Chapter 13

Roth was secretly amused by the look on the fat slave trader’s face, as he walked into the sale hall and the man recognized him. "Uh… Mr.--- Mr.…?" "Roth." Roth helpfully informed him. "Oh yes, yes of course. You are an employee of Lord Wren, right? What can I help you with Mr. Roth?" Roth noticed the man had started to sweat. "If you could take a few a minutes of your valuable time to talk to me… Can we use your office?" "Of course, uh… Follow me!" Well inside the office, the door out onto the hall closed and both of them seated, the trader gave up a sigh, reaching for a few paper tissues from a box on his desk to wipe his sweat-pearling forehead with. "Something has happened, hasn’t it? What did he do? Wait, don’t tell me. Really Mr. Roth, I--- I don’t want to know. That little red demon is not my responsibility anymore. Your boss bought him at his own risk, you can not hold me responsible, I told him--- told him all about him, and…" "Like hell you did," Roth interrupted, "You didn’t tell us what he looked like under his clothes, did you? You must have known about those scars, the cigarette marks, you must have known about that missing nipple. Don’t tell me you didn’t know about the fucking tattoo." "Now if Lord Wren didn’t care to take a closer look … well it is customary to look them over, I shouldn’t have to tell anyone to…" "Bullshit! And you knew how mistreated he had been? You knew how totally fucked up he is?" The trader gave up a moan. "In a way… I suppose, but… Dear God, just tell me what he has done! He, hasn’t--- hasn’t really hurt someone, has he?" Roth shook his head. "He hasn’t. He hasn’t done a thing. The kid is doing all right, considering. He’s really trying his very best to behave. In fact, I’m impressed with him. He’s a good kid--- deep inside." The trader looked more than suspicious. "Really? So--- so you’re not here to--- try to return him?" Roth raised an eyebrow. "Here? I shouldn’t think so. Oh no, Lord Wren is keeping him all right. As I was saying, the kid has no manners, but he follows Nikal around like a lap dog, hangs on every word he says. He’s doing OK. But it sure isn’t thanks to you, or the likes of you. You raped him? While he was here, did you fuck him? Any of your men did?" The trader gave up an indignant snort. "That’s not how I run this place. I sell servants, not whores." Roth snorted as well; it was an utterly contemptuous sound. "Yeah, right. You think I’m stupid? I bet you take a little round here every day after closing time, don’t you? Choosing the meat for the night? They’re nicely laid out for you, just like little sushi rolls, aren’t they, for you to pick and choose? Quite the dream-business you have set up for yourself, hasn’t you? Tell me! Which ones do you like the best? The older ones, who know how to do a proper blow job, and know in which hole to put it? The somewhat feisty ones maybe, so that you’ll have a reason to play some bondage games? Or is it the really small innocent unknowing ones who don’t have a clue? Oh I think you like those the best, don’t you? The small ones who weeps when you fuck them," Roth leaned forward in his chair and nailed the man with his eyes, "you disgusting creep!" The trader shrunk back and nervously padded at his forehead, unable to answer. "That’s what I thought. You listen to me now; I’m not stupid. You sold Nikal that slave under false pretenses, and you revealed some negative facts about him so that we wouldn’t check for even more. You spotted a good heart, and you took advantage of it, you wanted to get rid of that slave because you couldn’t handle him." The trader banged the hand holding the tissues on the desk. "So, what if I did, there was nothing illegal about that sell, since you are indeed not stupid, you know that. Besides, you said it yourself that your boss wants to keep that worthless thing. So what’s this about? If all that you want is to insult me… I advise you to leave Mr. Roth, before I send for security." "And I advise you not to. I will leave, in a few minutes. All I want from you is that you tell me everything you know about the man who sold you that tattooed slave." The trader grinned nervously. "What do you mean? I don’t know anything about him, uh… apart from his name. Lots of people sell me their slaves." "You said it yourself, you sell servants, not whores. That redheaded boy had been used as a prostitute and you must have known that, so why did you buy him? That’s what I want to know. You know it doesn’t surprise me the least that Nikal buys a kid he feels something for without even really looking at him, he’s just like that, you know? He’s a good man; yes I know those words have no real meaning to you… But your only concern is pure profit, isn’t it? I refuse to believe that you bought that slave without looking at him. Are you telling me that you bought him without examining every part of his body first? Looking like he does… Why did you buy him? You must have known right away that that slave would be a bad deal. You know Swift, don’t you? What’s he got on you? He must have had something on you to get you to take that