The watching spectators were silent. Jasmine was weeping silently. Arthurius was watching intently from his cross, showing every sign of great interest in what was going on, but even so, watching in silence. The only sound was Helena sobbing. Even the Carnifex was speechless. In nearly thirty years of crucifixion he’d never seen anything like this, neither such bravery nor such beauty. “Typical”, he thought, “the one person who, if she offered me her body as a sex slave for the rest of her life would seriously tempt me to take the risk. And she’s the one person who stretches herself out on her cross ready for me to nail her.”
“Pass me that sign,” he ordered. One of the soldiers handed it to him, and he nailed it to the top of Rebecca’s cross. She raised her head so that the vibrations of the hammer didn’t vibrate through her head, but other than that, she laid calmly, and still.
“I wish…. I’d been…. as brave as… you, Rebecca!” Helena was watching her, over her shoulder, her breath coming in short gasps as she attempted to come to terms with her cross.
“I might as well make the best of it, Helena. They’ve crucified you, and you are my life. I just want to get up there with you. I can’t live without you.”
The Carnifex was in a dilemma. The sadist in him wanted to hear her scream, to beg him to stop. The humanity in him wanted to spare her as much pain as he could. Then he shrugged. To hell with it. Just treat it like another job, nothing fancy. Just get her crucified, go and collect the fee, and head for the ale house.
“Come on, you lazy bastards, don't stand there with your fingers up your arses! She’ll still need holding down, she won’t keep still when I start work! ” The assistants sprang into life, and he collected his mallet, and a nail.
“’Rebecca’, is it?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“And you actually want to be up there with your friend?”
“Yes, sir.” Much more definite.
“Then it’s a pleasure to be of service to you.” He brought the mallet down, cleanly and hard, onto the head of the nail.
“Gnnnn..” Her body arched with pain, as a fountain of blood prayed from her wrist. Jasmine noticed a trickle of blood running out of the corner of her mouth, betraying that she’d bitten her tongue.
“REBECCA!” wailed Helena.
Rebecca didn’t, and couldn’t reply. Her head was rolling from side to side, and her feet were drumming on the cross, as she tried to contain her agony during the age that it seemed to take the Carnifex to drive the nail home.
He picked up another nail, and she watched his every move as he crossed over to the other wrist. Watched as he crouched down, watched as he positioned the nail, watched as he lifted the hammer, then shut her eyes tight for the stroke.
This time she couldn’t contain herself. Her roar of agony froze Jasmine’s blood, and Rebecca shrieked and screamed as the nail was driven home. Helena joined in the racket, her own pain joining her distress at watching Rebecca’s crucifixion from her own cross.
Jasmine realised that the Carnifex was addressing her, but she couldn’t hear him over the din. She stepped over, and bent down so that he could shout into her ear.
“I’ll allow you to do this one thing for her, my lady. I’m must be going soft. We’re going to raise her now, but if you and your friend support her legs it will help her a little.”
“OK….thank you!” Jasmine went and collected Cassia, and they each went and took a calf each. Rebecca stopped screaming, raised her head and looked down at her. “W-what are you doing, Jasmine?”
“We’re going to support you while they raise your cross, Rebecca. It’ll ease the pain a little.”
So, while the two assistants began to lift the cross, and the Carnifex guided it into its socket with his foot, Jasmine and Cassia took her weight so that she didn’t fall on her outstretched arms as Helena had done. Not that it solved Rebecca’s problems, the movement and the jarring as the cross was raised still clearly hurt like hell, and she shrieked and cried out throughout the entire process.
The Carnifex drove the wedges in to secure the cross upright, and Jasmine felt every jarring vibration through Rebecca’s body.
One of the assistant’s approached her. “It’s OK, I’ve got her!” said Jasmine.
“You have now, miss, but you’ll never hold her still when she feels the nail.”
“No! Let me try!”
The assistant looked at the Carnifex, who nodded. “Very good, Miss….”
“Oh, god! Oh god, no!” groaned Rebecca, as she realised that yet more agony was on the way. She felt the prick of the nail on her heel. The Carnifex hit it as hard as he could, but Rebecca’s reflex kick was as hard as that of a donkey, and there was no way that Jasmine could hold her. Rebeeca’s foot flew off the cross, with a nail right through her heel and protruding about an inch. The noise Rebecca was making was beyond belief.
“Told you, Miss!” bellowed the assistant.
Jasmine ignored him, and pushed Rebecca’s leg back into position. With the second stroke the nail bit deep into the wood, and this time Rebecca’s heel effectively became part of the cross. Three or four more strokes and the nail was home, and Jasmine stood back, panting from physical and emotional exertion.
Cassia was by no means as brave, and relinquished the job to the assistant without protest, and so the grisly process of Rebecca’s crucifixion was completed.
“Thanks for your help, Miss,” smiled the Carnifex, wiping blood from his hands on a cloth. “You want a job as my assistant? You did OK, for a first timer!”
“No thanks. Once was enough.“ She watched as he bent down, and collected the girls’ clothes, just left discarded on the ground. “What are you going to do with those?”
He kicked Rebecca’s soiled loin cloth into some grass. “Sell them. They won’t be needing them again!”
“Can I…buy them?”
He named a price, about twice what he expected to get for them in the market. She handed over the coins without complaint. The Carnifex and his assistants cadged a lift from the farmer, who was still parked on the road, and they departed through the gate, leaving just the two guards on duty.
Jasmine stood, hugging the clothes, looking up at the crucified slaves, with Cassia holding her hand. After a few minutes Rebecca’s screaming subsided, and she looked at Helena. She didn’t say anything, but she just smiled. Helena smiled back. Sisters in suffering. Suddenly, unbelievably, Jasmine realised that she envied them. She was of no further use to them; her world and their world were two completely different places.
“Let’s go, Cassia,” she said. “There’s nothing else for us here.” They turned, and headed back into the city.
Rebecca watched them go. “She said… she said she’d stay with us!”
“God, Becks…. She helped…them… to crucify….you. Bitch. Forget her. You’re with me…. We’re together…that’s all we need. “
To be continued /…..
Superbly written ... setting, dialogue, thoughts, fear, tension, horror, pain, blood ... it all just swirls around in the mind of the reader and seems so real and compelling all at once .... really well don Wragg!
.......my heart was doing this as I read it
