Chapter 8

He didn’t know when he finally had passed out on the shield and when he finally woke up again he had only fleeting nightmarish fragments of memories of the last of it. That was quite enough. He remembered the screams of anger and hate that had been directed at him, he remembered the shock of the first clod of dung hitting him in the face, the bucket of waste poured at him from someone’s balustrade. Remembered seeing pebbles and rocks flying at him without being able to protect him self. Heard them taunt his nakedness and heard the scattered "promises" of what they would do to him if they got the chance. He saw people waving nooses over their heads and screaming to the soldiers to stop and cut him down so they could string him up. And it had hurt. The things thrown at him had hurt physically but the hate had hurt more. He couldn’t understand it. Why? Why did they hate him so much? They didn’t know him. He was not the enemy… But he remembered also seeing a few of Medora’s men lifting their shields to fend off some rocks flying through the air. And once he saw Medora himself reaching down from his horse to forcefully jerk a short close-fighting spear out of the hands of a man and then kick the troublemaker in the chin. They were helping him? Why? Apparently the procession had followed the main street to the other end of the city and filed out of another gate and then someone had cut him down and returned him too Lord Medora. But by then he had fainted completely and he had no recollection at all of being taken to an inn. But he woke up lying in a tub of hot water, some stout gray-haired woman gently washing him off. He had been too tired to try to figure that out and just drifted in and out of some sort of delirious sleep while she soaked his hair and washed the filth out of it. Two days later he was still in bed. Sure enough they were at an inn. A really nice one. It was a big room he was in and the bed was big and luxurious and had the whitest and softest linen he had ever seen. Though he was not really in a state to appreciate it very much. He was a bit surprised about them being here though because Medora had told him as much that his house was at the outskirts of this city and so why had he not gone straight home? If he had been the one being away for over a year he would have gone straight home to see his family. But Medora had taken him to an inn? He had seen to it that he had been cleaned. He had sent for a doctor who had declared that he was not seriously hurt. He had quite a few bruises and his wrists and ankles were pretty chafed and he was totally exhausted, mentally drained, but that was really all. He had been lucky he knew that, real lucky. But it was not only due to luck. Had not Medora seen to it that he had had some sort of protection he would have faired much worse. Medora had then put him to bed and told him to not move unless he had to relieve himself and he had sent servants up to give him food. He had gladly followed that order and had done not much else than sleeping, a restless and angst-ridden sleep, and spending his waking hours staring at the ceiling and just being depressed. Medora had come by now and then to check on him and he had slept beside him but, thank Gods, he had not touched him. He didn’t think he could have coped with that right now. By noon the third day Lord Medora came and sat down at the bedside. "Feeling better?" He asked simply. Seka nodded slowly. He supposed he was feeling better. There was really nothing physically wrong with him. There were a few tender bruises; nothing more and he’d done nothing else than rested these last three days. "Good, because you will have to get up now, we’re going home." Seka gave his master an incredulous look. "Home?" He exclaimed sheepishly not understanding at first. He had no home, had he? Medora grinned. "I’m going home! And I intend to bring you. You belong to me remember?" He padded his head lightly with a big callused hand. "You didn’t get hit by anything big that escaped us, did you?" He joked. Seka kept quiet, he was confused. Medora looked a bit worried. "You are sane, aren’t you?" He nodded again. "Yes… yes Master… I’m sorry…. I was just… Why have we been staying here?" Medora smiled and shrugged. "Things are not likely to be very tranquil when I get home. I thought you would need some rest after that ordeal before I’m having you meet my household." Seka looked even more baffled. Had his master postponed seeing his family, which he hadn’t seen for over a year, for his sake? Medora grinned again seeing the look of disbelief in his eyes. "I had duties still, a general has responsibilities. There were meetings… My family knows I’ll come as soon as can. For me the war really wasn’t over until just now. Today I’m a free man, no more warfare for me. So now I’m going home." He started pulling at his covers. "Come on get up, don’t keep me waiting, I might give you a spank." It was obviously not a real threat. Medora was in a good mood no doubt. He obeyed. It was not until they were about to go through the front door of the inn and out on to the streets that he realized he couldn’t. He stopped dead in his tracks in the hallway and a sweat broke out on his temples. There would be people out there, crowds, angry people, people that hated him. They would throw things at him again… no, he just didn’t dare go through that door. Medora had already stepped outside when he realized the boy wasn’t