slave off his hands." "I told you I know noth…" "Look, I used to work as a private detective, I have a lot of contacts. I have quite a few friends in the police. It’s Swift that I want, not you, but if I can’t get at him I might very well take my frustration out on you instead. Trying to find out as much as I can about you and your affairs. Now are there things you don’t want anyone to find out about? I think there is. Or maybe there isn’t? Maybe I am wrong, and you really do run this business in a totally honest and law-abiding way? Doesn’t matter to me, you’re still a child molesting bastard as far I’m concerned, and I would just be ecstatic to see your trade go down. Through my boss I know quite a few upper class people, I can turn bad luck on your business quite easily. Gossip travels like electricity through wires within the clans, and where the clans go, the middle class follows…" "For goodness sake… What do you want?" "I told you, tell me what you know about James Swift, and I will never bother you again." >>> * <<< Roth stepped out into the sunlight with a shudder. Walking through that hall, being surrounded by all those boys… he had seen slaves many times before – he had never really looked at them. But he shook that utterly uneasy feeling. He had no time for such. The trader had eventually proven quite informative. Roth smiled; yes this was a good day indeed. Roth was mightily pleased with himself; he had had several good ideas lately. One had been to distract Nikal from the whole Swift-affair so that he could really work on it, and keep his friend out of trouble. The other was this. Why had neither he nor Nikal thought about this possibility before? Well, his theory had proved to be most true. Finally he had something to work on again. And when all this was over – he would bloody well see to it that that damn pervert of a slave trader in there did lose his business, if it was the last thing he’d do. >>> * <<< The days passed idly by. Taven sometimes wondered what his master really did for a living. He went inside his office every day, to work he said, during which he didn’t want to be disturbed. But he never spent more time in there than an hour at the most. Apart from that, Nikal’s days seemed to be free to spend as he pleased. Taven thought a life such as that must be kind of boring in the long run, no matter how much luxury you were surrounded by. Sometimes he also thought that Nikal had simply bought him to have something to fill his days with, because for most of those free hours he wanted Taven around. Taven didn’t have to do any work either; there were enough servants and slaves in the big house. He had very little contact with them, hardly recognized some of them, and certainly didn’t know more than a few by name. They had their own little society down stairs, and didn’t seem to want to welcome him into their lives. Taven had no wish to become a part of their community either. They seemed to regard him as their master’s private pet, and gave him about as much attention as they would a lapdog. Well, he was a pet, he supposed and there were times he didn’t like the thought, but considering how well he was treated he couldn’t really complain about it. Maybe Nikal did use him to make his life less boring, but Taven’s life got interesting in the process as well. Interesting, yes, but not always that easy. Not hard if you compared to how he had lived before, but still difficult, in other ways. He didn’t work and he wasn’t whored out, he didn’t get beaten or mistreated. But Nikal demanded things of him that sometimes made him wish he would beat him instead. Nikal was bent on making his manners improve. There were a thousand details to learn in how to walk right and sit right, how to kneel right and talk right. Taven was sorely confused by it all. He forgot himself all the time and Nikal patiently corrected him and demanded he try again. To Taven’s horror Nikal thought he should learn how to read, write and calculate as well. Taven was dead sure that would be yet another source for humiliation for him, because he would of course fail miserably in trying to learn such things. How could his master even think it would be possible to learn someone as stupid as him things like that? He had squirmed and complained and begged, as Nikal had taken him to his old classroom high up in the house, where he and the original Taven had been privately tutored when they had been children. To Taven’s surprise it had been relatively easy to learn the alphabet. And come to think of it, if Serenity could learn… But if Nikal thought he could ever learn math… Nikal almost tore at his hair in his fruitless efforts to try and make him understand the principles of the four rules of arithmetic, and Taven almost cried at his own stupidity. He just couldn’t learn math. Nikal also made him go down to the Gym several times a week, sometimes he was with him, sometimes he let him work out alone. Taven started to like it more and more, and soon went down there now and then all on his own accord. It felt good to give all he had to that uncomplaining sandbag, and he