Pagan Princess

The leather was loosened and they lifted her roughly off the horse. As soon as the pressure was taken off her crotch the numbness disappeared. When the feeling to the area returned Melissia was subjected to the most excruciating pain imaginable. She could not help but let out a shrill scream, her agony excited the guards.

"This is nothing to what the Lady Fulvia has in store for you bitch, if I did not hate you so much I would pity you." Said the first guard.

Melissia sucked in some air. "Let's cut the small talk please Fulvia is expecting me to have breakfast with her, it would be rude to keep her waiting."

The second guard punched her squarely in the abdomen and Melissia fell heavily at the feet of the first who then kicked her in the ribs.

"Will this bitch ever learn to keep her mouth shut?" Said the first guard.

With that they dragged Melissia's limp body to Fulvia's quarters.

Fulvia was angry with the two guards. "It is I who will be inflicting the pain here not you two meat heads." She screamed.

Fulvia examined Drachius' handywork. 'Hmmm..' she thought to herself. 'He has made clever use of the horse, how admirable.'

She guessed the girl had given them all a fair amount of lip judging from the bruising about her body.

Sitting in the middle of the room were two large wooden wheels coupled together with wooden slats. Imbedded in the slats were pointed metal studs. It stood the height of two people. Next to it stood a glowing brazier with hot irons sticking out from the top of it. The very sight of it made the guards shudder. Melissia was too dazed to take any of her surroundings in.

"Seize her up," commanded Fulvia.

With that the two guards placed Melissia's limp body on the wheel. Her ankles were shackled to chains at the base that in turn were imbedded in the ground. Her wrists were shackled and chained high above her head further up the wheel.

Melissia tried to take in what was happening to her, she looked anxiously around her and realised with abject horror that she was being racked. As soon as the wheel turned her body would go up around the wheel but as her feet were shackled at the base she would in fact be stretched between the two sets of shackles. This to her was the worst fate imaginable, being torn limb from limb did not appeal to her one little bit. She tried to struggle then felt the sharp pain of the metal studs in her back.

"You unspeakable bastards!" she yelled.

Fulvia smiled. "Now you realise that all this is not a joke little lady, we want answers from you and we intend to get them." Fulvia salivated at the sight of Melissia's pert breasts with their hard nipples. She noticed the shiver in her body. 'Now she is afraid,' she thought to herself.

"I would imagine just being up on my wheel is painful enough, just imagine what the pain will be like when it is turned?"

Melissia looked down at Fulvia who was literally salivating at the sight before her. "You truly are one monster of a woman but do you not think my death will be swift when you tear me limb from limb?"

"My dear girl I have no intention of doing that, I just want you stretched tight before me then I am free to use my other friends on you."

With that Fulvia pulled one of the glowing red-hot irons from the brazier. "These are the items that will have you singing like a song bird."

Melissia's mind raced back to the time in the stable when Antoninus had used them on her. The pain had been so appalling she did not have the words to describe it. Now here she was about to suffer it once more. She wondered to herself what she had done to deserve such a fate.

She was aroused from her thoughts by the loud clanking of machinery, suddenly the shackles tightened and her body was stretched taught the metal studs bit into her back. The sinews in her arms and legs began to feel like they were on fire, her spinal chord sent out the most excruciating signals of pain. She felt she was entering hell.

Melissia's screams could be heard throughout the building, the soldiers smiled. Soon she will be ours they thought. They had planned her fate right down to the last detail. They were going to rape her to within an inch of her life then she would be nailed to a cross at the gates of the city. Some wanted to impale her but had second thoughts because her death would be too quick.

"You scream so prettily Melissia and I have not even started yet." Torturing this girl was going to be even more pleasurable than she had imagined, thought Fulvia.

Melissia's body was bathed in sweat; she was stretched so tightly she could hardly breath. She saw Fulvia remove one of the hot irons from the brazier once more, she clenched her teeth, and her head was filled with shear terror. 'Brace yourself for the most terrible pain imaginable,' she thought to herself.

