With her feet roped to the cross, Sabina cannot resist pushing herself upwards to relieve some of the agony in her wounded wrists. She knows she can't put this off any longer, because the executioner will get impatient and have the Nubians lift her up and set her on the cornu, forcing her down on its horn going into whichever of her holes they picked. She has to raise herself up, and quickly, although she knows when she does, the executioner will drive the iron spikes through her feet.
Sabina narrates:
This would be my last chance to raise myself up and take the pressure off the nails in my wrists without immediately trading that relief for agony in my feet. But as soon as I straightened my legs and got my knees out of his way, the executioner would begin nailing my feet.
He was eyeing me impatiently already. I had to move soon to raise myself or they would do it for me, roughly and painfully. I was terrified they might just lift me up and force me down on the cornu, making me stay on it until my feet were nailed. I had to do this myself and I had to do it now.
“Oh no…” I sobbed. I couldn’t delay any longer.
Pushing up with my legs made my hips thrust forward, not just upward. Raising myself on my feet meant pulling with my arms as well as pushing upward with my legs. I gritted my teeth and groaned at the horrible stabbing pains in my wrists as I strained against the nails and tried to keep the wounds from twisting on them. Which they did anyway, adding horrible shooting pains to the throbbing agony I was suffering already, forcing me to scream.
I did it slowly, pulling my shoulders back against the cross, ignoring the pain of the rough wood rubbing against the welts there. I felt the splintered end of the cornu rasping down the crack of my buttocks as I pushed myself upward.
As I inched higher, I felt the upturned point of the cornu slide between my legs and underneath my buttocks, my body slipping back against the cross. Its point was underneath me now, and I had to be careful to avoid it. Even worse, if I fainted again while raised above it like this, I would fall onto it. My body’s weight might drive the horn into my rectum or porcella.
That was a pain and further humiliation I wasn’t ready to accept, and my buttocks clenched involuntarily at the thought. But I knew too that it would not be long until the agony would be so bad that humiliation wouldn’t matter anymore. I would be so desperate for whatever relief I might find that I would give up my last shred of dignity, even trade the pain and shame of the cornu for the some relief from the pain of the nails.
I strained to straighten my legs as far as they would go, pushing myself still higher until my shoulders were just above the bottom edge of the patibulum. I drew in deep, ragged breaths. My wrists throbbed with pain, but it was so much better than the horrible agony of hanging by the nails. I looked out across the onlookers, all staring at my naked body, enjoying my torture and shame, and saw my humiliation reflected in their eyes.
I lowered my head so I wouldn’t have to see them and looked down across my gleaming, sweaty body stretched out on the cross. My nipples were once again hard and erect. There was a trickle of blood oozing from a spot on my left breast where one of the whip’s knots had struck. My knees were still bent a little, impossible to straighten completely unless I arched my hips outward. I felt my clitoris hardening, throbbing, growing more sensitive. My body had a mind of its own. I closed my eyes and tried to will my arousal away.
Two more nails…
Here is the scene:
Some executioner's eye views:
And some near vicim's eye views: