(continuing)
‘Guards begin the executions!’ … he ordered, and more silently to the guards, ‘The girl first, then the lad, both of them on the cornu stipes. That oaf of a tanner - do him last!’’
Oh, yes - these local courts somewhere in far provinces, with their power to decide on life and death of the simple inhabitants… Everybody knows how they are working… I started to feel the heat of the day, I should go to the city …
Now everything started …
… Two men in black came up to the women and grasped the ends of the beam on her shoulders. Everyone watched expectantly … in silence around us …
The girl tensed, fully, her a face a mask of terror, deep panic in her eyes … for a long time I will remember this utter horror written on her face! …
One of men untied thin string and took from her hips the wide crime-board, exposing now the women full nakedness. She involuntarily lifted one knee, as if wanting to hide the black triangle of her pubic hair, one of her breasts swayed, maybe struck by edge of the board; it was the only movement in that scene …., as if time stopped for her – for the poor, ordinary girl.
It then took place rapidly… the two man dragged her very fast to the beam on ground and placed her backwards on it. Her first shriek rang out as her bloodied back felt the hard timber of beam, and then, lying on it I heard interrupted squeals of terror when with few blows of hammer the two men secured skillfully the beam with her arms to the long pole lying on the ground. Three others standing in front of her were this moment blocking my view, so the desperately kicking legs was all I could see. The whole crowd around was still silent with their faces directed towards this one point… And the sudden blows of the hammer - ONE! Two! Three! Her legs and hips convulsed savagely together with the loud hammering - paralyzing and an agonized, her high women’s screams filled the air!
It continued after the blows of hammer stopped… so high and intense, and now only her feet rubbing against the stony ground…
There was no break - now the men were raising the cross with the nude body on it. The cross was high and they used ladders, raising it up fast. As the cross quickly rose into the air, I noticed the girl legs desperately embracing the post, trying to prevent her body sliding down… The pole suddenly sunk down into the hole in the ground and was secured with wooden wedges. Was protruded up high now with her hanging from it; protruded now with something as a strange creature, not human, above us… creature which was constantly shrieking...
And just with enormous effort – half-sitting on its end, she tried to avoid the terrible peg jutting up between her legs, which was to enter her somewhere... her feet embracing the pole, legs tensed in biggest effort… tensing the whole body…
And from my point I could now see clearly how severely was whipped all her back, the thighs, the round feminine buttocks, which were now rubbing against the rough timber behind her, tearing those all wounds of whip.
I looked at the people - all were watching in silence, with excitement. I looked at the terrified faces of the two other criminals - they also watched in horror what was happening… both with dumb open mouths and dopey look …
All this that I tell and what happened just after, lasted in real a short time – I looked on with fascination, as well as with shock and fright … and ashamed. At the nakedness of the women I was witnessing I felt my cheeks blushing. But first at all it was shock! – the numb shock was the biggest feeling that hit me there.
It was only while, and now the two guards grasped the legs of the hanging feminine body, pulling them wide apart – the body started to writhe desperately… and then without legs grasping the beam, it slips down to hang from outstretched arms, screaming as the curved peg from pole was now driven fully somewhere inside this body. Then the men bent her knees, parting thighs wide, two other men then nail the feet flat against the post… Hammering and again terrible, loud screaming … The women is yelling with animal-like sounds, loudly, really very loudly, horrible!... in the silence of the watching crowd… - this high high-pitched howling continued even after the hammering of the nails had stopped… and it was it ready... it was done with that criminal-women…
Then they stood under her, looking up at their work as if with pride, while one on a ladder was fixing the crime board above her head…
I squeezed between people to my left, to have a better view. By now she was hanging limply, with head lowered and her matted black hair hanging down, but kept with the strings what left the face uncovered. Small trickles of blood were flowing down her body from nailed wrist, down the toes and pole from feet… Trickle of urine was flowing slowly down her thigh… dirty and bloodied feminine body was hanging now numb above our heads like some inert piece of meat … terrible sight! … no one should witness executions …
Some of people started to whisper to each other, little by little more and louder, and after a moment the silent mood of stunned horror in the watching crowd burst like soap bubble. It got noisy, people in the crowd began to laugh, commenting and cheering at the sight of the first executed criminal. After fixing the board, a man climbing down the ladder slapped her breast, which bounced and wobbled, evoking more laughter and comments from the crowd.
