“I do not want to hide that from you. I do not want rumours to go about throughout my army of the terrible things that the Romans might do if that catch you. Instead, Messaline here has offered to teach you about the cross, and to give you suggestions of ways to face and accept the possibilities of crucifixion. That way, we will have drawn the sting of the only weapon that they have ”
Roxie looked at me. “Oh, God, Wragg! She’s going to let herself be crucified in front of all these people. Oh, I wish it was me!”
I grimaced at her. “I’m kind of glad it’s not me!”
“Wimp!”
Messaline had stepped forward. “The Romans want you to be terrified of the cross! They want you to be terrified of its agony and shame. But, would it surprise you if I told you that I know a woman who has had not one, but several orgasms while being crucified?”
Roxie had turned bright red. I tried to stop myself from giggling. My tongue still ached from its efforts of the previous evening.
Messaline certainly had their attention. You could clearly hear the birds in the nearby trees.
“Who has ever seen a crucifixion?”
Quite a few hands went up. A good number of us had been there when Tobin was crucified. But a good three quarters of Messaline’s audience had, apparently, never seen one.
“Bien. Now I am not going to pretend that crucifixion is a – how do you call it – a walk in the park. It is a challenge emotionally, physically, and,” she paused, “sexually. It is an assault, but at the time you will have no rights or no sympathy, so you have two choices. Resist it or accept it. Be angry, or be content.
“The first part of the battle is won. You have choice. With choice comes control. I choose to accept it. The Romans will continue to try to gain control, and their next move is likely to be to strip you naked.” Phlebas stepped forward, and, none too gently, stripped Messaline nude, right there on the stage in front of us.
Messaline continued, “They have clothes, you are naked. Does that make them better than you?”
In Messa’s case, and with every respect to Phlebas, it did not.
“Some of you will be thinking that you don’t look as good as me in the nude. Oui, I have tried to keep myself fit, and I am proud of my body.” I gazed at her, as did everyone in the square. She had every right to be proud of her body.
“And yet you will also be fighting fit. And let me tell you a big secret – whatever you look like, the cross shows you at your best. We will see!
“Next, they are likely to scourge you.” On cue, Phlebas bound Messa’s wrists together, then raised her arms above her head and secured them to a post, so that Messaline was obliged to stand on tip toes, facing the post.
“Once again, your body is shown to good effect.” I agreed with her. Looking around, I couldn’t see many who didn’t. Roxie had her hand on her crotch. Nobody else had noticed.
There was a loud crack as a whip collided violently with Messaline’s soft, bare, buttocks. She flinched slightly, then smoothly continued her commentary. “I have asked Mr Phlebas to whip me as a Roman would. I don’t want you to think he is giving me an easier time than you would get at the hands of the Romans.” CRACK! “Does it hurt? Yes, of course it does!” CRACK! “But what is ‘pain’? It is what we choose” CRACK! “it to be. Like the nudity, like” CRACK! “the cross itself, we have choice. Do I” CRACK! “hate this pain? Do I fight against it?” CRACK! “Or do I welcome it, and give myself” CRACK! “to it? If I do, don’t misunderstand me,” CRACK! “it still hurts, but now I am the Master” CRACK! “of my pain.”
There were ten deep, angry weals across Messaline’s back and buttocks. Phlebas released her, and once again she addressed her audience, with barely a tremor in her voice, from a beating that would have reduced me to a howling, quivering wreck. But, would it now? I realized that Messaline’s demonstration was also having a positive effect on me, and I’d thought I had already come to terms with the possibility of my crucifixion.
“The Romans may also try to humiliate you further by making you walk to the place of your crucifixion. Usually, they will leave you naked, occasionally they may place a cloak of some kind over you, but only so that they can enjoy pulling it off again later. If they do, consider throwing it off again. You will be naked when they crucify you. Often, they make you carry your cross, or at least the transverse beam, to the place where they will crucify you.”
Phlebas and RR placed the beam that I had prepared for Roxie yesterday across Messaline’s shoulders. Messa reached up behind it and placed her hands over the top. She carried it down the steps, and, with the two men in close attendance, she walked right the way around the square. We all turned, gradually, to watch her progress. About half way round, she spoke. “The wood may be heavy. You may be weakened by your beating. But remember – you are Queen Barbaria’s soldiers, you are fit and strong! This may be your last battle, but you are not going to give the Roman bastards the satisfaction of seeing you fall!”
