The crowd grew silent as the executioner reached for the whip and walked to his victim. He had drunk a good share of the cold liquid and it was still dripping from his mouth. He threw some water on his face as well and reached for the whip.

My slave arrived just in time for me to have some refreshment before the flogging started. As the liquid went into me I could only imagine how much Varinia would appreciate having a drop of what I was having. I considered giving her some, but changed my mind.

It was going to be her reward if she gave us what we wanted.

The executioner stood behind Varinia, whip in hand, waiting for my instructions.

I walked to the woman for one last attempt.

I looked at Varinia, her eyes still closed, and asked her to tell me who was behind the plot to push back the Romans. She was silent, she didn't acknowledge my presence in front of her. I gave the executioner the go ahead and he raised his whip and struck the woman on the back.

The lash made her open her eyes and she looked at me as she cried in pain. I didn't see a weakening of her resolve, just the pain and the strength of her conviction. Another lash fell on her already beaten back and I saw her legs shake as she rose slightly, reacting to the pain.

She did not budge. Another lash fell on her, reaching her breast and I could no longer stand the look in her eyes, because as she was lashed she stared at me as if she was daring me to hold her gaze and absorb her pain.

I walked away.

The servant was hanging as the whip fell on her again and again, raising large welts on her back and chest and cutting into her skin as well. I counted 20 lashes before I made the torturer stop.

I approached the crying woman and stopped her twirling, grabbing her shoulders to make her face me. I was very close to her, I could feel the heat from her sweaty skin, I could feel her breath on my face. I grabbed her by the cheeks, pressing the sides of her mouth, her face was wet with her tears and her sweat.

"Tell me, what do you know about her army, what do you know about her plans of rebellion"

She tried to talk, but her cries were keeping her from articulating what she wanted to say.

"I...I...I...know...no...no...nothing!", she managed to spit out.

I stepped back and motioned the torturer to raise her more. He pulled the chain to hoist her higher, she could no longer have any rest on her feet. "So...are you going to tell me about her plans?!", I screamed.

Eventually I learned about the scrolls. They were important because of what they contained.

I saw two of them, hoping they held the secrets of the plots of rebellion, and perhaps they did contain those plans, but it was not evident at a first reading. The scrolls were old, ancient, they belonged to a different time and their preservation was carried out by a small group of people from generation to generation.

How they ended up in Varinia's hands was intriguing. There were many scrolls that she inherited from the Roman Senator, who gave his lands and belongings to the grandmother, but these two scrolls were not part of the Roman archives. We didn't know them, they were from the early times of the Empire written in a tongue we were not familiar with. We found interpreters.

One of them told the story of Pyroska, a rebel and her people who fought the advances of our forces for a long time. She was a legend, one that we could not stop these many years.

It seemed to me that she was Varinia's inspiration.

The whip fell on Varinia as she held the timber over her shoulders, the garment was covering her skin but the lash still penetrated.

She did not cry out, only soft moans came out of her mouth.

The slow crucifixion was designed to break her spirit before her body, to bring her step by step to a point of desperation.

When she faced her accusers, untouched, she denied all the accusations, she denied there was an army under her command, she denied the existence of generals of Thracian origin, except those known to all and she denied there was a plot to push back the Empire, but she added "Which does not mean that the Empire won't be pushed away by the people when they see fit.".

The sentence did not take long to arrive, it was Octavian himself who sealed it.

It was read to a crowd gathered outside the palace where the trial was held in the presence of Roman and Thracian authorities.