The Life of Koru, Chapter 22
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Chief Tariq Mekonnen was a stern but just overseer who was accustomed to traveling along with the chain gang for different tasks they had on the road. For a grizzled middle-aged man like him, he was quite energetic and his technique with the whip was very inspiring. He called it "aim for the balls and the brute will work, no matter how tired!"
Chief Tariq had an interesting history. In his youth he had anti-social anger issues which led him to assault and batter fellow citizens. He was condemned to five years in prison for that, but his sentence was reduced to a year, when he accepted to work as a slave overseer for the rest of his life. For many Black wrongdoers, a form of rehabilitation was to be sent to herd koru and put them to work.
Chief Tariq's most trustful ally was Sir Cane, the veterinarian, and his most trustful slave was Smasher.
Sir Cane was called like that because he didn't like to touch the slaves when examining them, so he only used a long cane. The cane was very useful for inspecting the limbs and cocks of the slaves and for testing reflexes with hits on the knees. Sir Cane was very strict about not touching the koru. They disgusted him so much, that he ordered any slave that touched him, even accidentally, to be whipped immediately. His fussiness was a bit strange, given that he had decided to become a vet. His guiding principle was: "Any slave that eats and shits regularly is healthy."
The chain gang of Chief Tariq was working with a speed of 20 km per day.
After so much rain, the irons at the feet of the slaves got rusty and their ankles were orange-red with the friction. Mulo couldn't resist touching his ankles from time to time, as the cuffs were chafing his legs and it hurt.
In the early morning the light was so dim you could barely see. The slaves used their feet as guides through the darkness, testing with them the firmness of the ground and any possible obstacles.
It was on one of those mornings, that Mulo suddenly felt a bite on his toe, then something cold and slippery sliding away.
"Fuck! A snake!" he yelped.
"Ye okay, bud?" Peon asked.
"Yeah, I'se think so! " Mulo said, unable to stop marching and rub his toe.
Only when Sir Tariq saw that he was visibly hopping on one leg along the chain, Mulo was allowed to stop and suck the venom from his toe. He went down on the ground and started sucking.
After a few hours though, his foot was purple and swollen. Sir Cane was summoned to assess the damage.
He pointed the tip of his cane to Mulo's foot, pushing it into the tender flesh to see how far it could go. The tip was sharp and it made Mulo yelp in pain. Then the cane suddenly moved to his genitals.
"Your cock is swollen too, boy! And from the way you sweat, you probably have fever!"
"I'se do, suh!"
"How did the snake look like, boy? What color was it?"
"I'se didn't see, suh!"
"No eyes or no brain?"
"T'was dark morning, suh!"
"Well, as we don't know what snake it was, not even its color, the bite could mean anything from just a little hassle to the slave losing his foot. Let's see how it evolves!"
Sir Jared intervened:
"We can have Smasher cut his leg off!"
Mulo's eyes were wide with terror, hearing these words.
"We'll see!" Sir Tariq said. "If he is to lose a leg, we would better throw him in the wilderness to die at that point. He would be useless without a leg,"
"Can you work, boy?" Sir Cane asked.
"Yessuh!" Mulo said and he tried to stand up firmly on his legs just to show them that he was worthy to keep.
But his pain betrayed him. He could barely keep his right foot on the ground for a few seconds.
"You can't work on your legs, boy!" Sir Cane said. "Have you tried working on your knees?"
"Nosuh..." Mulo said and immediately dropped to his knees.
On his knees, his foot didn't hurt as much and he could move just like that along with the chain gang.
"Alright!" the vet said. "So you can work on your knees. Continue working, boy!"
"Yessuh!"
The three Black lords left, letting the slaves continue their work.
But Mulo was still thinking about his foot, which he dragged along, swollen like a ball and painful.
"I'se think I'se gonna lose the foot!" he said, almost crying.
"No, ye're not. I'se had such a bite on the foot before and I'se didn't lose it!" Peon said.
This reassurance from Peon meant everything to Mulo.
He felt tears coming to his eyes and said:
"Peon, I'se sorry I'se angered ye that night..."
