The centurion ordered the whipping men to terminate the scourging. They untied the little long haired blonde girl with blood-covered back from the post and let her fall half-conscious to the ground, near to the patibulum, lugged to the hilltop by her with the last of her strength.
The officer raised his hand silencing the crowd of spectators and addressed one of the noblewomen attending the execution.
"Claudia Secunda, as a prosecutor please tell the audience about the misdeeds of your slave, the condemned Silvia Germana."
"Thank you, centurion."
Claudia, a rich dressed noble lady of thirty, cleared her throat and continued with a loud voice, to be heard by all the spectators, gathered around the gallows.
"She is the traitor. She had been sending the secret messages to her counterpart out of the Germanic border, giving him a detailed account of our fleet in Ostia harbour, the descriptions of our newest type of the liburnian warships and it's weak points. When the authorities found the letters sent from my villa and signed with my personal sigil, I realized that she must be the sender, because she mixed the barbaric words with harsh Latin when writing. She tried to escape when we detected her guilt but luckily we managed to stop her. That's all."
Silvia, a little blonde teenager, kneeling bent on the sand, naked with her back spattered with blood, weeping and clumsily covering her small breasts and virgin vulva with palms, cried painfully:
"I didn't try to escape, missus, it's a lie! I have nothing..."
The blow of the whip on her bare back terminated her pathetic complaints.
The centurion listened nodding his head and then asked the patrician:
"And what's your opinion, my lady? What kind of punisment the traitor deserved?"
Claudia's face became hard as a stone and her voice sounded ice-cold:
"The most cruel to be imagined! I hope the sentence leaves you the possibility to add any tortures you can think of to the crucifixion itself? Then let her scream with pain all the time till her death!"
"Yes, my lady, we got a free hand. So, let it be. And if so, lady Claudia, please undress completely and at the instant."
Claudia opened her eyes wide, paled and suddenly fainted. The crowd murmured and some women yelled.
When her maids tried to revive their mistress, centurion continued:
"You are undoubtedly surprised, but the truth is our good lady Claudia Secunda herself is a traitor and her Germanic slave girl Silvia is only a scapegoat.
"After interception of some letters, we sent our people to the Colonia in Rhineland and we found her contact - a Cheruscan official - there. We informed him that we arrested sender of the letters and we told him not to be afraid of himself as we would not pursue him - in fact we have no possibility within his own territory - but want him only to enlighten some unclear details. Then he revealed us about the meeting in Gallia in Lugdunum last winter with the woman from Ostia. He was not able to describe her as she wore a hooded cloak all the time, but when we made some research we confirmed that lady Claudia travelled to Lugdunum last year and moreover she travelled without Silvia, who was ill and must stay at her master's villa. So, we made much more detailed research of all the actions of our dear lady and we found her informers from the harbour and they recognized her and then we confirmed the identity of the traitor. Lady Claudia is personally guilty for this treason beyond all doubts."
Claudia has regained consciousness and cried loudly:
"But the letters...! You know I haven't written them...!"
"Yes you did. You used a perfect camouflage, using a vulgar Latin language, but the addition of Germanic words was an overkill. You know some North Rhine dialects and so you mixed some Cheruscan words with the Latin, but you made a big mistake. Didn't you realise that your slave is a Bructer tribeswoman, not a Cherusc? We made secretly few tries and we confirmed that she didn't understand the Cheruscan language at all. You was sharp-minded, lady, and you prepared a clever evidence to deceive us, but this time you overdosed."
Claudia tried to use her last line of defence:
"So, I want to see the ceasar and to complain myself in person! We meet once in Rome and he was, ehmm, rather deeply impressed, so I am sure that..."
But the centurion didn't allow her to complete her statement.
"But the ceasar don't want to see you. We informed Tiberius and he signed your sentence, regretted that he could not come in person to see your splendid body in daylight, and let us rape you on his behalf before hanging, so it is nothing more to bubble about. Just shut up, you whore, and undress - now!"
Claudia listened in silence. There was nothing more she can say to rescue herself. She kneeled on the sand opposite to her slave and slowly begun to untie her sandals.
The centurion softened his voice.
"Silvia, as for you, you are free from accusation. Soldier, give back to Silvia her clothes, let her dress up and help her go home. The scourging was enough punisment in her case. She was obedient slave and she was punished only for informing us rather late of her master's deeds. Silvia, thanks for your cooperation. Please come to the town governor's office when you are recovered after the scourging, so you will get your freedwoman papers."
"Thank you! Thank you very much, master...!"
And the poor teenager burst in tears. Some girls from the crowd came to her and helped her with putting on her dress, in the same time when the condemend Claudia, former lady, took off her dress and undertunic and gave it to the nearest legionnaire, and covered her red face with her hands, standing bare naked vis-a-vis her parents, sisters, friends, neighbours and slaves.
"And now let the traitor die in pain, according to her own words! Soldiers, scourge and rape her, reap her breasts off and nail her to the cross, and make a campfire to warm hot-red all the torture instruments! Exactly, we will let her scream with pain until she die."