"If you do not agree to help us, we will consider that you have given your allegiance to the enemy." The King's messenger turned his horse and rode off with his men, back toward his lord's castle, no more than three miles away.

Ainu turned her own horse back to her small village, two miles in the opposite direction. The three women who had accompanied her pulled up along both sides of her as they rode slowly. The others waited for Ainu to speak. She began only after a long reflection on the King's ultimatum.

"We have survived all these years only because the King has given us his protection, and allowed those in his kingdom who share our way of life to join us. Without the King, the Duke would have overrun us long ago. Now we have been asked to do this deed for the King. If we refuse, the Duke will quickly learn that we no longer have the King's protection, and our village will not survive to see the year 1350."

Camilla, on Ainu's right, challenged Ainu. "The Duke will not destroy us. He too has welcomed us into his city. We trade as much with him as with the King. He also allows those women in his territory who prefer our way of life to join us. We have always been neutral. We cannot take sides in this upcoming war between them."

"If we do not take sides," the voice was now Klito's, "we will be destroyed. Our village is directly between the Duke's and the King's lands. But if we succeed in our mission, perhaps there will be no war."

"Myrine, what advice do you give?" Ainu had always trusted Myrine's wisdom above all others.

hings will change whatever we do. And there is no way for us to flee to safer ground. We are more accepted here than we would be anywhere else. So our only hope ... is to do the King's bidding." [see Aine and Klito pic; Camilla pic; Myrine pic]

"How many do we send?" Ainu looked directly at Myrine.

"The Duke's general is returning the day after tomorrow, and will ride through the city to the castle as a hero, assuming that he has forged sufficient alliances with the outer regions to give the Duke a chance to overthrow the King. I think that we will need four. Two on each side of the road leading from the gates to the castle. One in each of the four abandoned turrets."

"But there will be many waiting along the road to greet the general, if he has succeeded." Camilla was the least convinced.

"That will help create a diversion and chaos after we kill the general. It should help our escape. But we will need four." Myrine was unmoved. "Because it is unlawful for us to bring weapons past the outer gates, each of the four will be able to hide only a small bow and one or two arrows under her cloak. Even that may look suspicious to the Duke's soldiers, and, if any are caught with weapons, all Zonamas in the city will be searched."

"Myrine is right," Ainu knew that there was not much time for debate and decision. "And, since the village will be destroyed if we fail, we must use our four best warriors."

"You, Ainu?" Klito indicated surprise that Ainu would consider leaving the village for the mission, but Ainu, their leader, was also their best warrior. "It is too dangerous. We cannot risk your capture or death."

"We cannot risk failure more, so it will be the four of us. Camilla, you disagree with the decision, I know. But you will support it and join us, I trust."

Camilla glared at Ainu, who needed no other response. While they did not always agree, all knew that they were free to speak their mind to Ainu, and Ainu knew that all would support her final decision.

Chapter 2

Preceded by two of his soldiers, and followed by two others, the Duke slowly descended the stone steps leading to the long corridor below his castle. It was quiet now, except for their footsteps. But, he knew, it would not be quiet for long.

The two in front opened the heavy door and waited by it as the Duke passed through with the other two soldiers. They closed it behind them and stood guard outside.

A single person was inside the large room. A woman. Perhaps 25 years old. Dark haired. A Zonama villager, and therefore, no doubt, also strong and independent.

He could tell that this was a Zonaman by her clothing. Typical of its members. Leather bra. Leather shorts. Bare midriff. Calf-high boots. Even when the weather grew colder than it was now in the summer, they dressed like this. Not caring what the soldiers in the city thought when they stared at them. Not caring much at all what any man thought.

But he knew she was a Zonaman before he ever saw her clothes. Because he had specifically instructed his men to arrest the first Zonaman they saw inside his city that day. He needed information.

He doubted that his men had followed his order, fairly certain that they had looked for as long as they dared to find the most attractive Zonaman then in the city. Or perhaps they just had gotten lucky. This one had a nice shapely body. Firm breasts. Accentuated by the fact that she was now hanging by her wrists from chains in the ceiling, her toes struggling to find the stone floor. With a look of defiance in her eyes. Defiance mixed with just a bit of terror. He smiled. The defiance was always there in those Zonaman eyes. But not always the terror. Of course, finding herself in the Duke's dungeon, with the implements of torture everywhere in sight, from the hot pincers and irons to the variety of whips designed for nothing other than to bring the excruciating pain that accompanied physical disfigurement, might have played a role in that rare look of terror in his captive's eyes.

"I have done nothing. Why have you arrested me?" The Duke had not immediately heard her yelling at him as he had studied her body. "We have always traded here freely. And I have brought no weapons nor disobeyed any of your laws. With what crime am I charged to find myself here?"

The Duke continued to stare at her before answering slowly. "You are charged with attempting to seduce the wife of one of my colonels." His captive looked incredulous at him. "And you may also be charged with treason."

