4
There was nervous conversation between some of the girls over the course of the next couple of hours. They wondered what had happened to Alviva and why she was gone so long.
Joia was talking quietly to one of her female companions about it when Clemencia suddenly stormed in. The woman looked angrier than usual.
You will all come with me at once!” she told them in barely controlled fury. “Not a word is to be spoken!” Her tone of voice was alarming enough that everyone stood up and obediently followed her out without speaking.
They were led through a series of passageways to the other side of the compound. They came to a bare room with a door and two upper windows that allowed in the light of day. “Wait here!” Clemencia ordered them before stepping through the door.
Joia got enough of a glimpse out the door to see that it led outside into the dusk of evening. Once more she got a glimpse of the strange mechanism she’d seen from the back of the truck earlier that day. In an instant the image of that man holding the woman’s severed head up for all to see came unbidden to her mind. She was suddenly filled with a terrible fear.
Marsona, a young woman of 19 years to whom she’d gravitated toward, suddenly came up to her. She could tell the young woman was distressed over something.
“What is it, Joia?” she asked with worry in her voice. Then she gently touched Joia’s shoulder. “What is troubling you?”
Joia could not answer. The image had returned, burned into her mind. She trembled as she found herself unable to find her voice to speak.
Alviva was abruptly escorted into the room, flanked by a couple of guards. She was disturbingly naked. She appeared to have suffered a blow to the face. Long, red welts lay gashed across her chest and backside.
She was led toward the door, her expression resolute and unwavering. She caught sight of the fear in Joia’s eyes. “Fear not for me,” she told the young woman. “Fear only for yourselves. He did not mark me, nor will he ever mark me!”
“Be silent!” one of the guards roared at her. Then she was marched through the same door Clemencia had gone through moments ago.
Seeing Alviva’s condition and hearing her words put great fear in the hearts of Joia’s companions. “What will they do to her?” Marsona asked her anxiously. Indeed, it was the singular question uppermost in the minds of all.
The door opened once more. Clemencia stepped through, glaring at them all. Her presence had the effect of silencing all further speech.
“You will come out and stand in line with me! You will all be silent! You will keep your eyes open and you will witness all! If you fail to obey even in the slightest, you will suffer the same fate as Alviva!”
The girls whimpered in fear as they fluttered behind her like a flock of disturbed quail. They could not help murmuring quietly amongst themselves as they rushed out the door to obey. Their murmurs were quickly replaced with gasps of horror.
Joia nearly fainted at what she saw. The mechanism was indeed there. She could no longer deny its presence, nor what she had truly witnessed back in the truck.
A sharpened, diagonal blade hung at the top of a grooved wooden framework. At the bottom of the blade were two flat pieces of wood set on top of each other. A circle was cut squarely in the midst of them. Instinctively Joia knew Alviva’s strong column supporting her head was destined to be fitted into that circle.
There was a man in military garb and black hood. Apparently his duty was to serve as executioner. He waited near the frame, his appearance filling her with a terrible dread.
A short slab of wood – the bench she had seen before – lay pushed up horizontally against the bottom edge of the frame for the blade. It was not nearly long enough to totally recline upon. Joia remembered the woman she’d last seen upon top of it, her legs spread and upraised.
The sight of it was horrible beyond belief. Joia gasped as though she could not catch her breath. The others around her also seemed to have some sort of trouble breathing.
There was a fire pit nearby. What appeared to be two long branding irons with long, rounded ends were heating in the crackling flames. Several guards stood off to one side as though to observe the proceedings.
Joia and her female companions fidgeted nervously. They whimpered fearfully, uncomfortable at being forced to stand there to witness the upcoming events. Their sheer gowns did not hide them one iota from lustful eyes.
Clemencia walked up to Alviva. Then she savagely grabbed her chin. “I believe you will be marked after all!” she told her with a cruel smile.
Alviva was unyielding. She stood there proudly despite the shame of her nakedness. The marks below her left breast and above her pubic region were clearly visible.
“Strap her down!” Clemencia ordered the two men flanking her. Together they forced her down onto her back.
