(author’s note: I combined two chapters from my novel into one chapter here)
After the celebratory dance had ended and Commander Saupeckt’s troops had the chance to rest, the militia evacuated the camp at daybreak. Danka was amazed by how completely the place had been stripped when she had the chance to see it in the light. She put on her skirt, but her squad leader ordered her to take it off and hand it to another nymph who had, up until that moment, been naked. Danka already had noticed that one of her companions had been wearing nothing but her boots, but didn’t have time to ask why during the previous day’s fighting. It turned out the newest member of any squad among the Defenders, male or female, had to endure an initiation process which included not wearing any clothing, to symbolically strip the recruit of their previous life and to identify that person to the world as “the newcomer”. Squad leader Oana, irritated that Danka was a slave-owner, did not order Isauria to give up her skirt. Oana justified the decision by telling Danka that, since Isauria was only an apprentice, the initiation rule did not apply to her. It was a humbling experience for Danka to be naked while Isauria stayed dressed, partially intended to force Danka and Isauria to see each other as equals.
Danka did not have much time to think about her nudity. She and Isauria spent the end of August and the first half of September following Oana and the rest of her squad of nymphs, going from one skirmish against the Kingdom’s soldiers to another. There were so many raids that she lost count, all of them seemingly the same. Oana’s squad provided cover for the men during the initial attack, then fell back to a secondary ambush location to launch a quick series of volleys of bolts at the enemy. When the Defenders’ men moved to the next ambush site, the archers fired again to cover their movements, then ran away at full speed through an escape route already selected by their squad leader.
In spite of the initiation requirement, Oana quickly earned the respect of Danka. She knew the countryside in detail and knew how to support the men while minimizing risk to her own squad members. Every day she inspected her subordinates and looked over their bodies and equipment. She conducted frequent drills and target practice; making sure that each of her women knew her role in every operation, how to withdraw from a possible defeat without panicking, and how to maximize cover for not only the men, but also for the other squad members. She knew some forest survival and concealment techniques that Danka had not yet learned.
When Oana discovered that Danka had been a Follower of the Ancients, she interrogated the newcomer about her knowledge of both medicine and foraging, making note of things she did not yet know. She then ordered Danka to share her knowledge with the others. The Defenders seemed more appreciative of Danka’s information than had been the women of Malenkta-Gordnackta, partly because she did not repeat her mistake of trying to impose her religious beliefs on anyone.
The squad members completely accepted Danka as part of their group as soon as she proved herself with her crossbow and her knowledge. She was much more valuable than most recruits and enjoyed the respect of her peers, something she had not experienced since she had been with the Followers of the Ancients. She fit in so much that the others regretted that she had to run around as a naked recruit, but like everyone else, she had to endure the initiation routine and would get her skirt back only when Oana managed to recruit a newer member for her squad.
———-
Commander Saupeckt’s main responsibility was to safeguard the southern approaches to three settlements of Danubian homesteaders who had set up their farms a decade before. The villages were isolated, wretched places, but vital to the well-being of the Danubian militia because of the food they produced. As September passed and the villagers harvested their grain, the Defenders needed to hold off several attacks from the Lord of the Blue Moon. The enemy commanders already knew about the villages and occasionally had made half-hearted attempts to destroy them. Danka’s raid against the logging camp and the follow-up raid on the wagon team were considered provocations, thus making the enemy more determined than ever to attack the villages in retaliation.
Commander Saupeckt normally led a force of 80 raiders. However, the fighters under his command could vary between 40 and 200, depending on what was happening along the border at that moment. As soon as Commander Saupeckt saw the dead loggers, he dispatched messengers to the other area commanders explaining what happened and that the focus of the fighting was about to shift to protecting the settlements against a sustained attack from the south. Within days after Danka’s raid, he had 200 militia members under his command: the 80 troops who were permanently under his control, plus 120 other militia members who had been lent to him by other commanders. Commander Saupeckt’s counterpart, who was guarding the eastern approaches to the villages, also commanded a temporary force of 200 militia members.
The most serious incursion took place during the week of the Fall Equinox, when several companies of foreign musket men marched towards the settlements. The Danubian militia fought with desperation and there were numerous casualties on both sides. The enemy’s advance certainly was slowed, but the column was too large to force back. By September 22, the Blue Moon troops were less than a day’s journey from the settlements. Assuming they took the area and burnt the harvest, the Danubians would have a very hard time campaigning in that region over the following year due to lack of food.