noticed how well he slept after tiring himself out totally down there. Taven was able to lose himself into it, sweating and panting in bodily efforts of that kind for a few hours and he didn’t think about anything at all, he liked that. But he felt disappointed when he looked at himself in the mirror. He saw no changes; he was as thin and weak-looking as he had always been. Nikal had smiled and told him that it wouldn’t happen that fast, and sure he would be stronger, but he would probably never be bulky, he wasn’t built like that. Once every second week Nikal took Taven to a specialist who worked on his tattoo. Even if the thing had started to fade, it wasn’t quite true what he had told Swift. It was not gone yet, not by a long shot. But it would be. And Taven gladly endured the stinging pain of the treatment knowing that someday it would truly be gone. No matter what Nikal said, Taven felt he could not even start thinking about himself as not being a whore until that tattoo was no more. Between learning manners, being "in school" and working out, Taven was as always Nikal’s ever-present shadow wherever he went. Yes, he was a pet all right, a little dog that you groomed and trained and petted and took for walks… but he didn’t care, really didn’t care. >>> * <<< After another fruitless lesson, trying to learn Taven division, Nikal finally closed the books with a loud sigh and told Taven they would call it a quit. "You’ll get it," he offered consolingly, "some day." Taven shook his head sulkily. "No I won’t, ever, and you know that Master." Nikal shrugged and smiled, but then… "I’ve been missing you lately." He suddenly blurted out. Taven turned to him looking as puzzled by the sudden change of subject as the statement in itself. "What do you mean? I serve you every day, all day. I make you nuts all the time." Nikal grinned. "Yes but… You never come at nights anymore, to sleep in my bed." Taven seemed astonishment personified. "I--- I--- What?" "You seemed to like it, and… It’s been more than two weeks since you last slept in my room." Taven’s mouth still formed a distinctive O. But then he angrily looked away. "Yeah, right. Like you would ever want to--- ever again." "Why wouldn’t I?" Taven stubbornly looked away, a small muscle at his jaw kind of twitching. "Yeah, just force me to say it, won’t you? Like you’d want a half-rotten, bad-toothed, piss-stinking bug-farm of a whore soiling your expensive silk sheets." Nikal was speechless at first. "Taven you really have the gift of the gab. It’s not pretty, but… And as in most cases, you are so totally and utterly wrong! You’re not rotten anywhere. You couldn’t help your bad teeth, and they are fixed now, aren’t they? And you don’t smell anything else then nice. And you are not, never were and never will be a whore. Seriously Taven, next time you say that I will punish you. I’m sick and tired of hearing you say that. I told you that I don’t mind you sleeping in my room. If you don’t want to --- fine. But if you are not coming to me anymore because you think I don’t want you to… Well, you are just assuming things again, aren’t you? You haven’t asked me." Taven slumped over the desk and covered his head with his arms. "I can’t--- I can’t ever again… I--- I’d do it again for sure… I’d die if I did that again…" "Have you… since the last time?" Taven shook his head under his arms. "Maybe it really has stopped then, and that was just a temporary setback? In any case we really should go see Cordoux…" Taven shrunk. "No please, God no…" "He will not make fun of you, or taunt you. I promise. He’s a doctor; he never makes fun of anything that’s a problem for someone. He will understand, and he might be able to help you. I won’t force you, but you know Cordoux, was he ever hard on you?" Taven shook his head again without looking up, and finally he spoke. "I suppose… he could… take a look or so…" Nikal patted his head. "Good, I’ll call him later. But Taven listen to me, I actually do want you to sleep with me. I’m sure it won’t happen again, and if it does," Nikal smiled widely, "well, what the heck, I’ve got more money then I can spend in a life time, I’ll just buy a new bed. What do you say?" Taven sat up right in the chair again and couldn’t hold back a small smile. "I say you a really weird master… Master." >>> * <<< It still took a week more before Taven suddenly stood in his door, pajama pants hanging low on his skinny hips, his braid hanging over his naked chest, the small hairs forming a glowing Gloria around his head in the light of the hallway outside his bedroom. Nikal had thought he wouldn’t come after all, and smiled in pleasant surprise as he lifted the covers up. Taven hesitated. "Are you sure? I mean are you really sure that… Are you sure Master?" "Yes, I told you. Come here, and that’s an order!" Taven didn’t look less hesitant, but obeyed and slid into bed and under the covers. Nikal covered them both up. Taven was silent for a long time, squirming a bit beside him, but then he turned to him and started to talk. "Can I say something? I’ve been thinking… about--- priffyrences?" he said. "What?" Nikal