From the Witchfinder's Files, Tale II: The Innocent Malice

He quickly bent down and shackled her hands before bringing his face close to her, his hands holding on tightly to the chains now connecting her hands.

"Wake up, foolish witch. I have two surprises to show to you. I want you to consider them before you roast alive because you were stupid, and too stubborn to save yourself."

He stood up, pulling her arms along with him, and opened the cell door. He hoped that what he had to show to her would make her change her mind. At the very least, it would punish her for making him kill her. He hated to have to do that, and if she forced him to, she would suffer.
 
Her eyes were heaving mainly due to hitting against the stone wall of the cell when he kicked her and she didnt even fight when he grabbed her arms, one by one until they were up shackled together. And then he was dragging her by her shackled arms. She screamed as he did, only for him to stop for a second to open the cell door and then carry on dragging her out of it.
 
So she wanted to do this the hard way... well, he did not care. He dragged her over to the torture chamber, where the first "surprise" waited: A small iron cage. Too small for standing, but large enough for crouching...

He dragged her closer to it, opened it up and simply barked "get inside!" at her, tugging at the chains.
 
Jayne groaned as he finally stopped. Just laying there on the floor of the chamber she heard him and heard something open. Her arms still held up above her head as he held them she soon saw him looking down at her.

Looking up Jayne saw the cage and even though him tugging on the chains made it harder she crawled in and sat in the cage. Sitting curled up in the corner she looked straight ahead as he locked the door which she had just crawled into.
 
With her locked inside the cage, he hooked a chain on the cage and raised it up in the air until it hung above his head. Placing a large bowl of coals under the cage, he declared: "I have decided to give you a little taste of what awaits you; maybe this will change your mind. If not, see this as your punishment for being a little fool."

The cage was high enough that the coals would not roast her to death, but over time, the metal construction would get very, very uncomfortable. It would take hours... hours she would spend waiting and worrying.
 
She sat in the corner laid against the metal feeling him raising her and then felt the wamrth from underneath. He walked infront of her and she opened her eyes staring straight at him, "this is still a far better fate then the alternative." she spoke, emotionless, not caring and after she had finished she simply lay her head back down against the metal and closed her eyes.
 
"You think so NOW. I will be back in an hour or so, and I want to see how you talk then. By then, the metal should be nice and warm..."

So stubborn! But just as he had broken her will when she had refused to confess, he would break her will again. For now, he left her alone and attended to other matters.
 
She sat there feeling it slowly heating up, slowly and slowly she felt the heat more and more. Eventually she started to groan, moving around in the cage did not help. The heat got more and more intense and with it the metal grew hotter and hotter to the touch. Tears and her screams filled the room as she tried anything she could to avoid the hot metal.
 
He was back after an hour, and acknowledged the screams he heard from afar with a satisfied nod and a grin.

"Have you changed your mind, girl?", he shouted over her panicked screams and the rattling of the cage, which swung wildly as the girl inside panicked, "or do I need to lower the cage?"
 
She smiled as he walked in wiping her face and calming down. She positioned herself so she could lay down curled up. She felt the heat and the hot metal on her side as she did. "I will never change my mind" she said before resting the side of her face on the hot metal. The pain was getting too much to bear she gritted her teeth, biting down hard on her lip she tasted blood knowing that pretty soon she would slip unconscious because of the pain.
 
"Fool", was the only thing he said as he undid the chain, letting the cage drop a good foot. This was dangerous - but she had asked for it. To keep her from fainting too soon, he threw a bucket of cold water on her head, cooling it down and generating a huge cloud of hissing steam as the liquid hit the hot metal bars. That it also scalded her and made her choke from all the steam she breathed in was just a nice side benefit.
 
Coughing her body shaking she fought the urge to move her eyes closing her body shaking the pain quickly taking over and becoming much to much for her body to cope with.
 
"Is this really worth it? Do you want to burn twice, because you refuse to be reasonable?"

He threw some sulfur on the fire. Immediately, another cloud shot up, this one choking and suffocating.
 
Her head lolled a little before it fell slightly forward pressed up against the hot metal the cloud of gas covering her. No coughing this time as she slipped unconcious her body shutting down from the pain and the gasses started to slip into her mouth through her nose as she lay there motionless.
 
The sudden silence from the cage told him all he needed to know. The little fool! He quickly removed the coals, lowered the cage and lifted the sweat-soaked girl out of it. Placing her on the rack (and securing her to it, just to be safe), he took a step back to inspect the damage he had done.
 
She was not sure how long it was but when her eyes finally opened she found herself tied down and screamed as she felt the stinging from the side of her face.
 
The heated cage had made quite a mess of that beautiful body, with broad red lines showing where she had been pressed against the metal. Now that she had woken up, hopefully she would regret her foolishness...
 
Her screaming died down and she went quiet, calming herself down she grimaced at the pain but lay there trying to hear him, hear where he was. Her eyes were still heavy and at times she fought to keep them open, other times she did not and they closed only to open some time later.
 
While she was still on the brink of unconsciousness, the torturer tightened the chains on the rack just an inch or two. The restraints rattled into position, the mechanism holding them in place. Her arms were not taut yet, but they did not have a lot of freedom to move anymore...
 
Groggily she laid there until she was able to open her eyes she still felt numb on one side of her face and her arm but as she tried to move her arms she found them tied down. Looking up at the ceiling, 'I didnt think even a confession would be enough for you, all you care about is hurting people' she said not even knowing if he was in the room with her.
 
"All I care about, girl". he snarled while giving the rack's handle another slight turn, "is you obeying me. Any disobedience, and you will land yourself in trouble such as this."

The chains rattled as he tightened them some more, pulling her limbs perfectly straight but not stretching them yet.
 
"I did as you asked, I confessed" and she felt her arms and legs pulled straight breathing a little hard as she looked up at the ceiling.
 
A little further into the lever... he could feel that the chains were now working against her muscles.

"Not enough! Not enough!", he laughed, clearly enjoying the look of fear on her at the prospect of another round of torture.
 
She felt herself being pulled her body started to shake as she bit down hard on her bottom lip.
 
Even as the chains started pulling on her naked body, she did not make a sound... impressive, but irritating. Grumbling, he leaned into the lever hard, determined to make her feel it.
 
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