Doctor Abbott

Untitled Part 16

Within weeks Ben had established a very rigid routine of dragging Vaughn with him on rounds throughout the village. His day started with the most acute patients and he worked his way through the day to those who could least afford his services.

By the end of the day his two guards were so ready to end their shift that they did not care what he took for payment. They would snatch up grain, weapons and tools whenever possible, but towards the end of his shift, they no longer cared and he could get away with knick knacks and even stale bread from one elderly widow. He would split his rations with Vaughn most days, being sure to leave enough for the boy to take home for his father as well.

Ormr enjoyed the human's company but his fondness for hunting and visiting various traders around the islands drew him away from home enough to warrant the human being granted a cottage. It was far cheaper to house him in a one room building than pay a full staff to cater to one slave.

Ben's home was in the village square, and right beside the dreaded racks. The screams rattled his nerves all day and the groans of pain and fear haunted him throughout the nights. Finally an elder whose only crime was not paying tax, lay bound and helpless. The damage to him was far beyond repair and the thought of the dragging his death out for another minute was not something Ben could swallow anymore.

When his two guards fell asleep for the night he climbed out of his back window stumbled through the darkness heading towards the racks. There the elder lay, he was in far too much pain to know Ben was there, not fully awake, yet unable to pass out, the fur and flesh had been burned along the beast's arms and legs. His fingers gone with the exception of one and his pants had been removed for the warriors to begin their work tomorrow. The elder's bowls had let go and he lay on the racks in his own waste. A sad and pitiful way to die.

Despite the fact that he knew he would be giving them man relief the deed was not easily done. If he were home there is nothing that would stop him from saving the soul in front of him. No effort exhausted. Pain relief and help were so easy to grant in his former life. Here there was no such thing. His Hippocratic Oath was little more than a fairy tale wish in this world. To these people the only oath that mattered was the oath you take to serve your king.

Ben would spend the rest of his days fighting that oath in anyway he could. Even if it meant spending his own last days strapped to these racks. The strength to put the old man to death did not come from the pity he had for that creature. It came from the will to deny Ormr the right of watching yet another victim suffer. He wound a rope around his wrists. Closed his eyes and swallowed the pain of what he was about to do.

Pulling it tight Ben dropped to his knees and whispered into the ear of his victim, "I'm so sorry. If there was anything I could do to save you I would. I won't let you suffer another breath of torture."

The moaning stopped for all of a second. The steam from the elder's breath disappeared from the air. He could not see who was by his ear, but the words brought a tear of relief, and the only word of Joutone he knew, "Phomia, human." His thanks came through gritted teeth and a pitchy whine. There would be no other sound. Ben could not risk it drawing attention. He wrapped the rope around the elder's neck, and drew backwards throwing all his weight into it.

The warrior's limbs shaking as his life left his body, the only way to silence him was to snap the neck and it took everything Ben had to do it. When the man's body went limp Ben collapsed to the ground, laying on the cobble stone till he could muster up his will to move, and taking with him the evidence of the crime he had just committed.

The guards found the lifeless corpse in the morning, and to Ben's relief they assumed he had died of his own wounds. Considered weak for not lasting another day of pain and humiliation.