Weather came to the Defenders’ aid that night, in a manner similar to the way it aided the Grand Duke two years before in the hills surrounding the border fortress in Iyoshnyakt-Krepockt. A heavy thunderstorm swept over the area, making the Blue Moons’ muskets almost useless. Commander Saupeckt ordered a full-scale midnight assault in the middle of the storm, which turned into a bloody melee of hand-to-hand clashes. The Defenders sustained heavy casualties, but the situation was completely to their advantage. They knew the area, were used to fighting in the forest, and had trained to fight in the dark. By daybreak the numerical advantage of the Blue Moon troops was greatly reduced.
As soon there was enough light, the Defenders withdrew, trying to take as many of their injured as possible. Still, dozens of Danubians had been taken captive. The prisoners would be impaled if they could not be quickly rescued, so Commander Saupeckt needed to press the next attack. The Danubians launched a follow-up assault with every crossbow they had available. Although the crossbows were less effective in wet conditions, at least they functioned. The return fire from the waterlogged muskets was only sporadic. The continuing rain put the enemy at a huge disadvantage.
Oana led her squad very close to an enemy squad of musketeers. Danka felt the short range was reckless, but her leader wanted to make sure every crossbow found its target. Danka’s doubts seemed vindicated when the woman fighting next her took a fatal musket-ball to the chest. However, the enemy squad was completely wiped out after the second volley of bolts. By mid-morning the commander of the Blue Moon column realized he was not going to be able to continue advancing. In fact, he would be very lucky if he managed to return to the Kingdom of the Moon with his remaining men.
The enemy commander knew enough about the Danubians and their concept of honor that he was able to arrange a retreat. He left some of the Danubian prisoners tied up but alive as his troops pulled back. To abandon prisoners instead of impaling them was considered a humiliation for a commander from the Kingdom of the Moon, but this particular opponent was more worried about having his troops surviving to fight another day than a personal humiliation. As the Blue Moon troops departed further south, they left behind more captives. Over the next two days, the Blue Moon troops continued their slow withdrawal with the Defenders surrounding them, but withholding another attack in anticipation of having more prisoners left behind.
The Danubians were grateful enough for the gesture that they did not launch any further assaults. The enemy soldiers forded the river, with their commander standing on the Danubian bank, watching his men complete their retreat. The five final Danubian prisoners were left on the northern shore with their hands tied. As soon as the last of the defeated troops crossed, the enemy commander concluded the withdrawal by shooting himself in the head. He didn’t have much choice: had he crossed back into the Kingdom of the Moon, it was likely he would have been arrested and impaled as soon as the Lord of the Blue Moon was made aware of the defeat.
———-
Danka did not have the opportunity to see the final part of the battle and the release of the prisoners. There was a second casualty from Oana’s squad, a nymph who had been injured in one of her shoulders by a musket-ball. It was fortunate the ball missed her collarbone, but there was a huge risk of bleeding and infection. Because Oana knew that Danka had medical training, she placed her in charge of the injured woman and allowed her to take Isauria as her messenger and assistant. For the entire day Isauria was frantically scouring the woods for herbs and keeping a pot of boiling water so her mistress could prepare disinfectant. The squad members crowded around as Danka sedated her companion, removed the musket-ball, cleaned out the wound, applied her improvised disinfectant, and did what she could to prevent excessive bleeding. She fed the patient a weird mold solution which, to everyone’s surprise, actually worked. Within three days it was apparent Oana’s squad member would survive, recover, and eventually return to service, although she’d have a nasty scar on her chest for the rest of her existence in the Realm of the Living.
———-
Fall was quickly approaching, which meant the end to fighting for the year. Commander Saupeckt released his temporary troops to their permanent units and the focus of his unit’s activities would be surviving the winter. The majority of the Defenders of the Duchy would pull back from the border and return to their main winter quarters to rest, repair their weapons and build new ones, and train for the following year’s battles.
