[SS AAR] My first AAR: Born to Kill
From the tattered remains of a journal found by the banks of a swollen river in Turkey. On the inside fold of the leather jacket the words Born to Kill, followed by Sbyslav Kuchkov had long ago faded.
I was born to a woman of the night in the city of Kiev.Born to Kill
Grand Duke Vserold the Merciless the Knyaz’ of Kiev commanded my masters the one Born to Kill brought into service.
Late one summer night the city slept, but not it’s Duke. He called for me and told me of my mission. Far to the south my destiny sleeps he whispered in my ear. His breath stank of ale and goose. Before the sun rose I left through the gates of Kiev for the first and last time in my life.
South I went, to the sea. On the banks of this sea I met the priest Sudislar Slien.
I still hear his nasal voice in my ear deep in my moments of doubt. We were to camp until a ship was brought to carry us across the sea. For nothing else I would stare at the sea until my eyes dried up and turned to dust, but that was not to be.
For months everyday at dawn, we were to march north a dozen leagues and preach to the merchant bands and families traveling to and from the city of Caffa. On the warm nights of summer the wind would bring the stench of the city to our small camp.
My Duke had negotiated the city of Caffa from the Venetians a few years before. You would be surprised what you could get an Italian to give up for a few florins. The old Doge of Venice was happy and we let him keep a large military presents there just to keep face with his Pope. With that the road was full of Catholics fleeing the land abandoned by their Doge. So we preached everyday to the misguided masses until I was sick of my own voice much less that of the whining Priest Slien. As the summer turned to fall the ship finally arrived.
As Admiral Gremislav dropped anchor, I thought that there might just be a god. Not the one I had preached about for months, but the one that listened to my prayers as I stood over the sleeping priest each night, trying not to end his pitiful existence and send him home to his god he loved so much. I said the small prayer again as the Admiral made his way to shore in a small boat lowered from the hulk. Give me piece so that i may live to kill.
Admiral Gremislav was not the answer to my prayer. He was young. Younger than I, and new to command. Through the fall and into the winter he ordered women taken from the road to entertain his crew aboard the ships. Leaving me and the priest to listen to their merriment from the camp upon the shore. I must admit after a few months of this the men followed him willingly and were more than ready to sail. Not a moment too soon did we leave as I was at my edge and almost came close on more than one occasion to kill the whole lot while they slept.
After almost a year I had not killed a man. Not even the fat merchants that made their way by the priest’s camp. Something greater awaits my hand. Across the sea my life’s mission, the mission for the one born to kill awaited.
PART 2
After the grandness of Kiev, Sunop was a great disappointment. Not only was it dirty and crowded, but it was crawling with Seljuk. Still I was happy to reach its ports.
I am no sailor. After the journey from the port to the small settlement my legs were still unaccustomed to the firmness of the land. Or Prince Vladimir ruled here and he had quickly adopted the Sultans tradition of a harem.
I held quick audience with him late one night and bear witness to his indignity. I was put in contact by the Prince with the spy Sudmir Glukhouskii.
Finally we were to strike the Seljuk Sultanate. Our ally, but only on paper, not in blood. A heavy price my Duke paid to gain a foothold in the land of the Turks.
To high, according to anyone asked outside of the Dukes hearing. Our once rich country was now bankrupt, thanks to the Turks extortionist deal.
My mission was simple. Kill….
Kill as many as I could. Not the simple soldiers but the captains and Generals, and any of the Family members of the Sultans as I could. I would make them pay in blood what my Duke paid in florins.
In the city of Sunop after sharing a few women Sudmir we were to go south to the strong hold of Caesarea. He would leave in the morning and I would follow a few days later. When I arrived a few days behind the spy, word of his capture and death reached me.
Ashamed at my country mans failure I settled into the small village surrounding the castle proper as a servant to a family of Turks.
The Turks are very clean people, washing daily; even the beggars were kept better than the Highest Nobles of the Dukes Court. There was much work in just keeping fresh water for a family, I found work in this. The son of the man that housed me for my labor was a soldier in the army of the Sultan. I would accompany him to the castle once a day and soon learned that the King of Hungary had attacked the Turks. Hungary had been an Ally to my people for many years, and I was sure that my Duke would side with them.
My deduction was confirmed one night the soldier told me on our walk home that the Duke of Kiev had broken the alliance and was refusing to pay his tribute to his Sultan.
I missed a step when he declared this and I thought he would notice but he had visions of war and victory in his eyes and never noticed. I had been with his family for many months and never once was thought suspicious. For this I can only thank my masters, for teaching me so well. For many days I was refused permission to go to the castle, and many a day I almost disappeared and returned to my duke, thinking my life was for not. Open war was to come to my people. Finally the day came I decided to kill the family of my employer and return at last to my prince for further orders, but fate directed the One Born to Kill and it was not meant to be. The young soldier had been promoted to Captain of a small force that was to be sent east to battle the Hungarians. He approached me this night with a gift of a snake. A common gift a man would give a woman in the muslim world. The deadly viper became a fast friend to me I carried in a pouch at my waste. Both of us held captive by the rule of one man. Me to my Duke and the snake to me. The Captain continued to make advancements on me but I played ignorant to all of them. Finally when the order came for him to go east he asked me to accompany him. I was still a jewel he coveted as much as victory in battle. To my surprise winter never came to this land only in the mountains did the snow fall. So when the snow was sure to be very deep in my home land we set out for the city of Iconium. We traveled quick as the army was comprised of mostly horse archers. These men value their horse more than their women. It was once this way in my own land not so long ago. Once camped outside of Iconium, I learned much from the Turkish forces gathered there. Also once stationed there was no more excuses to halt the advances of the young Captain.
So he took me too his bed, and I returned his gift to him.
*
Now I must say we don't all enjoy what we do, but to lay with a man is the heaviest price one must pay for death. I paid that price for the first strike at the Seljuk.
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Originally Posted by Australia
