For the fist time since the execution began, the whip drew blood. It was an indication to me and to everyone that the flogging had entered a new stage. The strokes would now be harder, more difficult to resist. It was now that I was to be ready to retrieve the information from her trembling lips and make sure that the executioner wouldn't go too far in punishing.

I was going to wait until more lashes broke Varinia's skin before beginning my questioning. It was indispensable to retrieve as much as possible since all the leads we had obtained from our informants and those we questioned, even under torture, only lead to her, as if she was alone in this matter, which simply could not be.

We were sure that those of whom we suspected for many years, were involved. We saw how easily they changed their loyalties and how they joined forces with those we found in disfavor. The crack of the whip was now making her moans louder.

We first heard of her possible plans during a discussion she was engaged in with a group of young men, who were not in the mood to open debate but rather for close intimations with the young woman. But she was not interested in their intentions and since she held them captive to her attentions, she indulged in a discourse that was of course offensive to the empire and, needless to say, highly seditious.

Our spy promptly made notes of her arguments as she launched into a fluent cascade of accusations against the Empire, one of which was that it was not a homogeneous force but rather a pack of hungry wolves that could easily eat each other. Her main argument was that Thracians should see the divisions in Rome as a sign that freedom was indeed at hand.

She was not referring to freedom from slavery, since she was not a slave, but to freedom from oppression of an Empire that demanded the service of all and took the lands of all. Her words were received with glee by all the young men who surrounded her, most mainly interested in her beauty and not her words.

The cry that she could not hold back was the result of the surprising strength of the stroke. Once it was established that the whip will break her skin, she once again tried to hold back her cries. Her moans were soft and mostly as a result of the leather beating the wind out of her lungs.

I was afraid I would have to wait a long time before making my search into her soul. It was decided, after her arrest, that her torture should be public. We could have coerced her in the dungeons, with terrifying implements, with the use of fire and iron claws, but we were sure she would perish of that and we would be left with her corpse and not the use of her as an example to others.

There was another element that helped us make the decision. We wanted her pleas of mercy be heard by the people and not only us and her torturers. We wanted her to be defeated in front of everyone and not in a dungeon where no one would know how she was broken in body and spirit. And then there was the time frame.

We needed the information quickly and the execution promptly. Those were the reasons why we were making this execution and torture so public.

I was sure some, if not all, of those young men who heard her seditious words were present in the crowd that was now growing with the passing of time. It was good if that was the case, they could see with their own eyes what those words could bring upon them.

Our spy, after noting her comments, took them to us and we sent them to Octavian who, even as occupied as he was with his gigantic mission of pacifying the entire Empire, took interest. He surely smelled a treacherous plot perhaps instigated by the Thracian Rhescuporis who raised arms against him and Antonious.

So he ordered that she be apprehended and crucified, but most importantly that she name those involved in the plot before hanging. Thus the sentence was given and her neck was placed in the iron brace for her to receive the lash and for me to ask the questions.

The lash then continued while the passing of time and her torments were making her weaker, her legs were trembling and I'm sure that if the iron brace did not hold her head, she would have fallen on her knees already. But she was held and the whip was falling and the time for me to obtain the information was at hand.

It was also close to the middle of the day and soon the sun would burn the most. Surely she would give us the information we need. We can't simply deal with the so-called king of the Thracians without evidence, we are Romans and we adhere to the law.