“That’s easier said than done,” murmured Roxie. “That cross was bloody heavy when I carried it yesterday!”
But Messaline did not fall. She carried that beam a good third of a mile with bare feet on a rough surface, and barely faltered. She climbed back up onto the stage, and we all clapped. RR and Phlebas relieved her, finally, of her burden, and began to assemble the cross.
Messaline waved her hand, dismissing the applause. “My body is not stronger than your body.” She tapped herself on her temple. “It is my mind that is strong! And your minds, too, can be strong enough not to fear the cross!”
We watched as Phlebas and RR arranged the cross, so that it was tipped forward at an angle of about 20 degrees, purely so that we could see properly.
Messaline watched them for a moment. “You may have to watch them preparing your cross. You may have to watch others being crucified. Others may watch you being crucified, as you will soon watch me. If the others are weaker than you, and cry out, fight or scream, or even defecate, no matter, for you are stronger than them. If they are as strong or stronger than you, take courage from them!”
Phlebas stepped forward to take Messaline to her cross. “One moment!” she said.
She turned back to us. “How will they fix you to the cross? Very often, they will use these. “ She held aloft a vicious looking six inch spike, similar to the ones I’d threatened Roxie with yesterday. “Phlebas will not be using these on me today, because they would do damage to my wrists and heels, and I still need to be able to fight Romans! But do I fear such nails? Non. I do not. And by now, you will begin to understand why not. It is because I have trained myself not to fear pain. And so can you, too.”
Once again Phlebas reached for her. Evidently, he was eager for the next part.
But she dodged past him. She laid herself down on her cross, and stretched her arms out. “Your last little victory! The Romans take great delight in throwing you down onto your cross, and forcing your arms out onto it. But not you, you are going to embrace your cross. Why fight it?”
She wriggled into the proper position, upon which her audience gave a little collective sigh, and RR and Phlebas tied her arms onto the cross.
The stipes still had the nails in place from Roxie’s crucifixion yesterday, so Phlebas simply tied Messa’s heels to those, and there she lay, stretched out and firmly tied to her cross.
The two men grunted as the cross was raised, and then it dropped with a very loud bang into a slot prepared for it in the stage. This clearly winded Messaline, and for a minute or so she seemed unable to speak, and she fought to regain the control over her crucified body that was such an important part of her strategy for dealing with it.
Phlebas stood back and admired a job well done. Messaline looked magnificent on her cross, proud and strong, she embraced it as a gift, not a shameful punishment. If the Romans could see this girl, he thought, they would reconsider crucifixion as a deterrent!
Barbaria, who had watched all this in silence, stepped forward. “She will be all right in a moment. But this is the worst part, because a human being on a cross is barely a human being at all. Most of the things that you and I take for granted, breathing, adjusting your position when you are uncomfortable, scratching your nose when it itches, these are no longer possible. And, suddenly, you are hanging from your wrists and heels. Most of your weight is taken on your shoulders, and they very quickly begin to protest about that. Speaking can be very difficult….”
“Thank you, Queen Barbaria. Barbaria is quite right. I have been crucified before, as you maybe can tell, but every time I am raised into position I do need a minute or two before I am able to re-establish control. Firstly, I have to find a balance between weight on my arms, and weight on my feet. My feet are supported on these nails, so if I were to relieve all the weight on my arms, then all my weight would be taken on the nails, and even though they are under my heels and not through my heels, I could not bear it for long. But neither were we made to hang from our arms, especially not with them in this position.” She looked out along her arms. “I cannot hang from my arms for too long, either. So I try to find a balance.”
This speech had clearly exhausted her, and now she hung in silence.
Barbaria said, “There. Thank you Messaline. She may hang there for hours, but Phlebas will stay with her, and will get her down when she’s had enough.” She looked at us. Anyone who cannot face this can leave now, and there will be no shame on them.”
Silence. Not a soul moved.
Phlebas bowed to Barbaria. "There is one more thing" he said. "Messa mentioned an orgasm, and she would like to show that it is possible. But she will not appreciate the rough hands and clumsy tongues of men. Dear Queen, is there one among you who can give Messaline what she truly needs, the knowing and gentle touch of another woman?"
