'A REVOLUTIONARY FATE'

by Alex Birch

Category: Period

Words: 498



The sky was grey and forbidding as the tumbril clattered across the
cobblestones in the damp early morning, the Place de la Concorde
echoing to the cries of the unruly crowd and the quiet weeping of the
women now approaching their nemesis in fear.

Men swore and hags spat as the tumbril stopped and unloaded six slender
young women one by one, helped down by less than gentle artisan's hands
and deposited in front of the guillotine, each pushed unceremoniously
towards the steps and told to wait in line.

Comtesse Caroline de Chevignan was 19, an orphan of the revolution and
terrified.  She was first in the line and, trembling, she looked up at
the giant angled blade some 20 feet above her and almost fainted.  She
squeezed the muscles of her bladder as the order came 'De
Chevignan..mount the platform!' and with a tiny cry she obeyed, pushed
and prodded all the way by her guard, a ruffian of the citizens army
who delighted in the rough handling.

The crowd howled its delight as she mounted the steps, her eyes
frightened and wide as she gazed at the hooded executioner awaiting
her, his arms folded in grim expectation.

Somehow she reached the top step though her legs were jelly and her
body was shaking.  The hooded man grabbed her arm, laughing as her
nerve failed and she struggled to be free.  The guard sprang forward
but the executioner motioned him back, well able to take care of this
slip of a girl.

The crowd below hooted and yelled abuse as Caroline was secured easily,
the executioner picking her up as if she were a feather and laying her
face down on the guillotine platform.  The guard unlocked and lifted
the hinged frame into which the victim's head was placed and, once
Caroline had been manoeuvered into place, the top frame was brought
down and secured, the girl's head just 15 feet below the savage blade.

'Are you ready, Comtesse?' the executioner demanded and the girl cried
'Do what you must, Citoyen! '

He nodded then stepped back a pace.  He signalled the guard who eagerly
leapt forward to the secured Caroline and promptly lifted her full
skirts and petticoats as she shrieked in shame and horror, the shrieks
becoming shrill as the ruffian unfastened her drawers and pulled them
down to her ankles.

Her shapely pale bottom quivered delightfully as the executioner leaned
down and picked up a thick leather cart strap which he slapped
menacingly against his palm before swinging it over his head and
bringing it down with a thwack across the meat of the girl's buttocks. 
A red weal burned across her bottom and a scream rent the air as the
executioner paused to admire his handiwork.

He smiled at the grinning guard and shouted:-

'Great idea of the Committee to commute the sentence of these pretty
little petty-aristos from death to a good flogging!  Much less messy
and far more fun!'