said, grinning. "You asked me, before, weeks ago, what my priffyrences was Master, in the garden, remember? But--- uh… I don’t know what that is." Nikal tried to hide his smile. "Preferences, Taven. Your preferences are what you prefer. Your sexual preferences are… well, what you like to have sex with. Men, women, blondes or--- redheads," Nikal smiled and pulled lightly at his braid, "do you know what I mean?" "You mean what taste you’ve got? And what you want to do. Like some want to squirt you in the face, and some want to fuck you on your back, and some want to hit you first and…" "Yes, such things as well, but…" "Oh but everything you like is fine." "That was not what I meant when I brought that up. I wanted to know what you like. It has never occurred to me that you might not even want to be with men at all, maybe you want to meet girls? I just assumed you wanted to… And that’s crazy, isn’t it? So I wanted to know what you like, what you want, what your preferences are. Do you understand?" Taven looked desperate. "Why you wanna know so much all the time? I don’t know, I don’t fucking know, how am I supposed to know such things?" "I know. If you never have been given the chance to choose you of course don’t know much about what you like. I understand that, and I might demand a little too much of you when I ask things like that. You don’t have to answer. But you can think about it if you want to, and if you find something out, you don’t have to be afraid to tell me." There was silence. Taven settled at his side, resting his head on his arm, closing his eyes. Nikal opened the book he had been reading, but after a few minutes he could feel Taven looking at him. "Yes?" "I’m sorry Master, didn’t mean to disturb you." "That’s all right," Nikal put the book away, "we can talk some more." Taven gave him an insecure look. "I can say something? OK, it’s like… I don’t know what I want, you know? Not really… more like I know what I don’t want… Can I don’t want things?" Nikal had to turn that sentence around in his head for a few seconds before he got it, but then he smiled. "In a way Taven, no. You must do what you are ordered to do, that’s the simple truth and I won’t tell you otherwise. Only, some free people shouldn’t be allowed to order some things in my opinion. But with me… between you and me, alone, yes you ‘can don’t want things’. It’s a special order, a special order from me, concerning anything sexual, that you have to tell me what you don’t want to do. I can do anything, yes, but I don’t want to do anything. I want to do what makes us both happy. But you must help me with that Taven, because I can’t read your mind." "But--- what if what makes you happy is something that don’t feel good for me? You’re telling me you’re not gonna do it just because of that?" Taven gave him a suspicious look. "That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. If it’s hard on you, if you don’t like it, I don’t want to do it, even if it’s something that I would like. If that means that we will not have sex at all… then so be it, we won’t." "It is only sex we talk about here Master, right?" "Yes, you little sly…" Nikal smiled, "don’t think this apply to everything. For most of the times, for most things… I don’t quite trust you to handle things Taven. I dare say that I know what’s best for you in most cases, and I want you to listen to me and do as I say, no arguments. But when it comes to things we might do in bed, sex… that’s different. That’s different from everything else." "How is that different? I don’t understand, you talk so strange Master, you always did. You say I should obey then that I should not obey, and… I don’t get anything." "It’s not as complicated as you think. I never said you should disobey me. You should always obey me Taven. But when it comes to sex… If I knew what you liked, then I would only order you to do those things, and if I knew what you didn’t like, well, I would never order you to do those things. That way you wouldn’t have to disobey me, would you?" Nikal smiled and winked at him. Taven frowned. "You’re making fun of me," he said. "No Taven, I’m not. I really mean that. I will not ask you to do things in bed that you don’t want to do." "I never heard anyone say such things before. No one ever said things like that; no one ever asked me a fucking thing. I protested; they just beat the shit out of me. Hell, most didn’t even bother to beat me; they didn’t even hear me. It was like I thought sometimes that it was only me who thought I could speak, coz no one seemed to hear my voice but me, you know? Why are you so different from everyone else? Half of the time I don’t know if you are just tricking me… Are you?" "I’m not tricking you. And I’m not the one who is different, those men; they were the ones who were different. They were scum Taven, scum! Far from all men are like that, but it was the only sort of people that you knew. It’s not so strange that you thought everyone would be like that. But everyone is not like that. You were extremely unlucky to end up with such people who only subjected you to other bad