Red Feline waited in silence, her world consisting of the dark and her breathing. She could feel the cold air entering her body through her nostrils, she had a hard time grabbing all the air she needed. She was waiting for the whip, but the Man in Black took his time. When she became accustomed to the feelings under her, she managed to flee into the void, she found herself inside of Piroska when the young slave began to recover some consciousness and opened her eyes to see the soldiers walk away, leaving her alone.

She realized she could put some pressure on her feet to raise herself a little and find some relief to her arms and her breathing and as she pulled herself up, Piroska felt the wooden horse under her and became aware of the strange environment around her and saw the Man in Black holding a whip approaching her.

She looked down at her familiar but unfamiliar body, criss crossed by the whip many times over, the nail stuck under her breast.

She took a deep breath while trying to make sense of it all.

The first kiss of the whip made a sharp twirl around Red Feline's waist, the burning sensation lasted long enough to distract her from the sounds of the second, approaching lash.

For a moment she lost her struggle to maintain her body away from the sharp wood beneath her and fell down on the horse. The relentless whip was on her, as she jumped back and forth from her reality to her hallucination.

Piroska managed to raise herself as high as the binds on her feet allowed her, giving her wrists a rest and her lungs the chance to fill themselves with air. Her body pulled her forward until she hanged at an angle, her legs straight, her arms almost parallel to the crossbeam, her back away from the post.

The strain on her arms became to strong so she pulled herself back and let her knees bend as her body slowly fell back. She was feeling weak and thirsty and she begged her goddess to give her some relief.

She was heard. It started to rain.

The relentless whip fell over and over on Red Feline, hitting her breasts, her sides, her legs, and as she fought to maintain herself upright, she felt her arms losing strength. She went up and down on the horse, as if she was riding it, moaning as the pain of the whip competed with the pain of her labia parted by the wooden edge.

She was rocked back and forth by the strength of the lashes, the pain on her clit and inside of her was making her forget the sting of the lash. Again she made an effort to flee only to find herself hanging from the cross and under the rain. The relief Piroska first felt as she opened her mouth to let the precious liquid in, was replaced by the cold that engulfed her body as it was soaked by the pouring rain.

The ropes on her wrists became heavier and for some moments she felt she could release her hands. The ropes around her ankles began to slide down as her effort to find some support pushed them instead.

She could no longer raise herself. Shivering and gasping she felt the lash as it fell across Red Feline's chest and the cutting edge of the horse splitting her even more.

The pain below her was burning as no other pain had so far. She invited the dark to come and take her away, but to no avail. The dark was keeping itself away for now. She was ready to give up, but she didn't know what was she was supposed to give up. What confession was being extracted out of her, what sin was she paying for? Was there any reason at all?

The whip fell over her chest and hit the nail inserted in her breast. The pain of the tip of the nail scratching her ribs was too much to bear and her mind went dark for a brief moment where she saw herself under the rain, gasping for air, pleading for mercy to no one, since no one was around. Perhaps pleading to the gods who never heard a mortal.

The dark of the night was similar to the dark of the room where Red Feline made an effort to cry out for mercy.

Red Feline's pleas went unheard because they never left her lips. Her cries for mercy were not expressed, they hid inside her. She could not give him the satisfaction.

She was in between her two worlds, one of pain, unbearable pain, continuous, unrelenting pain and the one where the rain and the darkness were transformed into wind and illumination.

Red Feline could taste the dark void for moments...short moments that were cut shorter by the whip striking her breast, hitting the nail, making it move inside her breast. The waves of pain made her go up and down, back and forth, rubbing her tender flesh against the wooden horse.

One lash hit her face and she didn't move, she didn't scream.