Before departing from the conflict zone, the Defenders converged on the largest of the three villages to bury their dead, organize captured weapons, feast, and celebrate their victory. The village included a cemetery containing hundreds of recent graves. The question of how such a small settlement could have so many dead was easily answered when Danka saw 77 new graves and 77 corpses ready to fill them. The recent battle had been particularly bloody: a tenth of the Defenders participating in it had been killed and another tenth had been wounded and were recovering. Each squad was responsible for the funeral of its own casualties: there was not enough time for all the Defenders to honor everyone who was being buried.
Oana’s squad had to bury the woman who had been killed in front of Danka. The squad’s newest member had to accept the fact she was indirectly responsible for her death, because it was the attack on the logging camp that provoked the Lord of the Blue Moon’s troops to invade and attempt to destroy the villages. Oana emphasized that point by ordering Danka to place a mirror in the corpse’s hands, which she would hold up before the Creator when facing judgment in the Afterlife.
Danka tried to push aside the guilt by justifying to herself what had happened. Yes, the villages had been attacked, but wasn’t that inevitable anyway? And… didn’t the Defenders win? Weren’t the settlements even safer than they had been before? And… hadn’t she been the one to save another of her companions by successfully operating on her? Hadn’t she fought bravely and killed several of the enemy? So… there was nothing for her to feel guilty about. She had more than redeemed herself. And yet… as she looked at her dead companion for the last time, a young peasant woman whose time in the Realm of the Living had been cut short, Danka could not completely suppress her feelings of remorse. She didn’t feel any guilt about the Kingdom of the Moon’s troops, but she did feel bad about her Danubian companion.
———-
When Oana’s squad left the cemetery to bathe and indulge themselves in a spiritual cleansing ceremony, they passed the village square, which contained an enormous funeral pyre built to dispose of the Kingdom of the Moon’s casualties. There were more than a hundred enemy corpses piled in the square, plus dozens of severed heads taken from enemy bodies that had been killed too far from the villages to be transported intact.
The respect given to the Danubian dead was totally lacking for the enemy corpses. As the villagers and lower-ranking men among the Defenders prepared the funeral pyre, the local children curiously poked at the heads, jammed sticks into their eyes, and rolled them around in the dirt. No one faulted the children for their disrespect: had the Defenders lost and had those kids been captured, they would have been impaled by the men who were now lying dead, most likely in front of their mothers.
Oana’s squad-members found a safe place to stash their weapons and clothing and, like all of the women among the Defenders, completely stripped in anticipation of the upcoming ceremony. It was the role of the women to dance in honor of the Destroyer while the men stoked the pyre with corpses. It was the first time that Danka fully understood she and her companions were indeed dancing to honor the Destroyer, not the Creator, nor the Ancients. Oana noted the worry and doubt in her recruit’s face concerning doing anything to honor “the Profane One”. Danka had been a Follower of the Ancients, so her hostility towards the Destroyer would be especially intense. Oana took Danka aside while the other women indulged in ale to prepare themselves for the dance.
“Everything you see here… and everything that we’ve accomplished… is because the Destroyer helped us. This is war… and it was the Destroyer who brought war to the Realm of the Living. To honor the Creator for this victory would be like thanking the village potter for a sword given to you by the village blacksmith.”
“But, the Grand Duke, he conducted war, I was with him in Horkustk Ris, Sumy Ris, Iyoshnyakt-Krepockt, and he never honored the Destroyer.”
“I wouldn’t know about that. I never met His Majesty. I can only tell you that here – we are honest with ourselves and the spirit who determines our Path in Life. That spirit is the Destroyer.”
“I’m not going to submit to the Profane One. I will not… ”
“Oh yes you will. You already have. The Destroyer owns you, just like the Destroyer owns me and everyone else in this campaign. We have to honor the Destroyer and serve the Destroyer. If we don’t, the Destroyer will simply find someone else to serve the cause of destruction, and instead of us destroying the lives of others, we will be destroyed, and if that happens, the Duchy will be destroyed. No one is asking you to love the Destroyer. The Destroyer cannot be loved because the Destroyer will never bring you any joy. But as a nymph and a member of my squad, you must honor the Destroyer. We all must. It is our Path in Life.”
“But, what about when we hold up our mirror before the Creator? How can we justify… ”
“We can’t justify any of our actions before the Creator. We will suffer for what we’ve done. I’ve already told you the Destroyer brings no joy, and that will be true many times over after our souls separate from our bodies. But that is our Path in Life. At least we’re being honest about it. Most people spend their time in the Realm of the Living serving the Destroyer simply for their own pleasure, but are not honest about it at all, not even to themselves.”