"I am going to be very nice to you Melissia, just give me the name of your tutor and all this will stop. I shall be dreadfully disappointed but a name is more important to me at this time. Quickly now before this iron cools too much."

Melissia looked down, and then spat at Fulvia.

"How very very silly of you girl. Then so be it, I will not stop until you give me a name."

Fulvia placed the hot iron just under Melissia's left breast and drew it slowly down her body and across her abdomen stopping just short of her pubic mound. Melissia screamed so loudly she almost ruptured her vocal chords. Fulvia did not want her to faint so she lifted the iron off her body and stood back to admire her handywork.

"Try not to faint dear girl, you obviously want this to last a long time, I cannot think why but who am I not to grant a pretty girl her dieing wish."

Melissia's eyes were clenched tight shut; she could barely hear what Fulvia was saying to her. Her main object was to somehow shut out the pain but it was proving impossible, she truly wanted to die. With that she felt the iron being raked once more across her torso. Fulvia was truly a master at this, she knew exactly when to lift the iron from her skin.

Fulvia passed the iron for the third time across Melissia's quivering body, something exploded inside her head, she heard herself screaming the name "Arnold! His name is Arnold, in the name of all that is holy lift that iron from my body!"

Her voice had been reduced to a croak with too much screaming. Her whole body shook and was racked with pain. Fulvia had broken her she could take no more.

**************

"And she informed you where this Arnold can be found?" The proconsul was delighted with Fulvia's efforts at interrogation.

"Yes she gave me exact details of his whereabouts, a troop of soldiers are on their way there now." Cooed Fulvia.

"I thought this girl would be difficult to break, how was it done?"

"Well it was a dual effort between Drachius and myself, but she certainly has a serious aversion to branding irons."

"Yes I heard tell that she has experienced them before at the hands of Antoninus. But well done Fulvia I will see that you are very well rewarded for this."

"We must celebrate with good food and wine my Lord. You seem to have an abundance of serving wenches in the palace?"

"Very true, I do not know where the Master of Servants is getting them all from and how much it is costing me, but then again one cannot have too many slaves."

Melissia lay in her cell in a state of delirium; she felt that her skin was on fire. She was aware of the presence of another person in the room. In fact it was another of the proconsuls physicians. He had been sent to attend to Melissia's latest wounds in the absence of Ithicus who had been returned to Rome to ultimately face banishment. He was a kind man but he was no Ithicus.

Melissia stared at him through pain filled eyes. "Ah yet another sent to heal me and ready me for execution?"

"Please do not make this any harder for me than it already is my lady." Like Ithicus this physician did not like what had been done to this splendid looking creature before him. "Sorry I know this is not your doing but healing me seems all pretty pointless."

Melissa never did find out the mans name but like Ithicus he did his work well and within a few days she felt a lot better. She knew that whoever was sent to capture Arnold would soon return empty handed for it was foreseen that she would break under the combined efforts of Drachius and Fulvia. Would she then be subjected to more brutality? It was more than likely.

As she was drifting off to sleep she heard a muffled cry from outside her door, then she heard the sound of keys. As the door creaked open she could see the shadowy figures of several women. "Where have you been I have been having so much fun while I was waiting for you?"

Helena stood before her beloved leader trying to suppress a tear at what they had done to her. "Those bastards will pay for this Melissia."

"All in good time my dear friend, tell me is everything in place?"

"Yes, fires are being set in the north of the city as we speak, hopefully this will draw the soldiers away so we can attend to the task in question here."

Melissia was impressed by how well the plan had been executed. "How many of us are present in the city?"

"Thanks to your delaying tactics over 2000 of our women have infiltrated the city over the last few weeks. They will take down the few remaining guards here and go for the proconsul."

