Ramtal Slave Dungeon

Edited
Coming out of the corridor again into the main court, I see a new slave, young, athletic. He stands barechested in chains, and I stare at him through my executioner's hood. I am still naked but for my belt and chest straps from which hang the various tools of my trade. Suddenly I am aware of the presence of the Emperor, in the upper areas of the court, looking down. Quickly I kneel. "My lord King, is this the one who has been sentenced?"

11:57Darkram The Great
"Yes, he is. Elias Hyrs himself. Fallen Hope of Retoria. He had a runaway from his prison and was searched for a couple of weeks. But our spies captured him and ruler of Retoria wishes to see him dead."

11:59minotaur21560
I nod. "If it is your wish, then it is my duty. I will ensure that he suffers." I stand, again eyeing the victim.

12:01minotaur21560
I reach to my chest strap from which hangs a small pouch... the clamps that are shaped as skulls. I speak, head bowed, to my king "Let this pain will remind me of my duty and service to the Conquering Emperor." And I affix each clamp onto my broad chest, inhaling quickly as each one bites...

12:03Darkram The Great
"Let's begin, Minotaur. Lead him to the torture chamber!"

12:05minotaur21560
I take the end of his chain, use a pole to goad him forward, poking between the shoulder blades. He stumbles. "Tell me, boy, tell me of your crimes as we walk."

12:07Elias Hyrs Edited
"None of your business. You're just an executioner. No need to know such details."

12:10minotaur21560
I unroll the bullwhip holding it in my hand. "Insolence is likely only the minor part of your guilt. And it is true I am but a naked servant of the Great Empire of our Ruler, but at least I am still a man, and I will most likely survive this night, unlike you!" And with that I step back unfurling the whip and letting it fly with a great CRACK across the prisoner's back. And I am gratified to see him flinch from the pain.

12:12Elias Hyrs
"Urggh..." Painful. Expected, but still very painful. "Well, that's good to me, I guess. To not see anyone of you again."

12:17Darkram The Great
"Very rebellious soul. But in death, you'll never find a way to rebel."

12:19minotaur21560
I hear the rumbling voice of our Conqueror jeering at the prisoner. We have reached our destination, a stone chamber just off the main court. I pause briefly, face the wall, and take off my hood. Though my lord the king has seen my face, all others must not, and for torture and normal duty I wear the hood that fully covers my face. But for actual execution I will put on the half mask that leaves my bearded lower face uncovered.

12:21minotaur21560
There is a great frame, wooden, almost like a tree, and on its branches, like iron blossoms, are manacles for wrist, neck, ankles. The trunk rests on a wheeled cart. I lead the victim by a chain leash. I am a hulking form ahead. He seems pathetically small behind. We go up some steps to the trunk.

12:23minotaur21560
Deftly I attach his wrists and ankles to the manacles, and with a crank, I adjust the position of the branches so his limbs are stretched, spread, like an X. His chest is held painfully open.

12:26minotaur21560
I hold my mouth in a thin grimace, fighting against the pain that burns at my chest. I hold a bowl in which I dip a brush, then I bring the brush to the victim's chest, pressing it onto the soft pink flesh at the center of his pec near his heart. The poison ink is cold, midnight blue in color. I press the brush in and then pull out, painting concentric circles and designs on his chest. Immediately the drug begins to take effect and his nerves sing with pain. I continue painting, the other side of his chest, his flank, strips, dots, his cheek, his lips.

12:27minotaur21560
Now I take up a heavy hammer and rough nail. I look carefully at his hand, held open against the wooden branch. I hold the nail and begin pounding it through the palm of his hand.

12:29Darkram The Great
"WAIT!"

12:31minotaur21560
I stop...

12:32Darkram The Great Edited
"He must not be executed here, Minotaur. He, first of all need a torment and then we'll execute him in prison courtyard. To show every slave, what is the smite of Ramtal. Understood?"

12:37minotaur21560 Edited
I am on my knees, head bowed, listening to the stern words of my king. My broad chest tormented by the biting skulls that remind me of my service to him. When he has done, I dare to say, "Yes lord, I will wheel him out into the court, but I wanted to ensure he was fixed through the hands first. Will this meet the intent of your command?"

12:38minotaur21560
I glance up at the face of the prisoner who is heroically fighting the pain of the drug and of the first nail.

12:40Darkram The Great
I lift up my axe and nails are taken off and wounds from it are healed. "First, torment, then execution. UNDERSTOOD?"

12:46minotaur21560
"Yes my lord." And so I stand again, adjust the branches so that the victim's body is positioned to receive the blows of my lash. Leaning back, I hold the whip, and I am like a dark and vengeful cloud as I let fly with it. The room resounds with the slap against his flesh, and the red welts interact with the blue paint sending waves of pain up the tree of his nerves. His body jerks against the bonds, but still he does not scream. I continue the onslaught, lifting the whip high and releasing it with all my strength against him.

