“What were you thinking you spawn of a buodeg? Hena heard Master Weisod tell you not to go near the buodegs. She said that he told you they were nervous about something, but you had to go and rile them up even more.”

Meric stood in Master Ghun’s tent for the second time in as many hours and this time wasn’t turning out any better than the first. Meric had already tried to tell Master Ghun about the boys, but the troope leader was not listening. For the last several minutes Ghun asked him questions, but did not give him a chance to answer. Each time he asked a question, his voice was getting louder and louder. So far, Master Ghun hadn’t hit him. But, Meric knew it was coming. He doubted Hena’s warning to Ghun earlier would protect him from Ghun’s wrath.

“Do you realize that Weisod could have been killed? As it is, I’m without an animal trainer for the next few days as he recovers. We will have to do our shows without the animals. Could things get any worse?” Master Ghun’s voice became even louder with the last question.

Meric doubted it could, at least for him. He inwardly flinched as he sensed the slap coming from Master Ghun. But, it never did. Instead, he heard something he had always feared that he would hear.

“I am tired of your stupidity. I want you gone! I don’t care where you go, or what you do, but I will not allow this troope to suffer any more because of you. Do you hear me?” The final question came out in a roar that seemed just as violent as a slap to Meric.

“Do you hear me?” again Master Ghun roared out the question.

Meric nodded his head. Tears welled up in his eyes. At this moment, Meric was grateful for his deformity. It kept the troope leader from seeing his tears. Meric always feared that the troope leader would one day make him leave. But, he hoped that the promise Master Ghun made to his mother would keep him from forcing him to leave. Meric was never treated well by the troope as a whole and often thought about leaving on his own. But now that he heard the words, he knew why he hadn’t. Even if he wasn’t treated well, the troope always took care of him.

When he was younger, Master Weisod let Meric ride on the backs of the buodegs, while everyone else walked from town to town. Even now, when they traveled from place to place, Meric was allowed to ride on one of the wagons beside the drivers. If he was required to walk like everyone else, he would be left behind. While the rest of the troope set up camp, Meric did not help because of his deformity. Even though Ghun said that the only ones who could eat were those who worked, Meric ate with the rest of the troope. He was often given much less than the rest of the troope, but at least he had something to eat. Now as he listened to Ghun, he realized how much of an annoyance he was to the troope and particularly to Master Ghun.

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Meric tried to muster the strength once more to tell Master Ghun about the boys. But, he could feel the futility of it and his shoulders sagged as he resigned himself to the fate Master Ghun pronounced.

“Now get out of here! I don’t want to see you in this camp again!” By this point, the roar of Master Ghun’s voice sounded like a loud whisper in Meric’s ears as he turned to leave the tent. He shuffled toward the entrance of the tent and stepped through it into the shattered remnants of the troope’s camp.

Meric started to make his way toward the small tent he slept in. But then, he realized that there was nothing in the tent that was his. And, there was nothing in the tent that he wanted to take with him. The tent and bedroll would have been nice, but they weren’t his. And, even if he did take them, Meric had no idea how he would carry them. He wasn’t strong enough to carry them very far. He would more likely trip and fall under the load than he was to carry them anywhere.

Meric turned toward the edge of the camp and in the direction of the town where he had started this miserable day. He didn’t know what he was going to do in the town, but he knew that he couldn’t stay here, and there was no way he could go anywhere else tonight. Meric walked slowly out of the camp.

“Meric!”

“Wait, Meric!”

Meric could hear Hena’s voice long before she reached him. He kept walking, until she stood in front of him and blocked him from walking any further.

“Meric, where are you going?”

“I don’t know. You heard Master Ghun, he doesn’t want me here anymore…no one does.”

“Meric, that’s not true. I want you here. I’ll talk to him, he’ll change his mind. You’ll see.”

Meric once again remembered the image of Hena wrapped in a blanket standing in Master Ghun’s tent.

“I don’t need your pity, Hena. Leave me alone!” Meric shouted angrily and pushed Hena out of his way. Either because of Meric’s anger or because of Hena’s surprise at his outburst, his push sent her sprawling. Meric looked at Hena as her own face turned with anger.

“Fine! If that’s how you want it. Then I won’t help you. I don’t know why I even tried to help a cripple. Get out of here and don’t come back!” Hena shouted at him and pointed her finger away from the camp.

Meric looked away from Hena and in the direction she was pointing. Her words were even harsher than Master Ghun’s. He thought she actually cared for him. But now, he knew that no one cared for him. He was on his own. He didn’t know how long he could survive on his own, but he knew he was going to find out.