"Those are lies," the woman screamed, and suddenly felt her body lifted, as one of the Duke's soldiers pulled on the chain holding her wrists. Not even her toes could now reach the floor, her body stretched taut. Her words were quickly replaced by incomprehensible mutterings of pain. The Duke nodded and the soldier lowered her far enough that her toes could once again find the stone floor. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.

The Duke allowed her a minute, then nodded to one of his soldiers, who moved behind her, and, with a flick of his unsheathed knife, cut through the back of the captive's bra, releasing her breasts. He next cut the bra's straps, and it fell to the floor at her feet. The Duke's thoughts about what he would find under it were immediately confirmed. Even a bit larger than he had imagined. Too bad that she was a Zonaman. He watched her shudder under his gaze and lower her head to her chest. These women did not enjoy being viewed by men. Which is why he always removed their clothing before questioning them. Actually, he always removed the clothing of all women captives, Zonaman or otherwise, before questioning, so maybe that wasn't the real reason. But it did help get answers. And, if it didn't, well, it had its other rewards.

"I'm going to tell you two things that I know. There's no point in your denying them." The woman slowly raised her head to listen. "Yesterday your leaders met with an envoy from the King about halfway between his city and your village. And early this morning, your village held a meeting that hundreds of you attended. Confirm the truth of these facts."

The chained woman quickly realized that it was senseless to deny them. There were spies everywhere. Certainly more than one in her village did not seem as fully committed to the way of life there as she ought to be. This always aroused suspicion. His captive slowly nodded her confirmation of the Duke's information.

"So, if you wish to avoid execution for treason, tell me what was said in the village this morning about the meeting between your leaders and the King's envoy. You are of course aware that failure to provide the Duke with knowledge of a treasonous plot against him or his subjects is itself treason."

Chapter 3

Ainu and Murine rode ahead of Camilla and Klito, slowly, toward the Duke's city. Each had spent a considerable time concealing beneath her cape her small bow and single arrow. With their capes open in front, most in the city who paid them any attention would likely focus their gaze solely on their bra-clad breasts and bare stomachs, and think that the bulge behind them was simply the wadded material of the open cape.

They had decided to enter the city together, since Zonamas usually traveled there in groups of three or four. After passing the guards and entering through the gates of the walled city, they would stay together for awhile before separating. Each would make her own way to one of the turrets that overlooked the road leading from inside the gate to the Duke's castle. The turrets, about 20 feet high, had been used by the Duke years ago for security, before the outer walls had been completed. After that, the Duke believed them no longer necessary, since all visitors to the city knew that the punishment for bringing weapons past the gates was immediate public execution. Certainly Ainu and her followers were aware of this because the executions often took place on the hill overlooking her village. So far none of her villagers had suffered this fate. Before today, they had been very careful to obey all of the Duke's laws inside his city, just as they obeyed all of the King's laws inside his.

As they neared the gated walls, Klito's face grew intense. "Listen." Klito closed her eyes to intensify her concentration. "Coming from the south." She dismounted, knelt and touched the ground with her fingertips, and could feel its steady vibrations. "The general's army. They are not much more than an hour's march away."

"So our timing is as we planned," Ainu smiled.

"Once we separate, we stay separated," Myrine confirmed what each already fully understood. "And we return to the village separately."

Ainu confirmed this. "Yes. We each take our shot at the general precisely when his horse has fully passed the first two turrets." The turrets were about 15 yards apart, two on each side of the road, opposite each other. Camilla and Ainu were to take the far turrets, Ainu on the left side of the road. Klito was to take the nearer turret on the left. They should each have a clear shot. And with shots coming at the same time from all directions, their would have a better chance that at least several of the shots would hit their target, and that several of them could escape in the ensuing turmoil.

They knew that they had to get into the turrets unseen. And hope not to fall through their decaying stairs as they climbed to the top. It had been years since these turrets were used. They were fortunate that the Duke had not torn them down.

The four slowed their pace. They were an hour or so ahead of the general. They did not need to hurry. They needed just to act as they always acted when they entered the Duke's city. As Zonamans.

Chapter 4

The chained woman stared at the Duke before responding. "The meeting was our annual celebration of our founding. Our leaders spoke of how we had grown. How others now felt free to join us. How well both the King ... and the Duke ... had been treating us." The woman's eyes darted from the Duke to the soldiers and back to the Duke, trying to sense whether they believed her. "They told us that the King had sent an envoy to declare a proclamation in his city honoring us." Her eyes resumed their movement among the faces in the room. Her breathing was shallow.

"I don't think so, my dear," the Duke replied, "and I really don't take kindly to lies." He looked at one of the soldiers, who again pulled on the chain holding the captive's wrists, lifting her toes off the floor. She screamed from the pain in her shoulders as a soldier removed her boots and chained her ankles together.

"This time we shall not be so easy on you. You must understand that you should not lie to us again." Before he had finished his words, the other soldier moved to the side of the woman, and raised a long brown leather whip, studded with small iron spikes. He quickly sent it hard against the middle of the woman's back, cutting its flesh horizontally, deeper where the spikes hit. Her body lurched from the impact, and her screams intensified.