with him. He sighed and turned back soon spotting the boy still standing in the hallway leaning against the wall looking pale and wary. "What?" He exclaimed annoyed. "I can’t…", he whined, "They’ll take me… they will… " Medora sighed again. He could understand to a certain extent how he felt but it was just silly. No one would care about him. No one in the streets would probably even notice him. Or maybe they would, yes most surely heads would turn, turn to look long at a face like that, at hair like that, at such an appealing slenderness. But no one would hurt him. When he had been at the shield he had been a symbol that was all, walking behind his master he was just a slave like all the rest following their masters on the streets. No one would even recognize him as the one being tied to the shield. So he was being just silly and he ought to just grab his arm and shove him through the door. Maybe even give him a stinging slap for such behavior. But he saw the fear in his eyes and the war was over and Medora didn’t feel like being angry today. "Look Seka… no one will hurt you. They won’t recognize you. No one will care about an ordinary boy just walking on a street. It wasn’t because of you Seka, they would have reacted the same towards a dead goat if it had hung on that shield." The boy looked frightened still and didn’t seem to trust his word. "So what are you planning to do? Stand in this hallway for the rest of your life? Come on!" He stepped closer and extended his right arm towards him. "You can hold on to me if it makes you feel better, now you do trust me to protect you, don’t you. Now that I have got you this far do you think I would let anyone damage you? Come on! Take my hand!" He hesitated still but then just grabbed and held on to that strong hand and arm, walking so close to his master that he almost stepped on his feet and pressed his face at the side of his arm as they followed the street away from the inn. Medora graciously allowed it. >>> * <<< It wasn’t long before they stood at the gates of the Medora villa. Seka had dreaded this moment when he would meet all the members of his master’s family, all these totally unknown people that he now would live with and which he knew nothing about. He had no way of knowing how they would receive him. After the "shield ride" he expected anything. Lord Medora had not talked much about his family to him. In fact he had only mentioned them once when still on the mountain and then he had just sort of mentioned them in passing. He supposed Lord Medora thought he needed to know a little something about where he was going, but he had never the same been very brief with the information seemingly thinking that all the details was no slave’s business. He suppose it weren’t, and had not asked anything. So what he had gathered was that Lord Medora must be a very wealthy man. He had said he owned a few estates here and there in the countryside but that he lived mostly in a big villa on the outskirts of the city, about 50 slaves serving in it and that he had a young wife and three children. The oldest was a boy at fifteen and then there was a girl at thirteen. He also told him that his wife had been pregnant when he left and that he’d got a letter some while ago telling him that his wife had bore him another son. This child must now be five months old and he could hardly wait to see him. And that was all he had said. Seka had then spent some time fantasizing about these people. Wondering if the wife was a beautiful woman. If the son very much resembled his father. If the daughter would be very pretty and what it would feel like to have a son you had never seen. Most he thought of the oldest son though. He couldn’t refrain himself from comparing his life with this boy’s life even though he’d never met him and didn’t know anything about him. His Master had not even told him what their names were. But he could figure a few things out he thought. That Lord Medora’s son must have been raised in love and safety for example, in the care and protection of a powerful and wealthy family. That he probably had never worked hard but had been allowed to go to school and learn many interesting things. His days had most certainly been full of play and fun activities like riding horses at hunts and learning how to use a sword. Yes, the more he thought of Lord Medora’s son, a boy only three years younger than he was, the more he got quite envious of him. He wondered with some malice how Lord Medora would have felt if his son were the one stolen from his land, put into slavery and forced to satisfy the lusts of an older man? He wouldn’t have liked that for his son now would he? But for him it was obviously all right. And once he had been someone’s son as well. Thinking so, he was actually happy that his parents were dead so that they did not have to see this happen to him. And now, here they were. All of them. The reunion between Lord Medora and his family had so far proved to be a noisy affair. The wife and the two children had hollered with joy as their husband and father had flung the twin doors open and rushed in. They shouted and laughed and cried alternately and hugged each other over and over again. He could understand the reaction. As he had gathered it the Master of this house had been gone for over a year and if he indeed was a beloved husband and father they had of course missed him much. But it was still strange. In his country this man had