12:49Elias Hyrs
"Urrgh..." I feel it's sting. Feel, how it's scorching my body. How heated blood spills on my back. So painful. I remember so many good things in my life... Everything I've lost. Perhaps it's something, that I really deserved.

12:51minotaur21560
"Yes it is deserved, miserable slave. Feel the sting of the justice of Ramtal. Feel it as it SMITES you!" And yet another CRACK of the whip against the smooth skin which is now a network of red welts and blue paint. And finally I see the young athlete writhing against his bonds as the pain begins to crash over him like waves on the shore.

12:54minotaur21560
The dark fur of my chest is matted by sweat from the exertion as I continue swinging the whip. As I scourge the prisoner, I become the vengeful fury of our King. My mouth open with enthusiasm as well as the burning flame of pain that reminds me of my duty.

12:54minotaur21560
"He suffers, Lord. See him pull against his bonds."

12:57Darkram The Great
"Very good. Now wash him up from this paints and blood and bound him to his patibulum."

13:02minotaur21560
I nod. Still breathing hard, I put down the whip and taking a bucket and wet rag, I mount the stairs, ever the loyal servant to the royal master. Though I ensure that the water is salted in order to sting the abrasions of the whip. I wash him, the torso, the back, the thighs below his loincloth, the calves. He is clean, still strapped to the branch.

13:07Darkram The Great
"Now bring the patibulum!"

13:09minotaur21560
I turn, nod again, go to lift the huge crossbeam. It is heavy even for me and I am strong as an ox. I drag it to the base of the platform, set it down carefully but still it makes a great sound as it hits the flagstones. "I should unbind him and strap him to this now, my lord?"

13:12Darkram The Great
"Yes, Minotaur."

13:15minotaur21560
I do it, following the instructions of our conqueror, unhitching the boy and then helping him down the steps since he is dizzy with pain, then finally strapping him to the great wooden beam. "Now... this way to the scene of execution!"

13:18Jake English
Past experience with the executioner has made this one well aware of how the look appeals to him… his victim appearing to be yoked.

13:19minotaur21560
See, the other prisoners begin to notice. The young athlete gradually coming to, regaining his senses, beginning to understand the huge weight that he must drag...

15:39minotaur21560
"Put your back into it, prisoner!" I push him towards the great plank, and he complies, dragging himself under its looming shadow, then with a grimace he lifts and begins to drag. I know it is my duty to lend spectacle to the scene, so again I take the lash and let its cruel tongue tickle the edges of the straining form of the prisoner, urging him onward.

15:42minotaur21560
Ahead of us marches the victorious ruler, large, bulky in his royal armor and behind him, bent like an inch-worm, the prisoner drags the cross bar, and behind with whip, myself the Executioner. As I step into the light I raise both arms high, exulting and drawing attention of the prisoners in the cells above. "SLAVES, MISCREANTS, AWAKE! It is not often we are graced with the execution required by royalty!"

15:45minotaur21560
I hear stirs and creaks as various prisoners come to their doors and barred windows. Ahead, our king seats himself in the throne set to view the grotesque ceremony. The prisoner and I draw up to the pole that is laid horizontally against the ground. I show him how the plank fits into the groove making a great X of wood, grand symbol of punishment and negation.

15:52minotaur21560
A brief struggle interrupts proceedings, but with the prisoner's exhaustion and my greater height and girth, this ends quickly. He is subdued, with wrists bound to two ends of the X. And I am leaning, with knee against his arm, wielding the hammer to drive the nail through the palm of his right hand as he screams and struggles. This continues with left hand, left foot, right foot.

15:58minotaur21560
He is fixed to it, smooth chest rising and falling with shocked breaths. As I walk by him, I reach, unhitching his loin cloth and pulling it off him with a great flourish. I proceed past his head and, taking the two ropes that trail from the upper planks, I walk backwards, slowly, evenly beginning to take the full weight. I bend forward and behind me the great cross begins to levitate. I strain, my bull muscles standing out like cords at neck, torso, arms. Finally the main single post that descends from the X slots into its posthole with a great CLUNK! The shock judders the body of the prisoner that now hangs of its own weight beginning the final agonizing segment of the execution.

16:03minotaur21560
I stand, bow first to our liege then look up addressing the prison cells "Shades of the Underworld, Refuse, failed Revolutionaries! See here the fate of one who dares usurp the position of those who rightfully rule. The Foot of Justice tramples him, breaking his body. He will go down to meet the dead., filled with regret and shame. He has sated himself, and now is he crushed. Now his pinions break. In the grove of thorn trees he stands and laments. 'O my pinions.'" And with that I fall silent, bowing my head.