"Stretch her even tighter," the Duke ordered. A soldier pulled the woman higher, while another attached a heavy weight to the chains holding her ankles, the weight swinging freely. Her shoulders and bore the full weight of her body. This was one of the Duke's preferred position for his female captives.

"That's better. Now again."

The whip crashed against her back, just higher than the first blow. Then across her naked breasts. The woman howled, her blood dripping out of the wounds caused by the small spikes, and oozing to the surface of her skin everywhere the whip struck, to form two deep lines that joined the first two weaker lines of red that had already formed.

The Duke again nodded. One of the soldiers moved behind the woman and cut through the sides of her leather shorts, which joined the bra on the floor below her, leaving her completely naked, and fully exposed and accessible to the Duke's tortures. [see Captive pic]

"Now, my dear. Once again. What was the purpose of the meeting?" The Duke moved to the woman. One hand reached up and grabbed her hair in his hand, forcing her to look into his cold eyes, while the other hand moved between her legs. She cringed at his touch "The truth. Or the next blows from the whip will be even more painful, I promise you."

Chapter 5

"I told you," the woman responded, hesitatingly.

"You told me lies," the Duke screamed at her, released his grip on her hair, and stepped away, turning his back. The room quickly filled with the captive's screams, as the whip's blows attacked the most sensitive parts of her body. Across her breasts and thighs. When the Duke finally raised his hand and turned back to face his captive, she was hanging limply. Head down. Eyes closed. Mouth open. Chest panting. Entire body convulsing involuntarily.

The Duke again approached and lifted the woman's head to stare into her eyes, which opened only with difficulty. "This time the truth, I hope. For you sake. Or shall we continue?"

The woman blinked hard twice and shook her head. "Four ... To kill the returning general. In return for the King's protection." Her head fell back to her chest as the Duke released his grip on her hair, and her eyes again closed.

"Find them," the Duke ordered his two soldiers. "The general will be here very soon. Find them." The two quickly left the room, leaving the Duke alone with his captive. He moved toward her, release the weight hanging from the chains to her ankles, and then removed the ankle chains themselves. He heard a small sigh escape her lips, and her head swung forward to fall on her chest.

The Duke moved to a table behind his captive and picked up a black hood. He lifted her head and secured the hood around her neck. Her world would now be black even when ... or, perhaps more accurately, if ... she regained consciousness. He moved to the glowing brazier and chose the longest hot iron, about 14 inches, and an inch in diameter.

The Duke returned to his hanging captive and lifted her chin with the forefinger of his left hand. "I don't know whether you can hear me, but I have reached a verdict on the charges against you. Since you have co-operated and revealed your information regarding the treasonous plot against my general, I find you not guilty of the crime of treason. So you will not be publicly executed."

He waited to see a reaction, to learn if she was conscious. If she were, and he doubted it, her body did not react. The Duke continued. "However, I find you guilty of the charge of seducing one of my colonel's wives. And the punishment for that is ... specifically designed to make certain that you will not commit the same crime again. Not even in your next miserable life. In fact, this is the recommended punishment that we reserve for all of you women who refuse to share your delicacies with the deserving men of my dukedom."

The Duke removed his finger and the woman's head again sank to her chest. The Duke moved his left hand over her body, feeling the wounds from the whip that covered her breasts and stomach and thighs. "What a waste of such a beautiful body," he muttered, "but then, you were not much good to any man even when your body was undamaged." The Duke thought for a second of an added indignation -- taking her while she hung unconscious by her chains. Or perhaps waiting for her to regain consciousness in order to add to her humiliation of being forced to have sex with a man. Maybe many men. But there wasn't time.

Reaching his left hand fully around her waist to pull her close to him, her hooded face turned upward, her chin digging into his chest, he moved the hilt of the glowing iron in his right hand until the tip was just below the center of her legs. He waited a few seconds, still unable to determine if she might be conscious. "Well, my convicted felon, your stay of sentence has expired."

The Duke jammed the iron halfway upward into his victim. From the resulting tension in her body, and the hideous gurgling scream through the hood, he immediately knew that, if she had been unconscious and unknowing of her fate before, she was no longer. He felt her muscles spasm uncontrollably, making feeble efforts to reject her body's invader. After a few seconds, he thrust the rest of the iron upward until the hilt itself stopped him from pushing it in deeper. He knew from its length that it had now punctured through her and into her vital organs. He continued to look down at her. He could feel her struggles for breath as her lungs filled with blood. He pulled the iron back out, and tossed it away, not looking to see what portions of her flesh and organs may have attached themselves to its heat.

The Duke could feel the warmth of her blood flow over the lower part of his uniform. Though curious to see her final facial contortions, he decided not to remove her hood, but released his grip on her and moved to the door of the dungeon, as her body fell as far as her chained wrists would allow. He looked back. Had he not known that her body was naked, he would have thought that she was wearing a clinging red dress. This time he knew that she was not unconscious. To be unconsciousness meant that she might regain consciousness. But she would not. Her sentence had been carried out. Which meant, at least in his dukedom, that justice had been done.