Her legs bent at the knees as her feet fell flat to the hard earth below. She was slid forward as the executioner lifted the top piece of wood. It allowed her head to pass through the circular hole for her neck.
It was brought down with a disturbing “CLACK”. Joia and her companions jerked with a start. A couple of them had to stifle cries of terror.
Three leather straps were crossed over Alviva’s naked chest and torso, pinning her arms to her sides. The woman’s shame appeared to be compounded by her protruding nipples. But when she turned her head and looked right at Joia, there was nothing but defiance in her fiery eyes.
“Spread her legs and mark her!” Clemencia ordered. “No one will defy Master! If he will not have her, then no man will!”
The waiting guards moved to obey. No doubt they were aware that disobedience to this woman would not spare them her wrath.
Two of them stepped forward. Each one grabbed a leg and pulled it wide as though trying to tear Alviva asunder. She winced in discomfort, but she did not cry out.
Joia watched in utter disbelief as two more picked up the irons from the fire. She saw Alviva tremble and wince. Each man brought his heated object closer to each of her two shamefully exposed holes.
Joia was amazed Alviva set her jaw like flint. The young woman seemingly refused to open her mouth to scream. The poor girl’s lack of response enraged Clemencia.
“Make sure she does not lose her head until she screams from her marks!” The executioner nodded with understanding at Clemencia’s words.
There was the sound of sizzling flesh. Alviva’s body stiffened as her back arched. Amazingly there were no screams.
Joia was horrified. At that moment it felt like her world collapsed all around her. This was unfathomable! Living back home with a set of resentful parents was infinitely more desirous than where she now found herself.
What was shamefully disturbing to her were the feelings she experienced. They were the same feelings she felt in the still of the night when she needed the comfort of self-pleasure. She could not believe how it affected her thus as she was forced to watch Alviva suffer with her head locked in below the dangling blade.
Alviva writhed in agony as the irons did their terrible work. Her holes were turned into charred flesh, no longer capable of giving pleasure to the whims of men as her feminine form had been so designed. And yet she clenched her lips tightly as tears welled up in her closed eyes, stubbornly cutting off the shrieks that wanted freedom from her heaving lungs.
She thrashed about in profuse pain as the guards grimly clung to her legs. Strangely they appeared to be enjoying her torment as the other two continued filling her holes with the flaming hot irons. Her body twisted violently in the leather bindings even more. It was evident she would soon be unable to keep from venting the extreme agony she was suffering.
When she could take no more, she finally opened her mouth. But it was not to beg for mercy. “MY SOUL IS NOT MARKED!” she cried out defiantly to the heavens. “MY SOUL IS NOT MARKED!” Then she emitted an unearthly shriek, unable to hold it back any longer. It sounded as though her very soul was in fiery torment.
Joia could not help noticing Clemencia taking great joy in hearing Alviva’s screams. After several agonizing moments, the Mistress of the compound nodded at the executioner. He promptly released the rope.
The blade fell in its tracks. Alviva’s screams were mercifully stilled. The blade bottomed out with a loud thump, severing her neck. Yet the anguished cries still rang out within the ears of Joia’s terrified companions.
Her head simply dropped lazily toward the ground. The lesson had been instantly driven home. Now they all knew what would happen to each one of them should they fall into Master’s, or Clemencia’s, displeasure.
Alviva’s young body bucked from the shock of the blade severing her spinal column. It still sizzled and jerked as the irons continued to press into her holes. Blood spurted and flowed from the raw, exposed flesh and bone of her severed neck.
Her head bounced once before rolling a short distance. Now it came to rest on its left side. Joia was left with a clear view of Alviva’s facial features.
She saw a look that indicated Alviva had suffered incredible pain. It had clearly been an agony no woman should ever have to endure. Yet Joia saw something else in Alviva’s eyes. It was the faint glimmer of a spirit unbroken despite indescribable anguish.
The executioner stepped over and picked up the severed head by the long, comely black tresses. Lifting it up, he displayed it to Clemencia and the frightened girls standing on either side of her. It was as though he was proving the task had been duly completed.
