From the Witchfinder's Files, Tale III: Daughter of the East (CLOSED)

[Knightmare27]

After his experience the month before with a rather timid gorgon, the woman standing in front of the Witchfinder now looked positively mundane.

And yet, she would have turned heads had she not been arrested in the harbour immediately, on secret orders even the Witchfinder knew relatively little about.

Firstly, she looked quite, quite different from the people around here: While long, straight, black hair was rare, but not exotic here in this cosmopolitan city, her deep black eyes were most unusual. Much more narrow than usual, and oddly almond-shaped, they took some getting used to.

Secondly, she was an absolute beauty. Short she was (according to the reports he had heard from travelers, most people from her lands were rather diminuitive), but aside from that, her petite, fit figure and an elegant if unusual-looking face combined with a lightly tanned skin made for quite a striking visual impression.

Nevertheless, he had to deal with her in a...professional...capacity, so he looked at her and intoned his traditional "greeting" to his prisoners. "The court is now in session. Accused, state your name and your profession."

 

[broomstix]

Confusion filled Mei's head as she stood before this strange man who talked to her in a language she did not understand. The arrest itself was not a big surprise - eventually, they had to catch up to her. But she had no idea that the Emperor's arm reached quite that far.

From her arrest right at the docks to now, standing in this chamber with her arms tied, she had only taken in this city for a few moments. "I really am great at this escaping business", she thought while she tried to figure out what the man in the hooded robe wanted from her.

She stood silent. She had no idea what to say.

 

[Knightmare27]

Suddenly, the Witchfinder realized that she probably did not understand a word of what he had just said. He had just routinely given his opening speech, and completely forgotten that they had a "special guest" and that he had special orders.

He unrolled the parchment again. It had clearly been translated, and not very well, but it was clear what he had to do: Get her to sign the confession, by any means necessary.

He would have to conduct this one without his usual back-and-forth, then. Too bad. Taking a second, smaller scroll, covered in rows upon rows of oddly-shaped symbols that had to be some kind of writing, he came closer to his prisoner and showed it to her.

 

[broomstix]

As she read the paper the strange man in the hood showed to her, Mei had to smile a bit. The same old charges. Thousands of miles to escape them. No way she was going to just sign them here!

With a defiant smile, she looked at the man and stood there. Why did he think she would just sign this? He could do to her what he wanted, but she would not sign it!

 

[Knightmare27]

One of the tough ones! They were always more fun anyway, in his opinion... and now that she had defied whatever mysterious orders were written on that letter, he had legal grounds to take her down those stairs and get a closer look at the no doubt lovely body hidden under that exotic blue dress she was wearing.

Without any more words, he took the rope around her hands from the guards, turned towards the torture chamber door and tugged on her hands to make the prisoner follow him.

 

[broomstix]

Mei had no idea where the strange man was leading her, but she could guess... she had only heard whispered rumours of what the Emperor's torturers could do to someone, and she expected these big-nosed barbarians to be much more brutal....

Still, she decided as she followed along on the rope, she would not admit anything. She had not escaped for this. Her dead body would get out of here, and nothing else, she swore grimly to herself.

 

[Knightmare27]

The Witchfinder found his exotic prisoner's behaviour puzzling: She followed all his orders, but from her haughty behaviour and proud look, he could tell that she had no intention at all to sign that letter. She let him lead her down the stairs without protest, and looked at all the machines in his torture chamber coldly, almost respectlessly, as he tied her to the wall.

He decided to once again show her the letter and see if she would maybe be more willing to sign now.

 

[broomstix]

She was tied to the wall, but that did not scare her at all, and neither did the strange machines she could see dimly in the dark around her. She took a deep breath of the cold, clammy dungeon air and pretended to ignore the brute with the letter. She would not sign it! No matter what they could do to her, she would not!

 

[Knightmare27]

"Strip her and leave us", the Witchfinder stated in a routine, dispassionate voice. He had decided to handle this as calmly as possible, leaving out his usual banter. Not only would she not understand anything, she also seemed like someone who could not be easily intimidated by words, only by deeds. And deeds she would get if she was not careful.

The guards immediately stepped forward to follow their orders, having already expected them.

 

[broomstix]

She had no idea what those guards wanted... but it was not going to be good! The first guard who touched her dress got a kick on the shin. She did not care it did nothing to hurt him and only stubbed her toe. He had touched her, and he would pay!

A second guard came from the other side. She struggled and kicked, hanging from the chains and trying to strike as many times as possible. She would not take this lightly.

 

[Knightmare27]

A flurry of fists and some pained groans (mostly from the guards, to the Witchfinder's surprise and annoyance) later, she was finally naked. Under her exotic clothing, she looked almost like the women he was used to having down here, except for her bronze-brown skin, which looked especially appealing in the dim torchlight, and covered with sweat from the fight. Her hair, too, was wet with sweat and hung down over her breasts.

Without a further word (she would not have understood anyway), he went to retrieve his first instrument.

 

[broomstix]

She was still struggling, even now that she was naked and being held down by the guards. Her hair clung to her sweat-soaked body, and her arms and legs began to hurt - even without this evil man's efforts. She did not care. No one could just strip her like that and expect to get away with it!
Only when she could barely breathe from exhaustion and her vision started to blur did she calm down a little and hung limply in the arms of the guards, tired but ready for whatever would come.

 

[Knightmare27]

So wild! He smiled as he looked at her sweat-covered body. That there could be so much energy in such a small body... He waited until he was very close to reveal what he was holding and show it to her very closely: A bizarre instrument that looked like a sphere mounted on a handle. The top half had many holes in it, and he had filled the lower half with finely powdered lead. Not a very intimidating instrument, of course, but he wanted to make it clear to her that, unless she were to come to reason quickly, the inevitable would happen to her.

 

[broomstix]

What was that? He was waving it in front of her face, and she could see the many holes in the top. Some kind of torture instrument, of course. As far as she was concerned, she was ready. Whatever he did to her, she had not escaped this far just to give up. She almost felt honoured that they had gone to the trouble of sending a letter all the way to this place just to get her to "confess" to that murder plot she was supposedly part of.

 

[Knightmare27]

Just a nod, and the experienced guards dragged his victim over to a large, ladder-like instruments. Two of them - standing carefully aside to avoid any more kicks - grabbed her legs and tied them to the lowest rung of the long, wide ladder. Two others forced her hands onto her back (she was still struggling!) and tied them there with a rope mounted to a winch. When they were done, the witchfinder stepped up to her to have a good look.

 

[broomstix]

Now she could not struggle anymore - but unless that brute gagged and blindfolded her, she could still glare and shout wild curses at him. And that was what she did as he stared at her. It made her feel wild, powerful, less like a small, naked, scared woman in a dungeon.

 

[Knightmare27]

The witchfinder himself took the winch and slowly started to turn it. The rope crept up the ladder, pulling the struggling, screaming woman's hands with it. She fought for her life, her long, black hair flying everywhere - but the machine was stronger and pulled and pulled...

 

[broomstix]

As the rope pulled her hands, she had to stop fighting - it was just too strong! Soon, the strain moved from her arms to her shoulders. Just a small pull, but it soon became a tingling and then - fire! For a moment, she thought that this madman had set her on fire - but it was just her shoulders, feeling like they were being ripped apart.