He walked down the corridor below his castle and up the stairs. There was yet more of his kind of justice to do.

Chapter 6

Ainu was amazed at how easy it had been to move unseen into her position on the turret. The spectators in the gathering crowd were all pushing as close to the road as they could, to get the best view of the general and his soldiers, and none thought to risk passing through the small barriers that did not actually stop passage, but indicated that the turret's stairs were off-limits to them. Not in this dukedom, where punishment for the slightest offense was swift and severe.

Ainu lay flat on her stomach, removed her cape, and placed the bow and arrow on top of it on her left side, within easy reach. She could already hear the roar of the crowd down the road. The general could not be more than a few hundred yards away. Peering through the small openings in the turret, she checked that she would have a clear shot, then looked across and thought that she could see the barest of movements from the opposite turret, which meant that Camilla had reached her spot as well. She would know in a few seconds whether Myrine and Klito had also been successful. She heard no commotion below other than the crowd's cheers, so she assumed that they had.

The general and his entourage were now less than thirty yards down the road and, for the first time, she could see him astride his horse, in the center of the road, well above the foot soldiers and carts surrounding him. A clear target.

Keeping her eyes focused squarely on the general, Ainu reached around for her bow and arrow to pull them to her, but, as she tugged at them, they did not move. She turned to see if they had gotten caught in her cape. And saw a booted foot standing firmly in the middle of the cape, on top of her bow and its arrow.

As Ainu looked up to see the soldier who was attached to the boot, another foot kicked strongly into her exposed midsection, sending her sprawling onto her back and knocking the wind out of her. Within seconds, four booted feet were standing on her wrists and ankles as she struggled for breath. Ainu could hear the roar of the crowd grow louder below.

Chapter 7

Klito had also made it easily to her position at the near turret across the road from Myrine. Realizing that, from her elevated height behind the turret, no one below could see her, she had her arrow ready, knowing that it was just a matter of a few seconds before the general reached the spot where she would let it fly. She had a clear shot, she thought. She would not miss.

But soon she heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind her. Just a few seconds more, she needed. Maybe she should just shoot early. No, she couldn't do that to the others. It would throw everything off, including their escape. But if those footsteps reached her before the general reached his mark ...

They did. Klito rose and turned her weapon to face the stairs leading up to the turret. Three soldiers reached the top of the stairs almost at the same time. She had only one arrow. Since it was hopeless to shoot it at them, she decided to turn back to take her shot at the general.

She didn't get the chance. One of the soldiers, his own arrow already raised as he reached the top of the stairs, released it just as Klito started to turn back toward the general. It struck her just above her right breast. Klito dropped her bow as her body was pushed back against the turret by the impact of the arrow into her chest. Instantly, arrows from the other two soldiers reached their targets, one hitting her between her breasts, just a few inches from the first, the other just below her rib cage.

Now pushed back even harder by the force of these last two arrows, Klito fell backward over the turret, her body flipping once before landing in a sickening crash against the side of a small cart about three feet to the general's left, with the lower half of her body landing inside the cart, while the top half hung limply outside it.

Out of the corner of his eye, the general could sense the falling body as it hurtled toward him. Startled, he pulled the reins on his horse and turned to look for its cause. At the same instant, two arrows whirled past him, each no more than four inches in front of his face, one coming from behind on his left, and striking a marching soldier in the thigh, the other coming from in front of him on his right, and embedding itself in the ground at the foot of a startled female spectator.

The entire area was thrown into chaos. Spectators fled from the turmoil. The general raised his hand as he dismounted, and his soldiers quickly surrounded him for his protection, lest any new arrows find the target that the other two had missed only by fortuitous circumstance.

Two soldiers pulled Klito off the cart and down the street, their actions forcing the arrows more deeply into her body, and snapping them when they dropped her a few feet in front of the general's brigade. Seconds later, the soldiers who had captured Ainu dragged her, her knees weak and still gasping for breath, down from the turret and deposited her, face down, next to Klito.

Chapter 8

Within just a few more seconds, Ainu heard shouts from behind her, as Camilla too was added to the group, on the other side of Klito. And Ainu could see two more soldiers in the distance in front of her, each firmly grasping an upper arm, dragging a kicking and screaming Myrine, with some difficulty, toward them to complete the prostrate foursome.

The general looked down at them, then up to see the mounted duke riding slowly toward them, the soldiers having secured the nearby area from the spectators. When he reached the scene, the duke remained astride his horse. "Prepare them for the hill," he directed the soldiers. "General, welcome, and congratulations on your marvelous success. It is most unfortunate that we have had this interruption. That you have come through it unscathed is a good sign for the future, I would say."

"More excitement than I had expected, I confess," the general's words were strong and calm. He was a warrior, and this was certainly not the first time that he had come close to death.

