The runner boy
stood before Nelatha and breathlessly announced that he needed fresh
salve for the injured eyes of both boys.
Si'Wren could still hear the tormented screams of the boy who had been
punished. He was in agony now not only for his eye, but for the unlove
and lack of sympathy from those around him. The other boy, his smaller
victim, was moaning constantly from his unrelenting agony.
Nelatha turned to Si'Wren and repeated the request, and Si'Wren
hastened to fetch what the boy requested, a salve made from a specially
combined mixture of herbs which could help ensure that neither boy died
from infection and also alleviate much of the suffering they must
endure.
While he waited for Si'Wren to give him the salve, the runner boy,
whose name was Gafa, spoke glibly to Si'Wren and Nelatha of the boys'
fathers requesting that the Physician might see their sons, and of
Rababull hesitating at first, but finally relenting.
Human life was cheap, and Rababull's reluctance stemmed from the fact
that he already owned both men and their families, which left them
nothing further to offer him. Whatever they might promise, was it not
already his?
Did they not already owe him their daily labors for the rest of their
lives anyway, before any of this happened? If both boys eventually died
of their infections, could not Master Rababull's human property breed
more children for less than the cost of the Physician's fee?
But, to further his own glory and honor among men, Rababull had finally
approved this thing, that others might call him gracious.
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