The last moment

© 2014 by Stefanie Walker (StefanieWalker.deviantart.com)

Edited by Dannysuling (dannysuling.deviantart.com)

(Some fantasies should forever remain being a fantasy.)

Chapter five - The Sacrifice

The more people passing through the line of rocks, the brighter the shine of the torches becomes, emphasizing the darkness outside the ring. The murmur of the people resounds from the near woods, and the girls have to wait a long time until the last in the line arrives. Mary knows that the sacrifice is planned to take place exactly at midnight, and that until shortly before then they will have to wait outside.

All of a sudden the murmur decreases, and after a short time of silence Mary hears a single voice speaking. Based on the sound of the voice Mary assumes that it's the mayor giving a speech to the audience. After a while she hears applause. Then another voice rises to speak. Mary detects the rasping voice of the doctor, but she is not able to understand what he is saying. Mary knows that her life will not last much longer.

Applause again.

Then the virgins see a shadow appearing in the gap between the rocks. The shadow approaches and in the pale moonlight they recognize the doctor walking to the place where they are waiting. He stops in front of them. The doctor looks at Mary, and even though he is still hooded the virgins can see him leering.

“I hope that you are ready to die, my dear,” he says with a sneering tone. “But first you have to remove your shoes. The rite requires that you wear only a white dress and a floral wreath.” He pauses for a second, “And if it were up to me, we would even drop the dress. Ha ha ha.”

The five girls shudder at his sardonic laughter.

Then, facing Mary's retinue, he continues, “Get up and arrange yourselves around our virgin! And then follow me!”

Mary takes off her shoes. She really likes them, and she is aware that these shoes are the last personal item she still has. When Catherine sees Mary hesitating, she says, “You can give them to me. I will carry them in my bag for you.”

Mary thankfully hands them to her. She is so focused on the imminent sacrifice, that she does not even realize she will never see them again.

The the girls do as commanded, and the group follows the doctor, who slowly paces towards the entrance. Mary feels the ground under her bare feet. Now, wearing only her dress, she feels practically naked and vulnerable. Elisabeth slows down and takes Mary's arm.

“Are you all right, my dear Mary?” she inquires with a caring voice. “The moment is close now.”

“Yes, I believe I am,” Mary answers, but Elisabeth notices the shaking in her voice. She wonders whether this might be fear or pure excitement.

Mary is aware that she has only a few minutes left before her head will be separated from her body.

Mary and her four accompanying virgins pass through the entrance, and suddenly find themselves standing inside a kind of arena. The spectators with their torches are standing along the ring of rocks surrounding the place, leaving the center unoccupied. Some have even climbed onto the top of the rocks to have a better view onto the upcoming action.

As soon as the white-dressed Mary is spotted by the waiting audience, the mumbling stops. Mary knows that now everybody is looking just at her.

“Please welcome our selected virgin, who is going to sacrifice her life for the viability of all of us.” The doctor's words are followed by overwhelming applause from the audience.

“The populace appreciates that the words end and the action begins,” Mary says loudly. But in the noise only Catherine and Elisabeth are able to understand what she says.

Mary notices a dark shadow in the center of the arena. In the light of the torches she identifies it as the shape of a large funeral pyre. A pyre for burning her corpse after she has been decapitated, the grandiose finale of her sacrifice.

Mary takes a deep breath. In front of the pyre she detects a large white sheet with all kinds of fruits and vegetables on it. And beside it a wooden stretcher. Mary's knees become weak when she remembers what it is for. She starts to stagger and needs to concentrate on her legs to stay upright.

Mary remembers Amy's body lying on its right side in the grass. Her head lying apart from it; seperated, not attached to her body any more. A few muscles were still twitching and blood still dripped out of her neck. Her heart had stopped beating in the meantime, but the crowds were still screaming with enthusiasm about the event that had just occured in front of them.

After Amy's body finally had stopped trembling Mary saw two men walking over to the corpse. One of them bent down and cut the ropes that were still holding the dead girls wrists and ankles. Then, through her tears, Mary saw them taking Amy's motionless body by her arms and legs and placing it onto the stretcher. One of the men clasped her hands to her breast. The other went back to her head, bent down and picked it up by her hair. Based on the reflections of the torches, Mary realized that Amy's eyes were still open, as if her head were still alive. The man looked into Amy's face , then carefully closed her eyes with his left hand. Then he carried her head over to her body and placed it carefully onto her thighs.

Finally four men lifted the stretcher with Amy's corpse, carried it over to the pyre, and placed it onto its flat top. Some women picked up the blood-spattered fruits and vegetables and arranged them around Amy's corpse on top of the pyre. They were going to be burned with her.

