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Journey To Rome

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Part 5:


Kirana wept with her ladies in her tent that night. The next day she rode far back in the column, away from Rego, and returned to her tent in the evening as soon as she could, not bothering to serve meals to the soldiers or tend to those still recovering from battle wounds.


That night Rego came to her tent. There she sat, in a small wooden chair, surrounded by her ladies, dressed in her exotic Amunian finery. The tent was an ordinary tent, and other than their clothing, the occupants had no luxury to furnish it with, but in Kirana's regal presence, Rego felt he had entered a royal court, and he made a slight and brief bow. There she sat, in all her mournful dignity, looking on him with big, sad eyes. This was the prisoner he was transporting to Rome for her brutal execution, and yet he had just bowed to her, and felt her to be far superior to him.


"I was afraid," he said, swallowing. Kirana made no reply, and her expression did not change. "I've come to... apologize, Kirana." The princess's brow raised ever so slightly. "For your maids. I'm sorry," he continued, grasping for words.


"Are you?" Kirana finally replied.


"Yes - I... I was frightened." Kirana let out a very slight breath of disgust through her nose. "If I had lost you, Kirana, the emperor would have hung me on the cross in your place. Surely you can understand? Crucifixion is the most degrading way to die - normally only slaves and the worst sort of criminals are crucified. For a man of my rank, it would be... to horrible to bear!"


Immediately he realized what he had said winced, hating himself for it.


Kirana looked at him for a long time with an inscrutable expression mixing disdain, irony, and grief.


"I understand your fear, Rego." Rego looked at his boots, ashamed, and for a long time there was silence. "I would have you know," Kirana softly broke the silence, "that I did not escape of my own volition." Rego looked up, miserable. "I was abducted by my rescuers, and my maids knew no more of it than you. That is to say, Rego, that we were all innocent of the crime. Ayna and Khaletha were innocent, and you had them put to death." Tears came to Rego's eyes before he realized it, and he quickly turned and fled the tent.


In the following weeks, Kirana and her ladies continued serving the soldiers, and their chastity was strictly respected. The rank and file grew daily to respect the princess more and more as the embodiment of grace, dignity, and true royalty. On one occasion she even mediated a dispute between two soldiers that threatened to turn violent. After that, the soldiers began to take their disputes to her tent at night, where she would sit in judgement. The alternative was violence, which would be punished by Rego with more violence. This it was that Rego saw his captive, the condemned woman on her way to execution, usurp his justice in his own camp, with all due grace, propriety, and respect for his ultimate authority.


Then one day, the caravan crested a ridge and Kirana, riding beside Rego, looked down upon Rome, the city where she would be put to death.


"Rome," she said, her face calm, though solemn.


"Yes," said Rego.


(To be continued...)
 
Part 6:


Two days later, Kirana got her first glimpse of a crucifixion. They were now very near the city, and would enter it the next morning. Ahead on their right, Kirana saw the cross, about one and a half times the height of a man, and set in a small mound just three paces off the road. As she approached it, she saw what was once the body of a man hanging on it by nails through the wrists and feet. There were scraps of deep brown leather stretched over the skeleton in various places - the sun-baked remains of the man's skin, but mostly it was a bleached skeleton. It was not as evident on a skeleton whose genitals had been carried off by bird and beast, but Kirana noticed that there was no scrap of cloth anywhere on the corpse or on the ground below. Disheveled hair hung in tangles over the check bones that literally pierced through the shriveled skin of the face, and the dark, grimy hollows where his eyes had been before they were pecked out by birds. Above his head was a signboard reading: "Livio - Thief".


Kirana was stunned. Her mouth parted involuntarily, and she would have forgotten her royalty and broken down in sobs had she not been yanked back to her wits by the churning urge to vomit. She looked away and steadied herself, narrowly avoiding such an unseemly display. Rego put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and they continued, but her mind raced. Soon, that hideous corpse would be her! She would hang naked from the nails, and birds would peck out her eyes!