Barbaria thought for a moment, smiled at him, then looked out across the crowd.
“Roxie! Come here, I have a job for you!”
Roxie looked at me. “Oh, God, Wragg! She’s going to let herself be crucified in front of all these people. Oh, I wish it was me!”
I grimaced at her. “I’m kind of glad it’s not me!”
“Wimp!”
Messaline had stepped forward. “The Romans want you to be terrified of the cross! They want you to be terrified of its agony and shame. But, would it surprise you if I told you that I know a woman who has had not one, but several orgasms while being crucified?”
Roxie had turned bright red. I tried to stop myself from giggling. My tongue still ached from its efforts of the previous evening.
Messaline certainly had their attention. You could clearly hear the birds in the nearby trees.
“Who has ever seen a crucifixion?”
Quite a few hands went up. A good number of us had been there when Tobin was crucified. But a good three quarters of Messaline’s audience had, apparently, never seen one.
“Bien. Now I am not going to pretend that crucifixion is a – how do you call it – a walk in the park. It is a challenge emotionally, physically, and,” she paused, “sexually. It is an assault, but at the time you will have no rights or no sympathy, so you have two choices. Resist it or accept it. Be angry, or be content.
“The first part of the battle is won. You have choice. With choice comes control. I choose to accept it. The Romans will continue to try to gain control, and their next move is likely to be to strip you naked.” Phlebas stepped forward, and, none too gently, stripped Messaline nude, right there on the stage in front of us.
Messaline continued, “They have clothes, you are naked. Does that make them better than you?”
In Messa’s case, and with every respect to Phlebas, it did not.
“Some of you will be thinking that you don’t look as good as me in the nude. Oui, I have tried to keep myself fit, and I am proud of my body.” I gazed at her, as did everyone in the square. She had every right to be proud of her body.
“And yet you will also be fighting fit. And let me tell you a big secret – whatever you look like, the cross shows you at your best. We will see!
“Next, they are likely to scourge you.” On cue, Phlebas bound Messa’s wrists together, then raised her arms above her head and secured them to a post, so that Messaline was obliged to stand on tip toes, facing the post.
“Once again, your body is shown to good effect.” I agreed with her. Looking around, I couldn’t see many who didn’t. Roxie had her hand on her crotch. Nobody else had noticed.
There was a loud crack as a whip collided violently with Messaline’s soft, bare, buttocks. She flinched slightly, then smoothly continued her commentary. “I have asked Mr Phlebas to whip me as a Roman would. I don’t want you to think he is giving me an easier time than you would get at the hands of the Romans.” CRACK! “Does it hurt? Yes, of course it does!” CRACK! “But what is ‘pain’? It is what we choose” CRACK! “it to be. Like the nudity, like” CRACK! “the cross itself, we have choice. Do I” CRACK! “hate this pain? Do I fight against it?” CRACK! “Or do I welcome it, and give myself” CRACK! “to it? If I do, don’t misunderstand me,” CRACK! “it still hurts, but now I am the Master” CRACK! “of my pain.”
There were ten deep, angry weals across Messaline’s back and buttocks. Phlebas released her, and once again she addressed her audience, with barely a tremor in her voice, from a beating that would have reduced me to a howling, quivering wreck. But, would it now? I realized that Messaline’s demonstration was also having a positive effect on me, and I’d thought I had already come to terms with the possibility of my crucifixion.
“The Romans may also try to humiliate you further by making you walk to the place of your crucifixion. Usually, they will leave you naked, occasionally they may place a cloak of some kind over you, but only so that they can enjoy pulling it off again later. If they do, consider throwing it off again. You will be naked when they crucify you. Often, they make you carry your cross, or at least the transverse beam, to the place where they will crucify you.”
Phlebas and RR placed the beam that I had prepared for Roxie yesterday across Messaline’s shoulders. Messa reached up behind it and placed her hands over the top. She carried it down the steps, and, with the two men in close attendance, she walked right the way around the square. We all turned, gradually, to watch her progress. About half way round, she spoke. “The wood may be heavy. You may be weakened by your beating. But remember – you are Queen Barbaria’s soldiers, you are fit and strong! This may be your last battle, but you are not going to give the Roman bastards the satisfaction of seeing you fall!”
