~Mud~

They’d rearranged the ropes so that they had easy access.
That was necessary; the needles weren’t very long, after all.
He’d tried keeping track of how many they’d driven into him but he lost count when they moved past his arms and shoulders and into the area between his collarbone and neck. It had all been very quiet, though; the things seemed to be very serious about what they were going and aside from sucking his breath in past his teeth, he wasn’t making any noise.
Damned if he’d make any noise.
Eventually the sky was dark and they were done with the needles. He couldn’t look down properly but he didn’t think they’d missed too many places. He looked up to see the taller thing standing in front of him. Its eyes were glinting sharply and its lips were pulled back just about to its rear molars in a rictus grin.
“Good. Ver’ good,” it murmured almost to itself, then turned away. “MUD!”
The hell?
He had time to puzzle it over. Several of the scrawnier creatures shuffled forward and began to wrestle the foul-smelling cauldron off the fire, dragging it through the dirt towards him.
When they started packing the hot, stinking mess onto his body, using the pins as a sort of anchor to prevent it all from sliding off, Steven still didn’t make a sound.
But it was much harder this time.