Melissa feels shame as she senses the man's eyes on her flesh, perhaps her breasts are now exposed. He steps back slowly, watching his victim on her knees, humbly waiting for her fate.

She had a defender during her trial, who attempted to bargain with the Inquisitors, but she would have to admit to a false event, which she was not willing to do.

Now she's ready to face her innermost fears. Red Feline watches in silence, perhaps curious as well. This is the first time she will witness the work of a torturer.

The lash falls on her back with a loud and eerie sound, not the sound of the straps her sisters in the convent use to chastise each other in moments of temptation. This sound is horrifying, so is the pain.

She hears herself cry out, but softly. It is an agonizing cry of despair and pain.

The lash falls again and again. Melisaa's moans are still soft. She holds back a cry, she prays inside, she forgives him, she blames herself for making him commit this sin.

The lash continues to fall in a never-ending succession of blows. Melissa tries to find comfort in the rhthym of the whip.

The fire in her back is fanned with each stroke of the lash.

Her prayer was not heard, she thinks, the pain is growing, the lash feels harder with every stroke.  

The torturer's sweaty hand touches her skin once more as he tears her garment even further.  

The soft touch of his fingers passing lightly over her back would have felt like a caress, if not for the excruciating pain.

She hears the steps again, she hears the soft moan of Red Feline who begins to react to what she is witnessing. She is begging for mercy, not for herself, but for Melissa.