The Torturer's Apprentice

(Author's note: In Part I there is a section that reads "boiling wax was poured over his primitives". That should be "privities". Wordperfect Spell Checker seemed to think I meant the former. Such is the peril of clicking through Spell Checker too quickly.)

The Torturer's Apprentice

Part II

by

von Hentzau

The Captain of the Guard entered, followed by two of his men. He reported to the Prince, then turned to face the Friar, who had stepped to his side.

"Good Captain," the monk said. "You recall the tentative instructions I gave you earlier?"

"Certainly, good Friar," the man replied.

"Very good, very good," the monk said folding his arms under his monk's robes. "You will now proceed to carry them out as I described them."

"Yes sir," the Captain of the Guard said, drawing himself up to a rigid position of attention. "With pleasure, sir."

The Captain signaled to the men. They took position on either side of Annelise, facing the door. Meekly she turned to also face the door. The Captain proceeded them through the door. The trio followed. As they passed through the door Annelise heard the Friar address the Prince.

"..most excellent equipment. Yes. However, if you will allow me, m'Lord, there are a few items I've brought..."

Then they were out the door to the torture chamber, down a short passage and into the courtyard. After the dim light of the chamber the bright afternoon light made Annelise squint.

The Captain led the little group across the courtyard. They continued on through the gate and down the sloping ramp that led to the market square of the small village that sheltered beneath the castle walls. There, among the tradesmen's stalls, a pillory and a whipping post had long stood. Off to one side there was a gibbet where the bodies of executed criminals were displayed.

They proceeded past the pillory and then the whipping post, to Annelise's temporary relief. Then they approached the gibbet. There was a low platform beneath the overhanging arm. The two guards on either side helped Annelise up onto this platform. She was then turned around to face the crowd that was beginning to gather. No one knew of course just what was going on, but the sight of a passably attractive peasant girl being escorted to the gibbet by a trio of burly guards gave them hope of an afternoon's entertainment.

The Captain waited only a few moments before he gave the command.

"Strip her," he said in a loud voice.

There was an excited murmuring in the crowd as the two guardsmen made quick work of removing Annelise's rough peasant garments. Before she could even think of resisting she was nearly naked. The discarded items were tossed assigned and quickly snatched as souvenirs by the townspeople.

In but a moment her small clothes were gone and Annelise was standing stark naked before a growing crowd of half a hundred people, many of them strangers but some she knew from the tavern. At Annelise's level of society privacy was a rare commodity, but even so to be so totally exposed to so many people was terrifying and humiliating. And there was worse to come.

The Captain gave a quick command. Annelise, distracted by the crowd, didn't catch what it was, but one of the guardsmen quickly fastened a pair manacles around her wrists. The other lowered a rope from the arm of the gibbet. With a few quick tugs on the rope Annelise's arms were raised overhead.

Next the guardsmen bent down and fastened ropes to Annelise's ankles. They forced her to spread her legs apart, as wide as they would go. When she thought they couldn't go any further strong arms forced another inch or so from them. Then they tied her ankles to rings set on the edges of the platform. And a final restraint was added. A wooden bit was shoved between her jaws and tied in place as a gag.

The Captain gave final orders to the two men as to guarding Annelise, then turned on his heel and strode quickly back to the castle. One of the men took up position off to Annelise's left. The other took himself off to the tavern until it was his turn to be guard. The crowd began edging closer, for a better look.

The men, common laborers and apprentices for the most part, leered and joked among themselves. The women sniffed in disapproval of the men's behavior, but also took good sidelong looks. Annelise heard muttered comments and questions from the crowd.

"What's she done?"

"Who knows? Brought her down from the castle. Must've done something."

It was common practice for criminals to be brought down and put on display, as punishment for minor crimes, or while awaiting execution for serious crimes. It was not common for the criminal to be young, attractive, and stripped naked for the display. The crowd was enjoying the novelty immensely.

"Harlot," sniff, snort. "Probably just a common harlot, probably displeased a royal customer."

"Cutpurse."

"Pickpocket."

"Murdered her husband.."

"..her lover..."

"What are they going to do..."

"..hanging..."

"Has the headsman been seen lately. D'you think they're going to take her head?"

"Must have done something terrible."