people. Do you understand?" Taven nodded and turned on his back, putting an arm under his neck. "I--- think so. Master. Can I say what I didn’t like?" "Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to make you do. Please do Taven." "Taven squirmed a little. "Ah… uh… I didn’t like it when it hurt, and not when they yelled at me. They tied me up pretty much, didn’t like that, and not when they… you know, pissed on me. And Swift always smoked when he fucked me, and then he… he burnt me… didn’t like that…" Nikal almost regretted urging Taven to talk, but even if he felt uneasy at what he told him, he didn’t try to make him stop. He remained quiet at his side as to not distract the slave from continue, but Taven stopped talking anyway. "Yes?" Nikal carefully prompted him to go on. "I--- I don’t really know, but I don’t think--- think I liked… I don’t think I liked any of it… Is--- is that wrong? I mean it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like it if you did it, and… Because you wouldn’t burn me, would you? Or tie me up? Would you? I’d be still for you, you know?" "I would never hurt you physically, and I’m doing my best not to hurt you mentally either. Please go on Taven!" "I don’t know… all wasn’t bad… in a way. It couldn’t have been. They always told me that I liked it fine, that I must want it, because I got hard you know? You get hard; you like it, right? You got hard when I blew you… So I must have liked it, in a way anyway. Even when they hit me and yelled at me I sometimes got hard, you know? And they sure liked it, they got all hard and came all over me and made all sorts of noise, so they liked it a lot, and that felt kind of good, because Swift said I was all worthless and couldn’t do anything right, ever, but I could do that. I could do something, and I looked good, you know, but he said I was uglier every day and that it didn’t matter that he whipped me and burnt me so much when I was so ugly anyway…" "Taven… Getting hard doesn’t always mean that you--- like it." Taven froze up at his side and went quiet, looking away. There was a very obvious sob in his voice when he finally spoke again. "So--- so I was worthless… Swift was right, I wasn’t even good at that…" "No, I’m sorry, that wasn’t what I meant at all. You--- well, you are very good at it Taven, I--- hrrmm--- really liked it, me getting hard was definitely a sign of that I liked it, don’t doubt that for a minute. I just meant that you necessarily didn’t have to like being abused, being put down being hurt, being used just because you got hard. Sometimes you get hard from really liking it, sometimes it’s just your body reacting to outer stimulation no matter if you like it or not." Taven looked up into the roof. "You really liked it?" "I really did!" Nikal smiled. Taven got a wrinkle between his eyebrows and chewed at his lower lip, he looked like he was really thinking hard. "But Master… you said that--- you said that the body knew what was right. How come it reacts to something it knows it doesn’t like then?" Nikal went dead silent. "Uh… I… Uh… Taven, sometimes I think you are too smart for me. I don’t know. I can’t really answer that. But as I said, both you and your body were probably very confused back then, and still are. I don’t know all the answers; I’m not an expert of things like this. We will figure it out as we go." Taven hadn’t spoke for several minutes and Nikal was just about to pick up the book again, but then. "Master can I say something more?" "Sure." "I--- I was never, you know, disgusted or anything when you touched me, only--- only I didn’t know how…. My body, didn’t know if to like it or not, because, you know... no one has ever been that careful, and I’m just not used to that… And--- and I think you’re almost as good looking as Serenity even… Uh… I mean…" Nikal grinned. "I’ll take that as a real compliment, since I have to admit that it’s almost impossible to beat Serenity at the whole looking-good thing." Taven grinned as well. "Serenity’s like fucking perfect, but he’s nothing like you anyway," Taven turned away from him, as what he was about to say was to open up so much he couldn’t bear looking Nikal in the eyes saying it. "And it’s not true I like you only because you don’t treat me so hard. All of those men didn’t beat me or curse at me, all of them didn’t fuck me so hard. Some even asked Swift not to be so tough on me. One of them took me to the doctor, he… he wanted to help me. I didn’t like those shitheads anyway… But I like you, because--- because you don’t take my shit, do you? But… you talk to me, listen to me…" Nikal couldn’t find any words to answer. Taven went on as if talking to himself. "And--- and about priffyrences. I don’t know, because I was never near a woman, and girls look really… ooohh… you know? But I wouldn’t even know what to do with them at all. Men, that I know… I guess I don’t care really… I guess my priffyrence would be just… someone… who’s nice sometimes, and who… kind of--- cares… a--- a little…" Nikal slowly put his arm around Taven’s waist and pulled him close, nuzzling at his neck. "I don’t care a little