"Excellent! We may not be able to win this war but we can cause immense embarrassment to Rome. Any news of the whereabouts of Antoninus?"

"We managed to get word that he was sent up to Caledonia with a legion of troops."

"Dam them, they have denied me my revenge on him." Melissia angrily paced about the room. "Why did they send a whole legion away?"

"Because local hostilities had died down, little did they know we were up to something more cunning." Helena suppressed a laugh.

"You do realise we will bring the might of Rome down on us Melissia."

"Of course I do, but this is our moment, we will have embarrassed Caesar, I would love to be present in the senate when he tries to explain this one to them."

Melissia was interrupted in mid flow by one of the women guerrillas entering the room.

"We have the proconsul and his woman."

"Good, take me to them, this is going to be interesting!"

Melissia found herself staring at a very red faced proconsul and a seething Fulvia.

"You little bitch, you will die screaming in hell for what you have done this day." Petronius Arius was mortified by the circumstances he now found himself in, as was Fulvia.

"Well considering that has been your intention all along Arius I do not think anything has changed much do you?"

The proconsul glared at her and detested her smugness. "So what is it you want from me now you have won the day with your bitch army? It will be very short lived I assure you."

"I am not going to harm you as I respect your position, but what I will do is put you aboard a galley for Rome. I think your Caesar will decide your fate."

"And what of Fulvia?"

"Now she is a different matter Arius." Melissia spoke about her as if she were not in the room, for she knew this to be the ultimate insult. "I think a good and bloody flogging would be well deserved, then maybe a session on that beloved wheel of hers would be most befitting."

Fulvia had a face like a wild cat, spitting and hissing hardly able to speak. "You despicable little mare, you will never get away with this."

Melissia turned and faced her. "My dear Fulvia." She cooed. "I think I already have."

They were interrupted by a commotion outside in the corridor. On investigation Melissia was delighted to see Drachius who was chained head to foot and being dragged along by a posse of her women warriors. He was covered in blood.

"He put up one hell of a fight." Said one of the warriors through blood stained teeth.

Melissia smiled. "I would have expected nothing less." She placed her face just inches from his. "And just what shall we do with you dear Drachius?"

Drachius' pride had been damaged beyond belief and he was passed caring at what was to become of him. He just stared at the gloating Melissia.

"I shall have you impaled, after all the idea of doing that to me did cross your mind did it not?"

Drachius' face seemed to drain of all colour. It pleased Melissia that she had thought of something to put fear into this mindless and cruel man. "What a pity Antoninus is not here to witness this. I will just have to picture his face in my mind when he hears of all this. Maybe they will even send him after me, I would look forward to that very much."

*

Epilogue.

And so it was, Melissia got her revenge. The proconsul Petronius Arius was sent back to Rome and was thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. Fulvia was lashed and racked to within an inch of her life. It had left her a ruined and broken woman. She was taken to an outlying village where she was made to work until she died a few months later from the severe trauma of her wounds.

As for Drachius, Melissia kept her promise and had him impaled in the city square of Nova Magus. It had been a gruesome spectacle with Melissia herself pushing a Roman pike into his anus. He was then raised high into the air where the pike penetrated up through his body and out through his shoulder blades. His screams could be heard right across the city. He died many hours later.

Many months later Antoninus was once again dispatched to seek out and capture Melissia and her rebel army but this time he did not succeed. They seemed to have melted away into the mist. By now the Romans had become tired of this land and he and the hearts of his men were not up to the task assigned to them. And secretly deep down he wanted this brave and stubborn girl to live out her life in peace for he had been truly smitten with her.

The Roman Emperor Nero became more and more insane and eventually stood back and idly watched his city burn.

In the far reaches of southern Briton two women lay in each other's arms. One whispered to the other.

"Pleasure me lieutenant, pleasure me like only you can." For just this brief moment in time Melissia was finally in heaven and in the arms of the woman she loved.

As for the future? Well that was in the lap of the gods.

The End