Mary can not remember how long she stood there, silently crying, with the torch in her hand. She does remember that she heard people speaking, interrupted by applause, but that she was not able to listen to the words. Finally somebody, she believes it was the doctor, took a torch and ignited the pyre.

In her memory she can still see Amy lying on top of the pyre, with her head on her thighs, and the flames rising higher and higher. Suddenly, due to the increasing heat, the white dress and Amy's hair simultaneously burst into fire. And a few moments later her beloved Amy had disappeared in a sea of flames … .

“Amy, I am now going to suffer the same fate you suffered before,” Mary says to herself, almost inaudibly. “And I am feeling exactly the same what you felt at this moment. Isn't this incredible? Our souls were so close.”

When Mary looks up again, she sees Catherine and Elisabeth standing next to her, each supporting her by her arms. In the meantime they have untied themselves and handed their torches to Susan and Jane, in order to have their hands free if this should be necessary.

“We saw you staggering and wanted to keep you from falling,” Elisabeth explains to her.

Catherine and Elisabeth have stood close enough to Mary to understand her words. And they try hard not to show the emotions that Mary's words evoke in them.

“I love you,” Mary says in a low voice, so that only Catherine and Elisabeth can hear her. “I love both of you.”

Her last words are almost drowned out by applause from the spectators. The mayor has just finished a speech that the three friends have not listened to.

Now the doctor rises to speak again. “Here is our virgin Mary Ann, who is going to sacrifice her life for Taranis. We all hope, and believe, that this beautiful virgin will be a pleasant gift for him. And we hope that this, our gift will put him in a good mood, so he will be thankful and will bring us the rain we are so longingly waiting for. Her virgin blood will bless the fruits from our fields we are going to sacrifice with her, so that the crops in our fields will grow well. The smoke from our virgin and from these fruits will soar into the air and ascend into heaven to Taranis, and their ashes will be taken by the wind to be spread all over our land and to bless it. All of you, repeat my words when I say, Taranis, oh God of the weather and the crops in the grounds … “

“Taranis, oh God of the weather and the crops in the grounds …,” the crowd repeats his words.

“Please take the life of this virgin ...”, the doctor continues, pausing after each phrase for the populace's repetition.

“ ... taken from our community … “,

“ … as our gift for you … ”,

“... and help us to overcome our distress … ,”

“... and safe the crop on our fields.”

Here the doctor stops speaking.

It is absolutely silent. The only audible is the spitting of the torches. “Thank you!” the doctor finishes his speech facing the audience. He obviously enjoys his role as self-proclaimed priest and the power this gives him over the crowd.

His words are followed by a hurricane of applause. As the applause slowly decreases, loud voices from a few single spectators can be heard, at first occasional and sporadic, but then combining to a powerful chorus.

“Sa-cri-fice! … Sa-cri-fice! … Sa-cri-fice! … “, the chorus of the masses demands.

Mary cringes when she recognizes the word.

She knows most of the spectators from the tavern. Most of them are just normal people who simply enjoyed to getting their food and drinks served by a young beauty. Only a very few are known for being thuggish. Some patrons do not even acknowledge the girl serving them, some are very gentle and obliging and some are plain rude. But as an integral part of the tavern she has had a good relationship with most of them. And now she gets aware that all these people are longingly waiting to see her sacrificed.

Mary notices that the doctor is talking to them.

“Can you hear the masses?” he asks the five girls in a cheerful voice. He pauses, obviously enjoying listening to the crowd.

“So, then, I believe it is time to proceed,” he continues. “We should not keep them waiting any longer. Or, Mary, what do you think? Are you ready for your last act?”

Even though his facial expression is hidden by the shadow of his hood, the girls can almost hear the evil grin on his face by the sound of his voice. And then, facing Catherine and Elisabeth and pointing to the blanket with the fruits, “You! Bring our virgin into position!”

Amid the loud applause of the crowd Mary is guided by Catherine and Elisabeth to the point designated for the sacrifice. Susan and Jane are following them to light the scene with the torches.

“Catherine ... Elisabeth … please hold me firmly,” Mary begs her two friends. “You won't believe what this mixture of fear and excitement does to me. And yes, I am more than ready to perform my last act. Can you imagine that I really want it to happen now?”

The two girls grab her arms tightly to guide her on her last steps. Even though they can not fully understand Mary's emotional situation, they are more than happy that she accepts her fate as she does, that she is even able to enjoy it. They stop two feet in front of the blanket. Walter is already waiting for them. Mary takes another deep breath when she realizes that she now has arrived at the spot she will never leave alive.

