Broken Branches: Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Despite the best efforts of his parents, Hannibal grew to be a very arrogant man.  There was also a great meanness to his general disposition.

Hannibal had delighted in tormenting his younger brothers and sisters throughout their childhood.  He once went so far as to set fire to the hair of one of his sisters after she had spent hours receiving a beeswax treatment in preparation for attendance at a special celebration for the ruler of Tunis.

Thankfully, the fire was put out before she suffered any significant burns to her skin, but the incident left some deep emotional scars.  Quite in character, Hannibal would burst into derisive laughter whenever he saw her warily eyeing an open flame.

Hannibal never showed any interest in following in the footsteps of his father and becoming a master craftsman.  It was a very different story when it came to swordsmanship, though.

It was while practicing with the son of the captain of the palace guard that Hannibal cut off his left hand and laughed at his despair.  When the ruler heard what had happened, Hannibal was banished.

Hannibal also laughed when the captain of the guard told that it was out of great respect for Philip that he had refrained from exercising his right to cut off his left hand.  When Hannibal told the captain that he was welcome to try if he could ever summon the courage, the captain just smiled and had the city gates closed until Hannibal was out of sight as a symbolic gesture to him no longer being welcome there.

Hannibal wandered about while dreaming of becoming a feared swordsman for hire to the highest bidder.  However, his skills were proving to be somewhat lacking.  On two occasions, he had to take refuge in a cave while recovering from being bested in a fight that he had started and the opponent wanted to finish for good.

One night in a seedy tavern near the docks of Tripoli, Hannibal found himself sitting at the table of some crewmen from a French pirate ship that was being supported by some very wealthy Tripoli merchants in exchange for a portion of their loot.  They knew enough Arabic to regale him with tales of their conquests on the high seas, and by the time the party ended, Hannibal was convinced that they were living the kind of life he had been looking for.

Hannibal followed the crewmen back to their ship, and he was welcomed aboard by the captain.  A few days later, he left port on the Adele as a rear gunner’s mate on a Spanish ten-pounder.

Consistent with most pirate ships at the time, Adele’s cannons were a mix from other captured ships.  When a better ship was captured, the captain would transfer his flag to it, but in most cases, a captured merchant ship was stripped of what weapons it had and escorted to a port that would allow for the safe offloading of the cargo.

The pirates usually had a buyer for their stolen cargo already lined up, and this included a buyer for the surviving crews and passengers of the captured ships, as well.  More wealthy passengers were held for ransom while the rest would be sold to slave traders.

Hannibal thought it made good business sense to break in girls who were surely destined to become prostitutes in brothels run by rich Arabs, and this almost cost him his life.  For virgins fetched a very high price, and he had to jump ship to escape the captain’s wrath after it was discovered what Hannibal had been doing.

Since Hannibal had developed a taste for more than just fighting by then, he sought employment as at least a bouncer in a brothel after he put some distance between him and the captain.  He secured such a position in the southern outskirts of Alexandria around a month later.

Hannibal was forbidden from having sex with any of the girls, and he behaved himself for the first six months at the brothel.  Although, it was easy to see that Hannibal did not like it one bit.  Some of the more hardened girls took great delight in adding to his frustration by calling for him to escort the customer from their room before they had finished performing whatever service they were providing at the time.

Oh my, I found out that my sexual imagination was not nearly as wild as I thought within the first few hours of shadowing Hannibal as he went about his duties in that brothel.  Hannibal seemed to take it all in stride, though.

Hannibal knew that he dare not mess with any of the girls teasing him.  For he figured that they would surely tell the owner, Ejidus, out of spite, and killing them after relieving his tension would be even harder to explain.

Nonetheless, Hannibal felt like he had to do something much sooner than later.  For the pressure was rapidly reaching the extreme limits of his self-control.

When Hannibal saw a very lovely lass arriving in the dead of one night, he thought he was home free.  For she looked like she was from the northern part of Europe, which made her having any kinsmen nearby highly unlikely, and she was obviously scared to death.  So, a couple of nights later, Hannibal snuck into her room and had his way with her.

The girl’s name was Claire, and Hannibal’s instincts were right about her.  For Claire was too scared of him killing her to say a word to anyone about what he was doing to her.  So, night after night, Hannibal kept coming by.

What Hannibal had failed to notice was that she was not to be turned out as a prostitute.  For Claire had told Ejidus that she was the daughter of wealthy Edinburgh businessman, and after confirming her story, Ejidus figured that Claire could make him a whole lot more money as a hostage than a prostitute.  Furthermore, it was in the hope of negotiating for a much higher price to obtain her release that she was being kept away from patrons of his establishment.

When it became hard not to notice that Claire was pregnant, Claire told Ejidus what Hannibal had been doing to her, and that was just the beginning of the bad news Ejidus received at the time.  For it was discovered that Hannibal had slipped out of the brothel while Claire was in his office, but it gave Ejidus some comfort to know that he had more than enough money even before receiving any ransom for Claire to ensure a very slow and painful death for Hannibal.

While waiting for someone to find Hannibal, Ejidus seriously considered just having Claire killed.  For in her current condition, Ejidus did not think her family would even want her back—let alone pay a ransom, and he would have to keep feeding her for months before she could start earning her keep as a prostitute.

Thankfully, her father soon arrived at the front door of the brothel and offered a great deal of money for her release in whatever condition she may be in.  Wjidus did not even bother to haggle over the price, and Claire was soon on her way back to Scotland, with her father’s ship being escorted by two British warships.

With it being what even I could naturally see as a measure of Divine justice, Amil, Hannibal’s youngest brother, walked into the brothel office one day and convinced Ejidus that the best way to humiliate such an arrogant man as Hannibal was to let him die in a fair fight with someone he had delighted in tormenting years before.  Around a month later, a bounty hunter brought Hannibal back to the brothel after finding him in one of the caves he had previously taken refuge after being banished from Tunis.  Oh, and it was with the help of information provided by Amil that Hannibal was found.

Hannibal had a vicious snarl on his lips as he faced Amil in the alley behind the brothel.  Less than five minutes later, Hannibal’s head was separated from the rest of his body, and he had been given four minutes to hurl insults at his youngest brother, Ejidus and all of the rest in attendance.

Amil had been wielding their father’s legendary sword, and with tears streaming down his face, he told the crowd in the alley that he hoped no member of his family would ever again bring harm to an innocent.  He then started his solemn journey back home to Tunis.

Despite Hannibal’s death being so very quick, Ejidus was satisfied with the outcome, and Amil’s words obviously had a profound impact on him.  For he closed his brothel and helped the girls return home if they had a home to return to.  Those who did not were provided food and shelter until they found a way to take care of themselves.

Hey, he even added four of the best-looking girls to his harem!  No, Ejidus was not a saint, but considering the way he had been, he was certainly improving.