Danka said nothing more. She and Isauria joined the other naked nymphs as they knelt in front of the funeral pyre. While it was being lit, the poorly dressed Priest gave thanks to the Destroyer. The women responded to each of his lines with a wailing chant. When the burning of the bodies got underway, dozens of women and girls began dancing while the drummers and flutists played in the dark. Nymphs and villagers, young and old, mothers and daughters, danced for hours as the fire illuminated their bare sweaty figures and the sinister drums beat in celebration of death. The destruction of the foreigners’ bodies took hours as the smell of burning flesh permeated the entire area. After all the corpses were burnt, the exhausted Defenders remembered the pile of severed heads and tossed them into the pyre as an afterthought.
The burning, dancing, and chanting continued throughout the night. Danka was disgusted with herself as she joined the others dancing with her uncovered body and singing with her exhausted voice. So, the Destroyer had won after-all. She should have known that it was the Destroyer who had laid out her destiny, her Path in Life. The Destroyer had taken the trouble to visit her and tell her that reality many times over, but she had refused to believe it. The Ancients were nowhere in sight. Like everyone else in the Realm of the Living, the Ancients had forsaken her.
———-
Before departing for the winter headquarters, the Defenders bathed in preparation for the journey that lay ahead. For the women, bathing included cleaning and re-braiding their hair. Normally Danka tasked Isauria with arranging her braids. However, while she and her slave were relaxing in the water, Oana came up to Danka and dismissed the adolescent. Oana would wash and braid her hair with the new recruit, which was an honor considering that Danka had been under her command for only a few weeks.
As they washed each other’s hair, the two women talked about the recent fighting, the squad member who had been killed, and Danka’s medical training. Oana provided Danka with some additional details of the history of the southern border, describing how the Defenders had organized in 1752 in anticipation of the growing conflict in neighboring Horkustk Ris province. As they talked, Danka was able to update and correct some of Oana’s information about the siege of the city and its subsequent destruction.
Eventually the squad leader moved to the topic she needed to discuss with Danka: the fact she owned a slave and that slavery was prohibited among the Defenders of the Duchy. Danka responded by explaining why she had taken ownership of Isauria and that it was not her intention to keep her collared indefinitely.
“Then you should be very happy to hear that we have a blacksmith who knows how to remove slave collars. Your servant cannot keep her collar in the winter camp. Within a day of our return, I expect you to take your girl to the blacksmith and get the collar off her neck. What you decide to tell her about it will be up to you.”
Danka thought about how to explain de-collaring to her servant. Finally she decided the best way to handle Isauria’s situation would be to formally emancipate her.
“I’d like for her to pay me for her slave-owner’s certificate, to purchase her freedom. I’ll take my name off the paper and put hers on it. Then she’ll own herself and no one will be able to challenge the legality of her freedom.”
“Does she have any money?”
“No, of course she doesn’t. Until a month ago, I didn’t have any money. Now I do… some silver and copper from the loggers.”
“Then here’s a thought. Why don’t you give me the money she’ll need to purchase her certificate? I’ll pay her for her service over the past month plus her wages for next year, and then she can pay you to purchase herself.”
“Pay you, to pay her, to pay me.”
“Yes.”
“But I did spend three-and-a-half gold to buy her. That was my own money. It was all I had, from a property title I sold.”
“And, as I understand, you’ve since earned it back. Or at least most of it. So there’s no problem.”
“No. I suppose there’s no problem.”
“Then give me all your coins. I’ll borrow whatever’s missing from the commander. You’ll have your part of the money returned when you surrender your servant’s paper.”
When Oana finished braiding Danka’s hair, the two women emerged from the water and dried each other’s bodies. Danka then retrieved her coin-purse and emptied out the stash of coins taken from the logging camp. There were 14 silver pieces and 18 copper coins altogether. She handed them to her commander. Thus, she had to give up any hope of somehow recovering part of the gold she had originally invested in Isauria when she purchased her.