As they neared the city gates, there were more and more examples of the death she would soon die, and the way she would soon suffer. Sometimes a cross stood alone, as in the first case. Sometimes there were clusters of three or five, or a dozen. Sometimes the victim was only an assortment of bones scattered around the base of the cross, with one or two still hanging alone by a nail. Sometimes the victims were very alive, moaning, crying out in pain, writhing up and down, their penises hanging uselessly between their taught legs, or even reaching upward for the nothing of the air. Kirana pitied them. She even approached one especially pathetic man who cried and sobbed and moaned as he writhed. She gently touched his impaled foot, and asked him with passionate empathy. "How long have you been here?"


"Yest -" then he cried out once more in pain. "Yester - day," he finished, then contorted his face in such agony and groaned so deeply she could not bear to watch anymore. Yesterday! It was already late in the day today! How long would she have to hang on her cross before death? Even as she stood there, a stream of urine issued from his fly-swarmed penis. Kirana imagined herself urinating on her cross, and shivered in dread.


In all this time, Kirana saw only three women on crosses. One was in fact only a skeleton, and she only knew from the sign above her that she had been a woman. Another was nearly a skeleton, like the first man she had seen. The third was an old woman with silver hair splayed out in tangles over her shoulders, matted in blood down her back, and floating in whisps over her wrinkled, pendulous breasts. Her eyes were barely open, and she made only the slightest noise periodically as she tried to breath. Her face, hanging in wrinkles like the rest of her nakedness, already bore the blank expression of death.


She was indeed naked. Kirana looked carefully to be sure, still finding it difficult - not to mention terrifying - to believe that the Romans would force a woman to be punished fully nude in a public event. But she could clearly see the woman's dark public hair, and though further detail was difficult to discern through the wrinkles, there was certainly no cloth, and behind her the flab of her bare buttocks was pulled up and out of shape against the rough, splintery cross as her body sagged. Kirana felt her own buttocks tingle vicariously at the sight, and she shivered again.


That night, Rego again visited Kirana in her tent, interrupting three soldiers seeking justice from the princess and sending them away. He held a coil of rope.


"My Lady, tomorrow we shall enter Rome," he said. Then he paused, uncomfortable as always speaking to the royal woman. "I hope you shall not take it as disrespect," he continued, "but it will please the emperor if you and your ladies are bound when we enter." Kirana nodded, expressionless. "So," he handed her the rope, "when you dress tomorrow, bind each other with your hands behind your backs. I trust you will do it faithfully, and my men will not be forced to further wound your honor by binding you themselves. And... When you are ready to mount your horse, ask my assistance." Kirana's brow raised slightly. Rego gathered himself and finished: "You will mount backward. It will please the emperor to present you this way to the people." Kirana's face turned slightly pinker, but she nodded again. Rego wanted to say more, but eventually gave up, patted her knee as she sat on her little wooden throne, and turned to go.


"Rego," Kirana stopped him, and he turned. "How many days until the emperor's birthday?"


"Three, My Lady." He turned and left. When he was gone, a single tear wended down her smooth, young face. She was not ready to die.

(To be continued...)
 
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Juan1234 said:
Part 6:


Two days later, Kirana got her first glimpse of a crucifixion. They were now very near the city, and would enter it the next morning. Ahead on their right, Kirana saw the cross, about one and a half times the height of a man, and set in a small mound just three paces off the road. As she approached it, she saw what was once the body of a man hanging on it by nails through the wrists and feet. There were scraps of deep brown learning stretched over the skeleton in various places - the sun-baked remains of the man's skin, but mostly it was a bleached skeleton. It was not as evident on a skeleton whose genitals had been carried off by bird and beast, but Kirana noticed that there was no scrap of cloth anywhere on the corpse or on the ground below. Disheveled hair hung in tangles over the check bones that literally pierced through the shriveled skin of the face, and the dark, grimy hollows where his eyes had been before they were pecked out by birds. Above his head was a signboard reading: "Livio - Thief".


Kirana was stunned. Her mouth parted involuntarily, and she would have forgotten her royalty and broken down in sobs had she not been yanked back to her wits by the churning urge to vomit. She looked away and steadied herself, narrowly avoiding such an unseemly display. Rego put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and they continued, but her mind raced. Soon, that hideous corpse would be her! She would hang naked from the nails, and birds would peck out her eyes!