“Walter … ?” the doctor says, intending to the swordsman to begin Mary's final preparation. Walter steps behind Mary without saying a word.

“Walter, would you mind if I tie her up?” Catherine interrupts, with a meaningful look over to the doctor. “At this very moment she should be touched by a virgin only.”

“Sure, why not? I believe that you can do this as well,” Walter replies after a short moment of hesitation. He was initially unsure about the doctor, but agreed after he saw him nodding annoyingly.

“Mary, bring your hands to your back now,” Catherine instructs Mary in a soft but commanding voice.

Mary obediently does what Catherine tells her to do. Then Catherine takes the four ropes that are still bound to Mary's wrists and uses them to tie her up. She pulls the ropes extra tight to insure Mary is markedly aware of them and to illustrate her hopeless situation. Mary squeals when she feels the rough hemp ropes almost cutting into her wrists. She carefully tries to move her hands to find a more comfortable position, but finds that Catherine has done a good job on her. The ropes do not allow her hands even a small movement.

After Catherine's efforts Mary is fully aware of her vulnerability, as now her control of her own hands has completely been taken away. And it excites her even more when she realizes that she will never experience to having her hands untied again.
Oh my God, that's it, she thinks for herself. Now my life will last not longer than a few minutes.

“Mary, it is now time for you to kneel down,” Walter says in a breathy voice.

Mary just stands there, as if she is unable to move. She is well aware of the fact that once she kneels down now she will never again rise. That she will never more experience to stand on her own feet.

Catherine brings her mouth close to Mary's ear. “Kneel down!” Mary hears Catherine whispering in her ear, and the commanding tone of her voice makes her obey immediately. Catherine and Elisabeth hold her arms and support her as she kneels, since it is quite difficult for her to keep her balance with her hands being immovably bound behind her back.

Mary notices Catherine kneeling down behind her, and feels her working with the loose ends of the ropes her wrists are bound with. She senses them being wrapped around her ankles and secured with a knot. Mary knows that Catherine will not pull them too tight this time, since she needs some freedom of movement to bend forward. After Catherine is done, she stands up.

Mary takes a deep breath. She is almost shivering from excitement. In her fantasy she has gone through this situation so many times before. She knows that her preparation is almost done, and that she soon will die in exactly the pose she just adopted. She sees Walter talking with Catherine, but she can not understand their words.

The whole scene seems to whirl around her. This morning she was still able to walk freely through the streets of her town in the sunshine, but now she kneels here, in front of the majority of the town inhabitants, in the light of hundreds of torches, waiting to be decapitated by a sword.

She notices that Catherine and Elisabeth are kneeling down right behind her. She feel them working on her hair. The last step of her preparation has begun. Her friends use hairpins to pin her hair up, making sure that Walter will have a good view of her neck, the target for his sword. Then they begin to arrange her dress, so that it lies properly on the ground around her.

Suddenly Mary feels a hand touching her crotch. She winces at the unexpected touch and barely suppresses a squeal. “Mary, darling,” she hears Catherine whispering in her ear, “it is time now that you give my gifts back to Beth.” Mary almost has forgotten that she still carries the pebbles in her vagina. She closes her eyes and relaxes her vaginal muscles to let the pebbles drop into Elisabeth's waiting hand. Elisabeth takes the warm, wet pebbles and closes her hand around them. She will always keep them as a reminder of Mary and her fate.

“Thank you,” Elisabeth whispers in her other ear. She tries to give her voice a firm tone, but can barely hide her sadness. All this happens so quickly and secretly that nobody else realizes what is happening between these three girls kneeling in the middle of the arena.

Catherine and Elisabeth continue to arrange Mary's dress, and both make sure that at least once they touch one of Mary's hard nipples pointing through the fabric. Mary answers each touch with a quiet groan, that can only be heard by Catherine and Elisabeth.

Now, that the pebbles are gone, Mary feels that her crotch is sopping wet.

“Mary, we now have to abandon you to your fate,” she hears Catherine saying to her. “But we will stand just a few feet behind you, so you will not be alone any time.”

And then she continues in a low voice, so that only Mary and Elisabeth can hear her. “Good bye my love, it is terrible that our relationship has to end so quickly. We are aware of how much you enjoy your current situation, as one of your deepest desires is going to be fulfilled. We will never, ever forget you.” Catherine's voice has become weak and shaky, and tears are running down her face when she stands up.