———-
For the trip into the mountains, Oana temporarily returned Danka’s donkey to use as a pack animal. Danka and Isauria loaded all of their weapons and campaign supplies onto the beast. Danka decided to allow the girl to ride as well, given that she was not very heavy and there was no point wearing her out unnecessarily. So, the quiet dark-haired servant rode perched on top of the animal while Danka took turns leading him with another member of her squad. As her squad’s new recruit, Danka remained naked, even though the weather no longer was suited for being undressed. Although in the fall it was customary for nymphs to wear capes, Oana and the other squad members remained topless. They did so in solidarity with their newest companion, since by custom Danka would not be able to get dressed until she had arrived at the winter encampment.
Chilly breezes whipped around the long column of Defenders when they left the settlements and traveled upstream towards their seasonal destination. As she walked and shivered in the increasingly cold air, Danka had the consolation of knowing where and how she and Isauria would spend the winter. They would be in a warm, safe place with plenty to eat. However, the independent life she had hoped for would elude her. Her existence would revolve around the needs of Oana and the other nymphs, preparing for the next summer’s campaign… and, of course, the whims of the Destroyer.
The settlement turned out to be more comfortable than Danka had anticipated. At first glance it appeared to be very little: nothing more than some obscure huts scattered around a wooded hillside. However, the huts were spread over a large area, some of which had hidden passageways in their floors. The tunnels lead to a large natural cave, in which the Defenders kept their weapons, food, supplies, and records. The cave’s temperature was constant throughout the year: it was cold inside but never close to freezing. Best of all, the stream that had formed the cavern provided the Defenders a steady and unlimited supply of pure water. The Defenders did not actually live in the cave, because they knew that too many occupants at a time would spoil the air inside. However, as a place to safeguard their food and belongings, the cavern served the militia much better than any man-made structure.
Danka reported to the squad’s bunkhouse and selected a bunk large enough to accommodate both herself and her ward. There was nothing unusual about the arrangement, since most of the nymphs had a sleeping partner to conserve warmth during cold weather. They would be fairly comfortable over the winter: instead of sharing a cramped bedroll on hard ground, they’d be sleeping on a real mattress with real blankets. Isauria made the bed on the assumption she’d be sharing it with Danka.
Oana showed up at the door and directed Danka to go into the cave, find her belongings, and retrieve Isauria’s slave certificate. To her enormous relief, her bucket and its contents were intact, including the Merchants’ Guild collar, her writings and notes, and her supply of blue powder and birth-control paste. Oh yes… birth control paste. She’d need that for herself, because with all the young men running around, it was inevitable that she’d have a sexual relationship with at least one of them. Equally important would be her ability to supply her fellow squad-members with the paste. Babies were not welcome intruders in the lives of Oana’s squad, so anything that could safely prevent them would be very welcome among her peers.
When Danka emerged with the paper, she saw her squad leader talking to Isauria and handing her a bag of coins. The girl looked very nervous at the thought of holding so much money. Oana gave Danka a look clearly signaling that she needed to resolve Isauria’s slavery situation immediately. She exchanged salutes with the girl and walked towards the blacksmith’s hut.
Danka approached her servant and handed her the paper.
“Servant Isauria, do you know what this paper is?”
“Yes, Mistress Danka. It’s the proof, the proof that you own me.”
“Well, in a moment it’s going to be yours. The only owner you will have will be yourself. Oana paid your wages, and you’ll use that money to buy yourself from me.”
“You don’t want me, as your servant, Mistress?”
“No. I never wanted you as my servant. I only bought you to take you away from Master Nowackt. He dishonored himself with his treatment of you, and I wanted to put a stop to it before I left Alexandrekt Bulashckt’s house. The only way I could do that was to take you with me, and the only way I could take you with me was to buy you. So, that’s what I did. Now, you have the money to pay me back. As soon as that happens, you’ll receive your certificate and I’ll take you to the blacksmith to remove your collar. Then, you’ll be just like anyone else in the Duchy.”
Danka paused and continued: “Actually, you won’t really be free, not in the way I was hoping. We’ve both been drafted into the militia and you’ll be under Oana’s command. That’s why she paid you for service you have not yet performed. I’m just a member of her squad. You’re just a member of her squad. That’ll be our Path in Life until Commander Saupeckt releases us or, until we’re killed in battle.”
Isauria didn’t know how to respond. It was obvious she was not at all happy about being emancipated, that in fact she was extremely scared. She was used to being Danka’s ward, used to following Danka’s orders, and used to living under Danka’s protection. She had her assigned place in society and really had not given much thought about the future. The idea of living alone in a country she still considered enemy territory totally frightened her. Danka realized she needed to reassure her.
