Red Feline's shirt was more open now, the man in black was undressing her, slowly, painfully, with the whip. She often imagined such a situation and it was exciting to her. The thought of her clothes torn away from her body by the force of the whip until she was totally naked was a recurring dream she had, one that was now becoming real, too real for her taste.

The pain in her fantasies was extreme, always, but she wasn't feeling it. Now it was real and not necessarily pleasant.

And yet, as she opened her eyes and saw herself on the mirror, pieces of her shirt hanging ripped in front of her, she couldn't help it, she felt that familiar sensation of her legs tensing, her heart beating, her mind clouding and her belly warming.

The Man in Black grabbed her hair and Red Feline, for the first time, felt his hand touch her bare back. It was a warm touch, a rough hand. A real hand, not a ghost's hand. He exposed more of her back.

The man sent the whip crashing on her exposed shoulder, the tip of the whip reaching Red Feline's cheek. She was just beginning to feel the sting of the lash on her face when another lash across her back made her jump up.

Her first experience under a real whipping was proving to be more painful than she had ever expected. But still, it was familiar, as familiar as those feelings and recollections she was having. The clear and horrible images of events she witnessed in her days as a captive of the Romans were just beginning.

The surviving women of her tribe and all of the girls were first placed in a camp full of soldiers. The older women had to submit to their demands or suffered the consequences.

A few rebellious women, perhaps three or four, she couldn't remember with exactitude, tried once to defend themselves against the advances of the soldiers.

They were dragged to posts and lashed, one of them was her aunt who still bore the marks of the terrible whipping. One of the three, after she was cut down from the post, rushed to attack the soldiers nearer to her, grabbing a sword from one of them.

She was quickly disarmed, but not before she wounded one of the soldiers. They were ready to cut her head off when the commander of the barracks halted them and ordered for the woman to be taken back to the post. He assembled all of the captives and ordered his men to flog the woman again.

All the captive women were forced to stand and watch as the rebel was flogged until her back was nothing but shreds of skin and flesh.

She fainted three times before the flogging was stopped.

Piroska then saw what she would never forget, never forgive. The young woman was then taken down. She fell to the ground, trembling and crying. The commander ordered his men to drag the woman to the palisade. The soldiers complied, dragging her by pulling her long hair. Once at the palisade, she was tied to the wooden logs that made the walls of the camp, her arms and legs spread open and stretched. The remaining pieces of clothing that still covered parts of her body were ripped away, leaving her naked.

The commander then ordered his men to nail her to the wall.

The soldiers took the long spikes they normally used to keep the logs together and nailed the hands and feet of the woman to the wood. She was then left there to die, which took three days.It was a lesson that no one would ever forget.From that moment on the women took care of the young ones and became docile slaves.

The image of the young rebel nailed to the wall was very vivid in Red Feline's mind as the lash continued to eat away her shirt. She didn't know how long it's been since she walked into the hands of the Man in Black.

She was expected at home at one point. They would surely miss her, but they would probably think she's with friends and would not worry until probably the next day. And who knows what would happen to her before the day was over.

As bad as the situation was, one look around her was enough for her to realize that what was in store for her was a lot more than what she was currently getting.

This was only the beginning, the day was young...or was it already night?

No way of knowing from that room.