It was no secret that neither Ser Ballr nor Anoon spared an ounce of love for each other, being frequently at loggerheads with each other.
And this mostly had to do with their personal characters.
Ser Ballr was an open and upright man who blindly followed his given orders without ever questioning or second guessing them.
While Anoon was the complete opposite, an openly amoral and opportunistic man who cared about his skin much more than anyone else's.
And thus the two had co to butt heads from an early point on, where Anoon had challenged and even defied so of Ser Ballr's orders, after finding them not conducive to his own safety.
It was from these interactions that Ser Ballr ca to understand Anoon's true nature and determined that the other would betray the family at the drop of a hat if it ever suited him in the slightest.
Thus the veteran man looked to find faults in every little thing that Anoon did.
And in every single such engagent, it was Ser Ballr who always ca out on top ti courtesy of his much, much higher status.
aning even if Anoon did not do anything wrong, he would be asked to redo the task nevertheless, just because Ser Ballr did not like the way it was done.
And if he did commit a minor foible here or was just a bit absent minded in his work there, well, then lord help you, for Ser Ballr would see to it that Anoon was t out with the harshest punishnt, the scars and lashes on his back lay certain testant to that.
Now, Ser Ballr was not like this to everyone.
In fact, he was the complete opposite, usually being very fair with all the n.
It was to the point he even once court martialed one of his sons, for the cri of stealing from camp supplies. And then even went as far as to personally chop the man's head off to carry out the verdict.
This to many had seed a bit excessive, because although theft in any military was always seen as a grave cri, with the listed punishnts being very severe, such as either chopping off hands or heads, most of the ti however, such infractions were dealt in a much milder manner.
Unless the volu of the goods swindled was too great or too precious, extra guard duties, more nial chores, corporal beatings, decreased rations, and wage cuts were the usual thods of punishnts instead of the by the book rules, as it was kind of accepted that soldiers were going to steal from their supplies,
This was seen almost as an inevitable truth.
However, after knowing the one who had committed the deed was his son, instead of trying to save him, the weaponsmaster had blown up in rage in a manner he had possibly done only one other ti in his life- when the Kaiser family backed by the Sybarian council had declared that opportunistic war on them.
He might have been able to co to terms with it if it had been so poor, destitute recruit who was trying to make ends et because these grunts really did not earn enough to lead a comfortable life, especially when they were starting out.
But his son was different.
Although Ser Ballr was not filthy rich like the nobles, his pay was well enough, and combining that with the various free benefits granted to him such as a huge house with all the slaves and servants included, enabling his family to lead a very decent life, the modern equivalent of an upper middle class.
This was not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination, but they were also far from being so needy and poor that it warranted his son from stealing.
aning the boy had stolen out of greed.
And it was because of this detestable fact that even though the stolen amount was nothing too special, the boy's father chose to be very, very strict.
He saw this behavior as an affront to his abilities as a military commander who was unable to maintain discipline among his ranks, an affront to his honor as a father who was unable to teach his son the proper moral values, an affront to the Margraves family who were his benefactors and had given him so many things, and even an affront to the gods.
Thus instead of showing any sort of leniency, Ser Ballr did the exact opposite- going ahead to carry out the verdict by the book.
And it happened despite so very high level interference, with even the forr Head of the Margraves family speaking out for the boy, asking Ser Ballr to look past this small incident.
"The boy's a kid! His hands probably just wandered without him even realizing it. Look over it, Ballr. It was a small amount." The regal nobleman went to provide the excuse for the father.
However Ser Ballr was adamant, claiming, "What he stole was definitely not insignificant. This is my failure as a father, And so it is I who must rectify it. I pray my lord will not interfere in our family affairs."
By claiming as such, Ser Ballr made the entire thing personal and went on to show that he made no exception for anyone- not even his son.
In this way, although he lost a son that day, he gained imnse respect among all the n that served him and it could be said that without that incident, he would not have gotten the position where he was now.
Thus his treatnt of Anoon was all the more shocking, his one weakness where he was unable to separate personal feelings from his profession.
Ser Ballr truly believed that Anoon was a nace to the n, a plague that ate at the morale of the unit and thus did everything he could to get him kicked out.
The veteran weaponsmater would have certainly seen Anoon buried, if not at least exiled if not by sheer luck he had managed to befriend Ser Robert, who, due to being the old Margraves lord's personal bodyguard was able to bring the mighty lord's attention to the case.
The head of the Margraves family found the black man's talents in warfare and tactics to be of much value, thus, with just a bit of help from the outside, Anoon not only managed to survive Ser Ballr's restless hounding but even rise from the post of a re captured slave relegated to sweeping the decks, being a coolie and carrying out other nial takes, to a free man, then a commoner and then to a bon a fide military officer.
Sure this was nothing like Alexander's who went from rags to riches virtually overnight, but still, given only the primitive tools he had to work with, only his own brains and brawl, Anoon's rise was quite impressive.
"Agggghhhh!" And now, as the man stabbed his large dagger into the neck of his long hated nesis, the black man could not help but twist his lips into a cruel, relieved grin.
This was sothing the man had dread of doing for not years but literal decades, but never thought would ever co true.
One because the man was too high ranked and two- frankly he was jsut too skilled.
Any assassination would more than likely be turned on its head.
So Anoon did not dare.
Until that is today.
Due to the circumstances, Ser Ballr had been unard, and much more than that, he was threatening to get in his lord's way, thus drawing the ire of many around.
How could Anoon let go with pri opportunity?
Thus the ever opportunistic man jumped at the perceived chance like a crouched tiger, claws drawn and maw open wide, driving his weapon in with an imnse bout of ecstasy that he had rarely felt in his life.
The strike cut the major arteries instantly and Ser Ballr plopped down to the floor monts later, blood rushing out of his wound like a gushing lake, his body twitching like a dying fish due to the ebb and flow of the crimson liquid.
Ser Ballr had an incredulous look on his face even as he died, eyes snapped wide open in utter shock, still unable to comprehend how he could have been got.
This was not how a man as skilled as him was supposed to go.
And his shock was shared by all those around him, who could believe one of the best warriors in the land had just been killed in such a sneaky way.
It brought quite an unpleasant taste to their mouths.
"Anoon… you… this…" Lord Bernard was the first to break out of his trance, turning to look at the culprit in equal volus of fright and surprise.
The man was not as much afraid of what the man had done as he was of what he was showing he could do.
The dashing man rightfully feared for his life.
"We had no choice. He was going to alert Lord Parker." The accused on the other hand was very composed, and retrieving his dagger only pronounced so in a cool, light voice.
Then quickly urged, "Call the other ship. We are short on ti. Hurry"
Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a cri! Don't patronize thieves!
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