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The following is purely fictitious and intended solely for the personal use of those over the legal age of adulthood, in communities accepting the graphic portrayal of themes that might elsewhere be unacceptable.
F.
The Final Battle
Part 2
Sharia fell for the third time that mid-morning. They had taken an easterly route over the back road away from the city. Slaps from the strap pummeled her naked back, but she could not move. She sat on her haunches as an elderly doctor was summoned for a closer inspection of the warrior princess. After briefly checking her, he consulted with military superiors and the executioner. A consensus was reached. Despite the warming sun, the doctor’s inspection found her skin to be cold, clammy – no doubt from the previous night’s tortures. It was decided that she could hardly stand the strain of the continuing road, much less, the crucifixion before her. Another simple horse-drawn cart was called. The timber across her reddened back was lifted off. She was laid back first onto the cart, her wrists chained to each corner of the wooden bed, legs trailing at the knees.
“How come she gets to ride and we walk?” Noma shouted from the rear. “We tried to save her ass, and look what that got us!” Another slap sounded and with it came a stifled female cry. Sheria bitterly grinned at the envy-driven yell. The procession resumed. Free of clouds, the sky above rocked with the rough road and her own shivers.. Her new position had to be better than the pain of carrying that crossbeam. Nonetheless, chills filled her as the heat of the day increased.
A command halted their progress. Sheria was unchained and allowed to sit on the back of the cart, facing the West and across the road stood two uprights. Carlita was lifted and the crossbar she carried was roped to it in a traditional manner. Short, but comely, she bravely endured the first moments of crucifixion. Her single braid of blond had been severed, to be “recycled”, and her petite body highlighted every curve with sweat.
Sheria stood. The remaining fabric encircling her hips ripped away, revealing all save for the healing wrap earlier applied. Its condition was not nearly as sodden with the dark stains as before, giving testimony to the healing powers included in the compress. Taken from her, her shaved pubic region remained red and slightly swollen, but no longer dripped blood. Standing nude, she watched Noma across the road being crucified, although in an inverted position, her legs tied to a cross bar raised high up the upright and her forehead resting on the ground. A narrow purplish and pink division parted dark brown pubic hair.
“The slaves who attempted to save you, Warrior Princess,” said the officer next to her as he gestured across the road at the two nudes. “Watch what happens as a result of their misguided intentions…And as a former leader, you know you have only yourself to blame, of course.” Sheria tried to ignore his lascivious glance at her own nudity and focused on the two directly across the road.
Archers assembled on her other side. They aimed at the struggling Carlita. The officer ordered them and said, “Start slowly, and with half power…” An arrow wobbled through the air. Carlita screamed louder as it struck her left thigh. She twisted as if attempting to escape its pain, but the ropes held her fast to the cross. Scarlet rivers below the arrow coated her knee and shin.
Sheria grimly lowered her head as further arrows hit. More screams followed by an eerie silence.. She looked back up and across the road. Carlita’s body hung still – pierced by many arrows.
Attention turned to the upside-down crucified Noma. Piles of dirt covered her face. Her stomach heaved and puffs of dirt flew from her mouth. More dirt was added where her breath had attempted to blow it free. A box was spilled over the dirt. Sheria looked closely and saw swarms of fire ants in the dirt. Noma’s body twisted violently. Muffled screams stirred the pile of dirt as swarms of the nasty insects invaded her nostrils, mouth, hairline and eyes. Her body jerked and bucked. Legs spasmodically climbed into the air until they also stilled.
“Of course! We saved something special for you…” She saw the general closely watching from his horse across the road. Surrounding him stood many townspeople and military. Her arm was taken and she was lead to where the bar she once carried lie on the ground. Underneath it ran a long wooden upright. “Down!” A shove followed the order. Hands quickly grabbed her arms and stretched behind her and along the horizontal beam. A hard knee pressed down her right elbow. Her heart racing, she tried to pull free, but could not. Looking up to her right she gasped as she saw in the executioner’s eyes one of those who raped her the night before. In his thick arm he raised a dark mallet. It flew through the air as if in slow motion, but when it contacted the head of the pike placed in her wrist, it clanged. The shock burst like the closest lightening strike. The back of her head struck against the upright. Her chest rose and hips crashed. She screamed. Stiffened nipples shot toward the sky, her backbone twisted and the whites of her eyes enlarged around sparkling blue irises. The spike forged deeper.
“Two down, two more to go,” said a voice above her. Both arms stretched behind, fastened to wood. The panic of being nailed so overwhelmed, she cared little that a newer, shorter cross bar had appeared, one on which her feet were placed heel to heel. Hands held them fast. Two more spikes were hammered into her feet, smashing small bones and nailing soles to the beam. Sheria slammed her spine into the upright again.