As they neared the city gates, there were more and more examples of the death she would soon die, and the way she would soon suffer. Sometimes a cross stood alone, as in the first case. Sometimes there were clusters of three or five, or a dozen. Sometimes the victim was only an assortment of bones scattered around the base of the cross, with one or two still hanging alone by a nail. Sometimes the victims were very alive, moaning, crying out in pain, writhing up and down, their penises hanging uselessly between their taught legs, or even reaching upward for the nothing of the air. Kirana pitied them. She even approached one especially pathetic man who cried and sobbed and moaned as he writhed. She gently touched his impaled foot, and asked him with passionate empathy. "How long have you been here?"


"Yest -" then he cried out once more in pain. "Yester - day," he finished, then contorted his face in such agony and groaned so deeply she could not bear to watch anymore. Yesterday! It was already late in the day today! How long would she have to hang on her cross before death? Even as she stood there, a stream of urine issued from his fly-swarmed penis. Kirana imagined herself urinating on her cross, and shivered in dread.


In all this time, Kirana saw only three women on crosses. One was in fact only a skeleton, and she only knew from the sign above her that she had been a woman. Another was nearly a skeleton, like the first man she had seen. The third was an old woman with silver hair splayed out in tangles over her shoulders, matted in blood down her back, and floating in whisps over her wrinkled, pendulous breasts. Her eyes were barely open, and she made only the slightest noise periodically as she tried to breath. Her face, hanging in wrinkles like the rest of her nakedness, already bore the blank expression of death.


She was indeed naked. Kirana looked carefully to be sure, still finding it difficult - not to mention terrifying - to believe that the Romans would force a woman to be punished fully nude in a public event. But she could clearly see the woman's dark public hair, and though further detail was difficult to discern through the wrinkles, there was certainly no cloth, and behind her the flab of her bare buttocks was pulled up and out of shape against the rough, splintery cross as her body sagged. Kirana felt her own buttocks tingle vicariously at the sight, and she shivered again.


That night, Rego again visited Kirana in her tent, interrupting three soldiers seeking justice from the princess and sending them away. He held a coil of rope.


"My Lady, tomorrow we shall enter Rome," he said. Then he paused, uncomfortable as always speaking to the royal woman. "I hope you shall not take it as disrespect," he continued, "but it will please the emperor if you and your ladies are bound when we enter." Kirana nodded, expressionless. "So," he handed her the rope, "when you dress tomorrow, bind each other with your hands behind your backs. I trust you will do it faithfully, and my men will not be forced to further wound your honor by binding you themselves. And... When you are ready to mount your horse, ask my assistance." Kirana's brow raised slightly. Rego gathered himself and finished: "You will mount backward. It will please the emperor to present you this way to the people." Kirana's face turned slightly pinker, but she nodded again. Rego wanted to say more, but eventually gave up, patted her knee as she sat on her little wooden throne, and turned to go.


"Rego," Kirana stopped him, and he turned. "How many days until the emperor's birthday?"


"Three, My Lady." He turned and left. When he was gone, a single tear wended down her smooth, young face. She was not ready to die.

(To be continued...)
Click to expand...

another great episode ... great writing! :clapping:
 
Part 7:


Kirana did not sleep well that night. The next morning, she and her ladies did as Rego had bidden, binding their hands behind their backs. (The inner guard bound the last maid.) Kirana then left the tent and approached Rego.


"I am ready to mount, Rego," she said flatly, containing perfectly within herself the shame that boiled behind her throat as she stood bound like a criminal, asking to be put on display for ridicule. Rego looked her over with a faint flame of desire, smothered by te sorrow of what might have been.


"Very well," he said, "Come with me." He took her arm, much to her chagrin, and led her to her mare. Then he took her in both hands, the palms about her slender waist, the fingers reaching toward the sides of her shapely breasts, and as she clenched her jaw with displeasure, he swung her up to the saddle, facing the horse's rump. He stood observing the ridiculous sight for a moment before turning to tend to other duties.