"Sorceress most likely. Tried to put a curse on the King."

"There'll be a burning, then."

"Have they set up the stake yet?"

On the platform Annelise caught bits of the conversation, the accusations. How could they think such things. She knew some of these people. She saw some she'd grown up with in her small village not far from the castle, other's she'd served in Pieterzon's tavern. Now they were making up the most lurid stories about her and speculating on how she was to be executed. She wanted to cry out to them that she was innocent, by sad chance a mere plaything in a royal game. But she was gagged and the more she saw of the crowd the more she realized they wouldn't listen even if she could speak. An otherwise boring day had been brighten for them by her discomfort.

Unable to protest Annelise could only watch and wonder at the behavior of people not much different than herself. The matrons looked on in self-righteousness, reproaching her with their eyes for sins or crimes unknown. Their husbands tried to look suitably proper, all the while trying to get in as good a look at her exposed charms as they could without their wives noticing. The young maidens giggled and pointed, whispering comments to each other that made them laugh. The young men resembled nothing more than an excited pack of dogs with drooling tongues hanging out of their mouths.

But the small boys were the worst. Given an approved victim and driven by urges they were too young to understand they quickly invented a game. Encouraged by the others, one would dart forward to slap or pinch Annelise, or to poke or whip her with a small stick. Seeing what was happening the guard would try to intercept them, sending a few sprawling or running for the shelter of the crowd with his boot, but they soon worked him into their game. One or two would try to distract him while another darted in to strike.

The game went on until, emboldened by success, the urchins began to target Annelise's breasts and crotch. Shocked at this impropriety several of the matrons stepped in and scattered the attackers, dragging several off by their ears to their mothers with predictions of the dire consequences in store for them.

The crowd gradually thinned down, though it never entirely dispersed. The other guardsman returned in due course from the tavern to relieve his comrade on duty. But there was no relief for Annelise. She was left standing through the entire afternoon.

When the sun had gone down, the crowd had finally scattered and the merchants had closed their stalls the Captain of the Guard came down from the castle. He ordered the two guardsmen to first untie her feet, then to release the rope that held her arms up. She nearly collapsed. After the hours of standing in the awkward spread leg position she hadn't realized how much she'd come to support herself with the rope. As for her shoulders and arms, they gone numb long before but now, allowed to return to a natural position the nerves awakened and sent lightning bolts of pain through her upper body.

The Captain gave her scant moments to recover from the ordeal before he had the men marching her back up to the castle. They crossed the courtyard with Annelise struggling to keep up on her tired legs. Her bare feet on the rough gravel didn't help either.

They entered the guard room. A rugged, bearded faces turned to look at the party. Annelise felt as if all the dark, cruel eyes were staring at her.

"Where's Albrecht?" the Captain called out.

"Here, Cap'n," a tall, slovenly guardsman said, stepping forward.

"Right," the Captain said, "you used to be a sheep farmer. Get a pair of shears. We've a ewe here that needs shearing."

While Albrecht went off to another room to rummage around Annelise was roughly forced down onto a rude but sturdy chair. Her ankles were tied to its legs and her arms pulled behind the straight back and her wrists tied. Albrecht returned with a large pair of scissors.

"They're not proper shears," he said to the Captain, "but they'll do."

"Fine, fine," the Captain replied. He motioned towards Annelise's head. "A sloppy job is all that we need."

Albrecht set to work. He grabbed handfuls of Annelise's thick, black hair and pulled them away, hacking at the strand with the scissors. The scissors hadn't been sharpened in a long time. And Albrecht wasn't gentle as he worked his way from side to side and front to back. Annelise closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and tried not think what she would look like when the brute was finished.

Soon Annelise's lovely hair lay scattered on the floor of the guardroom. She heard coarse laughter. She also heard the Captain's voice.

"Good. Now for the other pelt."

Before Annelise could determine what he meant hands were untying her wrists and ankles. She was lifted from the chair and carried, by arms and legs, across the room to where a table stood. Plates and cups had been swept aside and she was plopped onto the coarse planks, on her back, like a sack of wheat. Wrists and ankles were again quickly tied off, leaving Annelise in a wide spread eagle position.

