The Masturbator is Punished.
Lubura was stripped naked and exhibited in all the villages in the region. Her breasts were crushed between pieces of wood and were lifted on ropes to make it easier for soldiers or villagers to slap them or cane them. At the end of the tour she was taken to the fortified village where the traitor Salius lived.
“Take a good look at the She-devil! She’s a killer, a mad bitch!” a man shouted. He was a member of the Tribocii tribe who had acted as scout for the Roman patrol that caught Lubura. The villagers wanted to stay on good terms with the Romans. They shouted at her, insulted her, and threw rubbish at her.
“Crucify her! It’ll be an honor for the village!” someone shouted. The villagers asked for her to be handed over to them for punishment.
But Licius Vartius had given precise orders for the woman to be placed in the hands of torturers for questioning. She was tortured day after day by Salius’s men, but she never spoke a word.
The Roman leader was right. When the other rebels saw Lubura’s mutilated body on the altar at the top of the Hill of A Thousand Teeth they rose up in anger against the Roman invaders.
The Romans had left a small guard to watch over the body. The Roman Legatus knew that the guards would be no match for the She-devils, but he had left other soldiers hidden in the surrounding countryside and they would follow them.
The Legatus was right. The guards were outnumbered and were quickly killed. Vaniria the warrior trampled on their bodies. She stood on the chest of a dead guard and raised her sword before the cross. “The invaders will pay for this, as the moon is my witness!” she shouted, and a roar went up from the other warriors. “Death to all Romans! Death to all Romans!” they chanted.
In the following weeks the She-devils waged their guerrilla war with more fury than before, but things were different now. The Romans seemed to be able to predict some of their raids, and several She-devils were captured.