been a relentless cold-blooded murderer who had led his men on raid after raid against village after village. Lord Medora and a few other generals like him had got the very unpleasant task of weakening the enemies morals and defenses by slaughtering as many of the defenseless and innocent civilians as possible. As he unwillingly had got to know this man, being held prisoner in his tent and as he now saw him beaming with happiness with tears in his eyes hugging and kissing his love ones. It was hard to believe that that was the same man that had killed innocent men, women and children by the droves and captured and enslaved even more. This moving family scene disturbed him in more ways than that though. It made him bitter, missing his childhood family and knowing that he had probably lost all chances of raising one of his own in the future. No one would ever meet him like this… It embarrassed him as well. He felt like it was somewhat inappropriate for him to witness this intimate scene and that he might get punished for it any minute. He had silently sneaked inside the door after his master and stood pressed against the wall, hoping no one would notice him. At first no one was and after a while he stopped looking at his feet and started to steal glances at the people. Lord Medora’s wife seemed indeed young. He guessed she could not be more than about fifteen years older than he was, she must have been very young giving birth to Medora’s firstborn son. She was beautiful. She was tall and very slender, you couldn’t see she had bore three children. She had dark hair put up in an impressive bun on top her head, which made her appear even taller. She had a proud and straight-backed kind of beauty with an air of dignity about her that not even this inhibited show of joy could completely obliterate. The son was both as he had expected him to be and not. He had thought him a big and strong boy, proud and in all like his father. He was tall and looked strong. He was broad shouldered and had already a hint of a beard on his cheeks and Seka thought with a surge of envy rushing through him that in a physical encounter he would stand no chance whatsoever against this boy. But in looks he was not like his father at all. He took only after his mother; one could see that at first glance. They had the same color of hair and their eyes, mouth and nose was very similar. If the boy had got his father’s body and his mother’s face though the case seemed to be reversed when it came to the girl. She was slender and graceful like her mother but otherwise resembled her father much more. Seka could not help looking a little longer at her, as she was really pretty. He had expected a child but this was a young woman. She had already sprouted a pair of full breasts above her thin waist and her flowing locks framed an astoundingly quaint and lovely face that would, with maturity, be striking. The newborn was not present maybe he was asleep somewhere? The outbursts of joy finally gave way to eager chatter and Lord Medora was sprayed with questions. He laughed and tried to shield him self from the assault, saying over and over again that he would tell them all in due time. When they finally silenced he asked them though if they had received the wagons packed full of the taken loot that he had sent them. And then the chatter started again as they thanked him for this and that and described their feelings about different things they had found among the loot and at once taken to their hearts. Seka felt sick. The gifts to these children had all belonged to people that were now dead, didn’t they understand that? Or cared they so little? For a few seconds he let himself be flooded with feelings of hate. The hate he felt for this land, its people and its armies, for this town and its bloodthirsty inhabitants that had thrown debris at him in the streets, for this family and for the man that now owned him… But he pushed it aside; there was just no use in feeling such. It wouldn’t help him one bit. As they chattered he kept on stealing glances at Medora’s daughter, couldn’t help it. He had seldom seen such a lovely looking girl. There had been no such girls where he grew up. He didn’t mean anything by it just couldn’t help looking. It seemed the girl sensed it. Suddenly she stopped chatting with the others and turned her head, looking straight at him. Their gazes locked for a few seconds but then he realized what went on and felt both very self-conscious about the girl’s proud and straightforward gaze and frightened about him returning it. He became confused and felt his face going red. Embarrassed he looked away. At the corner of his eye though he saw her flashing a smug smile before turning to her family again. Damn her, he thought sourly. It seemed though her curiosity had been raised. At a breech in the chatter she tugged at her father’s sleeve and pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Seka. "Papa, who’s that?" Suddenly all of their heads turned and looked straight at him. He wished he could have disappeared in a flash. "Yes," the wife took up, "who is that Dear husband?" Lord Medora smiled. "That? You could say he is part of the loot." Seka peeped carefully through the curtain of his hanging hair; he needed to see their reactions. Lady Medora looked not pleased or amused. In fact she looked at him in a way that made him cringe. Her stare gliding down her nose at him, her lips curved in a contemptuous