“Obviously you’re a bit young to be on your own; although I was just a couple of years older then you are when I started my travels. I’d imagine you’ll join the squad as an apprentice, and I’ll be the one responsible for training you. So… I’m not completely done dealing with you, Apprentice Isauria. Apprentice Isauria. That’s now your title, and it’s what I’ll be calling you. My title is different as well. I’m now a Defender of the Duchy, so you’ll call me Defender Siluckt.”
Danka led her servant to the blacksmith’s hut, which was one of the few structures in the area made from stone instead of wood. Commander Saupeckt, the ragged Priest, a scribe, Oana, and three squad members were waiting for her. The blacksmith directed Isauria to lie on a table that had a vice at one end. He positioned her so that her collar could be clamped into the vice, examined the latch and locking mechanism, and selected a metal punch he would drive into the latch to break it. He tapped the punch several times with a hammer, pried at it, and slipped a thin wedge into a narrow opening that he had created in the collar. Two more taps of the hammer, more prying, and the device opened up. Isauria sat up and with her fingertips explored her newly exposed neck, which was stained from the collar’s metal. The blacksmith tossed the broken collar into a pile of scrap iron.
The scribe laid out Isauria’s original slave bill-of-sale and added a line that Isauria had paid 35 silver pieces (the equivalent of three-and-a-half gold) to purchase her freedom from the peasant Danka Siluckt. Oana ordered Isauria to hand over 35 silver coins and Danka to count them in front of everyone present. Isauria and Danka signed the certificate, with Danka’s commander, squad leader, and three nymphs signing as official witnesses. The scribe had prepared a copy of the transaction for the Defenders’ permanent records, which everyone present had to sign before it was stamped. To make absolutely sure there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Danka was surrendering her claim of ownership over Isauria, she had to kneel before the Priest and swear that she had accepted the coins as payment for Isauria’s slave certificate.
Danka later found out that Oana had made the emancipation arrangement to obligate not only her, but also Isauria, into years of service. The nymphs received a silver piece for each month they served, which was a respectable wage for a lower-class Danubian, especially a woman. Isauria’s sale price was the equivalent of 35 silver pieces, paid in advance so she could purchase her slave certificate. The arrangement forced her to borrow the money against her future earnings, obligating her to remain with the Defenders for 35 months until the debt was paid off. A detail left out of the written agreement was that Danka would only keep 16 of the silver coins. The rest would have to be returned to her squad leader, who in turn would return them to the encampment’s paymaster.
When Danka left the blacksmith’s hut, Isauria followed her, unsure what else she should do. Oana carefully observed the girl’s behavior to determine whether to leave her with her former mistress or to appoint her as an apprentice directly under her command. Collar or no collar, it seemed Isauria felt more comfortable staying with Danka. So… at least for the time-being, Danka would remain more in charge of Isauria than anyone else.
———-
By October 1, the weather was cold enough that remaining naked was no longer and option for any of the Defenders. Therefore, Oana ordered Danka and Isauria to pick up their winter uniforms, which consisted of a wool tunic and trousers. As much as she was used to running around in the nude, Danka was very happy to finally be protect herself from the elements and the increasingly frigid nights.
The Defenders passed October hauling in food and preparing it for preservation over the winter. As newcomers, Danka and Isauria had to report to the cooks to assist in meal preparation, to learn the process of food preservation, and to share any new ideas or recipes. The cooks were very interested in Danka’s knowledge of spices and herbs, some of which they previously had not known. They instructed the newcomers to find and bring in samples, so Danka and Isauria spent much of October foraging, which was fine with them. It was much better to be wandering the woods than to be stuck in a smoke-filled kitchen.
Danka and Isauria rarely foraged in the woods alone. Usually one or more of Oana’s other squad members accompanied them to learn what Danka could teach about finding roots and mushrooms. Whenever they were near a stream or pond, the women relaxed while Isauria fished. Danka put forth the effort to know and get along with her peers.
