Brothers (Chapter Nine)

Chapter Nine
The Lord was a man who knew his work and did not accept interference during the performance of the tasks necessary to achieve the agreed goal. That was always the case, and this was no exception.

Along with the dogs he had received, all his instruments had also arrived. His fees were high and his results guaranteed.

He was carefully evaluating the two subjects subjected to his training. Regarding Braulio, he had no doubts: a couple more harsh sessions would be enough to finish subduing him and deliver him completely submissive to the father, guaranteeing that he would never dare rebel or contradict him. But he did not have the same certainty regarding Blas. He was able to confirm it when he ordered Braulio to take him out of the metal box where he had been locked up for 18 hours without food or water.

He came out dirty, weak, hungry, exhausted. He struggled to stand up. It had been many hours of oppression, discomfort, anguish; his lips were cracked, his hair dirty, he had urinated right there and everything seemed nauseating to him. But when he was taken out of that filthy box, that unworthy prison, it was enough for him to look at him for a couple of seconds and see the expression on his face and the gleam in his eyes, and he laughed at what seemed evident to him: there was no defeat, resignation, surrender or capitulation. On the contrary, he saw rage, hatred, desire for revenge. He still resisted. He was a wild animal that could not be tamed, not yet.

The Lord could not be deceived so easily. Despite Blas’s effort to show submission, his willingness to surrender and submit to what seemed a definitive design, his spirit resisted despite the conclusions and decisions of his reason. It was like the nature of the scorpion.

Blas was helped by his brother to a water trough, a drinking trough, to wash himself, and then he was allowed to eat and drink water. The Lord allowed him to rest in the warehouse until the following day, to aid his recovery. But Blas knew that something very hard would come.

The Lord had decided to give him the harshest training, but for that a prerequisite had to be met: to guarantee that Blas was tough enough to endure that training.

That meant only one thing: intense physical training. The next five days were only intense physical exercise, strengthening his endurance and response capacities. In that, The Lord was also an expert.

The Lord was methodical, organized, persistent and disciplined. At 05:00 he got up to wake the brothers: one as a beast of burden, the other to train without rest. Maximum effort, no rest, total surrender.

With Blas he was especially severe, demanding and rough. Slaps, lashes and a merciless routine: 10 laps of a ruthless route around the house that included a stream, pebble paths, thorny brush, a steeply sloping path, a wooded area and a long stretch in the open field passing among the grazing cows....