Rhodes, March 1316
Leo Kalothetos sook hands with Foulques de Villaret. Theodore wanted to take his entire fleet west but was very much aware of the danger piratical raids from the Turkish emirates and the Athenian Catalans could pose to the despotate's coasts. Thus Theodore had turned to the Hospital for support. Leo had initially found the choice odd. But he had to admit it was actually making sense. The relation between the Despotate and the Knights had steadily improved since they had fought side by side at Amorgos and Villaret had run the Knights heavily into debt, so the 100,000 ducats Theodore and Alexandros had offered in five yearly installments were more than welcome. Besides the Hospital closely followed papal policy and while no pope existed at the moment, the Holy See was traditionally supporting the Angevins over the Catalans and Alexandros now was effectively fighting on the Angevin side. And if as Theodore had slyly commented the knights were less likely to become unmanageable, unlike Venice or Genoa... why he was right about it was he not?
Messina, April 1316
Dozens of war galleys and transports reached the port. Theodore was back in Sicily, back in force. Within two days he would be marching at the head of four thousand men including five hundred heavy and as many light horse to join his uncle's army at Etna. Ioannis would wait another couple of days before he took the join fleet of the Despotate of Sicily south.
Corinth, May 1316
Alfonso, looked, not without concern at the Acrocorinth. He had signed a truce with John II of Thessaly and then led his army south. But you couldn't invade Achaea before first reducing Corinth. And this didn't look to be an easy task...
Syracuse, May 1st, 1316
The siege had entered its tenth month the previous week. The besieged were not showing any sign of giving up and surrendering but, Frederick was not giving any sign of giving up either, despite his army and fleet steadily losing men to disease and raids. After all his forces might had not been able to cut off all supplies to the city but it was being kept under blockade for nearly a year by now. Surely Syracusan supplies would run out sooner rather than later. Then runners came to Frederick's camp that dozens of sails had been detected coming from the east. Frederick had time only to rush to join his men in the fleet.
Epipolae, Syracuse, May 2nd, 1316
Sicilian soldiers put to fire their siege engines, there was no time to dismantle them. The previous day the fleet of the kingdom of Sicily, 45 galleys strong had been caught between the fortifications of the Grand Harbor and the fleet of the Despotate of Sicily under Ioannis Vatatzes with 70 galleys. None could say the Sicilians of the kingdom had not given a good account of themselves, the despotate's fleet had lost over a dozen galleys. But the kingdom's fleet had been decimated losing 29 galleys and over six thousand men. And Ioannis fleet had been fighting right outside the Grand Harbor. Damaged ships had found refuge there right away and yet more boats and ships had been there to save men from lost ships from drowning. Frederick had survived the battle only to receive more bad news as soon as he was on land. Philanthropenos was fast approaching Syracuse from the north at the head of an army, his scouts claimed to be thousands of men threatening to catch Frederick between him and Alexander. And thus Frederick had ordered to lift the siege with all haste and march west to escape the danger.
Maroglio river, Sicily, May 9th, 1316
Frederick had retreated towards Gela to give him some distance from Philanthropenos army. His quick retreat from Syracuse had allowed him to escape the trap Alexios and Alexandros had set for him, but had allowed his two opponents to join forces and come after his retreating army, forcing him to battle. Frederick has nearly a thousand knights, about as many as Alexandros, in addition to 1,500 jinetes, Spanish light cavalry and over seven thousand infantry including a large number of almogavars. But Alexandros for once outnumbers his opponent thanks to the reinforcements brought by Theodore, with over ten thousand infantry, including three thousand pikemen and 14,000 men overall. Both men, not without reason have confidence in the quality of their armies. It is numbers, Philanthropenos superior talent and the inability of Frederick's cavalry to deal with the Greek pikemen, never before met in a western battlefield, that decide the battle. Alexandros does lose about a thousand men but by the time the pursuit is over Frederick's army has lost four times as many.
Gela, May 12th, 1316
Alexandros looked at the small delegation that had come from the town.
"So have you come to discuss..."
The words were cut short as the misericorde suddenly flashed in the hand of the third delegate and he jumped on the despot, under the horrified looks of the other two envoys. By the time Alexandros bodyguards and Ioannis had subdued the assailant it would be too late. Alexandros, would die less than an hour later from the bleeding. The assassin would claim under interrogation that he was in his right to kill Alexandros as the Sicilian parliament had condemned him to death. Frederick would give credence to the claim by giving the assassin, or rather his heirs, a pension for services rendered the kingdom. Ioannis and Theodore, unimpressed by the argument would execute him for regicide...