”good for her…, little thieving slut ..., cunt on a cross!...
"go ahead! give us the next one…, now the rapist! …let him start to croak…” - their whistles, swearing and shouts were ringing out around me.
The crowd thickened – in fact a lot of people had gathered for the spectacle. After the first of those sentenced was already on the cross, the mood of the most onlookers had changed. It had got much louder; an atmosphere of hatred and contempt for the sentenced became more dominant.
The soldier on horse gave a command and two black clothed men approached the other two criminals. Because I still stood close to them I had a good view of what happened next. Almost physically I felt the fear of both men, the hopeless sense of the coming torture and death. Looking at them I tried to keep up at least an appearance of indifference – their fate should mean nothing to me and as common criminals they probably deserved it. The mood of the crowd however affected me, although their cruel comments and laughter antagonized me.
‘Now the rapist!’ – rang out the officer’s order. Two black clothed men approached. The skinny lad was utterly terrified. They seized the beam on his shoulders. His eyes bulged in fear with tears, I heard him silently pleading for mercy, claiming tearfully that he didn’t do anything wrong… I noticed drops of urine flowing from under the crime board… Sad and contemptible view...
For short while he tried to struggle ineffectively, when the two men started to drag him to next of the long stipes lying on ground. One of guards dropped his end of the beam and as young rapist tumbled he cut the string on his hips, took away the crime board, then lifted end of the beam up again. Both hauled the wretch back onto his feet and before all the gathered people he stood completely naked, with exposed genitals ! Terrible, mean, shaming view which should be prohibited! … he clenched together his thighs, as if he wanted to hide this disgust from people’s eyes. But laughter and rude comments burst loudly out, the few young girls standing not afar to me giggled with hands over their faces. Incomprehensible savagery! …
The two guards didn’t take him straight to stipe – with arms roped to the beam, they dragged him before of the crowd. In this nudity! There they hauled the lad to his knee, directly in front of all the people. This made fun for them, there came loud insults and laughter. I see his bloody back and bottom after whipping, just like of the girl who was now on her cross, contrary in relation to the few injuries in the front …
After this “presentation”, he was dragged back and thrown onto the long beam lying on the ground. The criminal started to cry out as he was thrown on the beam, putting up his back, trying to avoid the roughness of the wood. He was pulled up so that the hooked peg fixed to the beam was situated now between his legs. And he lay now on the beam, inertly, with his knees drawn up and clasped together nervously.
I looked, nothing blocked my view. The lad was now silent and threw terrified glances at men gathered above him. Sound of heavy blows of hammer with his body in vibrations together with wood, and the short beam from his shoulders was now fixed securely to the long stipes – it was now a cross. The men worked with silence and indifference. After securing it they then fixed the crime-board to the top of long stipes.
I was close looking at - with the sound of each blow of hammering the beam and then crime-board, I saw as the lad was falling into a clearly visible, growing panic. He gasped quickly, his legs begun to scrabble and move up and down digging in the stony ground and the whole his body started to shiver as if cold. The two of the men with the hammers took the big nails from bucket, calmly they bent over him, two others were grasping his hands in correct positions. The legs of the lad stopped to move, trembling only nervously; I saw with amazement his penis starting to stiffen in this shock and panic… and then the blows of hammers! … I saw so clearly the nails going through wrists, and deep into the timber, little fountains of blood … the nude body on the ground started to arch up like a bow, the bloodied back high above the long beam, and this howling!, increasing… loudly!, louder than voices and laughter around me, which for this moment also faded, as if everyone from crowd wanted to hear this cry. The hammering stopped; his wrists were fully nailed to the timber - but his howling as if of butchered animal continued …small fountain of urine spraying up from his half-stiffened penis… terrible! terrible sight! ..
