It was no secret that neither Ser Ballmer 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 Ballmer 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 come to butt heads from an early point on, where Anoon had challenged and even defied some of Ser Ballmer's orders, after finding them not conducive to his own safety.
It was from these interactions that Ser Ballmer came 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 engagement, it was Ser Ballmer who always came out on top time courtesy of his much, much higher status.
Meaning even if Anoon did not do anything wrong, he would be asked to redo the task nevertheless, just because Ser Ballmer 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 Ballmer would see to it that Anoon was met out with the harshest punishment, the scars and lashes on his back lay certain testament to that.
Now, Ser Ballmer was not like this to everyone.
In fact, he was the complete opposite, usually being very fair with all the men.
It was to the point he even once court martialed one of his sons, for the crime 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 seemed a bit excessive, because although theft in any military was always seen as a grave crime, with the listed punishments being very severe, such as either chopping off hands or heads, most of the time however, such infractions were dealt in a much milder manner.
Unless the volume of the goods swindled was too great or too precious, extra guard duties, more menial chores, corporal beatings, decreased rations, and wage cuts were the usual methods of punishments 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 time 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 come to terms with it if it had been some poor, destitute recruit who was trying to make ends meet because these grunts really did not earn enough to lead a comfortable life, especially when they were starting out.
But his son was different.
So Anoon did not dare.
Until that is today.
Due to the circumstances, Ser Ballmer had been unarmed, 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 prime 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 immense bout of ecstasy that he had rarely felt in his life.
The strike cut the major arteries instantly and Ser Ballmer plopped down to the floor moments 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 Ballmer 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 volumes 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 time. Hurry"
Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!
Please come Here!
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