“Enough!” Clemencia told the men tending to what was left of Alviva. “Get rid of the body of that wretched cur!” She dismissively waved it away with her hand.
A truck was promptly backed up near the site. The irons were pulled out of Alviva’s sizzling, lifeless flesh. Her naked body was unstrapped,
Two of the guards picked her up by her wrists and ankles. They unceremoniously swung her up over the tail of the truck. They handled her like nothing more than the carcass of some wild animal.
As a final indignity, the executioner carelessly tossed the head up into the back of the truck. Then the vehicle roared to life. It pulled away, no doubt those inside having orders to go dispose of the body.
If the young women standing around Joia were not fully aware of what might happen to them should they disobey in the slightest, they certainly knew it now. Joia thought she was going to be sick. She also felt shame the way her body had reacted at the sight.
“To your rooms!” Clemencia demanded loudly. “For this outrage, there will be no evening meal!”
Joia and her horrified sisters fled back inside the building with shrieks and cries of horror. They all rushed off to their separate rooms. Each one could only hope to find some way to blot out of her mind the horrific scene they had just witnessed…
2010; 2020 (written Mar 15 ’10; ed. Oct 21 ’20 by riwa)
5
Joia lay upon her straw filled mattress in the darkness, blinking back tears. Her body shook with quiet sobs of horror and grief. She’d become painfully aware that her future was even worse now than what it would have been had she remained at home.
She simply could not comprehend how Alviva had been so cruelly tortured. And then to have her head separated from her body?? Whatever had she done to deserve such a dishonorable ending to her life??
What made things all the worse were her own feelings of guilt and shame. Watching Alviva lose her head had been the most horrific thing she had ever witnessed. Yet for some reason it had affected her deeply, in ways she couldn’t possibly share with anyone else.
How would they look upon her if they fully knew the truth of how it had made her feel? How could she possibly explain the shameful stirrings of pleasure? How could she describe how she felt the moment the blade had fallen and had cleanly severed Alviva’s head from her body?
It had been so traumatic. Even now, it continued to play itself out over and over in her head. What’s more, she couldn’t make it stop.
Oh, how she wanted it to stop! Joia blinked tears out of her eyes. Then she took a deep breath to compose herself.
She hoped her exhaustion would prevail and that sleep would finally claim her. Instead she saw Alviva in her mind once more. She could clearly picture in her head seeing the naked young woman being strapped down all over again.
Joia whimpered softly as the images began to play back. Her shame returned anew as she remembered Alviva’s body writhing in pain. She actually felt her nipples harden again.
Joia instinctively kneaded her breasts. Then her hand subconsciously slid down below. It went to the place that was already wet from her disgraceful feelings of pleasure.
She pictured the hot irons being applied. Joia remembered Alviva’s body rising up in pain. Her fingers slid inside, shamefully working themselves harder and faster within her.
She tried to stop herself; oh how she tried! Tears of sorrow and shame welled up in her eyes. Her body simply writhed with perverse excitement at the mental images.
She would have given anything to be taken out right then to lose her head. Perhaps then it would finally stop the detestable feelings of pleasure she was experiencing. It shamed her to have such feelings over such a horrible thing to have been done to one of her own right here in the compound.
“Forgive me, Alviva,” she breathed quietly as tears blurred her vision. Then she saw in her mind the image of the young woman looking at her. She remembered the look in her eyes before the irons were applied.
There was no condemnation on display. There was only defiance and pride. Then she heard that horrible scream in her mind, followed shortly by the drop of the blade.
Joia plunged her fingers inside. Her back arched as she was overcome. Tears streamed down her cheeks as pleasure flowed warmly through her body.
This time the shame wasn’t quite so bad. Perhaps she was finally wearing herself out. Joia finally relaxed upon her bedding, sobbing quietly until she finally cried herself to sleep…
6
The next day Joia and her female companions were bathed once more in the cistern. It was a much subdued atmosphere from the day before. Although they were oiled and perfumed again by their matrons, they were not as excited.
The sight of the blade taking one of their own had matured them beyond their years. What’s more, it had taken place in the span of a single day. Now they should prove to be much more compliant.
