Stories Thread

[Andres]

Italy - Bologna region - here and now.


Savvas set foot on Italian soil.

"Ah, Italy... A pity we are at war with the Venetians now."

He looked at his trusted bodyguard, Kristophoros.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I was in Venice?"

Kristophoros smiled. He knew that this is how his old master usually starts one of his legendary stories.

"No mylord, I don't think you ever did."

"No? Well, well. I was still young at the time. I believe I was 29, right after I made it to the position of Strator of the Byzantine Empire. Allthough I was nominated to the position, it was still a year or so before the next session in the Magnaura, so I decided to make a few good investments with my first salary. A young woman with, eh, interesting qualities had told me that the best wine and women were to be found in Venice, so, that's where I went."

Savvas stared at the blue sky and smiled when the memories came back.

***

Venice, a long time ago.

Savvas woke up and realised that he was infected by the grandmother of all hangovers.

"You're not going to wake up soon, are you, darling? Want to go for another round?"

Savvas groaned. A few moments later, he felt a warm body lying up him. When he opened his eyes, he found himself looking at the ugliest teeth he ever saw in his young life.

"Oh no...", he thought by himself, the hangover mercilessly starting to manifest itself. When he looked closer to the woman's face, he also noticed a few hairs on her upper lip.

"Please, woman, leave me be. Can't you see I'm dying?"

The woman giggled. "Maybe you're already dead, "old man", and you're in heaven now..." The woman bit in Savvas lip.

"Heaven? You're overestimating yourself woman," Savvas said. "Get off me! Out off my bed!"

"This is my bed, fool, and you better be sure to pay me what you owe me or I'll go and get Tanathos," the woman angrily said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, do as you please, as long as I can stay in this bed. And I don't owe you nothing. You should be more then happy that I even considered spending the night with you."

That said, Savvas welcomed back the uncounciousness.

"Wake up, scumbag!" a raw voice said, followed by a fist in Savvas' face.

"Will this torment never end?" Savvas complained.

"Pay the lady, rich boy!" said the 7 feet tall collossuss.

"Lady? You call *that* a Lady?"

A few minutes later, Savvas found himself flying naked through the air.

"This is no way to treat a Senator of the Byzantine Empire!" Savvas shouted, shaking his fist at the etablissement he just had to leave.

He ran back to his home. Unfortunately, Apostolos, one of the messenger boys of House Tagamata was standing in front of his Venetian estate (in fact, it was pretty luxuruous and allthough he couldn't afford it, some smooth talking and false promises of paying for it on a monthly basis, convinced the owner, at the moment drunk as hell due to the company of Savvas, to sell it to the newly appointed Roman Senator). Not willing to show himself in this embarassing condition, Savvas decided to take a detour. While he was trying to sneak his way into his own house, a patrol just passed by.

"Hold it right there! Who are you and why are you sneaking in the surroundings of the estate of the Byzantine Strator, Savvas ek Militou?"

"Ehm, but I am Savvas. Please officer, let's keep this our little secret shall we? Just let me in my house and I'll give you a reward."

The guards laughed hysterically. "You are Savvas? You expect us to believe that some crazy guy wandering around naked in the streets of Venice, in the late afternoon, is in fact an esteemed Strator of one of the noble houses of the Byzantine Empire?"

***

Italy - Bologna - here and now.

Kristiphoros bursted out in laughter. "That's hilarious, Lord!"

"Oh well, luckily that messenger boy recognised me and was able to identify me. Needless to say, I never went back to Venice. Contrary to what I had been told, the women were not extroardinarily better looking then in Constantinople and the wine was just terrible."

Savvas kept staring before him, a meloncholic expression starting to show on his face.

"Those were the days, dear friend, those were the days. And what do we have now? Civil war, hatred and greed. Everybody fears or hates our Emperor. Ioannis is not a bad man, you know. Blunt, direct and a bit arrogant, yes, but not a bad person. In all his wisdom, our Basileus Aleksios made one mistake: he neglected his son. He should have given his son as much love as he has given his daughter, Anna. Did you know she never truly loved her brother? Sad, really."

Savvas took the bottle of wine he nowadays always had available in a sack attached to his saddle and emptied it.

He wiped something out of his eyes.

"And then my lord and dear friend Aleksios ek Ikoniou breaking our bound of fealthy because of politics."

Savvas face turned harder, the grim expression ruining his handsome features.

"Friendships that lasted for decades are now less important then short term political gain."

Savvas was now visibly angry. He drank some more wine from a second bottle and slowly calmed down.

"And now I am here with an army to burn and pillage the Venetians. If I'm succesful in my efforts, I might even end up burning the house I once owned in Venice and have my men raping the daughters of that teethless prostitute."

Savvas sounded bitter when he continued.

"What has happened to us, Kristophoros? Where did it go wrong?"

Savvas turned to Kristophoros and gave him a scroll.

"Go back to Constantinople and take this with you, Kristophoros. It's my last will. When the time comes, I want you to read it loudly in the Magnaura."

Kristophoros stared at Savvas, seemingly not able to understand what he was being told.

"But, sir, I should be on your side now. If I'm on your side, you won't die in this war."

Savvas moved his horse closer to Kristophoros' and gave him a hug. Still holding his trusted friend in his arms, he said :

"And that, my friend, is exactly why I don't want you to be on my side in this war."

"But..."

Savvas turned his horse and galopped away, yelling at his men:

"Move it, you lazy sons of ladies of questionable morality. I can already smell the wine and that famous sauce of those Bolognese. Your general is hungry and thirsty, so hurry up!"

The men, still exhausted from the boat trip laughed and cheered.

Nobody noticed the lonely soldier who was going back to the ships...