Many of Oana’s squad members were from the Vice Duchy of Rika Chorna, so they were able to provide Danka with information about a region which she had never seen and was still a mystery to her. For a woman who had lived independently, the new information did not make Rika Chorna sound appealing. It seemed that women in the eastern valley did not have nearly as much freedom or as many rights as women in the western valley. For example, women could not purchase property, only inherit it, and even then they could inherit land only if a close male relative was not available as an heir. The entire region was loyal to the True Believer faction of the Danubian Church, so women’s access to the Priesthood was as restricted as their access to property. Priestesses did exist in the eastern valley, but they only held moral authority over other women and were required to lead lives of celibacy. Priests were married, but never to Priestesses. Marriage restrictions for young women were even more restricted in the east than in the west. Two of Danka’s peers openly admitted they had willingly joined the Defenders to escape the restrained existence they would have endured had they stayed behind in their villages.
After hearing descriptions of the Vice Duchy, Danka started to have real doubts about going there with Isauria and trying to settle. She was actually glad her journey had been interrupted. As bad as military service might be, for the time-being it seemed the least onerous of her options. She didn’t want to return to any of the places she already had visited in the west, but her goal of going east did not seem any better. At least among the Defenders she was respected and would be treated according to how well she performed her duties. So… for the time-being she was not tempted to desert: it was just easier to stay where she was.
———-
The relationship between Danka and Isauria changed after the girl’s collar was taken off. Danka had never really thought of Isauria as being her property: she treated her more as though she were a troublesome younger sister or niece. However, while she was collared, Isauria viewed Danka as her owner and herself as purchased, and thus less than human. As the fall progressed and Isauria became used to not having a collar on her neck, she started treating her former mistress as she would treat an older relative. Everyone accepted that the girl’s education and training remained Danka’s responsibility. She was much more responsive around her mentor than she was around anyone else; preferring to follow her around whenever she had the opportunity. Danka increasingly appreciated having the girl as her companion and looked forward to teaching her more of what she knew about life. Isauria was competent in the forest and could handle weapons, but there was plenty more that she needed to learn. Now that traveling and survival had ceased taking up all their time, Danka had opportunity to teach her ward the basics of alchemy, simple surgical procedures, mathematics, and even dining etiquette.
It helped that by the end of the year Isauria’s ability to speak Danubian had greatly improved, which gave her confidence talking to people and made her less shy. It was good to see her open up. It also helped that her hair was growing out nicely, so every passing week she came closer to the appearance considered proper for an adolescent girl in Danubian society. Danka noticed yet another detail; that Isauria had grown over the past six months. The top of the girl’s head came up to Danka’s nose by the first snowfall. Another year… it was likely she’d be Danka’s height, or perhaps even taller. Danka had to give up thinking of Isauria as “little”.
———-
Commander Saupeckt brought a peasant woman to Oana’s hut during the first week of Novermber. She had been recruited along with several male debtors fleeing a money lender in the eastern town of Novo Sokukt Tok. The new arrival meant that Danka no longer was the newest member of her squad. By that time Danka was a fully accepted member of Oana’s group anyway, having proved herself with not only her crossbow, but also with her contribution to the group’s knowledge about foraging. As she had anticipated, her birth-control paste recipe made her even more popular among her peers than her food-gathering skills.
The women spent their days at target practice, negotiating obstacle courses, practicing drills in the woods, and practicing sword fighting with the men. They also practiced making cartridges and shooting with captured enemy muskets, in case they ever had to fight using conventional instead of traditional weapons. The women practiced moving in formation and covering each other for both advancing and retreating. As Oana explained to both Danka and the new woman:
“The Kingdom of the Moon soldiers have a major flaw in their strategy. They like to fight by overwhelming the enemy and pushing forward all the time. They’re brave, too much for their own good. They consider it dishonorable and treasonous to retreat, so they don’t normally pull back, no matter how badly things are going for them. You’ve already seen what happens when a commander does have to order a retreat: he’s expected to kill himself. We, whether it’s the Grand Duke’s Protectors or the Defenders of the Duchy, have no problem moving in any direction. If we have to pull back, we do. So you have a large enemy moving in only one direction fighting a smaller enemy who can move in any direction. The only objective for them is winning. The first objective for us is staying alive to keep fighting.”
In spite of the Defenders’ emphasis on mobility, Oana noted that the Danubian strategy relied on being behind concealment and cover, always. As she put it: “The day we expose ourselves to a musket volley, even once, will be the day we lose the battle… and probably the entire campaign. So, that’s our weakness. We can’t fight in the open.”
