I heard the whistle of the whip as it flew to the woman's back. The crack of the first lash reverberated in my ears for a while, since I was so close to the proceedings.

There's something about the sound of the whip against the naked flesh that is hard to ignore. I cringed as well, as if I had received the punishing stroke on my own flesh.

The woman Varinia had her mouth tightly closed, not allowing herself to cry out in pain, for she must surely feel the pain which I could only guess was intense. The skin was not yet broken, this was only the first lash, the first of many, as many as were needed to break her.

I surveyed with a glance, at the crowds watching, as I must report as to the reactions of the populace to the execution of one who could be their possible leader. Most Thracians are expected to be loyal, in fact it is from Thrace that many of our soldiers come, even Spartacus, who was recruited as a gladiator because of his prowess with the sword and his strength of character and body.

The people before me, led by a charismatic leader, could easily turn into a dangerous force. Of course the execution of this woman could also have the opposite effect to what we seek. It could foment a rebellion rather than quench one. The whip flew again to the back of the woman, stopping my meditations, which I must say pass rather quickly through my perceptive mind.

I didn't hear the cry as I was expecting, a cry which is common during flogging. Who can resist such punishment without reacting? As the keeper of records for the Empire, I must note all of the events in the province and I was at many of these executions and saw men cry under the whip.

Even strong and proud men who held their screams at bay for a while, eventually broke down and cried for mercy. So I'm expecting Varinia to soon beg for a merciful death.

As requested I noted for the record that this execution must not last longer than seven days, but it is only a formality because I don't expect the woman to last more than one day. I instructed as well that the whip will be sufficient since the woman is not particularly strong and one day under the whip and on the cross will be enough for her to tell her story.

For most of those who were present at the execution, the woman could be anybody, she could be a slave who had broken the rules and thus she was being dealt with. None of those who gathered around had any knowledge of the details of what was happening.

They saw the soldiers bring a woman out of the barracks, where she had being confined for a few days after her capture, and that's all they needed to join the caravan to the darken location for the sad task of torturing someone to death. It was then that they began to learn a little about her, mostly as word of mouth spread with tales and stories about this woman who was known to some as Varinia.

To me, however, she was more than to most. I was made to gather information about her prior to her arrest. She was not aware we were after her as she went about her daily tasks. She did not seem particularly engaged in anything besides that which a woman of our time does.

She did not have any reason to fear our lurking into her life and deeds. To anyone who knew her superficially this moment would certainly be a surprise and maybe even grossly unjust. I must admit that the sight I have of the woman now, her garment hardly covering her naked body, the whip falling on her back, without a most valid reason, would be a terrible injustice.

There was the need to prevent any such perception from becoming the ruling version. That's why I was sent to gather the evidence that would justify her execution, one which was decided long before this day, long before the evidence was collected.

The decision was sent to me with the seal of Octavian himself and I was not about to question the integrity of his decision, even if until that moment I had not seen any evidence of a plot underway in the province.