grimace. "I see." She said slowly and coldly. Then suddenly turning to the children. "Now children, come on! It’s time to go and make ready for dinner… No, no, no. No protests, your father and I have things to discuss and you will soon see him again. Can’t you see you wear him out with all this chatter and all these questions? Let your father rest now…" She pushed the unwilling children out of the room but it seemed she was not planning to give her husband any rest herself. As soon as they were gone she turned to her husband. "Have you gone mad? You bring a war prisoner into our house?" He shrugged. "You intend to get us all murdered in our sleep?" She said angrily. "Oh, calm down dear. Look at him, he’s no danger to us." She seemed intent on checking that out for herself and promptly stepped up to the now quite intimidated boy at the wall. As she came up next to him he realized she really was quite a bit taller than he was. He didn’t dare to move an inch. "Well, however pathetic and sorry this creep looks even a weak bastard like he can hold a knife. And who can trust these crude barbarians? What can he be other than deceitful and revengeful, creeping up on us in our sleep like a coward? I don’t want this in my house, get rid of him! Send him to the salt-mines!" He felt himself boiling inside with indignation. Not even from the soldiers had he heard such total contempt in a voice. And even though she didn’t heap quite as much crude insults on him as people in the streets had done her words hurt more because being so unexpected in a house like this. And also because it hit a sore spot in him. He had tried so hard to bend under this man’s will and they thought no better of him? He felt shame as well because in a way he wished he had been like she thought he was. Wasn’t he a measly coward, a sorry excuse for a man that never even had got that thought by him self? Before he knew it he found himself giving voice to protest. "I’m… I’m not at all…" She cut him short very fast and very firmly. "Did I tell you to open your filthy mouth?" He startled at the sudden roar and felt himself being about an inch high in her presence. He shook his head in reply, not being able to speak at the moment. "Then shut up until you’re spoken to!" She added full of cold anger. Medora smiled tenderly at her. "Dear, dear… He really is harmless you know. Hasn’t got a bad bone in him…" "Is he freeborn?" She interrupted and Medora nodded. "They never take well to slavery, he’ll be causing us trouble." Medora didn’t abandon his calm composure. "He has already taken pretty well to it. Don’t worry, he’s tame like a dog. He knows his own good dear; he’s not stupid. And as for revenge, he has nothing to revenge. He was an orphaned beggar in a poverty-stricken village. He’ll be ten times better off in this house and he knows it. He would never hurt us. For goodness sake, he’s just a boy. Think woman! Where would he go after that? He couldn’t get away and there would be unspeakable tortures awaiting him for committing such deeds." The wife snarled and raised her head even more. "Maybe so, I don’t want such a one in my house anyway." Seka stole a worried glance at his master. He had said he would keep him, hadn’t he? Why else would he take him all the way here? But now it seemed he was about to go along with his wife. He didn’t seem to want to stand up to her in any case. Seka was really afraid now. Being sent out there on the streets again scared the hell out of him and he didn’t know what the "salt-mines" were but coming from her it was certainly something really awful. He tried to catch his master’s eyes for a pleading look but he looked only at his wife and didn’t seem to notice him. "I had planned on keeping him you know." She shook her head decidedly. "We don’t need any more slaves in this house" "Come on Erennis. Don’t begrudge me some relaxation after a hard year." She looked still unyielding but then sighed deeply. "So, it’s like that ha? I should have known. Will you never grow out of these follies?" Seka watched surprised that she was also smiling tenderly now and they seemed not to argue anymore but teasing each other lovingly like newly weds. Medora just shrugged and laughed in response. Suddenly Seka felt her hand grasping at his hair at the nape of his neck and she bent his head brutally backwards. The stern and contemptuous expression was back in her face. "He has sort of a rough beauty I admit… You haven’t kept a boy in years, why now? Why him? I have never begrudged you of the pleasure but you’ve been content with the brothels. I’m not sure I would like a catamite in the house no matter how refined… which he is not!" She let go and pushed him away in the same movement. "I like him Erennis, he’s a humble boy. Simple yes, of course but he learns fast and I enjoy him. I just feel like keeping one, that’s all. No particular reason. If you really want him out I will of course get rid of him at once, it is your house… Besides it won’t be for that long anyway. He’s a bit old already, in a year or two he won’t be of much interest to me anymore." Erennis seemed to soften up then; she walked over to her husband and embraced him lovingly. "Oh you big fool, I could never deny you anything. If you want him you keep him…" But then she pulled herself from the embrace and looked at her husband in mock strictness. "But he’ll have to live by the rules of this house, one mistake and he’s out." Medora nodded. "Of