Such widely-held acclaim for Slavemaster Habrunt, the chief agent of
Master Rababull, was in no small part maintained by his sage words of
advice, characteristically brief, unerring, and straight to the point,
and by the certain knowledge in every servant's mind that if one failed
at the fore to heed mere words from Slavemaster Habrunt, one must
harken at the last to the whip of Master Rababull.
For Master Rababull always kept a large, blood-encrusted bull whip
ready to hand for his most grievous personal judgements, when the real
punishments must be meted out.
The two girls, Nelatha and Si'Wren, being naturally shy and
industrious, counted themselves privileged to work together in the
shelter of the spice tent. The tent of animal skins was located well
off to one side in the large front courtyard of the House of Rababull,
which was surrounded on all sides by a high stone wall.
The Master's holdings consisted of but a very small portion of the
Emperor's kingdom, yet they were large tracts of land nevertheless.
They were located on a broad fertile valley plain covered by dense
scattered forest and jungle. Across this plain, the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers flowed and converged together into one. This dry land,
this lush fertile plain, would one day be known to all mankind as a
large body of salt water, named the Persian Gulf.
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