There we were standing high atop the wooden platform. The girl in a sky blue ball gown and hair falling down to her waist. Then there was me in slacks, stripped to the waist and branded with an X across my chest.

“These two are accused of the deadliest crime…Heresy!” the Lord Bishop called to the crowd before him. They gasped, feigning horror…they were all only here to the punishment that would be dealt out to us. “Several punishments have been chosen by the council of nine and The Will has spoken through us. First they shall be bound to the Rack of Pain.” Punishers grabbed our arms and fastened our wrists and ankles into the Rack of Pain. Then tipped it vertically, so we stood there with short chains binding our limbs in place. “Next they shall be stripped and their bodies revealed to the world.” A dagger sliced down my slacks and they fell away, revealing my body in full. The girl was next…her dress was cut away and fell to ground. The crowd laughed as though this was some sick joke. Next their stomachs branded with the letter T to signify their crime as traitors to The Will. The white hot brands were brought from the flaming altar behind us and passed to two Punishers who then forced them into our chests. Severe pain, burning flesh, the smell of burning meat. It made us cry out in agony. The screams were noted by cheers from every adult in the crowd, the bloodthirstiness of those adults who live in the Barren Wastes, this land of desert and small distant communities. Here The Will was law and people enjoyed watching children and adolescents tortured for the sheer pain it caused them and the way they would grow up crippled ad in constant pain. As agony dulled to a throbbing pain I stared at the girl. She was heavily bruised, probably beaten already…and raped. I had already had the Crocodile Shears applied to me, leaving me raw and in pain. The girl had tears in her eyes and the Lord Bishop stood before her, blocking her body up to her chest. I watched as his hand ran up her thigh.

“Stay a way from her you b******!” I shouted and at him. He spun.

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!!” he shouted.

“A b****** a lying, conniving b******!”

“This only further proves my point! Punishers bring me the Claw!” One of them stumbled out and handed him a device which had an handle and trigger like a gun but ended in two long, thin arms with the upper having a point on the end. He grabbed my palm and squeezed the trigger and after a needle-sharp pain he did the same to the girl. “Happy Trails!” he called. “You are going into the Sands Of Bones!” the crowd gasped. “But first you shall be caned.” He drew out a walking cane of sharp thorny wood and flogged each of us ten times. H turned to the punishers. Take them down and bring them to the edge of the town, I will meet you there.

“Sir” I called. He spun.

“Yes?” I spat on his face. He flicked the cane and cracked into my back twice. It was worth it. I thought as he stormed away.