By the Lust of Men
Prologue
Nobody knows the exact date, but it is said to be during a winter night of 1239 in a faraway land - so far that it was winter in summer and fall in spring - when she was born. In the end of a dark alley the rain slided down the front of a thief who was holding the hand of a courtesan while her cries of pain were obscured by the fierce sound of a lighting storm.
"It is a girl!" - the thief exclaimed, as the sound of moving steel warned the man that the city guards were coming. "Run you fool!"- said the courtesan to the thief, and as the man ran away with the baby in his arms, he heard her last wishes before the sound of steel ended her life - "Let her know my name!"
The thief ran as fast as he never did, and his tears were lost in the fierce rain. It was a friend the one he lost, but a daughter the one that was born. He was not of the same blood as the child, but a father is the one that breeds and not who gives birth.
In time, the baby turned into a child and the child turned into a thief. She had no house to sleep in, but with her father she was always at home. Some say she used to cry in the streets so that her father could rob the purses of the distracted noblewomen. Some say she was so thin that she could escape the tightest prision, but some even say she robbed the King's crown to get some food.
The years passed by and her short body turned into a well curved body, her green eyes into a sensual look and her smell into a temptation for every man. No one knows how or why her father disappeared, but she promised not to steal and she never mentioned her father's name again. Little by little she learnt how to use her beauty in her advantage and with time it became her livelihood. She was a dancer that anesthetized men with her sensual moves. She was a troubador that charmed the audience with her lovely voice. In a couple words, she was a master of the stage - but all that would change one day.
Dancing and singing was how she managed to stay alive, but her dream was to adventure the dangerous lands of the bedtime stories her father used to tell, and become rich and feared by the men that once took advantage of her poverty. It was how fate smiled to her and one day a rich traveller came to town. After doing her show in the tavern this man approched the beautiful young woman and said -"Let me present myself young lady, I am Charles Applewood, the most visionary man in Praven". "Pleased to meet you, Alissa is the name" - said the attractive woman with a smile on her face. They talked for a couple minutes when he said - "We could be making millions together if you were to be interested" - and after a short pause she let him continue with a suspicious eye - "You are the most beautiful woman my eyes have crossed with, your moves make your body hard to forget even for the most straight woman, and your voice, well, it is just a miracle. I have a place in Praven where we could set a show and make ourselves with an interesting sum of money". At first she thought it was antother man trying to convince her to go to bed with him, but before she was able to say anything the strange man added - "My caravan will leave tomorrow morning back to Calradia, you can find us in the inn just across the street, but please consider my humble offer" - with that said the man left.
She couldn't sleep that night - the opportunity to travel and make her dreams come true was there - but she wanted adventure, not sing and song. Finally she made up her mind and decided to accompany the man to the strange land he mentioned before, and early in the morning they left to never come back again.
First they had to face the harsh fall of the southern lands. As they travelled north they arrived to the desert, where more than once, they were close to run out of food or water but luck was always on their side. After a month of travell, they crossed the Sarranid desert in the south of Calradia, but they were still days away from their final stop - Praven in the Kingdom of Swadia.
It was in the spring of 1257, March 22nd to be precise, when the caravan arrived to Praven during midnight. This day was not to be known by the men across Calradia but it was to be remembered as the day when it all began, and this was the woman that - by the lust of men - Calradia would never be the same.
Mount and Blade AAR: By the Lust of Men
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