The soldiers quickly secured metal collars around the necks of each of the four captives, and attached two long chains. They placed thick poles, at least four feet in length and thirty pounds in weight, behind the captive's collared necks, and chained their wrists near the ends of the poles. Finally, they shackled their ankles, and secured a short chain, no more than 18 inches, between the shackles, to limit their movement on the mile walk to the hill. Not that escape would have otherwise been possible.

By the time the soldiers raised the chained women to their feet, Ainu was able to stand on her own, even with the heavy weight across her shoulders. She could turn just enough to see that two soldiers were holding up Klito. Looking at the wet and red ground below her, however, Ainu realized for the first time that Klito was dead. She saw the soldiers drag Klito's body to one of the carts, and toss it in, face down. Apparently, dead or not, Klito was going up the hill with the others.

Ainu felt herself pulled forward, and realized that each of the chains from her neck collar was now held by a soldier on horseback, one to the right of her and one to the left. As they set off toward the hill, led by the duke and the general, Ainu struggled to keep up with the soldiers and their horses, the length of her steps limited by the chain attached to her shackled ankles.

Crowds had again gathered on the side of the road, this time to jeer and spit at the foolish traitors who had tried and failed to assassinate their beloved general on this triumphant day.

Chapter 9

Several times Ainu stumbled, but was able to regain her balance before she was pulled off her feet. Myrine, about 20 yards to her right, was also having some difficulty, as the weight of the heavy pole across her shoulders bore down on her slim body. Camilla, even farther to Ainu's right, was the sturdiest of the three, surprisingly agile for such a statuesque woman. Of course, the beauty of her body, particularly the shape and large size of her breasts, was not likely to bring Camilla much comfort in the hours ahead.

About half a mile from their destination, just as the duke and general had started up the hill toward its summit overlooking the Zonama village, Ainu heard a scream, and, although she could not turn her head, she could see out of the corner of her eye that Myrine had fallen, and, with her wrists secured to the heavy pole behind her neck, she was unable to break her fall. Myrine landed hard on her chest, dragged by the chains attached to her neck collar, barely able to hold her face up off the ground. She tried desperately to regain her feet, but, with the steady forward pull, she was unable.

"Stop," Ainu screamed toward the soldiers ahead. "Stop. She's fallen! Stop. Please. Stop." Ainu's cries went unheeded. The march continued.

Myrine was dragged on her chest and stomach behind the horses ridden by the two soldiers holding her chains. Her struggles to regain her feet grew weaker until, after 20 seconds or so, she could no longer even make an effort, as her now body was dragged along the road, its small rocks digging into her chest and breasts and stomach and thighs with every step of the horses in front of her.

Ainu knew that there was nothing that she could do for Myrine. After another minute, Myrine's screams ended. The soldiers holding Myrine's chains pull them a bit tighter, to lift her enough to keep her face from hitting the road, but no farther.

As they neared the top of the hill, Ainu could see on the far bluff a dozen or so vertical wooden poles jutting out of the ground, each about seven feet high, topped with a piece of V-shaped wood. The poles were about four feet apart, most forming a straight line parallel to the edge of the bluff, with the few others making 90 degree angles on the sides to form an open rectangle. Ainu had seen these poles before from the other side, from her village looking up at them at the edge of the bluff. She knew their purpose.

Fifty feet from the poles, the procession stopped, and the duke, general and soldiers all dismounted. Ainu, exhausted, dropped to her knees. She glanced quickly to her right and saw the two soldiers who had held Myrine's chains walk over to her prostrate body and unhook them from her neck collar, and lift her by the ends of the heavy pole holding her wrists. Her head remain slumped. They dragged her to a set of poles on the far short side of the rectangle, lifted her high enough to bring the pole down until it nestled into the two Vs, leaving Myrine hanging by her chained wrists. They next pulled her ankles apart, and secured an ankle to each pole, leaving her spreadeagled, her ankles still several inches above the ground.

At the same time, two other soldiers removed Klito's body from the cart, and positioned her in the same manner between the two poles on the near short side of the rectangle, facing Myrine.

Camilla stood proudly, defiant, her eyes staring directly outward as two other soldiers approached her, grabbed her chains, and pulled her toward the duke and general, forcing her to her knees in front of them. Ainu was then brought to kneel next to Camilla.

"Those two," it was the duke who spoke, looking in the direction of the two fallen women already positioned on the poles, "you will consider the lucky ones before the afternoon is through." He smiled slowly. "Since it was the general whom you tried to murder, it will be the general himself who will carry out your sentence." Ainu could see an evil smile cross the general's face. "Which, of course, for treason, is death. Or, rather, eventual death."

Two sets of soldiers dragged Ainu and Camilla to their positions in the middle of the long side of the rectangle, no more than 10 feet from the edge of the bluff, facing directly out toward the Zonama village. The duke planned to give Ainu's subjects a good view of what happened to traitorous Zonama warriors who failed in their mission. Within seconds, Ainu and Camilla found themselves in an identical position on the poles, both still attempting a look of defiance. But both replayed in their minds that one word that the duke had used that caused them the most fear. Not the word death. No, they were warriors. They could face death. The word they feared was ... eventual.