Ysabella gently tended to Joia. She cooed softly at her in a futile attempt to bring some semblance of comfort from the witnessed events of the day before.
She told the young woman she had learned that Master had tried to bed Alviva. The girl had foolishly refused, scratching his face and leaving three cruel marks running down his cheek. In return, she had been struck. Then she had been taken out and whipped before losing her head.
“Master is angry now,” the matron told her quietly. “I fear for you all. You must be obedient. Respond to any request he makes of you. Otherwise I fear you will suffer the same fate as Alviva.” Joia nodded numbly in response.
Later that day, Clemencia came to them again. She looked them all over as though searching for someone in particular. She spied Gemina, a young woman 2 years younger than Joia who was now merely a few weeks past her 18th birthday.
She roughly took her by the arm. “You!” she commanded with a leer. “Come with me! The Master has need of something soft and pliable!”
Gemina mewled like a frightened kitten as she was pulled out of the room by her arm. Joia was instantly concerned with Gemina’s welfare. The poor thing had taken Alviva’s death particularly hard. She seemed to be a fragile thing.
Marsona came up to her and kindly touched her shoulder. “Joia, I can tell you are troubled.”
“I fear for Gemina,” Joia explained.
“I fear for Gemina as well,” Marsona said quietly. “If what my matron tells me is true, I worry she will not be ready for what is to come.”
Her words would prove to be far more accurate than she would have wished for…
It was the same time as the evening before when the girls were summoned. They were all led to the room beyond which lay the horrible blade. Once more Clemencia appeared to be visibly enraged.
Joia sensed there was a certain elation in her anger. Again, she told them to wait. Then Clemencia went outside to see that everything was being prepared accordingly.
A short time later Gemina was brought crying into the room. She was escorted by the same two guards as the previous day. All garments had been removed from her body.
She was absolutely terrified. Her pitiful cries cut Joia to the quick. But Joia now began to feel those shameful stirrings.
Before they had arrived at the compound, Gemina supposedly had her whole life spread out before her. But Joia now believed it was about to be cut short. She began to grieve inwardly for the poor girl.
Joia could only imagine how Gemina had responded to Master’s demands. Inwardly she questioned Clemencia’s decision to take her to Master next. Shouldn’t she have picked someone else more resilient?
She remembered the expression in Mistress’ face. There had been a certain cruel pleasure at having chosen Gemina. Joia’s suspicions deepened over Clemencia’s motivations.
Mistress was cruel, yet wise. Joia had no doubts she could read the abilities of each girl under her charge. Surely she must have known, or at the very least had some sense, of how the young woman would respond.
Had Clemencia anticipated what would happen? Had she deliberately chosen Gemina for the task, suspecting what would follow? There seemed to be much inhumanity lying beneath the skin of Joia’s Mistress.
As she observed the shaking form of the sobbing Gemina, Joia began to feel those stirrings grow a little stronger. They were the very same ones she had felt when Alviva had lost her head. What made this all the worse was that Gemina was an exceptionally beautiful young woman.
Joia admired her small mounds and flaxen hair. She seemed to be the epitome of innocence. Formerly she had been promised to the son of an important man in her village before she had been taken away. Because of the contents of a pouch, that marriage would never take place. Now Gemina was about to lose her head.
The sobbing young woman was taken through the door to her fate. As she cried out in terror, Joia felt those disgraceful stirrings intensify within her. It caused her to breathe harder.
She was already feeling ashamed of herself. Joia could picture the poor girl writhing on the wooden slab. That beautiful, innocent body was about to be deprived of its lovely head of golden hair.
Tears welled up in Joia’s eyes. She quietly summoned the most vile of curses to fall upon her. How could she even think such terrible things concerning the helpless Gemina?
Clemencia came in to fetch the rest of them. They were all led out into the evening dusk. Gemina was already flat on her back.
She was in the process of being slid into the sections awaiting her throat. The top block came down, sealing her neck into the path of the blade. Instantly she let out a wail as she started begging for mercy.