And the body slumped down …he was lying limp, gasping deeply, staring into the sky above with wide open eyes… smell of sweat and urine flowed down between legs, …men standing over him were looking at with amusement and contempt written on their faces, another of them removed the ropes from the short beam.
Then two of men grasped ankles of the criminal and spreading his legs, pulled whole body violently along the beam so that the protruding hook struck against his scrotum… he shrieked loudly… they raised him up and again downward so that the end of the hook entered his anus… The young rapist moaned, they pulled him further down, …he writhed his hips and torso like a snake as the hook went deeper… All looked at it, the guards and some people around me were also, somebody chanted – ‘Deeper! deeper in the ass…’, the girls next to me were giggling, covering their flushed with shame faces with hands and pretending not to look… At that moment the already executed women started to moan louder and louder from on high, she was regaining consciousness, her body on cross began to flex and move…
This was a real horror… I considered escaping, but I didn’t, I stayed and looked on with further fascination. So near, all the details so clearly visible… the horror continued…
Now they quickly raised the cross with him up - …up into the air, then upright, and violently it fell into the hole in the ground.
The body jerked from the impact and the hooked peg was driven fully into the lad’s anus. He hung now with fully outstretched arms, again and again wailing in pain, his torso arching forwards, his hanging down long legs wagged limply. He was up high now, above the heads of everyone, just like the girl next to him, even a head higher… in plain view of everybody watching..
As previously the guards worked quickly, again two of them grabbed his ankles and bent the legs, parting his knees and thighs wide, as if intentionally exposing his genitals. They twisted his feet setting them nearly one on another, and two other guards, with a few strong blows nailed them flat against the vertical beam. Blood started to flow from under the wide heads of two nails going through the feet bones … The guards stepped away from the cross watching at the result of their work… the second criminal was now executed… He did not lose consciousness, for very short moment he looked at people in silence, with visible shock and surprise on the face but then immediately the expression of pain deformed his face and his howling louder than all before was filling the air...
What horror, what shock! … I see already crucified young man… the last blows of the hammers rang out… face contorted in agony, the open, screaming mouth with the goggling eyes, this strange facial expression under knotted string around the head … I watched dumbstruck with terror, the young women next to me looked as if spellbound, all in the crowd gazing!
Yes, in this moment my eyes and eyes of all gathered here were fixed on the just executed … nude male body trembled on top of the cross, so high, .. pale and skinny body, dirty, bloody, … terrible, terrible view … I see his trembling legs straighten, the lad was twisting desperately from side to side in his agony, and he roses up, the curved hook slips out of him… he froze, tensed, from his feet to head arched like a bow, I see as - because of all pain and shock I think - his penis stiffened fully, jutting out up in erection … on his high he started to howl in pain like an animal rather than a human - loudly, like a goat or a donkey … all were watching… and after short time of silence all the screaming insults from the crowd returned in mixing noise of voices…, I saw he fell down, onto the vicious hook striking him between thighs… his hips were writhing as he re-impaled himself on hook, inserting its end in his anus, …maybe desperately hoping to find this way some support for his body…
This entire disgusting spectacle acted in so blatantly visualized way as on the stage… so close the feminine, trembling body of young thief, next to him, on her cross. He also hung now limply, only trembling on his outstretched arms and with arched back, legs, thighs widely parted displaying him for all to see, with continuous quiet groans of pain coming from his gaping, gasping mouth, mixing with the moans of the women executed next to him… his eyes looked first into sky, then straight into the faces of the people in the crowd below him …
One of guards took the ladder and leant it against the young rapist’s cross. Climbing up, he grabbed still enlarged penis of the crucified by its base and waved it from side to side as if in a final gesture of farewell. The joke was appreciated by all and raised wave of laughter among most of the onlookers…
I watched this show and started to become indifferent to its abomination. The sun began to heat up the day more and more, unpleasant stench of burning and old rubbish came from somewhere, irritating flies hanged around me. I could see the guards – without hurry they were coming up now to the last of the convicted criminals, which was standing there completely numb, with his head down, with closed eyes. I looked at him with a bit of sympathy or admiration for self-control. Now was his turn. The guards surrounded him and one of them suddenly pushed him hard. He staggered, falling heavy to the ground. Two men from squad seized the ends of the beam, and with a visible effort pulled him back on his feet. He was a big man, with a strong body, but he didn’t have the strength to fight back, he was completely passive. Then the guards pull him towards the last long beam lying on the ground. As if a background accompaniment for this last walk, new cries and groans were coming from the two already hanging above.
