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Six
On the eve of her execution, Lena again languished in her cell, hands chained above her head, her eyelids drooping, her body slumped. She had never expected to end her days like this, and wished that, just once more, she might walk through the forest, feeling the leaf-dappled sun on her bare shoulders, the fallen leaves beneath her feet, but it was not to be.
A little before midnight, her cell door opened, and she recognised the shape of Captain Arkan entering. He crouched alongside her. "I have done as you asked," he said.
"Then I hope they come quickly," Lena said, "for tomorrow I go to the stake."
"They will come," Arkan promised.
"Any news of Roth?"
"He is not expected to live the night," Arkan smiled. "They cannot stop the bleeding."
"Then justice is done."
A long silence. In the semi-darkness, Arkan gazed at the Amazon’s beautiful face, framed by her gleaming arms. He said, "you are so beautiful. May I kiss you?"
"I would like that."
Gingerly, Arkan put his lips to Lena’s. Her mouth opened to him, and their tongues traded with growing hunger. Grasping her chains, the Amazon drew herself higher, tipping her head to deepen the kiss.
After a time, they parted, but Arkan placed small kisses all over the Amazon’s face. She smiled. "It is the first time I have been the captive, and the man my captor," she admitted quietly. "I quite like it."
"If I had the key to your shackles, you would not be a captive," Arkan promised.
"Make love to me," Lena whispered. "Give me pleasure."
"As you wish," Arkan said, his heart pounding.
It had been his dream to worship the body of an Amazon, and Lena was no disappointment to him. He kissed her upraised arms, first, tasting the salt of her smooth skin. He tasted her soft underarms, while she sighed with pleasure and shifted her chains. Lower, he licked her breasts, taking her swollen nipples into his mouth and suckling her while she gasped.
Lower still, and he kissed the hard packing of her abdominals, until his tongue found the crisp thatch of hair between her thighs. Even her hair tasted good, and when his tongue found the swelling berry of her clitoris, she rocked her pelvis back and let out a cry of pleasure. He licked her until orgasm swept over her and she was half-sprawled across the floor, her hands pulled down into the fetters, her skin shining with sweat, her breasts heaving.
Slowly, then, he unfastened his breeches, and eased his erection into her. She hissed her pleasure, matching each thrust, taking him all in, her vaginal muscles clenching and releasing his erection until he could take no more, and exploded deep inside her.
When it was done, he took her face in his hands, kissing her, driving his tongue deeply.
Then: "I promise, I will not let this beautiful body burn."
"Do not make promises you cannot keep," Lena warned softly.
"But I love you. I want to be with you."
"If you were to be with me, it could only be as my slave," the Amazon said.
"Then so be it."
Arkan slipped into the shadows, and, for the first time in weeks, Lena slept.
The hour of execution came all too soon. Her hands again bound behind her back, Lena was led out into daylight. Again, hundreds gathered to watch her pass, this time naked, but no less formidable in her muscularity and beauty. But word had spread that she had been broken upon the rack, and it was clear that the ropes were indeed capable of trapping her hands behind her back indefinitely, so rather than the respect with which she was first received, she now endured abuse and insults, taunts, and a shower of stones.
Beyond the city walls, a tall wooden stake had been stood in the ground, twenty guards posted in a circle around it. It was to this that the Amazon was led, and as the crowd gathered around, she was made to stand against it, lashed in place with ropes about her waist and legs. Then her hands were untied, her arms taken behind the stake, and tied again, tightly. She tested her bonds with all of her strength, but could not free herself.
As the citizens filed past to place wood and straw about her feet, Lena watched the crowd beyond the guards for the face of Arkan, but failed to see him. Soon, there was a large pile around the bound woman, and the Chief of Justice stepped into the circle of guards, facing Lena. A hush fell.
"Amazon Lena, you have been condemned to burn today, for your crimes against this city, and now, also, for the death of Roth, King’s Advisor. Have you anything to say?"
"Soon, you shall all die," she said.
The Chief of Justice hesitated, then smiled. "Perhaps you refer to the ‘rescue’ for which you hope? I have news, then." He lifted a hand. "Bring it!"
Lena’s eyes widened in horror as the torturer, at the hands of whom she suffered so greatly, appeared from the crowd. In his grasp was a hooded object, and when he drew away the hood, a gasp rose from all around.
The severed head of Captain Arkan was thrown into the wood-pile at Lena’s feet.
"No!" she shrieked.
"Our army set off last night to destroy, for once and for all, the Amazon army!" the Bailiff announced. "Victory is ours!"
The crowd cheered. The bound Amazon, tears streaming down her face, still struggled to tear herself from the stake. But the hope had gone from her eyes. The torturer gathered a burning torch from a brazier nearby, and Lena could do nothing as it was laid in straw at her feet.
Many times, she had watched fire grow in kindling-wood. The grey ribbons of smoke, the crackling of sap, the tiny sparks: those things that had once been a comfort to her were now a horror beyond words. Lena could think of no fate worse than to die in fire, but for all her strength and beauty, she could not free her hands from their bonds. The flames spread, leaped, the fire caught quickly, and in moments, she could feel the heat on her naked skin.
"Have mercy! Do not let me burn!" Her cries went unheeded.
She fought the ropes, her powerful muscles bulging and shifting, but the fire crackled and roared. The heat grew intolerable, her bare skin shining with sweat. Then, the first flames began to snap at her bare feet. Lena clenched her teeth, turned her face from the fire.
"Oh, Goddess!" she gave in agony. "Somebody, please, kill me now!"
But nobody stepped forward, and as the fire began to eat at her beautiful legs, her cries dissolved into wordless screams of pain. Drifts of smoke offered to screen the awful sight of a beautiful woman burning, but she was still visible as a shape, writhing against the stake, struggling to break free as the fire engulfed her, turning flesh to tallow and burning her as a slow candle. The smell was unmistakable. Black rolls of smoke rose into the air, and her screams echoed over the silent crowd.
Her beautiful hair caught, flared, was gone. Her skin was alight. Her breasts were melting. But her Amazonian strength was now a curse to her, her body refusing to succumb to the fire. Even as she burned, she struggled against the ropes, though she had learned long ago that they would not give.
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