Aurelie tries to work faster

Aurelie let out a loud scream of pain as she suddenly felt as though a tongue of fire had landed across her buttocks. She twisted her neck to look behind her and was scared to see the whipmaster glaring at her and threatening her to continue if she did not work faster.

She did not know how she could. She had already scrubbed the floor as fast as she could and she was now exhausted. She turned back to her task, trying to move her arms faster. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her scalp and then her head was plunged into the bucket. Filthy water entered her nose, her eyes, her mouth, it soaked her hair and before long she was suffocating.

When she thought she was going to pass out, her head was brutally yanked out of the pail, dripping with filthy water. As the whipmaster released his hold on her hair, she collapsed on the dirty planking, coughing, retching, desperately trying to recover her breathing. Her eyes were blinded by the filth and the stench was overwhelming.

She **** herself to get back on all four on shaky limbs. She tried to continue her scrubbing as best as she could but the half-drowning combined to her pain and exhaustion made her clumsy and slow.