Albrecht again appeared, this time carrying a straight razor and a bowl of soap suds. He sloppily soaped up her crotch. Then he took the razor and began scraping away at her pubic hair.

The Captain leaned over and looked at her face.

"I'd try to be very still just now," he said. "Albrecht tends to be careless and you might end up missing something you want."

Annelise kept her body rigidly still and Albrecht completed his work with reasonably few nicks. When he was done with the shaving he splashed water on her crotch and then wiped her down with a coarse towel.

"Now what, Cap'n?" Albrecht asked.

"How about a dance?" he asked. "I think our guest should entertain us with a dance, don't you?"

The men roared their agreement. Annelise was unbound and help to her feet on the table. Someone started playing what might have been a flute. He played it so badly it was hard to tell. The men began clapping in time and calling out to her to start dancing.

At first, frightened by the leering eyes that focused on her Annelise froze, Then she tried a few tentative steps, trying to remember a jig, anything. But all she could do was a series of disjointed, out of time stumbles.

"That's not dancin'," a harsh voice cried out. "Here now, let's teach this slut how to dance proper."

Hands reached out for her. Annelise was pulled from the table. They stood her on the floor, with her belly against the edge of the table. She was pushed over, to lie on her stomach with legs hanging over the edge, and her arms stretched to the opposite corners. Her wrists were tied. Her feet were off the ground now. More hands grabbed her ankles and spread her legs apart, tying her ankles to the table legs.

Annelise had worked at the tavern long enough to know what this gang of louts intended. But she still wasn't prepared for the crudeness of their assault. The clumsiest stableboy she'd met in the barn after dark was an expert in the arts of love compared to brutal fashion in which the guardsmen used her. One after another the took position behind her, as if engaged in a drill.

At first Annelise tried to keep count. There had been how many? A dozen of them? How many had used her already? How many more were there? But she lost count and as it was she was certain some were coming around for a second go at her.

After what seemed like hours Annelise was released from the table. Trying to stand up she immediately collapsed onto the floor. One of the largest of the guardsmen picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. He carried her out the door, followed by three or four of his fellows. The remainder continued filling their cups and belting out bawdy songs.

Annelise was carried only half aware to a horse trough where she was unceremoniously dumped. The cold water revived her somewhat and she floundered around, trying to get out. Before she could she was lifted to her feet and buckets of water were poured over her, splashed against her front and back. In a final indignity she was forced to bend forward at the hips and spread her legs so water could be sloshed over her private parts.

Then she was again thrown over a shoulder and carried to the dungeons.

"About time," the dungeon keeper grumbled as the party entered. "Thoughtless! Thoughtless! Keepin' me up half the night waitin' on ye!"

He led them to a small cell, opened the door and motioned for them to put Annelise in it.

"This one'll do," he growled. "Ye might have dried her off first, though."

Annelise was lowered onto a pile of straw. One of the guardsmen picked up a ragged blanket and wrapped it around her. She lay there exhausted but unable to sleep, until as dawn began to break she finally managed to drift off.

Annelise was still sleeping fitfully at mid-morning when the keeper of the dungeon woke her. He'd brought a bowl of gruel and what looked like a pile of grubby gray wool cloth. He woke her with a toe to her ribs. When she rolled over and looked up at him he put the bowl of gruel down.

"Breakfast," he said in a voice like rusty iron hinges. He motioned towards a bucket in the corner. "You've got ten minutes to eat and do what you need to do. Then put this on."

He shook out the gray cloth. It was a sort of formless, sleeveless shift. He dropped it on the floor and left, closing the door of the cell behind him.

Annelise did as instructed and was waiting when the dungeon keeper returned. She had a distinct feeling she was not the only one in filthy wool garment.

The dungeon keeper was accompanied by the Captain of the Guard and two of his men. He, at least, looked none the worse for the wear, though his men both looked as if they really wanted a few more hours of sleep. They placed manacles on her wrists again and escorted Annelise back to the torture chamber. As they entered Annelise heard the friar in conversation with the Prince.

"I see you've added an apparatus, Highness," Fra Gropius said.

