They didn’t waste time trying to pick Helena back up again for a second time. They just picked up the cross and took it across to join it to one of two upright stipes that had been laid horizontally next to the crucified man, whose name, as proclaimed by the sign above his head, was ‘Arthurius’, and whose crime was theft.
Helena was left, whimpering, face down on the road beneath the South Gate. Rebecca stood, still holding her cross, gazing with intent fascination at Arthurius, her brain struggling to comprehend that, in a very few moments, she would share his fate.
“Can you get out of the road? Some of us have work to do!” A cart, laden with produce on its way into the city had come to a stand on the road, its path obstructed by the two women, and the not inconsiderable number of people who had tagged along to watch.
“No, you can wait there, while the Justice of Rome takes its course.” The guard was firm. When he worked out who was going to be crucified, the farmer didn’t complain further, but seemed strangely content to wait, his seat on the cart offering a grandstand view.
The two assistants came and relieved Rebecca of her burden, and proceeded to set up her cross on the ground alongside Helena’s.
“You seem fond of these girls,” remarked Cassia to Jasmine, noting her tear stained face. “Are you sure you want to watch? “
“I have to….I can’t leave them.”
Crosses complete, the assistants came back for Helena, and pulled her to her feet. Jasmine stepped forward.
“What do you want?” demanded the Carnifex, laying out the tools of his trade. “You were told to keep your nose out!”
“I promised them I’d be with them!” she retorted.
The Carnifex considered. “If you interfere again, I’ll have you forcibly removed!”
They dragged Helena over to her cross, her feet leaving two trails in the dust. “Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god…” Helena’s terror was clear.
The assistants began to unfasten her dress. “Please, no, I don’t want you to take my clothes. Why can’t I keep them on?”
Jasmine opened her mouth, saw the Carnifex, and closed it again. By now, Helena was fighting wildly to prevent them from stripping her, and having some success.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” swore the Carnifex. “Can’t you idiots do the simplest thing right? Just hold her arms still, let me do it! They held her arms out from her body, leaving the Carnifex free to undo the clasps on her shoulder, and the dress slid to the ground around Helena’s ankles. The Carnifex pushed her loincloth down after it, and Helena was naked, save for her sandals. He went round in front of her, grabbed her legs, and the three men dumped the screaming girl down on her back on her cross. He flicked off her sandals, as the assistants pulled her arms into position ready for the nailing.
Fortunately for Jasmine, Cassia came to her and supported her. Up to now, Jasmine had been aware of crucifixion, but it was very commonplace, and she’d never given it much thought. She’d never watched one, and now, being only feet away, she was horrified by the sheer brutality of it. Helena was screaming her innocence as the Carnifex prepared, her wrists held immobile against the cross by the two assistants, while the two guards held Rebecca firmly so that she, too, could watch the unfolding horror. Helena’s legs were kicking wildly but having no effect whatsoever. Calmly, the Carnifex positioned a nail and, with no more than four or five heavy strokes, drove it through Helena’s wrist and into the cross.
The noise of the hammer was overwhelming, combined as it was with Helena screaming in her indescribable agony, screaming in her panic, screaming at them to stop, screaming at them about her innocence. And the blood! Rivers of it, pouring from her wounded wrist, soaking into the cross, mixing with that of the previous occupants of this same cross.
The Carnifex wasn’t affected in the slightest. Everyone he’d ever crucified screamed to the world of their innocence. They all offered him their bodies or their worldly wealth to spare them. He’d ignored the last several hundred, some of whom were prettier women than Helena. He didn’t give a toss. He lined up the second nail and smashed it with the hammer.
Jasmine couldn’t stand to watch, and she turned away. As she did so, she saw Rebecca, standing, her eyes wide with terror and fear. She ran to her.
“Rebecca! Don’t look! Please don’t look!” She tried to embrace her, and, amazingly, the guards let her, but Rebecca was like a wooden doll, rigid with fear. Jasmine stood back, holding Rebecca by her shoulders. “Rebecca, look at me, please!”
Rebecca dragged her eyes away from Helena, and looked at Jasmine. She spoke, in a tiny voice, almost drowned out by the terrible sounds of Helena’s crucifixion. “You’re going to tell me you’re sorry. I know you are. It’s not your fault, Jasmine.”
“I am sorry, yes, but I want you to know that I will have revenge for this. I promise – I will avenge your blood.”
“Jasmine, don’t. It won’t do any good. Just leave it. Forget us.”
“I’ll never forget you, Rebecca!”
Rebecca’s eyes switched back to the scene behind Jasmine. Despite herself, Jasmine turned to watch, first as the Carnifex nailed the ‘HELENA: HOMICIDA’ notice over her head, and then as Helena’s cross was raised. Her soft, bare feet were scrabbling wildly against the rough wood of the cross in a desperate effort to get some purchase on it to relieve the weight on her wounded wrists. Then the cross slammed into its socket, and Helena’s screams echoed back from the city wall.
The assistants grabbed a thrashing leg each and held it in place with the heel against the side of the cross. Helena was powerless to stop them, and she was bellowing in pain before the Carnifex drove a nail cleanly through her heel-bone and into the wood of the upright.
He bent to pick up the last nail.
“Jasmine.” Rebecca’s voice.
“Rebecca?”
“I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared!”
Jasmine just looked at her. She heard the sound of the final nail behind her, Helena’s crucifixion was all but complete.
“Do one last thing for me, Jasmine?”
“Anything…anything you ask!”
“Undress me.”
“W-what?”
“You’ll be kinder than them.”
Jasmine looked at the guards. “Go ahead!” said one.
“Let go of her arms, I have to lift this over her head.” The guards did so, and Jasmine gripped the loose folds of Rebecca’s dress, and slowly lifted it over Rebecca’s head. Rebecca raised her arms so that Jasmine could slip it right off.
Bare breasted, Rebecca shivered in the morning chill. “I’m sorry, my lady, I had an accident, my loincloth is wet.”
“Never mind.” Jasmine unfastened and unwound the loincloth, ignoring the wetness. Rebecca stood naked.
“Thank you, Jasmine.” She held out her hand. “Please, just take me to my cross. I haven’t the courage to go on my own, but I don’t want to be dragged there.”
Everyone, even Helena, was silent, watching Rebecca’s courage. Jasmine took her hand, and led her towards the empty cross, laying beside Helena’s. They passed Helena, and Rebecca reached out with her free hand, and stroked her thigh. “I’ll be with you in a moment, my love.”
Jasmine kissed her, then Rebecca lay down on her cross, and stretched her arms out.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Apologies.