course, tell him what you expect of him and I guarantee he’ll do his best to obey you." He nodded at Seka who still stood along the wall, looking at his feet, almost not believing what he heard. Was this the man that had been so nice to him lately? He felt sick about it all. Why had he not let him kill him instead? He had no pride whatsoever; he deserved all this humiliation. Erennis let go of her husband and shouted to the slave to come closer, which he did reluctantly and she tapped her foot impatiently. "Now you listen closely slave because I will not tell you twice. You had better listen and listen well. There are three things I want you to remember. First, If you think you will be some luxury toy here, not having to do any sort of decent work you are sadly mistaken. I don’t care what my husband uses you for, you will work if you want to stay here and you will have to work really hard to prove to me that you can be of any use at all." She looked sternly at him and continued. "Second, you’d better change that attitude right now because if you ever talk back to me, or anyone else in this house, again you are out the door. I’ll sell you for scraps to the first miner I can find. I know your sort. Prancing about thinking you should be adored just because you have a pretty face. Thinking you should have privileges just because you sleep in your master’s bed. Forget it, it will not happen here. As soon as your looks are gone you’re worthless and before it does you’re only slightly less worthless. I’ve seen your kind before, sluts and tarts all of you. I won’t have any behavior like that here. I want you to realize right now that you are a foreigner, an enemy, a cheap slave, a whore and an ignorant barbarian and as such you will have the lowest rank possible in this household and you will conduct yourself accordingly. Which means, plainly spoken if you are slow, that you will not disobey, disrespect or disturb anyone in this house and that includes the other slaves. Do not for a moment think that you are equal to them just because you are all slaves. There is a hierarchy and you are at the bottom of it!" He stared at the floor at a total loss for words at such a speech but she was not finished. "And third, I’ll give you an additional warning. Don’t try to use your looks in here for your own pleasure, if I ever catch you as much as stealing a glance at any slave in this house, girls or boys, I will castrate you. Do you understand that? Be sure I mean it literally. I will have no seed of yours planted in my girls. And I don’t even have to tell you that if you ever come any closer than twenty feet from my daughter or even look in her direction I will kill you. And in case you wonder, yes, I do mean that literally too." She seemed to pause and catch her breath from this long speech while Seka stood in front her thinking he must have ended up in hell. There could be no pleasing this woman he thought. She obviously hated him and would act on the smallest mistake no matter his intentions. How could he ever refrain from sooner or later unintentionally break any rules? It was impossible. And he wasn’t even sure he really understood it all, apart from that he was completely worthless and that he was required to show that he knew it, constantly. But half of the things she accused him of he didn’t recognize. Prancing about acting like a tart? Thinking he would be privileged? Trying to get the girls pregnant? He didn’t know what kind of people she had dealt with before but he would have sworn he was not of that kind if only he had dared open his mouth at all. He dared not; this woman had him subdued worse than anyone else had managed even with swords in their hands. She had a sharper tongue than that executioner’s blade he’d narrowly escaped. And she threatened him with horrors of which he didn’t even know what they were but there was no doubt they were grave punishments, he understood as much. He felt so scared, humiliated, belittled and worried by now that his whole stomach seemed filled with icy cold stones and it was not hard remaining a humbled position in front her because he almost doubled over with the pain of his belly and stood there clutching at his abdomen. She was still not through though. "Now, I’ll let you speak once to tell me if you have understood what I said… Well? Speak then, have you?" His answer was a pathetic stammer that at once seemed to drive her irritation to a dangerously high level. "What’s the matter with you? You were certainly able to speak before, lost the ability suddenly? You are the most sorry excuse for a human being I’ve come across in a long time. Now just say yes or no, it’s not more complicated than that." He said yes then hoping she would, at least for now, leave it at that but it seemed he was not that lucky. "Is that so…?" She said, smiling cruelly. "So then you should be able to repeat these rules. Repeat them! Now!" For the second time he ventured a pleading look at his master still looking on without saying a word. He had an expression in his face that seemed to be a mix between amusement and pity. But he slowly shook his head as if to say: Sorry kid but you are on your own. Seka turned back to his demanding mistress then and tried to get pass his stutter at the same time as trying to remember anything she had said, just anything! "I…I…will…work hard and…know…know my place…and…and…" He got stuck in a stutter and it seemed minutes before he could tangle