Before the sentencing, before the trial, there was a debate. Her arrest came only after the order was given that she should be found guilty and executed. I understood the reasons, we didn't find all the required evidence against her to bring her to a public trial. We were sure of her role in the coming rebellion.

I was not part of the decision making but I was part of the discussion, since it was I who gathered most of the information. At first, I was under the impression that we were going to simply keep her under the eyes of our spies and wait for some activity from her part. I was never sure that what I learned about her during my inquiries were enough to prove she was a threat.

Even the torturing of her servant produced little of use. I was convinced the wretched woman was not hiding anything when we were done with her.

That was in my initial report, before I received the instructions to build a case against her that would send her to the cross.

The instructions came from Octavian himself.

I approached Varinia again, hoping that the lash had made enough of an effect on her, but it was a slim hope. In fact, I knew that during this part of her torture she was not going to reveal anything. The executioner was prepared to make her last the seven days Octavian wanted.

Again, I stared at her eyes as the whip crashed on her back time and time again, filling the air with the snapping noise of leather against skin.

Again, she stared back defiant, moaning in pain but not screaming, not begging for mercy, not breaking down as we wished.

To build the case against her I had to look for those parts of her story, of her life, that were suspicious. Her connections to the different tribes, her connections to active warriors, her connections to known leaders.

Any information that I could gather to support those theories was good enough. Most of them were easy to find, some of them came at a large price.

The lash kept falling, and again, I moved away from the martyred woman to see her from far, to see the end result of my work, my successful task.

"Are you going to tell me about her plans?!" I screamed to the hanging servant as she cried from the pain, her naked, almost naked body hanging from her wrists, her back and breasts marked by the whip.

"Please...have mercy...what plans?... I of know no plans!", she cried out before I have the order to continue the flogging. She screamed in agonzing pain when the new lashing started. This time, the torturer switched whips and was using one with shards of chicken bone stuck in the leather straps.

Her blood splashed the walls and even my face as the whip broke her skin in shreds. I only allowed 10 lashes to be given, I was not going to end her life then. It was only a way of showing her that it could be worse.

Before she received the tenth lash, she fainted, she did not feel or react to the last lash.

I commanded the torturer to let her down and he did.

I saw the woman lying on the dirt floor, bleeding, sweating, breathing with difficulty, but still alive.

"Put her on the rack.", I commanded.

Varinia resisted the lashing with a few moans here and there, she was as silent as she was during the sentencing. She hardly made any defense for herself, she only declared the injustice of the proceedings, cried out her innocence and placed the guilt of the crime to be committed against her on our heads.

Octavian wanted a report that would justify his actions, it was necessary to secure his reign in the Territories and to seal the power of Rome over Thrace.

He was not going to wait until a new war broke out, even if the final outcome was to be in Rome's favor. It is better to hang one woman from the cross now than to hang two thousand men later, after we lose a batallion or two of our valiant soldiers. Octavian wrote with his instructions.

It was his desire that the on to hang was a man, he was not very keen on the idea of crucifying a woman, but if it came down to having to crucify Varinia, then it had to be done.

I was not pleased with the idea either and I was not pleased now when the lash kept falling on Varinia's back as she stood facing the post, crucified in this strange way.

Again, I walked slowly to see Varinia up close, But I could not stay long, the flogging and her moans were harder to take as the day progressed.

Many of the people that had gathered around to watch were moving around, leaving and returning, going for food and water, but the crowd was larger as more people learned of what was happening. I was sure we were going to need more guards before the night was upon us.

I first disagreed with the intention of crucifying her. I did not see how that would deter the rebels from fighting us. In fact, I argued vehemently, that the opposite was the most likely outcome. Her death could, in fact, bring about the feared rebellion. I argued that she could be more dangerous in death than she was alive, if she was dangerous at all.

I argued, too, that I had not found evidence that she was of any threat at all.

My arguments were cast down by Octavian himself.