The Wall – 22
“She is not dead Aulus,” Tiberius was quite clear in his statement, “… anyway, even if she was why would you care so much?
“I think Tiberius, my friend,” Governor Nepos interjected, “… that he cares because he wants to ensure that she does not miss out on the grand finale, is that not right Aulus?” Nepos smacked his open palm hard down across the younger sibling’s shoulder propelling him forward such that he almost spilled his wine.
Aulus smiled weakly. Of course, he had enjoyed the spectacle that saw his wife beaten mercilessly, and he revelled in seeing her humiliated naked and chained before the whole town … but yet? He had a slight pang of something deep in the pit of his stomach. Was it regret, the remnants of some sort of love, or something else?
“Well, my friends, in a very short time the inhabitants of Vindolanda, good citizens of Rome, will be able to gaze upon a sight that will never, ever leave them. Two gloriously naked, deliciously beaten girls, resplendent in their suffering, each hanging from a cross of their own outside the gates at the site of the Wall.”
Aulus took a long drink of his hardly watered-down wine. Now this was indeed a display that he could not wait to see …
******
The girls had been left chained to the wood against which they had each, in turn, being beaten, for several hours. A fully armed guard from Vindolanda’s resident cohort had been positioned around the place where Valeria and Lilah were slumped, unmoving lost in the blackness of misery and torment.
A large pale of salted water had ‘woken’ both captives, at least to the point where their addled minds became conscious again, allowing them to be unchained and readied for the short walk to their final place of woe.
The crowd which had dispersed following the scourging of the barbarian, had begun to gather once more, but this time outside the North Gate, almost at the site where the Wall was under construction and one of the planned towers, a milecastle they were calling them, was being erected. This place of terrible execution would be visible for a vast distance over the rolling landscapes that buffeted the River Tyne.
The death march seemed to go on forever, as the crowd amassed to watch the beaten stumbling girls being dragged to the place where Nepos wanted them.
He would have loved dearly to strap the cross beam to their shoulders in the style of the nailed God, but it would have been a pointless exercise as both of these bitches could hardly put one foot in front of the other.
But walk they did, unbound, unchained, just bloody and battered and naked, pushed and cajoled the entire distance, stumbling and falling until they finally reached a place where there were two empty holes, and a pair of long, roughly hewn tree trunks lying ominously on the ground, their surfaces rough and splintery. This was it … the place of their crucifixion.
The small retinue waited for Nepos’ carriage to arrive. The spectator’s impatience was growing and excited chatter was building. Both captive girls stared at the ground, their legs feeble and their knees weak.
Then a cheer went up as the prancing horse appeared pulling the carriage in which travelled Nepos along with his guests, the Paulinus brothers, Tiberius and Aulus.
The Praefectus, Iulius Verecundus, approached the carriage as his Governor descended the small step.
“Governor Nepos, the prisoners are ready, as are we. How should we proceed?”
Nepos appeared first, and then stood aside to allow the two brothers to also alight, before smiling at his Praefectus. “Mount the barbarian bitch first. Let’s leave Aulus’ whore to watch and anticipate what is also about to be done to her.” As he spoke the building excitement in his voice was obvious.
Verecundus extended his arm, palm open, fingers together and saluted, before returning to the place where the girls and their crosses waited.
He watched as cross beams were attached to each trunk to make the wood ready for the nailing. Valeria was trembling, having fallen to her knees already unable to stand, but Lilah stood, knowing that the end was inevitable, determined to offer these bastards as much defiance as she could muster.
Upon a whispered instruction from the Praefectus, Lilah felt her arms grabbed. Holding her with a firm grip the guards forced her to straddle one of the crossed trunks. She spat and cursed as a near demented Valeria sobbed loudly. The crowd, of course, cheered wildly.
The two guards had quickly positioned the Brigante bride of just a few days previous, onto the crude wooden surface where the many splinters and patches of rough bark dug into the wounds on her bottom. She cried out from the pain as they stretched her arms wide on the cross beam and held them down.
A third soldier appeared with nails and a hammer.
“Dagda bêon wið mae” (Dagda be with me) … the barbarian could be heard whispering.
Nepos, of course would not miss another opportunity to orate, and so he stepped forward.
“Friends, Romans and men of Britannia. We are all here today to see the execution of two seditious females. Firstly, the savage barbarian you see now laying upon her cross will be mounted as a warning to any tribes people who think they can attack and harm our glorious Empire.”
The crowd cheered his words.
“Once she has been positioned then the second girl will also then be crucified. This one, Valeria she was called, the wife of a prominent patrician, is faithless and perfidious. She will suffer as an example to Roman women everywhere, reinforcing how important it is for all of our women to look after and support our men. It is on the that basis that the Empire has been built.”
More cheers from men and women, who were now eager to see the scene unfold.
“Begin!” Was Nepos’ final word, and the throng exploded with delight.
To Be Continued. ...