Her blurred vision slowly became fixed as she regained consciousness, head pounding. She felt the hard stone beneath her and attempted to move, but realized her hands were bound. She cried out as she tried to move and the ropes cut further into her wrists. She felt the coarse material that shielded her eyes from sight. She was left only with the sense of sound. Gripped by fear, she lay motionless.
Her breathing quickened as she heard the sound of footsteps, each one resonating fear as they came closer and the creaking of the door caused blood to course through her veins. The blind fold was roughly removed, and she faced her captors: two figures, whose identities were hidden by black and red Venetian masks. She tried to scream, but omitted no sound, staring on with dilated pupils. How did she get there? How long had she been there?
Nor did she scream when her bound feet were untied, and she felt the cold, steel blade pressed close to her skin, trailing down to tear the clothes from her back. She stared down at her naked breasts, exposed in the firelight: her mind awash with humiliation. There were no reactions from the two masked figures, who in a trance-like state encircled her. They were underground, in what appeared to be a dungeon, amidst stifling heat and amplified breathing.
She finally felt a flicker of movement return to her, enough to turn to take in her surroundings. There in front of her was a contraption made up of a series of chain and leather pulleys, suspended from the ceiling on large hooks was what looked like a medieval device for torture.
She felt gloved hands slowly moving up her back, before roughly grabbing her shoulders and ushering her to move forwards. Each step felt like an eternity. She was finally lifted off her feet by the two figures and her feet were strapped into the device. She listened to the slow rhythmic grinding and felt the blood rushing to her head as she was suspended like cattle for slaughter - immobile.