Kirana's eight ladies were tied in a train behind her, a rope connecting each one's hands to the neck of the girl behind. Thus they were to enter Rome. After half an hour of waiting on the horse, the caravan began toward the city.


As they got nearer, they were joined by other caravans from other roads, most entering Rome to celebrate her crucifixion with the emperor.


"Is that her?" they would ask, snickering at her disgraced position, and commenting on how she would look hanging on her cross. Kirana bore it all with the dignity befitting her royalty, though her belly was a cauldron of terror and despair.


When they entered the gate, they were greeted by an official waiting there for that purpose.


"Welcome, Rego Flavius, to ROME!" and he bowed low. "I am Trulius. The emperor awaits you!"


"Thank you Trulius," said Rego. "I bring with me, the barbarian princess of the Amunians."


"So it is told!" Trulius replied with relish, turning his eyes to Kirana, who strained her neck back to see him. "We are all looking forward to your big day on Saturn's day!" He exclaimed cruelly. "Brutus Vorcus, the crucifier, has sent word he shall arrive in the city later this afternoon, and the emperor asks if you would welcome him, My Lady." He bowed low, his eyes dancing with glee.


"Very well," Kirana replied.


They then moved on through the streets of Rome, and everyone asked excitedly if this was the barbarian princess. Kirana felt all the eyes of the empire turned on her, as if the whole world was taking a break from normal life to stare at her in anticipation of her execution. As if the whole world wanted to watch her stripped naked, and to gawk at her nude body while she suffered and was put to death. It was almost more than she could bear. It was far more than her ladies could bear. They all whimpered and wept in their train behind her.


Then a messenger approached Rego. "Brutus the crucifier approaches from the north!" he said, "The princess must come to the gate!"


Kirana swallowed, and the column sped to a trot to reach the northern gate. Once there, Kirana was positioned alone before it, facing the road to the north, while her mount faced the city within. Her hands were still bound behind her. She could already see Brutus' caravan approaching. This was the man who had travelled to Rome to crucify her. He would be the one attending to the intimate details of her suffering. He would be the man positioning her naked body on the cross, and driving the nails through her. What manner of man must he be? She shivered several times, then mastered herself. The rest of Rego's column backed away to leave her very much alone before the gate.


Then he arrived, Brutus the crucifier, a large, middle-aged Roman with dark eyes, accompanied by supply wagons and three henchmen. Kirana guessed they must have made up his crucifixion squad.


"Welcome, Brutus Vorcus, to Rome," she said gracefully, with a slight bow of her head. Brutus and his companions grinned. "I am Kirana, Princess of the Amunians."


"So you are!" grinned Brutus. "The barbarian princess. I've ridden a long way to see you. I look forward to seeing more of you!" he said, pulling down her robe to bare her left shoulder, then looking back at his companions, who giggled. Kirana worked her shoulder around to get the garment back in place.


"Soon enough you shall have my whole body naked and in your power, Brutus," she said. "For today, I have not even been sentenced. Leave me be." Brutus scowled, but did not pursue further.


"You've not been sentenced? Then let us take you to the emperor to hear your sentence!" he exclaimed.


When they arrived at the emperor's palace, the sharp old man was thrilled to see them, and met them in the palace courtyard. He enjoyed seeing Kirana backward and bound. He congratulated Rego profusely, and poured plenty of wine for his returning conqueror. Rego was solemn.


"Caesar," Brutus said, "the princess wishes to hear her sentence."


"Ah!" said the emperor, "So be it!" A great crowd had gathered in the courtyard so Kirana was taken down from her horse and led up the steps on the side of the courtyard, leading to the palace. Soldiers made her kneel, still bound, on a step while the emperor stood three steps higher.


"Barbaria, Princess of Amunia," he shouted with great ceremony, "for the crime of waging war upon the armies of Caesar, I sentence you to DEATH, by crucifixion. You shall be nailed to your cross on the morning of Saturn's day, and you shall hang thereon, without mercy, until your body rots away." Then, turning to his servants: "Bring the titulus." The servants brought a sign board and hung it around Kirana's neck: "BARBARIA, PRINCIPISSA AMUNIORUM"


(To be continued...)
 
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