*** Warning: Gorier than usual***

"And now I'll need a victim... A volunteer. Well, a volunteer to be a victim." The Magician smiled charmingly. Without fail, hands were raised. "I should warn you, you may not survive..." There were chuckles from the audience. Only one or two hands were lowered. The Magician selected a curvy brunette and invited her up onto the stage. Her long, wavy hair bounced down the middle of her back as she stepped up. The Magician took her hand and led her to the middle of the stage.

"Now, miss, what's your name?"

"Rebecca," she replied, and smiled. Her green skirt matched her eyes.

"Well, Rebecca, are you ready for your execution?" He winked, to reassure her.

She smiled. "Sure." Behind her, one of the assistants wheeled out something tall and thin, covered by a sheet.

"Good. I've been researching old methods of torture, and came by an intriguing one. Though some scholars suspect it was never actually used. I aim to change that- are you still game, Rebecca?"

She laughed, "Of course."

"Excellent!" The Magician stepped back and grabbed the sheet, turned to the audience. He pulled the sheet away. Beneath was a simple wooden frame, eight feet tall, four feet wide. The dark haired assistant, Marisol, handed the Magician some rope and some leather cuffs.

He stepped over to Rebecca. "You may want to remove your shoes." She smiled and complied, then offered each bare foot to the Magician, who secured each ankle into one of the cuffs. "Not too tight, I hope?" She shook her head. The Magician looped the rope through the rings on the cuffs, as Marisol wheeled the frame closer.

He tossed the ropes through holes in the top corners. "Better wave goodbye to the audience now- it will be difficult later." Rebecca beamed and waved, then the Magician took her hands and held her steady as Marisol pulled the ropes tight. Soon her legs were in the air, suspended by the ropes. Mari kept pulling until Rebecca was completely upside down, her legs spread apart. Her skirt slid down, giving the audience a clear view of the white thong she was wearing beneath it. She laughed, realizing she was giving everyone a show, and squirmed as best she could, wiggled her butt, letting her long hair drift across the floor as her fingertips brushed the ground.

The Magician tied the ropes off, then turned the frame around so Rebecca faced the audience again. He and Marisol secured the other two cuffs around her wrists, then with more rope, pulled them tight to the sides of the frame, and tied them in place, leaving her suspended spreadeagle, upside down.

"Comfy, Rebecca?" the Magician asked, kneeling close to her face. "You're looking a little flushed."

"Must be the excitement of being on stage for one of your tricks," she smiled.

He chuckled. "Either that, or all the blood rushing to your head. Oh- I forgot one last thing. Any last words?"

"Um- hehe! Hope I put on a good show for everyone!" She beamed, eyes twinkling.

The Magician waved his hand, producing a red ball... gag. "Open wide!"

Rebecca's eyes widened, but she opened her mouth anyway. The Magician quickly popped the gag in and secured it behind her neck, just as another assistant walked onto stage carrying a large, two-person crosscut saw.

He stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen; tonight, the lovely Rebecca will help me demonstrate the ancient torture, Death by Sawing!"

Laurel, the blonde second assistant, flexed the saw against the stage floor, and Marisol rapped it with her knuckles; it made a warbling ringing sound, as thin metal should. The two assistants walked to the frame restraining Rebecca, and Laurel handed one end of the saw to Marisol, between the victim's legs. The cold metal brushed her thigh for a moment, and the girl cried, "Mmmmph!" through her gag and pulled against her restraints, which only served to pull her black silk blouse from her belt. There were some whistles and applauds from the audience as it slid down and revealed she was not wearing a bra. Her eyes widened even further, but she could only manage to say "Mmmmph!" again.

The Magician raised his hand. Marisol and Laurel lowered the saw blade until it touched Rebecca between her legs. She felt the steel, and stopped wiggling. The Magician lowerd his hand, and the two assistants pulled the saw, ripping into the the white thong she was wearing. The cloth tore and spread, long enough to catch a glimpse of Rebecca's dark pubic hair before the second pull of the saw started cutting into her body and covering it with blood.

Rebecca threw her head back, thrashing as the girls kept sawing, her body rocking with each stroke of the blade. The saw had soon cut completely through her panties, and mostly through her skirt.

"You'll notice the progress has slowed," the Magician pointed out. "My assistants have reached her pelvic bone. Don't worry, the saw is sharp enough to handle it without too much trouble."

A few more strokes, accompanied by muffled cries from the victim, and the saw plunged through again quickly, its full depth inside her body. It soon reached the beltline of her skirt, roughly cutting the fabric. The two halves of the ruined garment fell off her body to the floor. The assistants kept sawing swiftly, and the blade sliced into Rebecca's body clear to her bellybutton. They paused. The magician looked at his volunteer. "Rebecca, how are you doing?" Rebecca whimpered through her gag. Blood dripped down her body into her hair.

"Historically, many of the executions would stop at this point, to allow for a slower death. In the service of spectacle, and the traditions of the Grand Guignol, however, I think we can go to greater lengths, as it were."

Rebecca cried out as the assistants started sawing again. The saw continued quickly, slicing her abdomen in two. The descent became difficult again as the saw neared her ribcage. "Keep going, Mari, Laurel- we wouldn't want to deprive the audience." They pulled the saw faster. It began to crack through ribs. Rebecca's eyes rolled back in her head. The parts of her above the blade were spreading a bit, and blood was everywhere. Her blouse was cut as the saw reached her clavicle, and the bloody pieces flopped down and hung against the cuffs securing her wrists. "Almost done, girls- just a little more!"

Marisol and Laurel started going even faster, and the saw began to cut through Rebecca's chin, her body swaying wildly with the saw at every pull. Soon the ball gag, sliced in half, fell from her mouth. Shortly after, the teeth cut her forehead between her eyes. A few last strokes, and the saw fell dropped down, having passed through the top of her skull. The assistants quickly pulled it out from below and walked off the stage.

The two halves of Rebecca hung limply on the frame, separated by a gap of at least a foot and a half. Her face was hardly recognizable anymore. The Magician waved his hand from the top to the bottom of the gap, proving she had been sliced in twain. He smiled and stepped forwards. "And- wait for it..."

He snapped his fingers. At once, Rebecca's intestines spilled out of the two halves of her body and across the floor. Her other internal organs followed with a wet plop, and her lungs hung from the sides. Finally, slowly, the grey matter in the wreckage of what once was her head slid out, exposing the inside of her skull to a quiet, stunned audience, not at all sure what they had just witnessed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, a big hand for my lovely volunteer, Rebecca!" The Magician bowed. "Ladies and gentlemen, good night!" And the curtains swung closed.