<hr/><em></em><div align="center"><em>Autolycus sees to Cariad<br/>Infirmary</em></div><hr/><br/>Autolycus watched as Cariad stripped, noting the firm breasts, the good figure but he was a medicus above all, focussed less on her skin and more on the cuts and bruises that marked it. Her ribs showed. She was underfed, exhausted to judge from the way she sighed and rested her head... He went to his workbench and returned with a pail of water, a sponge and a stoppered flask, then sat down on the edge of the bed and began to wash Cariads back. He had a gentle touch and the lukewarm water was soothing. Pink-coloured liquid flowed from the slave’s body onto the woven mat that formed the bed’s mattress and dripped from there onto the earthen floor to leave a dark wet stain that would be gone within the hour.<br/><br/>He was aware, as he worked, of Burrus. Loud, annoying Burrus, hurling degrading comments at the Pict and for what? It was not as if the barbarian could understand a word he said.<em>Be thankful I am not your dominus,</em>he barked and that one made Autolycus smirk. He probably wished he was… Well, at least the guard-captain was sparing the Pict's life and with the wild one secured in the cage hopefully he'd leave soon. Autolycus did not like the man with his rough manners, his loud voice, the obvious enjoyment he took in hurting and humiliating others. He had the feeling the guard captain did not much like him either. That was fine. A kind of agreement.<br/><br/>He finished cleaning the slaves' wounds and unstoppered the flask. Cariad, only barely awake now, could smell the sour stench of vinegar as he poured the liquid onto the sponge and felt the sting as he pressed it to her shoulder-blade, letting the acid seep into her open wounds.<br/><br/>She murmured something, clearly asleep now, strange melodic words and made a mental note to ask her about those later.<br/><br/>The slave's back well and truly pickled Autolycus pushed himself to his feet and approached the injured guard, now sitting on a stool, blood-soaked cloth pressed to his injured ear.<br/><br/>This one would take a bit more work.