She cried out that she had done her best to please Master. But he had been too rough on her. It wasn’t her fault.
“Silence!” Clemencia bellowed at her. “Your failure is none of my concern! The least you can do with your pitiful life now is bring some pleasure to those around you! At least you can do THAT, can’t you?”
Joia and her fellow sisters watched in horror as one of the guards exposed his hard penis. His companions laughed and cheered. Pulling Gemina’s legs apart, he savagely thrust himself inside her.
She screamed in pain. No doubt she was dry from her terror. Then the executioner exposed his manhood before tipping her head back and ramming it home into her mouth.
Joia was absolutely horrified. For a moment she thought the midday meal was going to come back up inside her. A moment later she truly wished it would have.
Those disgraceful stirrings she was having suddenly swelled within her like the rush of a mighty wind. Her face flushed red with shame as her nipples hardened under her sheer garment. She fervently hoped no one would notice and bring it to the attention of Mistress or the guards.
Gemina tried to scream. But her mouth was full. The man between her legs gasped aloud as though experiencing great pleasure.
Joia risked a glance at Clemencia. She saw a cruel smile on the woman’s face. She seemed to be enjoying what must be coming across to her as a wickedly good performance.
At that moment Joia was almost certain of her suspicions. Mistress had deliberately picked Gemina to deliver to Master. She must have strongly suspected this would be the end result.
The man between Gemina’s legs roared his release. Then he pulled out and aimed. His ejaculate spurted all over Gemina’s stomach.
The young woman gurgled as the executioner’s seed bubbled up out of her mouth. It set her to coughing and gasping. Then she began crying forlornly.
Joia was horrified at the degradation of poor Gemina. But she was unable to look away. It was not because they were all compelled to observe the proceedings upon threat of death. It was because of something more shameful inside her.
She could feel it swelling within her. Joia seemed unable to stop the rising feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. Surely anyone looking her way would discover her shameful reactions.
“Now use the other opening!” Clemencia demanded of the guards with a cruel laugh.
One of them eagerly stepped up to do her bidding. Gemina screamed anew as he violated her rectum. Every one of Joia’s companions shivered and squirmed, fighting to prevent the screams that wanted to erupt from their lips to join with those of their poor sister.
Joia struggled to breathe, her eyes wide in horror as the sensations swelled inside her. This time it was much worse. This time she could imagine it was her lying on the wooden slab instead of Gemina.
Strangely she imagined it was her being so disgracefully abused, the blade hanging ominously over her own head. Tears stained her cheeks as she watched the poor girl writhe and scream. She couldn’t help wondering how Gemina must feel knowing the blade would come down at any moment.
The executioner reached for the rope. Joia shuddered in revulsion. Even so, she could feel shameful, internal pleasures over what she was witnessing.
Her mind screamed in horror as the feelings inside her swelled towards a crescendo. Then she saw Mistress nod at the executioner. The cruel woman’s eyes blazed with fire as she licked her lips.
The blade dropped. Gemina’s cries were mercifully silenced. Her head dropped onto the blood-stained ground beneath her.
At the moment the head was severed, Joia felt it break over her. She wept openly as a pleasurable warmth filled her body. She shuddered shamefully as Gemina’s body bucked involuntarily in the straps.
The man thrusting into Gemina’s rectum roared out his release. He finally pulled away, his ejaculate dripping out of her anus. The hooded executioner lifted up the head of Gemina and displayed it to one and all, seemingly proud that his seed dripped from the corners of her mouth.
Joia gasped and then shuddered again. More tears flowed down her cheeks. Shamed by the betrayal of her body, she silently pleaded with Gemina’s spirit to forgive her for such dishonor.
Clemencia turned and saw Joia sobbing quietly. She smiled cruelly, pleased at the poor girl’s tears. Then she turned her attention to one and all.
“Do NOT displease Master again!” Clemencia roared at them. “Now GO!” They scurried back inside the door like a herd of frightened does, their sobs and cries fading as they rushed back to their separate rooms…
2010; 2020 (written for Aravanna and Hitomi Mar 15 ’10; ed. Dec 3 ‘20 by riwa)