"It's nuffin', ye're just learnin'!" Peon said.
Mulo wanted Peon's kiss so much, but they had to continue working.
At evening, Peon carried Mulo on his back, when they had to go back to "the Stinker".
In front of a giant cauldron, Smasher yelled:
"GROOL! COME TO GROOL, BOYS!"
"Grool" was the slave way of saying "gruel" which referred to "High-Protein Gruel", the centerpiece of any koru's diet
In an ordered line, the slaves waited in front of the cauldron, each holding a small bowl made of wood or clay.
They used their fingers to scoop the grool and put it in their mouths and then finished by licking the bowl clean. Dogs and pigs hated grool, but the koru liked to eat it. It was slave food, basic but nourishing, and it didn't need to be tasty to be appreciated. After a day of work, when the slaves were crazed with hunger, grool was what they needed to fill their bellies and go to sleep. Grool was life!
"The Stinker" was packed. The slaves were ready to go to sleep.
"Is yer foot okay, Mulo?"
His foot? His foot had suffered so much in the recent past. It had been beaten with a club in bastinado, it had been chained with rusty irons and was now swollen from a snake bite. His foot was a piece of suffering flesh, of slave flesh, as being a slave meant suffering.
But Mulo wanted to thank Peon for being his friend, now and always, so he took Peon's cock in his mouth and started sucking
"I'se can see ye feel better, buddy!" Peon said smiling.
Mulo was not the only one who sucked cock. Peon sucked the cock of Smasher, almost every time he was summoned to help in his workshop. It was part of the job, just like hitting iron with the hammer, so he had to do it.
Peon had a way of sucking cock that was very manly and soldier-like. He saw it as his duty to serve Smasher who was older, more experienced than him and basically superior to him as a slave.
"I'se like ye so much, boy!" Smasher said, caressing his head as he sucked. "I'se wish Chief Tariq gave you to me to serve as my full-time blacksmith apprentice!"
Mulo almost punched himself hearing this. He would have preferred Smasher to take his leg, rather than his friend.
"Peon, ye really wanna go?" Mulo said tearfully when Peon took him out of the cage to have his wound seared with hot iron.
"I'se sorry, Mulo. Ye know I'se have no say in this. It's for Smasher and Chief Tariq to say."
"Bring me the boy here, his foot on the anvil!" Smasher ordered.
Mulo was placed there on the ground with his swollen foot raised on the anvil of the blacksmith.
"Show me where the snake bit you, boy! Oh, now I'se see!" Smasher said.
He took the hot iron in his strong hand and started to press it on Mulo's wound, making him scream and twist in pain as Peon held him tightly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mulo yelled.
"I'se told ye not to be afraid of fire, boy!" Smasher scolded him.
"The last time my son called me, he said he was coming to visit your lab!" Mrs. Ajani said, while a police officer was writing her observations in a notebook.
"Well, I can assure you that he did visit my lab and he just as well left the lab without any trouble! In fact I can show you the CCTV camera footage of Sir Ishmael as he leaves the lab as happy as a maiden girl in a field of flowers. You will never see a more satisfied young man who had the opportunity to learn from those who are wiser than him in the field of science!" Prof. Kumbaba said.
The "CCTV camera footage" was of course deep fake video manipulation that Prof. Kumbaba had no problem creating. It looked so realistic that even Ishmael's mother fell prey to the illusion.
"So where did my son go after this?" Mrs. Ajani asked.
"I'm sorry, mam, I don't know the answer to this question. I have no knowledge about what happens outside my laboratory!" Prof. Kumbaba said with an innocent smile.
Mrs. Ajani took some more minutes to look around. She saw a naked koru staring at her from a window. He had a confused look and there was something oddly familiar about him.
Seeing a koru stare that way towards a Free Lady was both obnoxious and punishable, but Mrs. Ajani was not so interested in disciplining Prof. Kumbaba's slaves, so she just said:
"Can I see that room, please?"
"I am sorry, mam! I asked my janitor Whitey to paint that room today. It's full of wet paint and I am afraid you cannot enter!"