The guards holding the beam turn the thief to face the crowd and third man removes from his hips the board with inscription. Again mean laughter, disgusting giggles and comments from the watching crowd.
What a wretched sight - that adult and serious-looking man now completely naked standing before the staring people. Up to then he had kept something of an appearance of dignity and seriousness appropriate to his age … now it was suddenly disappearing.
I saw the guard who had removed his crime-board strike him with his fist between the legs – once and again, and then in the face. The sentenced man bent double in pain and was immediately turned over and backwards till he was lying on the cross’s stipe, he pulled up his knees towards his chest as his flayed, bloody back made contact with the rough-hewn timber. As before, the guards then quickly attached the crossbeam his arms were tied to the heavy upright beam.
One of the guards drove a short wooden stake into the main beam between the legs of his body, shaking a little with every blow.
I saw them loosening the bonds holding his arms and move them to the right places each side then re-tighten the tethers – probably the guards were afraid that he would wrench his arms free from their grasp … then two more approached holding the nails and drove them in …
…and screams of pain! …first time I heard his voice… The large, powerful body of the man tightened and raised up, and for a while his torso was bent in an arc above the beam. It slumps down… his head hanging down the side of the beam, resting against the ground … has he fainted? …no, groans, and broken words came from his mouth in a low and quiet voice.
And again the cross moved up, not as rapidly as with two before, goes to the vertical, high, higher, with help of ladders. With cry of pain the offender’s body slid down the beam, abruptly stopping as it hit the horizontal peg between his thighs. And almost at once the whole cross fell down with a jarring crash as the beam entered the hole in ground. His whole the body shook, swung forward, and then hung limply …only his legs moved from side to side …again, what a terrible sight! …
Now the mature, virile, and strong man’s body exposed so publicly ... so high, right next to the two others, so young - both seemed immature in comparison to him…
He was now breathing fast, panting, he was aware of the situation, his temporary fainting now over, he was looking down at the guards who were now grabbing his legs - four strong men. They bent his knees parting them as widely as they could, no longer could he pull himself up by his feet …he screamed in pain as he hung from his wrists, a deep male voice. The guards continued to pull his legs apart taking his feet almost behind the upright post…, I heard people around me laughing at the obscene sight, I could see utmost terror in his eyes when he looked at me for a brief moment… Two other guards approached, he shook his head, knowing what was to come, writhing he desperately tried to pull his legs from the shaming and agonising contortion the guards were subjecting him to … No… Nooo ! …both at the same time they drove the two big nails into his ankles, nailing them almost at the back of the post … Screaming!! …his face twisted in agony of pain, loud howling … fading …
The guards let go of his legs… his big body slumped, hanging limply, trembling and shaking whole, his arms and legs spread disgustingly wide… like an insect on transfixed on a pin …
The last of criminals was now crucified … I looked up at the him in shock, …his complete exposure, his head wrapped with knotted hide-twine, the expression of torment on his face…
(it will be continued)