Pagan Princess (Chapter Seven and Epilogue)

“And she informed you where this Arnold can be found?” The proconsul was delighted with Fulvia’s efforts at interrogation. “Yes she gave me exact details of his whereabouts, a troop of soldiers are on their way there now.” Cooed Fulvia. “I thought this girl would be difficult to break, how was it done?” “Well it was a dual effort between Drachius and myself, but she certainly has a serious aversion to branding irons.” “Yes I heard tell that she has experienced them before at the hands of Antoninus. But well done Fulvia I will see that you are very well rewarded for this.” “We must celebrate with good food and wine my Lord. You seem to have an abundance of serving wenches in the palace?” “Very true, I do not know where the Master of Servants is getting them all from and how much it is costing me, but then again one cannot have too many slaves.” Melissia lay in her cell in a state of delirium; she felt that her skin was on fire. She was aware of the presence of another person in the room. In fact it was another of the proconsuls physicians. He had been sent to attend to Melissia’s latest wounds in the absence of Ithicus who had been returned to Rome to ultimately face banishment. He was a kind man but he was no Ithicus. Melissia stared at him through pain filled eyes. “Ah yet another sent to heal me and ready me for execution?” “Please do not make this any harder for me than it already is my lady.” Like Ithicus this physician did not like what had been done to this splendid looking creature before him. “Sorry I know this is not your doing but healing me seems all pretty pointless.” Melissa never did find out the mans name but like Ithicus he did his work well and within a few days she felt a lot better. She knew that whoever was sent to capture Arnold would soon return empty handed for it was foreseen that she would break under the combined efforts of Drachius and Fulvia. Would she then be subjected to more brutality? It was more than likely. As she was drifting off to sl**p she heard a muffled cry from outside her door, then she heard the sound of keys. As the door creaked open she could see the shadowy figures of several women. “Where have you been I have been having so much fun while I was waiting for you?” Helena stood before her beloved leader trying to suppress a tear at what they had done to her. “Those bastards will pay for this Melissia.” “All in good time my dear friend, tell me is everything in place?” “Yes, fires are being set in the north of the city as we speak, hopefully this will draw the soldiers away so we can attend to the task in question here.” Melissia was impressed by how well the plan had been executed. “How many of us are present in the city?” “Thanks to your delaying tactics over 2000 of our women have infiltrated the city over the last few weeks. They will take down the few remaining guards here and go for the proconsul.” “Excellent! We may not be able to win this war but we can cause immense embarrassment to Rome. Any news of the whereabouts of Antoninus?” “We managed to get word that he was sent up to Caledonia with a legion of troops.” “Dam them, they have denied me my revenge on him.” Melissia angrily paced about the room. “Why did they send a whole legion away?” “Because local hostilities had died down, little did they know we were up to something more cunning.” Helena suppressed a laugh. “You do realise we will bring the might of Rome down on us Melissia.” “Of course I do, but this is our moment, we will have embarrassed Caesar, I would love to be present in the senate when he tries to explain this one to them.” Melissia was interrupted in mid flow by one of the women guerrillas entering the room. “We have the proconsul and his woman.” “Good, take me to them, this is going to be interesting!” Melissia found herself staring at a very red faced proconsul and a seething Fulvia. “You little bitch, you will die screaming in hell for what you have done this day.” Petronius Arius was mortified by the circumstances he now found himself in, as was Fulvia. “Well considering that has been your intention all along Arius I do not think anything has changed much do you?” The proconsul glared at her and detested her smugness. “So what is it you want from me now you have won the day with your bitch army? It will be very short lived I assure you.” “I am not going to harm you as I respect your position, but what I will do is put you aboard a galley for Rome. I think your Caesar will decide your fate.” “And what of Fulvia?” “Now she is a different matter Arius.” Melissia spoke about her as if she were not in the room, for she knew this to be the ultimate insult. “I think a good and bl**dy flogging would be well deserved, then maybe a session on that beloved wheel of hers would be most befitting.” Fulvia had a face like a wild cat, spitting and hissing hardly able to speak. “You despicable little mare, you will never get away with this.” Melissia turned and faced her. “My dear Fulvia.” She cooed. “I think I already have.” They were interrupted by a commotion outside in the corridor. On investigation Melissia was delighted to see Drachius who was chained head to foot and being dragged along by a posse of her women warriors. He was covered in bl**d. “He put up one hell of a fight.” Said one of the warriors through bl**d stained teeth. Melissia smiled. “I would have expected nothing less.” She placed her face just inches from his. “And just what shall we do with you dear Drachius?” Drachius’ pride had been damaged beyond belief and he was passed caring at what was to become of him. He just stared at the gloating Melissia. “I shall have you impaled, after all the idea of doing that to me did cross your mind did it not?” Drachius’ face seemed to drain of all colour. It pleased Melissia that she had thought of something to put fear into this mindless and cruel man. “What a pity Antoninus is not here to witness this. I will just have to picture his face in my mind when he hears of all this. Maybe they will even send him after me, I would look forward to that very much.” Epilogue. And so it was, Melissia got her revenge. The proconsul Petronius Arius was sent back to Rome and was thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. Fulvia was lashed and racked to within an inch of her life. It had left her a ruined and broken woman. She was taken to an outlying village where she was made to work until she died a few months later from the severe trauma of her wounds. As for Drachius, Melissia kept her promise and had him impaled in the city square of Nova Magus. It had been a gruesome spectacle with Melissia herself pushing a Roman pike into his anus. He was then raised high into the air where the pike penetrated up through his body and out through his shoulder blades. His screams could be heard right across the city. He died many hours later. Many months later Antoninus was once again dispatched to seek out and capture Melissia and her rebel army but this time he did not succeed. They seemed to have melted away into the mist. By now the Romans had become tired of this land and he and the hearts of his men were not up to the task assigned to them. And secretly deep down he wanted this brave and stubborn girl to live out her life in peace for he had been truly smitten with her. The Roman Emperor Nero became more and more insane and eventually stood back and idly watched his city burn. In the far reaches of southern Briton two women lay in each other’s arms. One whispered to the other. “Pleasure me lieutenant, pleasure me like only you can.” For just this brief moment in time Melissia was finally in heaven and in the arms of the woman she loved. As for the future? Well that was in the lap of the gods. The End