his tongue out of it. By now he was sweating and shaking. "…And…and… keep away… from all girls here…" He silenced abruptly. He could honestly not think of a single word to add. His mind was a complete blank. His mistress’s sudden and sharp laugh made him jump. "Well I guess that was what I would call a brief summary at best. But I guess since you are obviously not a very bright creature that will have to do. I guess you managed, by pure luck, to pinpoint the essence anyway. And have you also understood what will happen to you if you break these rules?" He was silent again for some time but then said in a pleadingly and questioning tone. "Salt…? Salt-mines? And… and …cas… cas…" he just could not remember the word, he had never heard it before and didn’t know what it meant. "Castration! You little fool, castration…" She screamed. "You had better remember that word because if you forget so that I have to have it done… Well let’s just say that there is no risk you will ever forget that!" Erennis turned to her husband again and was all of a sudden all sunny smiles and seemed mild as a flower. "I think that’ll do it. We really do have enough slaves in the house but I guess there is a lot of dirty and hard work around the kitchen and the yard for him that the slaves are always whining about having to do. I’ll call for someone to take him down to the kitchen. He can sleep there as well. And you can have him called for from there anytime you want him. Will that be all right with you dear?" He smiled gently and reached for her. "That’ll be fine… God I have missed you…." They locked in a deep kiss that Seka didn’t even notice though he was standing right beside them. He was still clutching his abdomen to try to ease the pains of anguish. Erennis broke the kiss first. "I must go and see how far they’ve got with the dinner and see to it that the children has done what I’ve told them. Just relax for a while…" "I will. But you don’t have to send someone about the boy, I’ll take him down there myself." "Are you sure?" "Yes, you go about your business…" As soon as his wife left the room Seka could hold on no longer but soon cried miserably into his hands. Medora stopped smiling and shook his head slowly. Poor sod, really. He had thought of maybe warning him but knew it would have done no good. He couldn’t have prepared him for this anyway and his wife would have acted the same no matter what. He wondered if his mental strength might be on its last resources. After the shield he’d seem to have almost lost it and now this. Of course he knew his wife had not been fair to the poor boy, using all her upper hands on him so that he was totally confused and scared out of his wits. But really, he could not have saved him from it. First because this was his wife’s house and he did not want to go against her in matters of the home. Second because he knew it really wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Erennis’s bark was worse than her bite. Not that she didn’t know how to get respect and not that she couldn’t be efficiently cold or unyieldingly hard if matters so demanded. But she had really a good heart underneath that rough exterior and her treating Seka like this was mostly a show. Not that she wasn’t strict on the rules but she would not make those harsh punishments real quite so easily as she had led him to believe. But she believed in putting up a strong front from the beginning and then letting up on it eventually, if she discovered it was deserved. She gave all new slaves that treatment. They were all scared good but learned later on that if they did try their best she would ease up on them pretty soon. She had said harsh things to him but inside she probably knew or understood he was not as bad as that. Medora stepped up to him and put a consoling arm around his shoulders. "There, there, now stop crying you’re not a small child you know. Don’t take it so hard, she will ease up on you as she gets to know you better. Hey, you survived the raid at your village, you survived the execution, you survived the shield, don’t you think you’ll survive my wife too?" He laughed at this small joke and finally managed to lure a weak smile out of the boy. "Now her bark is worse than her bite really and she exaggerates it a bit. You will probably be allowed a little room for a few mistakes here and there. And she do have less severe forms of punishment before she would go so far as to sell you to the salt-mines or castrate you. But it might be a good idea to keep in mind that she did mean what she said about those rules, and punishments like that are not unreal, so don’t relax too much. You don’t need to be afraid though. Calm down." He seemed to pull himself together then and stopped sniveling, drying his face in his sleeves and asking politely if he could ask a few questions. Medora nodded amiably. There must be at least a hundred questions in his bewildered mind by now and sure he could spare a few minutes answering a few of them. "What are they? What do they mean Master?" He asked carefully. "What?" "The salt-mines, what are they? And the cas…?" Medora smiled. He had been thoroughly intimidated without even knowing what it was that she threatened him with. "The salt-mines is a place you definitely would want to avoid Seka." He answered seriously. "It is what it says, a mine where they are mining salt. But it is also hell on earth. No man, no matter how strong will last more than five years, at