Playing up to Altair's expectations, Cygnus did make up for his 'fourth' lash on the fifth. Blood splattered far and wide, and with his eyes Cygnus could see that one slave had caught a little droplet on his cheek. Mahogany dripping down and dancing with Altair's wild, golden mane... a marriage of gore and beauty. Altair's wail, high with hellish agony, a wail screeched by lone survivors of plague. He took a deep breath, snorting in the rich scent of iron and salt. Every detail became vivid to him.<br/><br/>It was as if he was consumed in a euphoric bloodlust. The rays of sun bearing down upon his body seemed to be brighter than before, the scent of the sea infesting his nostrils with arid salt, so much so it stung. There was a ringing in his ears, like the tolling of bells from the holiest of Weiss temples. He was the whip, feasting upon the slave in maddening malice.<br/><br/>"Your goddess is deaf and your prayers fall upon false ears. She has never heard you, not once in your life nor will she ever hear you. What sort of goddess allows such an insult to her denizen? A cruel one. If anything, your goddess is cruelest being to have existed," he taunted. "You faith is piss-poor." A boisterous laugh escaped his lips when, at the end of his 'sixth' lash, Altair released a stream of piss. "It seems your faith has left your body."<br/><br/>The final lash came in two minutes that may as well have been a century for Altair. So faintly was it said that Cygnus had nearly given him another lash. Eyeing some of his men, he coiled his whip and strapped it to his hip, silently communing to them orders. Stepping forward to Altair, he observed duly as his men untied the slave from the mast. Before Altair could collapse to the ground, into a puddle of his urine and blood, Cygnus wrapped his fingers around a fistful of the slave's hair, dragging him away from the mast. Knees scraping against the rough wooden deck of the ship. While holding Altair's head up so the slaves could see his face. "This is what happens when you cross a pirate."<br/><br/>A bucket of salt water was brought to Altair by one of his men, from behind the slave where he couldn't see. With a nod, he gave his man permission.<br/><br/>The man poured the water across the freshly wounded slab that was Altair's back.