Ok, back from Las Vegas!
Continuing with Lucilla's story, as they finish tying her left foot to the cross, she begins losing her nerve. It makes no sense for Lucilla to resist at this point as they're tying her feet; it would be much more likely for a victim who was having her feet nailed to the cross.
But in any case, being crucified was stressful for the victim. For all of them, it meant the commencement of days of slow public torture, and for nearly all of them that torture ended in death. Lucilla's case differed only in that she would not die, but she would still be fixed to this instrument of death, and she would still be slowly dying for days to come. It's too much for her to bear and she fights to put it off.
Sabina describes what she sees:
As brave as she had been when they bound her wrists to the cross, now she was beginning to whimper. Even though she was already helplessly hanging by her wrists, binding her feet was the final step that would leave her crucified and truly helpless. On the common Roman “T” cross a victim could at least close her legs together, giving her some vestige of modesty. But with her feet fastened to the arms of this “X” cross, her legs would always be open, fully exposing her porcella and inviting any further cruelties that the executioners might imagine.
And so it was, when the Nubian Hercules moved to seize her right leg, when all that remained was to bind her right foot to the cross, she became hysterical and started struggling. It was ridiculous, unbelievable, and after our initial shock, we all broke into laughter. She was already hanging on the cross; what difference could it possibly make if they tied her last free foot? Wouldn’t it be easier on her to have it bound? But she was beyond all reason.
Lucilla struggled to free her leg. She twisted her body away from Hercules, bending her right leg up under her, balled up her fists and screamed curses at the two Nubians. Ajax, behind the cross with rope in hand ready to bind her foot, leaned out over the lower arm of the cross and grinned up at her, enjoying this unexpected entertainment. The more she struggled, the funnier it became and the more the two Nubians laughed at her.
In no hurry, they let her rant and curse while we all continued to laugh at her more colorful insults, some of which I’d never heard. What exactly does “black as a wagonload of assholes mean?” It was hard to take threats from a naked woman on a cross very seriously. She writhed and twisted, trying to break loose from Hercules’ grip.
This scene is not in the original story that was posted. It's something I thought up later, and yes, there is yet another revision of The Serpent's Eye with these additional illustrations and story to go along with them. I don't know that it would ever be enough to justify the confusion it would create to post it yet again, but you never know.