crossed his arms, gazing at the Captain walking over to the large map. Captain’s hand went into one of the pockets stitched to his gown and left with a crimson flask in the grasp. He opened the lid and shook it over his palm, a red piece of chalk dropped. He sealed and put it back, then pointed with the chalk at the map.

‘’Can you guess where I’m going to circle on the map right now?’’

Baybur narrowed his eyes and inspected the map. Compared to yesterday, or the day before that, there weren’t any visible changes to the map. He tried to connect some points; Them being a day away from the Mediterranean and Aegean border, the recent talk of pirate activity near east Mediterranean, the exaggerated amounts of gifts in the cellar and storerooms.

He found nothing.

Baybur shook his head, ‘’Is it somewhere near North Africa again?’’

‘’No,’’ Captain’s pupils shrank, ‘’Here,’’

His hand circled the west of Crete, between Ionian and Mediterranean seas’ border.

A sting of ice passed through Baybur’s back, the candles flickered on the edge of dying off.

‘’Second question-’’ Captain said, turning to gaze at him, ‘’Why did I circle there?’’ He tapped on the circle’s center.

‘’Obvious answer is the danger-’’ Captain nodded, ‘’But...’’

Why should there be danger near there? If there is, why the crosspoint between Aegean, Mediterranean, and Ionian? What kind of enemy can prove danger to the envoy? If it can do, who is it?

‘’Captain,’’ Baybur spoke after pondering, ‘’May I also ask some questions?’’

‘’Of course.’’

‘’First,’’ Baybur took a step forward and came beside the Captain, the map stood between them free to use. ‘’Why did you ask me and not Çetin Pasha?’’

‘’State matters are confidential, and so are the schemes between the nobles of the realm,’’ Captain said, ‘’Picking the second highest ranking officer with no clear connections to those troublesome pests should be the best, both for my interests and my crew’s safety, no?’’

‘’Second,’’ Baybur planted his index finger to the map, on North African shore, and traveled it to the west, then at the Gibraltar raised it to the lands of Spain. ‘’None of the people here are daring enough to get into the seas under the influence of Venice, Ottoman, Spanish, and Papal states. Even if there are, there is no point in coming as far as Cretean islands. In such a case, which pirate do you suspect of the danger?’’

‘’Why pirates?’’ Captain waved his hand in refusal, ‘’I never, even once, mentioned pirates being in the fray.’’

‘’Mercenaries?’’

‘’Most possibly, or a disguised force.’’

‘’Backed by whom?’’

‘’By any men that will feel threatened, either for his plans or for his life, by your mission. That would be my third question to you, actually, but lets make it clear here.’’

Detrimental to his plans, to his life, or something different. Janissaries are a possibility, but unless the whole hearth pools in their gains over the years, they won’t be able to hire mercenaries or a vessel. Aghas are no exception-

The Sanjak-beys? Movement would be too obvious and almost none of them hold a shipyard and a fleet of their own. Money is, however, what they never lack.

Pashas? A few dare oppose and the position of a Pasha is easy to take with support, even then Sultan doesn’t lack much respect among the Pashas...except Halil Pasha. But he doesn’t have the financial or political influence to pull a move like this, even though he is a staunch opposer of the siege of...

‘’Byzantine,’’ Baybur muttered, ‘’And someone from the inside feeding information to them. Even if they are not as strong, getting a small fleet to wreck three ships is not a big deal.’’

‘’Hmm,’’ Captain pondered with his chin propped up, he didn’t seem like he would talk any time soon. But Baybur had another question to ask.

‘’Captain,’’ Baybur turned to look at him, ‘’How did you find out?’’ That was the most crucial piece of knowledge.

‘’Let me ask instead, you can figure out from there,’’ Captain said and walked back to his table, Baybur followed. He took some documents and old pieces of paper, with a quick glance it revealed their contents to be the amount of supplies and gifts they brought into the vessel. Figures of money, however, took all the attention with their extraorbitant amount.

‘’In the interests of the Sultan and Sultanate, how fast would our speed be to satisfy the necessities enough?’’

‘’Your wording is confusing, captain.’’

‘’Let me rephrase it then,’’ Captain coughed twice and pondered for a moment, then spoke again. ‘’In how many days do you expect to reach Venice and go back to the Sultanate, and how fast would we have to be to not cause any danger to the cordiality of your mission?’’

Baybur thought of Sultan’s words, ‘’Three weeks to reach at most, the return should last the same.’’

‘’And do you know when will be there with our speed? At the earliest, four weeks.’’

‘’Why?’’ Baybur’s eyes widened.

‘’The food and the gifts were all carried and supplied by the Sultanate,’’ Captain said, pointing at one of the papers, ‘’And with them we received a large amount of money, only a quarter of it is our actual payment.’’

‘’If it isn’t a part of the gifts, what is it?’’

‘’For food-’’ Captain said, ‘’To buy meals for you and my crew.’’

‘’They were supplied, you say-’’

‘’For eight days, and your subordinates ate a tad bit more, so we will have to stop at Chania to get more.’’

‘’And this will slow us down by a day or two, if you want to get the ships’ maintenance done, then by a week.’’

‘’Exactly. Çetin Pasha inquired about our speed yesterday and answered the same. We also don’t have extra ammunition, or any physician provided. I only realized then...’’

‘’But this isn’t a definitive danger, is it? There is no real evidence for any signs of attack on us, perhaps it is all to slow us down.’’

‘’It might be,’’ Captain said, ‘’But there are better ways to do that; They could have put some troublemakers in your team to cause trouble on the way, they could have given us extra goods to deliver at random cities- they did so in the past- or in the first place they would have sent you on land, that route alone would prove much harsher and more dangerous than the sea.’’

‘’And?’’

‘’...I have dealings with Salih Pasha, I assume you know of his name at least, and he told me of some peculiar rumours about a newly established fleet in Crete, two weeks ago.’’

‘’When did you get this information? Does it align with the time of the decision?’’

‘’I am unsure of when you received summons, brother Baybur, but we were tasked with carrying some people over a month ago, and it was a sweet deal. However, the source revealed itself to be the Sultan himself only a day before our departure.’’

‘’We shouldered the task a day earlier than that,’’ Baybur said, ‘’so it seems possible. Yet possibility is still possibility, Captain, but I’ll try to see if there is anything to do.’’

‘’I doubt there is,’’ Captain sighed and sat down on his seat, rubbing his throat. It must have come hard to speak for so long after shouting at the crew all day. ‘’But you have my gratitude. I am not sure what you will do with that knowledge, or what I’ll do, but knowing is better.’’

‘’Indeed...’’Baybur nodded and fell silent. They listened to the faint roars of the waves and the trembles of the vessel, then Baybur took a step back. ‘’Then, have a good night, captain. I’ll go back to my quarters,’’

‘’Take care, brother Baybur, take care,’’ Captain waved his hand in response. Baybur approached the door, took his sword, and opened the gate. Right before he left, he glanced at the map on the wall, to the red circle at the west of Crete.

He hoped it wouldn’t be any trouble.