Taven. I care a lot!" >>> * <<< Taven stopped what he was doing to peek out from behind the sandbag with a suspicious frown as Roth stepped inside the Gym. Roth knew Taven knew he didn’t like him to be in here and he looked a bit surprised to see him. "Master Nikal said I could be here," he muttered defensively before Roth had time to even open his mouth. "Sure," Roth grinned," I’m not going to throw you out." Roth went over to a bench, sat down and put the towel he had had around his neck beside him, looking at Taven. "Go on!" he said, "Nikal says your doing some progress." Taven didn’t look less suspicious. "Not if you’re going to sit there and stare at me," he murmured. Roth grinned. "Never knew you to be the shy type. Well, why don’t you take a break then? Come here for a while will you, I want to talk to you." "What for? What about?" "What kind of a response is that? You’re rude Taven, and you know that you are. If you were mine I’d given you a good spank long ago, and Nikal might be spoiling and pampering you now, but don’t be so damn sure he’d do it for eternity. Even he might finally tire of that damn attitude of yours. If I were you I would start to be a little more grateful to people around you who go out of their ways to help you. Especially since you not exactly convinces us why we should, the way you behave." The slave couldn’t answer that, it seemed, he looked down. "I went to see that slave trader Nikal bought you from yesterday, thought you wanted to know," Roth continued. He well noticed the alarm in the kid’s eyes, and he could very well imagine what he was thinking. Roth really didn’t want to scare him, but he thought it couldn’t really hurt him to realize he shouldn’t be so damn sure he could get away with everything. He silenced and let that piece of information sink in, letting Taven fret about what that might mean. Taven’s fingers clawed at the sandbag. "Wh--- why? I mean… I- I’m sorry Mr. Roth, didn’t mean to… Why’d you go there? Sir?" A small and weak voice all of a sudden. "Funny, that’s what that trader wanted to know as well. He thought I came to return you." Now Taven looked like he would have glided down on the floor if he weren’t holding on to the sandbag. Roth felt a bit bad, the kid seemed about to fall to pieces. Roth hadn’t meant to scare him that much. Sometimes he forgot that Taven wasn’t as tough as he tried to make everybody believe. "That’s not why I went there," he said, "Nikal wouldn’t want to be rid of you for the world, I know that for a fact. Nikal doesn’t even know that I went there. And for the time being I would prefer it if you didn’t told him either. Relax kid, you’re not going anywhere. Nikal would never return you to that place, and neither would I have, had I owned you. Though I would still have spanked you, that’s for sure," he added grinning. Taven still looked kind of pale. "That true, Mr. Roth? You’re not lying?" "No I’m not lying, that was not what it was about. Now will you just come here!" Taven seemed still to be enough shaken up not to protest anymore. He crossed the room and sat down next to Roth as he motioned him to. He looked down and fiddled with the end of his braid, something he always did when he was nervous about something, Roth had noticed. "Did you know that that fat bastard of a trader knew Swift?" Roth asked. "Taven looked up. "No," he seemed to think hard, "no, no I didn’t, he was never at Swift’s place, I would have remembered him." "Have you never wondered why he bought you? He couldn’t have hoped to get you sold this side of eternity. You were damn lucky Nikal came along. Well, the trader did know Swift since before, and he paid him more than 10 000 for you Taven." Taven’s chin dropped. "Uh… no way!" Roth smiled. "No way indeed. It wasn’t really you he paid for. He owed Swift money, the trader had bought drugs from him, apparently he’s an irregular user. Anyway, he was late with paying his debts, and Swift wanted to get rid of you. So Swift finally got his money, and the trader had to take you off his hands to avoid Swift breaking his kneecaps as well for being late. That was all there was to it." Taven looked away. "He… just gave me away… for nothing? Why are you telling me?" "Because I want you to confirm the information I got. Did Swift sell drugs? You must have seen something? Think Taven! It’s important." "I… don’t know, I’m not sure. It’s not like he ever told me anything. Why is it important, Mr. Roth?" "Because it’s illegal Taven, don’t you know that? If I can prove that he’s selling drugs. He’ll go to prison--- for a long time." Taven brightened up. "Really? That true? I say he’s selling drugs, he’d go to prison?" Roth smiled. "No, not just because you say it. I’m afraid you testifying wouldn’t count. A slave’s witness is not admitted evidence in a court of law. But you tell me what you know Taven; I’ll believe you. I only want to know what you saw if you saw anything, and leave the rest up to me. I’ll find proofs that will hold. We'll get that nutcase of a sadist behind bars, I’ll promise you that."

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