MATILDA
They dragged her through the streets on the end of a rope. It was tight around her neck, like a hangman's noose. She could barely breathe. The crowds along the route laughed and jeered whenever she fell over. Some people stepped forward to spit on her as she lay face-down on the cobblestones. The soldiers tugged the rope until she got up again. Behind her, the big sergeant lashed her bare back with a bamboo cane if she dared to stumble.
Her long black hair was matted and tangled. Her olive-brown skin shone wetly with a sheen of sweat. In her lean, haggard face her dark eyes stared in terror. She was afraid of the crowds, afraid of the soldiers, afraid of what was going to be done to her body when she reached the marketplace.
She was naked. In the hot afternoon sunshine she felt exhausted and thirsty. Her parched mouth had not tasted water since the early morning, when a smirking jailer had given her a rancid cupful from the rain-barrel near the prison gate. It did not quench her thirst, nor was it meant to. Now, as she staggered through the town in a daze, the stale water churned like poison in her belly.
Not far from the marketplace she tripped on a stone and fell heavily, sprawling on her hands and knees. Volleys of mocking laughter rose from the crowd as she crouched on all fours like a dog. Her head hung downward; saliva dribbled from her mouth as she gasped for breath. A soldier yanked the rope, jerking her neck painfully. She toppled forward, rolling onto her back, her hands clawing desperately at the noose around her neck. Looking up, she saw the sergeant standing over her. Yelling curses and obscenities he whipped her with the cane as she lay writhing on the ground. The cruel lashes came hissing down on her arms, thighs, belly and breasts. A couple of vicious strokes were deliberately aimed at her pussy. When these hit their target she screamed in pain but the crowd laughed even more.
Quivering in shock she was dragged the rest of the way. On her back, with her skull bouncing on the cobbles, she was hauled to a tall stone post in the market square. To this she was bound by three soldiers, all of whom took great delight in pawing her slender body all over. This lewd display seemed to please the crowd, who yelled shouts of approval. Cruel voices encouraged the soldiers to do more than merely grope the trembling girl. But the sergeant ordered his men to remember their duty. Grumbling and smirking, they stopped molesting their prey and fixed her in the required position. They pressed her face against the post, stretched her arms high above her head, and tied her wrists to an iron loop in the stone.
There she stood squirming in the sun, her nude body twitching helplessly. The crowd gazed hungrily at her slim figure to admire her slender back, her deliciously pert bottom, her lissome legs. Many of the people licked their lips in anticipation as they eagerly awaited the punishment to begin. Five paces behind the helpless girl stood the burly sergeant, a gigantic man whose mighty muscles rippled beneath his tunic. He looked immeasurably strong. He exchanged his cane for a seven-foot horsewhip of supple leather, which he swung to and fro to test its flexibility. It made a soft swishing noise, like the hiss of a long brown snake.
A silence descended on the marketplace as the people thronged closer to gain a better view. Amid the expectant hush the only sound was the whimpering of the dark-haired girl as she writhed naked against the stone pillar. Her firm, ripe buttocks clenched tightly as she tugged desperately at her bonds. Gazing up, she saw her bound wrists twisting frantically below the iron ring near the top of the post. The sinews in her arms stretched painfully. Her slim torso was pulled so taut that her ribs were clearly outlined beneath the skin. She could barely breathe. Standing on her tip-toes she felt a dull ache in her ankles and wondered how long she could support her weight in such an uncomfortable position. Fear enveloped her like a shroud and she almost fainted in terror.
The big sergeant turned to the crowd and smiled. "Behold the thieving bitch!" he boomed. "This is Matilda, a young beggar and pickpocket, whose crimes have caused so much misery to the good folk of this town. These past five days she has languished in the prison of the Earl's castle. There she has endured many hardships, none of them undeserved." He paused to chuckle salaciously before adding: "Being a very pretty wench she provided much entertainment for the soldiers, especially at night!"
Laughter erupted from the people, many of whom greeted the remark with loud applause. The sergeant acknowledged the noise before quelling it by raising his voice above the din.
"Today Matilda receives her punishment," he continued. "The usual penalty for theft is one hundred lashes, to be delivered on the criminal's bare back and buttocks. Now, because this fragile girl is only eighteen the sheriff considered a lesser sentence of fifty or even twenty-five strokes. This was suggested to Earl Robert who immediately dismissed the idea. Instead, our noble lord wisely decreed that Matilda should receive no leniency from the whip. More than that, he doubled the penalty and ordered that not only the rear but also the front of her body must be flogged. She will therefore receive one hundred lashes with her face towards the stone pillar, before being turned around to endure the second hundred. The Earl trusts that the decision meets with his people's approval."
Another volley of applause showed the crowd's appreciation. Excited murmurs ran among the throng at the prospect of seeing the front of a nude female body being whipped. The anticipation was too much for one plump housewife, who fainted in the arms of her family as soon as the sergeant finished speaking.
"Begin!" A gruff male voice called out from the mob. Dozens of other voices picked up the word to chant it in unison: "Begin! Begin! Begin!"
The sergeant tightened his grip on the whip-handle and swung his muscular arm backward. The crowd heard a swishing noise, followed by a whistling hiss and a crackle of leather. And so the punishment commenced.
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Matilda. Copyright © Brendan X 2007.