With ropes soldiers strained to raise the upright. Slowly it came off of the ground carrying Sheria with it. One of the men hammered a small sign above her head reading, “Enemy”. She loudly yelled as its base sunk into the assigned hole. Streams of blood ran down her forearms, dripping fat drops from elbows onto the dirt below. Her face contorted in agony, swinging from side to side in pain. Panic again seized her face as her lungs attempted to exhale. Arms below raised the narrow cross beam with her nailed feet. It climbed up in front of the upright. The beam with her wrists attached was firmly affixed behind the upright, forcing her head and upper body to face the ground. As the beam with her feet rose higher, she could breathe more and for a moment the panic ruled by the threat of suffocation diminished. Much of her body leaned out, she saw soldiers lift the beam, bending her legs outward and almost parallel to the ground. Satisfied they had the correct height, they used two thinner nails to hammer the center of the beam to the upright.
The general spoke to the crowd from across the road. He walked his mount toward Sheria’s side. “Come have a closer look at our angel,”he mockingly said, “See how she spreads her wings…”
“Why, you can see right up her!”
The hag’s husband and she stood near the base of the tall cross. “Yup”, was all he said as both mouth breathers gaped at the looming figure. He notice much, including the thin trail of blood from her left arm slowly winding its way past her elbow, across the stretched bicep and sliding around the side of one large tit before crossing over an upper rib and dropping to the ground.
Sheria yelled and gritted her teeth. Grimacing, she tightened her back. Using the major muscles in her bent legs, she inched herself upward, relieving pressure on her wrists and shoulders. Working her legs to climb higher, her chest thrust up. Fast, rapid intakes and exhales of air aided her lungs until tremors in her legs and the wrenching agony in her nailed feet caused her slide back down, almost squatting as her upper body fell forward. Drool fell from her parted mouth, but could easily be ignored as other concerns proved more worrisome.
In his saddle, the general nearly reached her midsection. He gazed into her tortured eyes and said, “Very impressive leg work. Something we expected of one such as you. However,” he paused to wipe some dust from his lips and then said, “You probably did not notice, what with everything else happening, but my men secured your footrest with just two small nails…Everytime you use those legs of yours to lift, you loosen the nails.”
Sheria tried to follow the general’s words, but her shoulders screamed for relief. She prepared for another lift, eyeing each thigh pointing in opposite directions. Gritting her teeth again she winced and pressured her feet, flexed her calves and thighs, and slowly felt herself rising up. Quickly gasping for breath, her body began reversing itself. Shock hit. Excruciating pain radiated. One side slipped.
“So you see. Your feet and legs apply pressure to the lower bar so that you can raise up for air. But…and this is a crucial But!...the bar is loosely nailed. One side might give – as just happened, but eventually, the entire bar will fall from the upright. With your feet still nailed! When that happens, you become your own executioner, so need I say care should be exercised?”
“Jumpin’ bullfrogs. Did you see that?!” With the others gathered close by to watch, the old man and his wife started as the lower beam slanted. The crucified frantically writhed. Scabourous brands swayed. The shiny thin line detoured its red course and crossed just under one torn nipple.
Sheria counter-balanced her descent. She heard part of what the general was saying, but the point of his message was obvious. The bar her feet were nailed to was loose. If it came free, she would either have to use her stretched upper limbs to pull up – or die. Another need to lift with her legs could no longer be put off. More or less balanced, she once more, though this time gingerly, used her thigh and calve muscles to bend her legs and raise her body.
More pressure loosened her support. She hung to one side – over-corrected and leaned to the other side. Madly panting her chin rested on her beating chest. Through grimy eyelashes she saw her sweating breasts, the scrourges, stark brands and torso, punished pudendum and splayed thighs. She balanced as best she could, yet her pounding brain knew another test of the bar and her own stability was fast approaching. “She does have power, I’ll give her that,” said the hag. “Look’s as though she’s loosing it, though.”
The tall beam shuddered as the nude female on it once more used her body to rise. A single nail – one of two sprang free from the lower crossbeam, just as she almost straightened her legs. Her body bent heavily forward, long arms trailing behind. With just one nail in place, she cried out in agony and swayed from side to side, the beam under her bloodied feet rising and falling at each end. She steadied. Gleaming breasts pointed down, blackened brands across their tops marked their victim.
Sheria dimly saw the general calmly sitting on his horse watching her suffering. Her croaking voice said,, “…What……do…you…wwwant?” Her eyes shut and head hung lower with the effort.
The general looked up, and then lower at the loosened beam holding her feet and said, “Only The Final Battle.” He turned the reins back toward the city and did not bother to look back even as the crowd roared. Somewhere in the commotion, he thought he heard the sound of a nail and wood falling free from more wood. Contently allowing the horse to trot back, he savored the rewards of another victory.
-30-
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