“That’s easier said than done,” murmured Roxie. “That cross was bloody heavy when I carried it yesterday!”
But Messaline did not fall. She carried that beam a good third of a mile with bare feet on a rough surface, and barely faltered. She climbed back up onto the stage, and we all clapped. RR and Phlebas relieved her, finally, of her burden, and began to assemble the cross.
Messaline waved her hand, dismissing the applause. “My body is not stronger than your body.” She tapped herself on her temple. “It is my mind that is strong! And your minds, too, can be strong enough not to fear the cross!”
We watched as Phlebas and RR arranged the cross, so that it was tipped forward at an angle of about 20 degrees, purely so that we could see properly.
Messaline watched them for a moment. “You may have to watch them preparing your cross. You may have to watch others being crucified. Others may watch you being crucified, as you will soon watch me. If the others are weaker than you, and cry out, fight or scream, or even defecate, no matter, for you are stronger than them. If they are as strong or stronger than you, take courage from them!”
Phlebas stepped forward to take Messaline to her cross. “One moment!” she said.
She turned back to us. “How will they fix you to the cross? Very often, they will use these. “ She held aloft a vicious looking six inch spike, similar to the ones I’d threatened Roxie with yesterday. “Phlebas will not be using these on me today, because they would do damage to my wrists and heels, and I still need to be able to fight Romans! But do I fear such nails? Non. I do not. And by now, you will begin to understand why not. It is because I have trained myself not to fear pain. And so can you, too.”
Once again Phlebas reached for her. Evidently, he was eager for the next part.
But she dodged past him. She laid herself down on her cross, and stretched her arms out. “Your last little victory! The Romans take great delight in throwing you down onto your cross, and forcing your arms out onto it. But not you, you are going to embrace your cross. Why fight it?”
She wriggled into the proper position, upon which her audience gave a little collective sigh, and RR and Phlebas tied her arms onto the cross.
The stipes still had the nails in place from Roxie’s crucifixion yesterday, so Phlebas simply tied Messa’s heels to those, and there she lay, stretched out and firmly tied to her cross.
The two men grunted as the cross was raised, and then it dropped with a very loud bang into a slot prepared for it in the stage. This clearly winded Messaline, and for a minute or so she seemed unable to speak, and she fought to regain the control over her crucified body that was such an important part of her strategy for dealing with it.
Phlebas stood back and admired a job well done. Messaline looked magnificent on her cross, proud and strong, she embraced it as a gift, not a shameful punishment. If the Romans could see this girl, he thought, they would reconsider crucifixion as a deterrent!
Barbaria, who had watched all this in silence, stepped forward. “She will be all right in a moment. But this is the worst part, because a human being on a cross is barely a human being at all. Most of the things that you and I take for granted, breathing, adjusting your position when you are uncomfortable, scratching your nose when it itches, these are no longer possible. And, suddenly, you are hanging from your wrists and heels. Most of your weight is taken on your shoulders, and they very quickly begin to protest about that. Speaking can be very difficult….”
“Thank you, Queen Barbaria. Barbaria is quite right. I have been crucified before, as you maybe can tell, but every time I am raised into position I do need a minute or two before I am able to re-establish control. Firstly, I have to find a balance between weight on my arms, and weight on my feet. My feet are supported on these nails, so if I were to relieve all the weight on my arms, then all my weight would be taken on the nails, and even though they are under my heels and not through my heels, I could not bear it for long. But neither were we made to hang from our arms, especially not with them in this position.” She looked out along her arms. “I cannot hang from my arms for too long, either. So I try to find a balance.”
This speech had clearly exhausted her, and now she hung in silence.
Barbaria said, “There. Thank you Messaline. She may hang there for hours, but Phlebas will stay with her, and will get her down when she’s had enough.” She looked at us. Anyone who cannot face this can leave now, and there will be no shame on them.”
Silence. Not a soul moved.
Phlebas bowed to Barbaria. "There is one more thing" he said. "Messa mentioned an orgasm, and she would like to show that it is possible. But she will not appreciate the rough hands and clumsy tongues of men. Dear Queen, is there one among you who can give Messaline what she truly needs, the knowing and gentle touch of another woman?"
Barbaria thought for a moment, smiled at him, then looked out across the crowd.
“Roxie! Come here, I have a job for you!”
....well just about 
