Two days later two young men loiter on Crucifixion Hill. Curiosity keeps them there. Two days before they watched as the naked, yoked man was dragged by a heavy rope around his neck, through the main road and up to the execution site. He was still gagged, his legs spread and hobbled, as the guards reached the place of punishment. Almost one thousand people followed as the procession of guards and the condemned prisoner made slow progress up the hill. Several times he stumbled and almost fell, but strong arms holding the rope pulled him up, choking and gasping, and on they moved.
At the foot of the stipe the procession finally stopped. The condemned man had his yoke and shackles removed and finally, the noose from around his neck. He was too weak to stand on his own and had to be held up by two guards. He lost control of his bladder and pissed a heavy stream of urine on the ground.
The pentablum was brought and laid on the rough ground. Quickly the guards dragged the man, still gagged, and laid him on his back, stretching his arms and tying each wrist securely to the beam. Once he was secured the guards took him by each leg, pulling them wide apart and exposing his anus. Those in the crowd close enough could see his puckered anus and dark curly hair surrounding it.
The Executioner knelt down and examined the orifice, then motioned for a guard, who produced a thick, tapered wooden peg about a foot in length and a heavy wooden mallet. The guard wasted no time in lining up the peg with the condemned man's anus and, taking the mallet, ponded several well measured blows, hammering the large peg deep into the rectum, leaving about 6 inches protruding from his ass. He screamed from the intense pain and lost consciousness. The prisoner was then lifted with the pentablum and hoisted so that it was attached to the stipe. The peg was lined up with a hole midway up the stipe at a 50 degree angle and then secured with a large wooden bolt screwed to the rear of the stipe. Only then were his legs splayed and tied, with the soles of his feet pressed together, to the stipe. Only then did the guards douse him with a pail of dirty water to revive him.
Once crucified the condemned man looked out at the sea of faces and heard the murmuring voices. There were 5 other crosses standing on the hill but his was the only one occupied. It gave him little comfort that he was to die alone. The decision had been made to leave his gag in place, denying him the ability of articulating his suffering except for unintelligible sounds that emanated from unspeakable pain and torment. He who had given orders and been feared just at the sound of his voice, was left mute and pathetic.
He had raped and sodomized his slaves, both male and female, and now he found himself hanging sodomized, his rectum destroyed by 6 inches of wood pounded through his sphincter and crushing his prostate. He was erect and dripping now but far beyond caring.
It took almost 24 hours for him to die. About half of the crowd remained to watch until sundown, not expecting him to survive the night. When word spread the following morning that he was still alive, many hundreds returned to watch, in a noisy vigil, as he struggled on his cross.
It was almost noon on the second day. His body was burnt and blistered by the sun and his arms had dislocated from his shoulders. He could no longer struggle and hung limp now. His penis was half erect, but burned from the sun. He had ejaculated involuntarily more than once from riding the cornu, his last earthly seed pumped out for a thousand pair of eyes.
A little after noon he breathed his last breath. The crowd began to disperse and by nightfall even the guards were gone.
On the following afternoon, under a bright sun, the two young men climb Execution Hill. They are alone except for the body hanging on the cross. Vultures have been busy on the corpse, but it is still recognizable as human. The belly is bloated, the eyes, nose, lips, ears, nipples and genitals food for the vultures. There is still thick hair on the chest and belly, signifying that this was once a man.
One of the young men pick the noose off the ground and take it as a souvenir.
As they begin to make their way back down to the city the vultures return to feast on the carrion that was once a handsome, proud and vain man, lord and master of all he surveyed. He had whipped, tortured and had his slaves crucified for petty offenses. But his evil persecution had gone too far and in the end he was condemned to die a public death to serve as an example to others who might defy the norms of decency and a civilized society.