Chapter 10

For the first time, Ainu could see Myrine's dangling body clearly. The battle between the front side of her body and the road as she was dragged along it had been won decisively by the road. Ainu could not determine what parts were flesh and what parts were cloth.

"You have been convicted of treason against the duke's laws," the general declared loudly, standing in front of Myrine "and must now pay the price mandated by those laws." The general reached up with his knife and cut what was left of the straps on her leather bra, but the bra was so embedded into Myrine's wounds that it did not fall. So the general pulled the straps down and off Myrine, taking with it the little that was left of her breast tissue, leaving just a mass of red where her breasts had been. Ainu closed her eyes tightly, and turned away.

The general cut down the sides of Myrine's shorts, and pulled those off, leaving her naked except for her boots, her wrists chained to the sides of the poles. He moved his face close to hers. He was not going to inflict torture upon her if she was not going to feel it. He would not want the villagers below to believe that she could endure the pain that he appeared to inflict without wincing or screaming. No. The general simply stepped back, unsheathed his sword, and ran it through Myrine's body, just below her rib cage, until the sword struck her spine. The force of the blow pushed Myrine's body backward, but she emitted no sound. With some difficulty, the general pulled his bloody sword back out of her, and sheathed it.

He next walked slowly past Ainu and Camilla, to the slumped body of Klito. Again, he used his knife to cut through the straps of her bra, and then its back. Soaked in her blood, it too held to her body until he pulled it off and threw it to the ground. Ainu could see that Klito's wounds were more localized than Myrine's. The areas where the arrows had penetrated were a darker red and purple than the paler red that surrounded them.

The general cut away Klito's shorts and unsheathed his still bloody sword. He held it just a few inches from her neck, then brought it down in front of her chest and stomach to just above her pubic bone, still inches away. Finally, he poised it over her stomach, and, without a word, thrust it deep into her. No sound. No movement except that caused by the blow itself.

The general returned to the middle of the rectangle and faced out over the bluff. He could see hundreds of the villagers watching in horror in the distance. He held up his sword to show the blood on it. He imagined that they were too far away to know that his first two victims were already dead before he rammed his sword deep into them. What he wanted them to see ... and what he believed they saw ... was his summary execution of two of the traitors, reserving his special treatment for the other two who appeared to be the leaders.

Now it was time to attend to those two. The less fortunate ones.

Chapter 11

The general turned to Camilla, just to the left of Ainu. He stood a few feet in front of her. Camilla stared back at him, but her labored breathing revealed her fear. The general stared at her chest heaving against the leather cloth of her bra, his mind obviously picturing what he would soon see under it.

He again unsheathed his sword, and held it just under the cloth between Camilla's breasts, its point barely touching her skin. She shortened her breaths to keep the tip of the sword from penetrating, looking down at it, and back at the general, who was staring into her eyes.

"Confess your crime and ask for mercy, and I will run you in quickly and cleanly as I did the others, and you will suffer little pain. Refuse, and you will regret your decision, I promise you." To humiliate a Zonama warrior by making her confess and plead for mercy would compensate for allowing her a quick death. Her humiliation would be that of the entire village.

Camilla continued to stare back at him, her body still except for her strained attempt to control her breathing. Finally, feeling that he had given her enough time to choose otherwise, the general flicked his sword upward, first cutting through the leather cloth between her breasts, then the two shoulder straps. The bra fell to the ground.

The general's reaction indicated that he had not expected that Camilla's breasts would be quite so large and appealing, because he stared at them for a full 30 seconds before moving his eyes back to her face. "I think that I have something special in store for you, my Zonama traitor. Bring me two leg irons," he directed one of his soldiers, who immediately obeyed.

The purpose for the general's request became immediately apparent. He took one of the two loops of the leg irons and pushed it against Camilla's chest, then closed it around the base of her left breast, capturing it entirely. He tightened it a bit too much, and locked it in place. Camilla winced, but did not scream.

The general then moved the second loop to the base of her right breast, capturing it and tightening the loop again a bit too much, before locking it in place. Camilla shuddered, but still did not scream.

"Oh, the screams will come later, they will come later." The general took the chain between the loops, and attached it to another chain that he secured to the top of the pole holding Camilla's wrists, pulling it taut so that Camilla was forced to arch her back.

"And now for the most beautiful part," the general announced. He nodded to two soldiers who approached and released Camilla's wrists from the chains on the top pole, quickly bending them at the elbows and twisting them behind her back, where they cuffed them. Camilla was left hanging from the top horizontal pole by her breasts, her ankles tied to the sides of the vertical poles, her wrists cuffed behind her back, unable to take any of the pressure off of her breasts, which were forced to bear the entire weight of her body.

The general moved to the chain holding the irons around Camilla's breasts. He pulled it two links tighter and re-secured it to the top pole. "There. Much better, wouldn't you say?" Camilla had but one response. A long response. Feeling that her breasts were about to be torn from her body, Camilla screamed.

