"Set a guard on that river bank," she told her subordinate, "and
maintain it night and day. If any inferior attempts to recover the
magic stone, deal with him or her in the same manner in which we
punished the finders of the deadly flower."
"It shall be done, Supreme. Is there anything further?"
"Yes. Make quite sure that none of the inferiors are missing."
Shortly afterward the lieutenant reported that one of the huts was
empty.
"Rolla, the soil-tester, and Cunora, the vineyardist, are gone."
"Seek them!" Supreme almost became excited. "They are the lovers of
the men we punished! They would not absent themselves unless they
knew something! Find them, and torture them into revealing the
secret! We must weed out this flowing blossom forever!"
"It shall be done!"
Such methods were well known to Rolla and Cunora. Had not their
fellow villagers, many of them, tried time after time to escape from
bondage? And had they not inevitably been apprehended and driven
back, to be tortured as an example to the rest? It would never do to
be caught!
So they made it a practice to travel only during twilight and dawn,
remaining hidden through the day.
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