He was studying a new addition to the chamber. It was an iron pole, five feet long, standing upright. The upper end had been shaped into a point. The shaft itself was not of a constant diameter it's full length, but gradually widened. The base of the long spike was in a wide metal basin. To either side of the spike stood two more metal rods. Each of these had ha metal collar that clearly was designed to slide up or down along the pole. Each collar had a short length of chain attached to it. Another chain dangled from a pulley above the central spike. Two long leather straps hung from the end of the chain.

"Yes," the Prince replied. "My artisans worked all night preparing this. This will be our method of execution when the subject reveals her secret".

"I believe I understand what you have in mind, but perhaps you should explain the method of her execution, so that our subject understands what will happen if she breaks and speaks."

"I happened to think of a method of execution I've heard to be popular among the peoples of the Transylvanian mountains. Impalement. I decided this might have promise, but as I understood the process it appeared to be capable of considerable improvement. I've added a few refinements that I think you'll agree make it a truly horrendous process.

"First, I've replaced the Transylvanians' wooden stake with an iron rod. A charcoal fire will be lit around the base of the impaling stake, thus heating it. The leather thongs will be fastened tightly around the subject's breasts. She will then be raised by the thongs and positioned over the stake. Her ankles will be fastened to the collars around the guiding rods, so that she may not close her legs. Another guide will be fastened around her waist to ensure that she remains in position. She will then be slowly lowered onto the impaling stake, which will enter her feminine orifice. Over many hours she will be inched lower and lower, while being slowly roasted by both the fire below and the heat from the spike, thus increasing her agony. I have calculated that, with luck and skill she should not expire in less than six hours. I believe that should be sufficient inducement for her to resist our efforts."

"Indeed it should be," the Friar replied, impressed at the Prince's ingenuity. "And I fully expect that with some care you might perhaps extend her agony to eight, or possibly even twelve hours. But we shall see when the time comes."

Annelise had turned white at the recitation and nearly fainted again.

Fra Gropius appeared to completely ignore the girl, but the Prince noticed that the Friar surreptitiously kept an eye on her.

"First things first," the Friar said. "The subject is clothed, however meanly. This will not do. She must be kept in naked state while awaiting or undergoing examination."

The Prince signaled to the two torturers stepped in. The manacles were briefly removed from Annelise's wrists and the filthy shift pulled up over her head. Once the shift was removed one of the torturers began to replace the manacles but the Prince ordered him to stop with a terse "That won't be necessary." Annelise let her arms drop to her sides.

"It is truly surprising how much effect lacking the slightest protection of a smock or chemise has in these circumstances. Especially for the weaker sex, when they find themselves exposed to the gaze of men and utterly helpless to protect or shield themselves. Often this in itself is enough torment to elicit a confession."

Annelise knew exactly what he was saying. One might have expected her stripping and abuse by the guards the previous night to have inured her to this mere display of her body. But having to stand, fully exposed, before these four men, made her want to run, to crouch behind the merest bit of furniture or a column. Her insides where twisting and grumbling from fear. Only the knowledge of the horrible fate that awaited her kept her from blurting out her "secret" then and there.

Despite her near panic Annelise did notice one thing. Both the Prince and the Friar were taking advantage of her nakedness to study her form at perhaps somewhat greater length than was called for.

"I do hope that won't be the case here, Friar," the Prince said. "If she gives in too easily..."

"I don't think you will have to fear less than adequate time to practice your art, m'Lord," the Friar replied. "I've become a fair judge of my subject over the years. If I'm not mistaken our pretty little peasant girl is made of quite stern stuff. They often are. Your well born lady will oft confess at the first sight of the implements. But a peasant girl like this, she will hold to her errant ways as if the devil himself were holding her fast. There was one peasant girl I examine, one who looked remarkably like, what is her name?"

"Annelise, I believe it is."

"One peasant girl I examined few years ago, a witch of course, who was so sunk in her sin and heresy that it took a month to prise a confession from her. Regrettably, it was all for nought, for as the flames consumed her she loudly recanted her confession and cast the most hideous imprecations upon we who had tried to bring her to salvation. A sad case. Most sad.

"But, as I say, I expect that Annelise will give you full scope to learn the art of interrogation, especially with the encouragement you've provided with this most ingenious execution device."

"So, then, shall we make a start?"

"Indeed, m'Lord. I believe our subject is in a proper state now for the inquiry to begin."

To be continued.........

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