Chapter 12

Ignoring Camilla's continuing screams, the general moved to Ainu. "I suppose you think I'm playing favorites, no? I suppose you would like the same treatment?"

He raised his still bloody sword and flicked it against the shoulder straps of Ainu's bra, then moved behind her and cut through the strap in the back, before sheathing his sword. He then walked behind Ainu, and reached his hands around her body to squeeze her breasts. "Oh. What a shame! I don't think that you have enough here to allow the same treatment. Yes. A real shame. We'll have to find something else for you." He squeezed harder until Ainu was forced to scream. As soon as she did, he released her breasts and moved back around her.

"No, I can now see that you do not. But don't fear. I will give you as much attention as I'm giving your friend." He looked back to the arched body of Camilla, straining without success to take pressure off her breasts, still screaming. Her breasts were beginning to turn purple from the tightness of her restraint, which had cut off most of their circulation.

The general again unsheathed his sword, but this time he handed it to a nearby soldier. "Heat this with the other irons. When it begins to glow red, bring it back to me." The soldier moved off a distance behind Ainu. Ainu's body began to spasm uncontrollably as soon as she had heard the general's order.

"I am a fair man, even though you tried to kill me," the general's tone was calm. "So I will give you the same chance that I gave your friend." The general looked off in the direction of Camilla, whose screams had hoarsened from overuse of her vocal cords, giving them an even more desperate sound. He continued to stare at her as he spoke. "I think that she may now wish that she had accepted my offer. So perhaps you should seriously consider it." The general turned back to Ainu. "Confess your treason and beg for mercy, and I will kill you quickly. Fail, and you will suffer as she."

Ainu looked at the screaming Camilla and thought of the general's order to his soldier, who certainly would be returning momentarily with the heated sword. But she could not confess. She could not betray her village ... or the memory of Myrine and Klito ... or the bravery of Camilla. Ainu looked at the general and shook her head. She would have to suffer her fate, horrible as it would certainly be.

The general nodded to her. And held out his hand, as the soldier returned with his sword. Ainu could see that it now glowed red, and that the soldier had been very careful as he transferred its hilt to the general.

It was time for fresher screams than those that poor Camilla could now deliver.

Chapter 13

"The heat will escape quickly, so I will not waste much time," the general held the glowing sword in front of Ainu's eyes. "And when I am finished, you may even envy your screaming friend."

Ainu stared with wide open eyes as, without further word or warning, the general pushed the side of the sword, about three inches wide and 18 inches long, flat against Ainu's stomach. It took but a second for the terrible pain to register in Ainu' brain. She screamed at the top of her lungs, immediately drowning out the relatively feeble sounds now coming from Camilla.

Ainu desperately pulled at the chains holding her ankles and wrists, until they were chafed and bleeding. She saw, in horror, the general lift the sword from her stomach and move it up to within an inch of her chest, its heating searing her even without touching her. She looked up into his face, and instinctively screamed "no, no, no," but, a second later, the general pushed the sword just under her left breast and up and over her right breast and nipple. The pain was overwhelming, as Ainu's mind swirled and fogged to try to protect her. Her eyes moved to her right breast, and, when the general finally lifted the sword, the nipple was gone, singed from her body along with the beautiful white skin that had surrounded it.

The general moved behind her, and flattened the sword across her back, just for a few seconds, before moving it down across the backs of her thighs. Ainu realized that she was literally being flayed alive.

Then the general returned to stand before her. "I'm not quite finished, I'm afraid. Have you decided that I was right? That you regret your decision?" Ainu could only continue her screams.

The general cut the sides of Ainu's shorts, which joined her bra on the ground under her, leaving her completely naked except for her boots. The general then held the flat end of the sword between her legs, and slowly raised it until it was flush against the most sensitive parts of her body. Ainu's screams grew more hideous, continuing after the general pulled the sword away and cast it to the ground. When her screams finally started to lessen, the general turned back to see that Ainu's head was slumped against what was left of her breasts, her entire body twitching violently, her disfigured chest heaving to take in all the air that it could.

The general turned back to Camilla, whose screams had been reduced to gurgling gasps as her throat grew raw. "Perhaps a few more links tighter, what do you say?" The general knew that Camilla could not answer. Her eyes, open but glassy, told him that her mind had shut down so much that she had not even heard the question. Instead of reaching for the chain holding her captured breasts, though, he reached again for his sword.

The swelling of your breasts looks so painful. I will relieve the pressure for you." The general raised his sword and placed its tip just above the loop holding her right breast. He pushed the blade slightly into her and cut across about two inches, immediately drawing a stream of blood. Then he move above her nipple and made a similar cut. He looked into Camilla's eyes, which seemed to have widened in even greater pain that she could no longer express in any coherent manner. The general moved to her left breast and added two matching cuts. The pressure from the loops quickly forced the blood out through the cuts, and Camilla's body and the ground below began to turn red.

The general swung the sword several more times, slashing Camilla's stomach and front of her thighs, then her her upper arms and around to the back of her thighs. Finally, he put the sword back in its sheath and stood back to admire his work.

