The shout from Scorpianus shakes Gabriella from slumber, as she lays down on the ground, lost in her pain and misery: "And let it be proclaimed, to all the people, that Gabriella Sivilla, rebel whore, is guilty of treason for having proclaimed herself Queen!"
Confused, she looks in the direction where the voice comes from, raising painfully her head. She opens her green eyes wide, finding in her tortured body a bit for strength, enough for stuttering with difficulty: "nnno... noo... I am a real Queen..." she turns her head, trying to look in the eyes of somebody of the mob around her, searching for some support from her own people: "tell them... I... aaahhh... am a real Queen, your Queen!"
Scorpianus does not show any sign of having heard her, and he just continues: "She is sentenced to be crucified!" and, to Gabriella's horror, the mob claps in approval. Around her it is a hive of activity, as somebody climbs up on a ladder, preparing to pull the ropes to raise the patibulum, HER patibulum. Others grip her arms and position them in the right position, so that her fragile hands can be nailed to the hard wood. The guards around her, armed with long spears and ready to fight anybody who might want to save her, keep their gaze fixed on her lithe body, trashing on the ground as cruel arrangements are done to prepare her. Men in the mob fight to get the best spot to watch the gruesome show which is soon to take place, lust and arousal clear in their eyes. Somebody shouts to crucify her. Just some women put their hands in their hair, horrified at the scene.
One of the execution squad grabs the leather bag on the ground and takes a heavy mallet and the spikes out from it. Sadistically, he leans forward and shows mallet and nails to Gabriella. The mallet is huge, heavy, its handle consumed by the hands of many men which have used it. The nails are thick, long, covered with rust , their tips no more sharp, having penetrated many times wood and flesh.
As the horror of the realization that these very spikes will soon pierce her limbs and bring her to her painful death, Gabriella panics. She is no longer the Queen which has voluntarily given herself to the Romans to save her people, but just a baby girl facing something much bigger than herself. And just like a baby girl she starts whimpering: "n..n...nooo... pppllleeeaase not that! PPPLLEEEAAASE NOOO NNOOO!"
She tries pulling her arms, in a instinctive urge to protect herself, but her arms are firmly roped to the beam, and therefore she instinctively folds her right leg. In the movement, she shows how beautiful, and long, and shapely her legs are, and her rounded perfect buttocks, and the two tender holes between her legs, where many of the men around her have been earlier on, to humiliate her. She is a baby girl in terror, her beautiful eyes filled with tears, as she whines on: "ppplleeeeasseee not with those! No no no... pleeeaseee.. I am not ready.... pllleeesseee no no no I am scared... noo...."
This is where they wanted to bring her, to pure terror. They, the thug faces of the soldiers and of the execution squad, laugh laugh and laugh.
