After the battle of the bridge, Iskander had hurried to Croia without
delay. In his progress, he had made many fruitless inquiries after Iduna
and Nicæus, but he consoled himself for the unsatisfactory answers he
received by the opinion that they had taken a different course, and
the conviction that all must now be safe. The messenger from Croia that
informed Hunniades of the escape of his daughter, also solicited his
aid in favour of Epirus against the impending invasion of the Turks, and
stimulated by personal gratitude as well as by public duty, Hunniades
answered the solicitation in person at the head of twenty thousand
lances.
Hunniades and Iskander had mutually flattered themselves, when apart,
that each would be able to quell the anxiety of the other on the
subject of Iduna. The leader of Epirus flattered himself that his
late companions had proceeded at once to Transylvania, and the Vaivode
himself had indulged in the delightful hope that the first person he
should embrace at Croia would be his long-lost child. When, therefore,
they met, and were mutually incapable of imparting any information
on the subject to each other, they were filled with astonishment and
disquietude. Events, however, gave them little opportunity to indulge
in anxiety or grief. On the day that Hunniades and his lances arrived at
Croia, the invading army of the Turks under the Prince Mahomed crossed
the mountains, and soon after pitched their camp on the fertile plain of
Kallista.
As Iskander, by the aid of Hunniades and the neighbouring princes, and
the patriotic exertions of his countrymen, was at this moment at the
head of a force which the Turkish prince could not have anticipated, he
resolved to march at once to meet the Ottomans, and decide the fate of
Greece by a pitched battle.
The night before the arrival of Iduna at the famous fountain, the
Christian army had taken up its position within a few miles of the
Turks. The turbaned warriors wished to delay the engagement until the
new moon, the eve of which was at hand. And it happened on that said eve
that Iskander calling to mind his contract with the Turkish prince made
in the gardens of the Seraglio at Adrianople, and believing from the
superstitious character of Mahomed that he would not fail to be at the
appointed spot, resolved, as we have seen, to repair to the fountain of
Kallista.
And now from that fountain the hero retired, bearing with him a prize
scarcely less precious than the freedom of his country, for which he was
to combat on the morrow’s morn.
Ere the dawn had broken, the Christian power was in motion. Iskander
commanded the centre, Hunniades the right wing. The left was entrusted
at his urgent request to the Prince of Athens. A mist that hung about
the plain allowed Nicæus to charge the right wing of the Turks almost
unperceived. He charged with irresistible fury, and soon disordered the
ranks of the Moslemin. Mahomed with the reserve hastened to their aid.
A mighty multitude of Janissaries, shouting the name of Allah and his
Prophet, penetrated the Christian centre. Hunniades endeavoured to
attack them on their flank, but was himself charged by the Turkish
cavalry. The battle was now general, and raged with terrible fury.
Iskander had secreted in his centre, a new and powerful battery of
cannon, presented to him by the Pope, and which had just arrived from
Venice. This battery played upon the Janissaries with great destruction.
He himself mowed them down with his irresistible scimitar. Infinite was
the slaughter! awful the uproar! But of all the Christian knights this
day, no one performed such mighty feats of arms as the Prince of Athens.
With a reckless desperation he dashed about the field, and everything
seemed to yield to his inspired impulse. His example animated his men
with such a degree of enthusiasm, that the division to which he was
opposed, although encouraged by the presence of Mahomed himself, could
no longer withstand the desperate courage of the Christians, and fled
in all directions. Then, rushing to the aid of Iskander, Nicæus, at the
head of a body of picked men, dashed upon the rear of the Janissaries,
and nearly surrounded them. Hunniades instantly made a fresh charge upon
the left wing of the Turks. A panic fell upon the Moslemin, who were
little prepared for such a demonstration of strength on the part of
their adversaries. In a few minutes, their order seemed generally
broken, and their leaders in vain endeavoured to rally them. Waving his
bloody scimitar, and bounding on his black charger, Iskander called upon
his men to secure the triumph of the Cross and the freedom of Epirus.
Pursuit was now general.