Camilla, her breasts still bearing her entire weight, was bathed in blood from the dozen cuts that covered her body. Her mouth was wide open but no sound escaped. Her head remained raised, but looked like it would fall back at any moment.

Finally, the general slashed at the sides of Camilla's shorts, leaving her naked, like the others, except for her boots.

Chapter 14

Ainu's head was already down on her chest, but her body still quivered involuntarily. Most of her body had been burned, including her entire chest and stomach.

The general turned to his soldiers, who had been watching, and enjoying, his punishment of these traitors. "We have a war to win," he shouted to them. "We have begun our fight by administering justice to these four traitors. Now it is time to move on to destroy the person who sent these four to kill me and to destroy our duke and all of us." The soldiers roared their approval. The general looked out over the crowd and picked four soldiers. "You. You. You and you." Each hurried to the brazier filled with hot irons, the same brazier at which the general's sword had been heated for its work on Ainu. Each picked up two round irons, eight to ten inches long and an inch in diameter.

Each of the soldiers moved next to one of the four chained women, with the fastest two racing to Camilla and Ainu. When all were in position, the general pointed at the soldier standing next to Klito. "Complete the sentence," he yelled toward him. The soldier moved the iron in his left hand down and then thrust it up between Klito's spread legs until it fully invaded her up to its hilt. Klito's body was pushed upward, more blood spilling from the newest wound, but the invasion could cause her no pain. The soldier moved behind her and thrust the second iron up into her anus, after which he moved back, leaving both irons in their invasive positions, clinging to her burned flesh.

"Complete the sentence," the general yelled toward the soldier standing next to Myrine. This soldier likewise thrust the iron in his left hand up between Myrine's legs, and the second iron into her anus, then moved back. Myrine too was beyond reaction.

The general paused for a few extra seconds, trying to decide where to direct his next order. Deciding it more likely that Ainu was the leader of the four, and wanting to show the villagers that their leader was not even strong enough to be the last survivor, he turned to the soldier standing next to her. "Complete the sentence."

The soldier moved behind Ainu, poised the first iron at the entrance to her anus, and then pushed it in hard in one motion. Ainu raised her head from her chest, eyes opened and face contorted in pain, as all of her muscles tightened. Her mouth opened and inhuman sounds escaped her lips before her entire face froze in a contorted expression of pain. The soldier moved to the front of Ainu. Her body continued to twitch. The soldier moved the second iron into place, looked at the general, and then pushed it upward until it would go no further. Ainu's expression did not change, though her muscle spasms increased for a few seconds ... and then stopped as her head fell back down to her chest. The soldier stepped away, leaving both irons protruding from Ainu's body.

The general moved next to the soldier standing near Camilla. He took one of the two irons from him, then directed the soldier to move behind her. With his other hand, the general grabbed her hair and moved his own face to within inches of hers. She opened her eyes weakly. "Good bye, my big-titted traitor." With his face still inches from hers, he gave the order. "Complete the sentence." The soldier from behind and the general from the side thrust their irons into Camilla at the same time. The general continued to stare into Camilla's eyes, seeing her eyes widen and glaze ... and then just stare, open but unseeing. The general continued to stare into her eyes for a few more seconds before releasing her hair. Camilla's head dropped back, away from her hanging breasts.

The general stepped back to look at all of his handiwork, and then, turning to face out over the bluff, lifted his sword in the direction of the staring villagers below. "This is the price that you pay for treason," he screamed at them. He knew that they could not hear his words, but certainly his actions and manner told them all that he needed them to know.

The general turned back and began to march toward the road, leaving his four victims ... all naked except for their boots, spreadeagled, disfigured, violated ... and dead. They would hang in their bonds, in full view of the village, for two days. Then, whatever parts of their bodies the buzzards had not consumed would be rolled down the bluff to the village below, to give the villagers a chance to see up close what happened to their leader and the others who dared betray the duke.

EPILOGUE

War between the duke and the king was now inevitable. In a just world, the king, recognizing that the Zonama leaders had done their best to fulfill his demand, would have continued to provide its village and villagers with protection. The villagers would have fought at his side, and helped the king capture the duke and general to face their own trial and execution for their actions, thereby avenging their torturous murder of their kinswomen. That is what would have happened in a just world.

But the world is not always just. And this time it was not. At least not to the villagers. The Zonama village, located midway between the duke's lands and the king's, became the war's central battlefield and was completely destroyed. Many villagers fled in the vain hope of finding another place that would accept their lifestyle. Others were killed by the invading armies. And others were captured by the ultimate victor, the duke, and sent to the hill ... but usually only after satisfying his desires in his dungeons ... to face a fate not dissimilar to that suffered by Ainu, Camilla, Myrine and Klito.

The duke and his conquering general took particular pleasure in carrying out the punishment mandated of convicted traitors. Particularly when the traitor happened to be a beautiful woman who would never give herself to the duke or the general. Or to any man. But she would have no choice but to give herself to his tortures and death. That is, eventual death.

After all, this was nothing more than justice in the duke's world.