A moment later Mary feels a tight hug. She looks into Elisabeth's face. Elisabeth looks at her with tearful eyes, unable to say even a single word. She shows Mary her closed hand with the pebbles inside, and Mary understands what Elisabeth is trying to convey and nods almost imperceptibly.

Elisabeth rises and walks over to Catherine who is already standing next to Susan and Jane. They all have tears in their eyes. Each of them imagines that it could be her kneeling there, and that they are simply lucky not to be the virgin to be sacrificed tonight. Catherine and Elisabeth retrieve their torches, and Walter instructs them where they have to stand to illuminate Mary sufficiently.

Mary has been left alone, kneeling in the middle of the arena, unable to move, and left to her fate. Her white dress shines in the light of the torches, turning her into a small white spot contrasting with the dark ground around her, emphasizing her vulnerability. She knows that all eyes are focused on her now.

Knowing that her friends are standing close behind helps Mary to endure the situation. And the fact that Catherine has explicitly surrendered her to her executioner evokes a strange feeling of emotional security in Mary, as if she is still being guided by her.

Catherine, on her part, knows exactly what she has done to Mary. But she has to work hard to overcome her own emotions since she explicitly guides this lovely blonde girl going to her death.

Mary hears steps on her left. When she turns her head she observes Walter standing next to her. Mary looks up to his face. Walker looks straight into her eyes without saying a word. His face shows the same strange mixture of sadness and thrill of anticipation it showed when he visited her in the town hall today. Mary's helplessness and vulnerability arouses him, just as he experienced when he decapitated Amy. And the devoted way in which Mary is looking up to him even intensifies his excitement. Mary detects the bulge in the front of his trousers. She smiles inwardly at the evidence of his arousal.

“Please, do your job,” Mary mouths the words while she looks deeply into Walter's eyes. Somehow she knows for sure that he will understand her. Walter stares at Mary, amazed by the silent words she has just said to him. But he comprehends quickly, she just begged him to fulfill her hidden desire. He nods slowly, trying hard to hide the emotions Mary's inaudible words have evoked in him.

When Walter takes a step back, Mary turns her head to look straight into the direction of the pyre. Moments later she hears the sound of a sword taken out of its scabbard, followed by a suppressed sobbing behind her. Mary knows that it is now time for her to die.

There is nobody inside this ring of stones who is not watching her at this moment.

The voices of the crowd surround her. The only thing she can do now is to wait for the final strike that will end her life. The strike that Walter will make with his sword after he gets the signal from the doctor, who is watching the sacrifice from behind the line of her accompanying virgins holding the torches to light her sacrifice.

Mary prepares herself and slowly bends forward. She feels the ropes between her hands and her ankles becoming tight, and she automatically tries to spread her knees apart to obtain a more stable position. She focuses on an apple lying about three feet in front of her, and stretches her neck in the way Walter showed her earlier, when he visited her in the small room in the Town-Hall.

Walter, here is my neck for you, she thinks to herself. Do your job and cut my head off.

Mary hopes that she positioned herself correctly, so that Walter will be able to chop off her head with a single strike. She wonders how long her heart will stay alive after her head has been removed from her body. How many beats will it continue to make and how many fountains of blood will would pump out of my neck.

She feels the tight hemp ropes pulling on her wrists and ankles, intended to keep her headless body from being stretched out by uncontrolled twitching muscles. The ropes ensure that her blood will be splattered all over the fruits and vegetables in front of her, before her lifeless body finally tumbles over.

She again focuses on the apple in front of her and checks her pose. She remembers her beloved Amy kneeling in the same pose in the quivering light of the torches. In her imagination, she can even see her own bare neck exposed to the sharp blade of Walter's sword. She has never before felt so extremely vulnerable. Her emotional tension almost makes her scream from excitement, and her sexual arousal is overwhelming. She would like to touch her wet clit and to squeeze her hard nipples to provoke the orgasm she is so close to. But with her hands tightly bound behind her back she has no chance to grant herself this relief. And she doesn't dare to move, as at the same time it is her burning desire to present her neck to Walter's sword.

Breathing heavily she checks her pose for a third time.

“Walter … please … do it …,” she mouths, still focusing on that one red apple lying in front of her.

She wonders if her eyes will also remain open after ...

Mary is not able to finish her thought, as suddenly the whole entire arena is filled with a deep silence. The mumbling of the crowd has ceased, and the only sound Mary can hear is the spitting of the torches. The doctor must have given the signal, the signal to sacrifice her.

Mary just kneels there, motionless, taking one more deep breath, waiting for the inevitable.

She knows that this is her very last moment on earth.