We sorted all the documents and scrolls we found in Varinia's house. In fact, we did not have to force her to show them to us. When we asked for them, we were led to the archives room and were given access. "I have nothing to hide.", she told us, amused that we were acting as if we had made a discovery.

"It was always there, you could come and see this anytime.".

We were confused at first, there were so many documents, but we soon found that many were easily recognizable because of the Roman seal they all had. Only two scrolls and a few parchments were were not sealed.

Varinia reacted to our find with some innocent comments.

"Those are personal letters and scrolls, they belong to my family, they are of no interest to you.".

That comment made them all important to us. We took the scrolls away with the promise of returning them, if they were nothing but personal letters or family documents.

The servant was trembling and moaning in pain, stretched still, naked and bleeding. She didn't have much to add to what she told me, I knew that, and still I had the duty to insist, but I asked the torturer to take her out of the rack and let her rest for a moment.

The naked woman was released from her bonds and fell to the dirt floor, screaming in pain. Her broken bones could not hold her body, she moved as much as she could to tighten her limbs around her protectively.

She closed her eyes as I approached her with a flask of water.

I crouched down to reach for her head with one hand, to raise her a little so I could pour the water into her mouth.

She received the liquid with parted lips, reaching up with all the strength she had left to quench her thirst.

Varinia had a great capacity to absorb her punishment, but there were limits for anyone. The executioner was measuring that capacity, it was his task to bring her close to a breaking point and then stop, to be able to continue later.

He was reaching such a moment, he was seeing that Varinia was near her limit, that she soon would faint, and that was not acceptable.

He lashed still, stronger now that he was nearing the end of the flogging, and then stopped.

Suddenly there were no more lashing sounds reverberating, no more moans of pain, no whistling sound of the flying whip.

I was relieved that this part of her execution had ended. There was so much ahead, much of it unknown to me, only the executioner knew what the complete plan was.

I saw the man walk away, leaving Varinia, alone, attached to her post.

I looked into the servant's eyes as she fell into a deep sleep, overcome by pain. I was not done with her, but at that moment, as I held her in my arms, her naked body wrapped in a fetal position, her back and chest marked by the whip and the hot iron, I felt sorry for the human condition. I felt sorry for her and for myself as well.

I was not the kind of man who would risk his life for another. I was a functionary of the Empire, one that fulfilled his duties and followed the instructions of the Emperor, one that was born to fulfill the Ruler's wishes.

I was holding a broken woman, one who was like me in some sense, one who was loyal to her lady, even unto death, one who was willing to die to protect her 'ruler', her 'leader', her 'queen'.

It was that kind of loyalty that was dangerous, and if there were many like her, that was an army, one that could push us back.

I held her in my arms for a moment, a moment where I felt close to her, a moment that I would remember forever, because, out of nowhere, I was filled with the desire to kiss her mouth.

It was the middle of the afternoon when the flogging of Varinia stopped, she was going to be released from the brace holding her neck, to start the next part of her execution.

I wasn't sure of what her executioner had in mind, but I was sure that it would be worse than what she just went through. He was just making her more tender to the whip. He was trying to break her slowly, to get her closer to where Octavian wanted her to be.

The executioner knew his duty, I knew mine. So I approached Varinia one more time, to give her one chance to move directly to the end.

"You will be nailed to that log.", I said. "But we can make it swift, if you just tell us what we want to hear.".

Varinia did not respond. The executioner reached for her neck to release her from the iron brace.

He had his duty, I had mine.