18:51Elias Hyrs
I try to catch a breath, but as more I'm on this crest, than less I can do this. Pain from whiplashes and nails is too big. This is the end for me.

18:52minotaur21560
The slow collapse of the body, pulled down by its own weight into suffocation.

18:53Darkram The Great
I watch as Elias is near to his death on the cross. Wonderful spectacle. "It's a great show, Minotaur. Ruler of Retoria will be very satisfied."

18:55Elias Hyrs
My eyes are fading... It's really the end... Seems, Hell itself... Is on the way... Last breath... Death...

18:58minotaur21560
at the foot of the X, I drop to my knees, hearing the voice of the King, and his compliment, and the last words of the dying prisoner. I sing praise to the ruler of Ramtal "O Determiner of the future for distant days! O mighty Prince whose distant thought no god can declare! Lord who fixes destiny of heaven and earth, whose command no one changes! If it is your wish to please the Ruler of Retoria, then I as your executioner quickly obey. The life of the prisoner ends like a candle that is snuffed out!"

19:01Darkram The Great
"Bring Elias' corpse into his cell. Ruler of Retoria must see his dead body."

19:03minotaur21560 Edited
I sing in honor of death, "Honor is achieved for the future after the sacrifice of the slave. The sun shines. It dawns. It causes the morning sky to open, where the executed must surely dwell." Then I stand, shimmy up the cross to remove the nails, let the arms of the dead drop over my shoulders. Holding his body that is now empty of spirit, I bring him down. Draped over my shoulders I walk to the cell, to lay out the one who has died.

19:05Darkram The Great
"Now leave the place for a while. Ruler of Retoria want to see him in private. With no other eyes, except mine. Understood?"

19:07minotaur21560
"Yes, of course, my lord" I bow in my nakedness and leave. When I return to my guard house, I will remove the chest pegs and the belt of tools. I will gird myself again with the loin cloth. Perhaps for a time I will keep the half mask as it is much more comfortable. But now begins the more ordinary duties of Supervisor of the Panopticon.

22:04Darkram The Great
"Return to me, Minotaur!"

13:40Jake English
*The emperor has arrived. Of course the young man bows towards him despite his refusal to serve in the others army. It has been some time since he has seen him.*

13:45Darkram The Great
"You can rest now. Guards aren't awakened yet."

14:35minotaur21560
I am here, my Lord

14:36Darkram The Great
"Come with me to Elias' cell."

14:36minotaur21560
Unsure exactly what is required of me, I again doff the loincloth and quickly strap on my belt of tools, then I follow the King to the cell.

14:38minotaur21560
"Has Retoria's Ruler found something wrong?"

14:38Darkram The Great
"Ruler is in sorrow."

14:39minotaur21560
"And is sorrow what you wished him to feel, Emperor?"

14:40Darkram The Great
"No, Minotaur. Elias was a pride of nation. But he has fallen so suddenly and needed to be punished in cruel way. Fallen Hope as he is."

14:41minotaur21560
I bow my head. "I understand. I also felt a tragic tone in what happened. Yet I knew I must serve Ramtal and your orders."

14:42Darkram The Great
"So Elias will serve." I lift up my axe and energy flows from it on the corpse of Elias, healing his wounds from nails and whip. "RAMTAL SCHALLA!"

14:44Elias Hyrs
I suddenly open eyes and get up, making a deep gasp... I look at my hands and my naked body... I... am alive! "What's happened?.."

14:46minotaur21560 Edited
My eyes widen and I drop to one knee, amazed by the power of our God-Emperor. I bow my head, naked servant somehow feeling guilty that I was the executioner and torturer of one who was the pride of his nation. "I am sorry, my Lord, if my actions were wrong."

14:47Darkram The Great
"Stand up, Minotaur. It's needed to be done."

14:47minotaur21560
I do as I am bid, spreading my great chest slightly and wait for further orders or explanation, if there will be any.

14:52Darkram The Great
"Elias. Ruler wishes to see your redemption. And you will get it only through hard slave work. If you'll do it well, then you may be free. But if you gonna disobey and try to runaway, then more time it will take to redeem, as more times you'll be executed. Understood?"

14:53Elias Hyrs
"I understand... Your Majesty." I take my red loincloth and put it on. "What do I must do now?"

14:54Darkram The Great
"Minotaur, give him and Jake work for today."

14:56minotaur21560
"Yes, Lord" I draw myself up to full height, wearing only my half mask and belt, I point the direction for the two slaves to walk. "I will take them to the mines then. More stones are needed for the arch to celebrate the endless victories of your Empire, majesty...."

14:56minotaur21560
"Walk, Slaves!"

Published: 2022-09-30, viewed 0 times.