the most, working there. Most die much sooner than that. And it is no easy death; first the salt will have eaten away at half your limbs. Fingers and toes are the first to go and your eyes…you can’t help rubbing your eyes… I’m sorry to inform you that there’s where most of your countrymen will end up. The mines eat people like a monster and slaves, criminals and war prisoners are sent there by the thousands every year. I’ve been there and seen it so believe me, such a one as you would not last two weeks." The boy stared wide-eyed at him but gathered himself and asked further. "And castration…?" Now Medora laughed. "Sorry," he croaked, "It’s no laughing matter really. Castration means simply to cut off someone’s testicles." The boy’s eyes widened. "Gelding? Like they do with farm animals?" He asked with a sort of feeble voice, Medora saw his legs automatically close tighter. He nodded. "That’s right, that is exactly the procedure. They cut the sac open, pull them out and sever them. In some cases they actually cut everything off, everything!" he repeated still smiling and looking knowingly at him. "But why would they do such a thing to another person?" Seka asked as feeble voiced. "Slaves are not persons Seka, humans maybe, but not persons. In this country it is not an uncommon procedure. You would be surprised if you knew how many cut men there are in this city only. It’s done for a number of different reasons. Maybe you want males serving your wife and daughters and you want to make sure they won’t behave in any inappropriate way around them. Maybe they have already done so, and then it’s a punishment as well as an assurance it will not happen again. Maybe you just want to calm down someone a bit too frisky for your taste. Maybe you will find a boy that you want to take to your bed. And he’s such a beauty you want to prolong it for a few more years, you cut him he’ll stay young and smooth longer and used the way he is he hardly need any sex drive anyway, right?" Now the boy’s expression was not only astonished and wide-eyed but also terrified, pale, and tense like a harp string. Medora laughed still but then turned serious again. "I won’t lie to you boy, had you been younger when I found you I probably would have cut you at once. Your looks are sure worth prolonging. But you can rest assure it will not happen to you now, not for that reason anyway. You are simply too old for that. It has to be done before puberty sets in and though you are not yet a man you are certainly pass all that breaking-voice-thing and all. It simply would do no good to cut you now. So I will not do this to you but I can’t speak for my wife. She is really not so cruel that she might appear to be and I think you really will have to have done something very bad for her to send you to the salt-mines. But castration she would not hesitate to put you through if you did behave badly. It’s not without risks, boys die in the process, but it’s a fairly small incision and she would not think it nearly as cruel as the salt-mines. So you had better behave!" He started sniveling again. "But I have never even been thinking…" Medora hushed him. "I know, but you might. You are not cold towards girls are you? Just leave these ones be, there are other girls you know… I am sure though that in due time they will not let you be, so you had better avoid them." Medora patted his shoulder in a comforting way. "It’ll be all right you’ll see! Now is there anything else you want to know? Then say it now! I’ve been away for a year and I’m standing here chit-chatting with a slave…" He sounded friendly enough though for Seka to open his mouth again. "I beg your pardon Master, I just want to know one more thing…" He was ushered on somewhat impatiently. "Will you really throw me out in a year or so and what’ll happen to me then?" Medora sighed. "That was two questions boy but all right… I said that mostly to appease my dear wife but I can’t tell really. You knew from the start that I wouldn’t be keeping you as a catamite for that very long, a few years at the most, depending on how you grow. I can’t give you any promises; that would be cruel. I might find another I like better tomorrow or I might keep you for five more years… I can’t tell. With such as you I do with what I feel like and decide after the circumstances. Don’t mope boy, it’s the truth and you’re better off knowing it. Though it doesn’t mean I’ll throw you away like a piece of garbage. Maybe you’ll stay in this house, serving us in other ways, maybe I’ll sell you to someone else but I’ll not knowingly give you up to just any cruel fate. You will not go straight from my house to the salt-mines just because I will grow tired of you if that’s what you are afraid of. That is a punishment Seka and me tiring of you are not something you should be punished for. Though, there is no use in fretting about such things. Don’t think about it. When things happen they happen and as for the present, your looks and body do still pleasure me. Now, I’ve again taking the time to explain things to you but I will not do it anymore and I will hear no more of it. This is a rule of mine Seka: My plans, even when they do include you, are never ever any of your business at all and you do not ask your Master what they are. Is this understood?" Seka nodded. Oh he understood all right. He had started to understand a lot of things about the world.

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