Sienna - Kurulus Osman

17

finally T_T .. the only thing that takes more time than writing...is finding something nice to put up there ^ (besties🥲)

Bandaged and grieving, Nikola sat on his throne, staring ahead as the doctor told him, "The medallion and the map saved your life." It was a map marked with the words: Nikola, the New Emperor of Rome. As the doctors cleaned up and left Nikola alone, he muttered to himself, "He did it, Sienna. He did it."

He had recently learned from his soldiers that Sienna had been abducted by Osman Bey when he and his Alps escaped from the fortress for the second time. He was now miserable as both his plan failed and his most loyal commander and friend was gone. "He entered the castle," Nikola continued tiredly. "He evaded the traps. He killed me...and escaped with you...You turned out to be right, Sienna. I should have killed him when I had the chance."

He sighed and stared at the map and medallion that held his dreams and the dagger that stabbed him. "My dreams have saved me. This is a sign. Now, I have been reborn, Sienna. Like Mithras killing the bull. Like the God of Kings, Dionysus." He paused and imagined Sienna saying, "Like Jesus Christ," and chuckled shortly under his breath. "I give you my oath, Sienna. I will make them pay. I will walk by the tents of the Kayis, and I will impale them on stakes one by one. And in the end, I will have a forest of impaled bodies."

He reached for the dagger, but winced, then tried again and held it up. "Then...I will have Osman's head on a spike." Clutching the dagger in his hand, he laid back on his throne, still thinking.

---

The group finally returned to the tribe, galloping to Dundar Bey's marquee, the tribespeople gasping and staring at the enemy with them. After Osman Bey greeted his uncle, he gestured for Goktug and Boran to take Sienna to the captive tent.

Sienna had been trying to cut through the rope that restrained her hands the whole way, but the horses were running too fast for her to focus, leading her to accidentally cut herself a few times on the bumpy road.

While she was getting off her horse, she spotted Savci Bey and Lena Hatun in the crowd, staring right at her. Sienna watched the two, her hate toward Savci and sister rising again. But before she could watch them any longer, she was being led away. Sienna stared ahead, feeling the tension and hatred within the tribespeople, attempting to cut through the rope again as she thought of possible ways to escape.

Fruits and crops were thrown at her along with insults. Sienna shut her eyes in frustration when a tomato hit her forehead. "Ow," she whispered, irritated. Goktug seemingly heard and shifted his body slightly so that he was blocking the captive.

She ignored everyone's looks and insults, but there was one face in the crowd she could not simply dismiss. It was that of a young boy. Someone she had met before too. The boy who glared, she labelled.

"Sen," he spat at her as he stood in front of Sienna who blinked at him. Goktug and Boran paused and shared a look. "I knew you were evil that day," he continued in his slightly high-pitched yet confident voice. "Osman Bey'im will punish you accordingly... Yilan!" Sienna swallowed at that insult and watched as he picked up a pebble and threw it at her. She winced and hissed when it hit her eye as Boran warned, "Ahmet, don't do it," and Goktug gently moved him out of the way before he could do it again.

Before the other tribespeople picked up on this new torture method, Boran and Goktug blocked Sienna and the items that were thrown, trying to calm the people down.

"Murderer!"

"Snake!"

Insults and blows were all she received until they reached the prisoner tent at last, and Sienna could not be more relieved. She stared ahead with one eye, the other bruised, as the Alps took her to the cage. Boran stayed by the door, preparing the lock while Goktug moved to untie her hands, both glancing at her rather unusual silence now and then.