CHAPTER 136

FEW CENTURIES AGO, 50 B.C.E

A POORLY DRESSED man marched through the stone-cobbled street, dragging a little dirty boy roughly. "Faster, boy!" The man snarled. They splashed barefoot through the puddle that muddied the road. The man barged through a small wooden shack. It was a rowdy bar filled with loud, half-drunk men.

The man dragged the boy through the crowd and to the far back of the bar. He sat on a keg opposite another fat man and pushed the boy forward. "Here he is," the man said. "He can clean, and he will do anything you want him to. Anything."

The fat man chuckled and leaned forward with some difficulty. "Is that so?"

The man nodded and slapped the boy on the back, pushing him forward. The boy clasped his hands and looked as the fat man regarded him like a slab of meat.

"He is a bit skinny for my taste," The fat man said.

"Oh I can have him fattened up," The first man replied urgently. "He will have the family's portion for a week, he will become fat."

The young boy did not