"Madame might be interested," Haures said, leading her down the spiral staircase, "to know that professional inquisitors consider the first torture to be the showing of the instruments themselves. In many cases, the subject interrogated breaks and confesses all at this point. This is of course assuming, Madame, that the purpose of the inquisition is to gather evidence and not - as it is in many cases, including this one - the inquisition itself."
The room was all done in wood, like a storage room, but Haures' redecorations had made it another little corner of the Hell he hailed from. How he'd gotten all this furniture into the hidden room without anyone noticing was, perhaps, a question best left unasked. Haures pointed out the new furniture first.
"The chairs." Two chairs, side by side, one covered in small knobs - like doorknobs - the other in spikes. "The wonderful thing about these instruments, Madame, is that the subject's weight itself provides the pressure required to inflict pain. The knobs are a lighter punishment than the spikes, of course, but I assure you both are awful... and with the knobs, you need not worry about killing him, and ending your entertainment too soon. Both chairs have empty compartments beneath the seat itself; Madame may wish to place hot coals within to heat her subject."
"The pillory." A wooden stocks, set upon a dais. "While mostly a tool of humiliation, it will also keep Madame's subject still in order for her to utilise other instruments upon him."
"The wheel." A St. Andrew's Cross, set within a wheel. "Set low, Madame may break her subject upon the wheel; rotating it, and placing bars within to halt its rotation, breaking bones. A Grecian execution, originally, and favoured for its ability to display the condemned afterwards. Set low or high, and with the subject secured to it, the cross of the wheel will keep Madame's subject still, and allow blood or other fluids to drip upon the ground. For milder purposes, Madame may disorient her subject by positioning him upside down, or upon his side."
"The Judas cradle." This appeared to be nothing more than a good-sized wooden pyramid upon a stool, with brackets in the walls nearby. "Madame may tie her subject to the walls, place his anus above the cradle, and... as with the chairs, his weight provides the torture. This can, of course, be a method of execution."
"The Virgin of Nuremberg." A tall iron maiden, closed when Haures gestured to it. "Named for its place of design and first use. I am sure Madame has heard of this one; the more lurid tales gather speed quickly. If I may venture a small bon mot, for a virgin, she is entirely used to penetration. The spikes can be set at any depth, from a pinprick to full impalement. This particular Virgin I had designed with a personal specification; the facemask may be opened, so that Madame may hear her subject scream."
"The rack." A hefty table, with cuffs on each corner, and a bewildering series of chains and axles underneath. "Madame may stretch her subject to her heart's content. By some reports, the most painful of any device in this room; and the benefit is that, should Madame not tear his legs and arms away, there is a very small chance of fatality."
"The table." A stone table, with cuffs again on each corner, and grooves set around the edges. "Should Madame wish to bleed her subject, or should Madame give him to me, the blood will run off and sluice away. The design is based around sacrificial altars discovered in the New World and used by the heathen Maya, with some Druidic influence."
Finished with the furniture, Haures moved on to a table, gesturing at the implements thereon. "Some of these Madame will find quite simple," he confessed. "This whip, for example. While a steady hand and strength will be well-rewarded, the whip's tension and oiling make even the lightest touch painful. This knife can be used like any other, but Madame might find it most interesting in its original use - it is a flenser, used to flay the skin from - well, originally, walruses. In the modern day it finds so many extra uses. These tongs can carry coals from the brazier over there, or heated to pinch and brand skin. ...ah, while we speak of tongs, it is a shame Madame's subject is male, I have always had a fondness for the Spanish Spider. Still, I am sure my opportunity will come; in the meanwhile, I shall await patiently. Some of these instruments, however, are more esoteric..."
Something that looked like a double-ended tuning fork, sharpened, with a ring in the middle. "The Heretic's Fork. When Madame's subject has his neck in this collar, this end - here - shall enter his chest, and this end - here - under his chin, into the jaw. While the agony is pronounced, we are perhaps most interested in the atavistic response; Madame's subject would find himself most effectively immobilised. Sadly, it would silence him, as well."
A glove, set with blades upon the fingers. "The Spanish Tickler - Spain has been such a boon to inquisitions. With this Madame may flay her subject as if with her own bare hands."
A series of small, vice-like objects. "I am sure Madame has heard of these, if perhaps not seen any, as I do not believe they were in vogue in the pits - thumbscrews. But do not feel restrained by the name, Madame; any finger or toe can be crushed within the vice."
A larger vice indeed, now... with what almost looked like ice cream scoops dangling from the top. "The head crusher. Madame may place her subject's head within this and simply turn the screw. These..." Haures flicked a scoop. "...are to catch his eyes, should they pop from their sockets."
The next seemed to be a holy water sprinkler, but Haures touched and lifted it with no adverse reaction at all. "Boiling lead is poured in at this end," Haures explained, "and comes out here, where it can be sprinkled on the subject's body."
"Lastly... now, this I am particularly fond of." A large, bulbous ovoid at the end of a crank. "The choke-pear, or poire d'angoisse. Inserted into the subject's mouth or anus, to promote another atavistic reaction of debasement, and..." As Haures turned the crank, the pear opened like a flower, spreading in all directions, the wickedly sharp 'leaves' at least several feet apart. "Et voila. Madame must be careful with the pear, of course, for fear of ending her entertainment too soon."
After laying down the device, Haures was behind Esther, holding her shoulders familiarly - but with the familiarity of a friend or family member goading to courage. "You must have a will of iron," he told her. "The Queen has said that she has the heart and stomach of a King of England; so too must you. You may see something in these instruments that reminds you of the pits; hear something in his screams that reminds you of your own treatment. Bury these feelings. You were swept away as an obstacle, used as an amusement; you were fed a steady diet of malice. What you bring back to them is not mere malice, but the sweetest of vengeance."
And with that, before her again, in his perfect butler's pose. "I trust that Madame has found my contract with her satisfactory, thus far?"
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