UNFATHFUL EMPRESS  
execution

   The empress was sitting naked in her dressing room when the emperor entered. With a wave of his hand he dismissed the maid that was brushing the long black hair. A long deep kiss attended by a gentle exploration of her slender firm body informed her of his intentions. Without a word she followed the fool into his adjoining chambers. 
    Yes , she thought he is a fool. He is so besotted with my body that he will never notice anything I do. As she returned his attentions her mind pretended he was the young cavalry officer that she had enticed into both her bed and her plots. While the emperor was a kind exciting lover she had never loved nor even cared for him. He had married her for political reasons and while he had grown to love her she had her own plans and had never felt anything toward him except contempt. Still she responded to his actions and she let her body enjoy the sex. 
    When they had finished she moved to return to her rooms but he stopped her. She stood in the center of his bedchamber as he blindfolded her with a silk scarf. Her hands were tied with a silken cord. He began to lavish her with fresh kisses and caresses. Giving in to the inevitable  she stood and allowed him to play with her and made suitable sounds at the right times. Just as her body was warming up for a second time he stopped.
    A creaking sound and soft footfalls behind her were her first warnings. Then she was grabbed and carried away. At first she was confused and feared assassins or kidnappers but the sound of her husband’s voice calmly giving orders ruled those out. What was he doing and who had her. To touch the body of either the emperor or the empress with out permission was to die. She was carried down stairs that she didn’t know existed. The air was cool and damp with a musty smell. The she was place on a hard surface. Her hands freed just long enough to be retied over her head. A belt placed over her lower belly secured her to the bench, table, or what ever she was on. Her mind tried to explain what was happening but all she could think of was what if she was on a rack? Then her legs were grabbed and tied up over her  body. The blindfold was removed. She was in a dark room, rough stone walls, lit by small lanterns and the glow of a small forge. Around her were a few men and as she recognized their dress she knew real fear. They wore the black toe to crown outfits of the brotherhood of the orchid. An almost mythical group of assassins and spies that few people had ever seen and fewer had survived seeing. 
    The emperor moved into her vision. He was no longer the fool she had thought him. He was now the sword of the empire that his title proclaimed him to be. His words chilled her to the core of her being.  Wife you have been unfaithful, not only to me but to the empire we both serve. You know why we were married. Your family and their allies were turned from rivals and a threat to the stability of the empire into friends and a powerful force for the good of the people we serve. But you could not be happy with being my consort and empress. You had to have more. You wished to become ruler in your own right. To that end you plotted and laid plans. Plans that left to completion would have caused unrest, trouble, and even civil war. This cannot be allowed. I have thought long on your actions and you present me with a problem. If I denounce you and have you executed much of what I fear will come to pass. Your family and friends will never believe that you could be capable of such actions and they will once more become my enemies. I cannot allow you to live and continue your plots so what am I to do?   
   You know these fine men do you not? Yes I see you do. What few know is that they are under my protection and orders. Did you never wonder why in the tales of them their victims are all enemies or those who are not my friends. I allow them to live in a village within the realm and protect them and in return they obey and protect me. It is an arrangement my grandfather started and over the years it has worked out well for both sides. They came to my rescue here. You have of course heard about the sickness in the city. The one that strikes suddenly causing very painful stomach pains for a day of two. We have been lucky in that there have been no deaths. But our luck will change and soon I will be in mourning for my beloved empress. There is no sickness. Just some very carefully placed mild poison. Too bad that you will be the only one to die from the malady. I will of course be devastated and the empire will mourn with me. Oh yes, that young officer you lured to your bed. He is one of the brotherhood and has already been promoted and posted to the frontier. You really should be more careful who you talk to my dear. Prepare yourself to die now. You will be very sick for a day or two, too sick to leave my chambers I fear and far too sick to speak. Your actions will remain our little secret. Good by my love, I really did love you and you have no idea how much this hurts me. If it is any comfort know that I will truly mourn you. Your family and I will cry together and together we will face a future without you. All will be well for the empire. I will force myself to watch and I will attend you as you die. You have caused me much pain and the next days will be difficult. May the gods treat you gently my dear. We will now began. 
    One man moved to her feet and she felt something being inserted into her back hole. Whatever it was it did not hurt bet was smooth and cold. Then she saw what he had in his hand. A smooth cylinder a span long and only a little larger that his thumb. As he turned it in his hand she saw it was hollow. She felt some pain as he placed it in her slit and worked it in past  her cervix and into her womb. Once it was in place he stepped back and waited.
    Her husband and now executioner spoke to her for the last time that night. We will now insert red hot skewers through those porcelain tubes and pierce the organs inside of you with them. There will be much pain and it will only grow worse. The pain in your belly will grow until it fills your world. You will not be able to talk or respond to anything except the pain. You will weaken and die. By morning you will be too far gone to talk. The physician will attend you but he will be helpless in the face of the sickness and you will die in spite of all his learned skills. Look at the skewers as they enter you and know that once you feel their burning inside of you that you are dead. Good bye my empress.
    She saw the thin skewer as it was lifted from the forge. Almost white hot she felt its heat on her thigh as it was threaded threw the sleeve lining her ass. Then her guts exploded in pain. Her scream echoed around the stone walls. It was plunged deeply into her as it pierced her intestines. The preparations for the second went unnoticed until it touched the back of her womb. Once  more she was washed with fire and her screams went on for a long time. The deadly steel cooled and was withdrawn. Hollow reeds were then slid through the burned punctures and a foul smelling fluid was run through them. It smelled like a chamber pot and indeed it was made up of the contents of one. Then she was untied and moved to a rude pallet where she was to spend the night. 
    The burning inside her cooled into a dull pain for a while and she almost believed that she might somehow survive. Then the waves of pain set in. by morning she was in agony. When she was cleaned up and moved back to the bedchamber every movement, every touch, every jar sent such pain through her as she had never known existed. She was dimly aware of her husband shouting of help and the swirl of people around her. The examination   by the physician was just another ripple in her sea of agony. She heard him reporting but the words made no sense. Who was it that he was talking about. And who was he anyway. The pain continued without letup and grew worse through out the day. By night she no longer knew or cared about anything. There was just the storm of anguish that was her existence and nothing else. 
   Late in the night she was visited by the emperor. She heard not his soft tender words nor felt his gentle touches. His tears of sorrow cooled her skin as they fell but she was so lost that he was unable to penetrate the burning wall around her. He cursed the duty that had brought them here and he prayed for her sufferings to end. 
   By the afternoon of the second day his prayers were answered. She was freed at last from the tortures of her injuries. He was with her as the life fled her tormented body. He kissed her once last time and went to proclaim her death to those waiting outside. She had paid and paid dearly for her mistakes and her pride. Paid a very high price but she had purchased peace for the empire with her death.