Because she was younger, Isauria practiced hand-to-hand combat with some adolescent boys serving under various squads as apprentices. As she hung out with the boys, singing war songs and sitting with them at campfires, Isauria slowly began to talk to people besides Danka. At the beginning, when dealing with Danubian boys she was troubled by memories of her former master Nowackt. However, the Defender apprentices treated her well from the day she was introduced to them. In spite of being foreign-born and a former slave, the boys admired her and accepted her as part of their group when they found out she already had killed two men with a sword and helped kill two dozen others with a crossbow.
———-
Danka’s birth-control paste transformed the lives of the nymphs in Oana’s squad. Prior to Danka’s arrival, pregnancies were a major concern among the women. Oana responded by trying to impose a regimen of celibacy among her subordinates. Any member of her squad caught having sex with one of the men was publicly stripped and faced a severe switching on her bottom and thighs. Punished offenders endured being naked (or bottomless during the winter) for several days until the welts faded, so the encampment could see the results of their whipping and their shame. The squad members spent much of their idle time trying to time their menstruations and having affairs behind their leader’s back. As soon as she was convinced Danka’s paste actually worked, Oana lifted the prohibition and the ongoing conflict within the squad abruptly ended. Every woman in the squad immediately found a male partner.
Oana seduced Commander Saupeckt and became his lover, in spite of the fact he had a wife and children. During one of her foraging trips with Isauria, she stumbled across her commanders in a small clearing. The air was too cold to undress completely, but both had taken off their trousers. Oana was bent over a fallen log in the submissive position, while the commander was fondling and slapping her bottom. Finally he slipped his fingers between her legs, while using his free hand to stimulate himself. When both were ready, he entered her. He was surprisingly gentle, but Danka wondered if that was because of his age as opposed to any feelings of tenderness towards his subordinate.
Danka glanced at Isauria, who stared at the commanders with a transfixed expression. She was amused, more than anything else, that Isauria’s first real introduction to sex would be watching her commanders, a woman in her mid-30s and a man in his mid-50’s, having a tryst in the woods. She had no intention of pulling Isauria away or trying to “protect her innocence”. The girl needed to grow up quickly, so there was no point in keeping any of life’s secrets from her.
She’s bound to learn about it anyway, so it’s better that it’s sooner than later.
Anyhow, Danka was no moral purist. She had known about the “facts of life” from a very early age, because it was hard for parents living in a single-room hovel to hide anything from their children. The elder Siluckts didn’t even bother to try. Besides her parents, Danka had witnessed various neighbors having liaisons during her wanderings around the laborers’ settlement as she was growing up. There was no curiosity about sex from Danka… no mystery that she wanted to resolve. The encounters disgusted her more than anything else, which was part of the reason her virginity was still intact when her hair was braided.
As soon as the commanders finished, Danka and her apprentice slipped away. The girl’s face was full of bewildered questions. Danka commented:
“It’s the same with your father’s sheep, wouldn’t you agree Apprentice?”
“Yes, Defender Siluckt.”
“There are other positions. A lot of them. Try to avoid using that one… the position you just saw. It’s the ‘submissive’ position, when you’re admitting the man is superior to you. Whether or not that is true, it’s best not to admit it.”
“I, I don’t understand, Defender.”
“I don’t really know how to explain it, but life is all about fighting for control. Do you control, or does the other person control you? If you use the submissive position for sex, you’re giving up control over your body. I suppose that’s acceptable if you give yourself to a man who truly loves you. But thinking a man truly loves you, and that love being real. Well, the Realm of the Living and the Realm of Fantasy are two very different places.”
Danka could see that Isauria was more confused than ever.
“Listen. Just try to avoid using the submissive position. Try to avoid getting pregnant. Put off having sex as long as you can. And never, ever, try to ‘reward’ a man by letting him use your body. That’s what you need to know for now. And there’s one more thing. I know how to prevent the moon from paying you a visit. At your age, you don’t want the moon to visit you.”
Danka decided that the time had come to educate Isauria about birth control. She spent the rest of the afternoon teaching her how to prepare and use the paste, and also how babies were formed in the womb. Isauria came from a different culture than Danka, a culture in which sex was a dark and sinful secret, and people were amazingly ignorant about the topic. By learning about sex and birth control well before being ready to marry, Isauria was making an important break with her family’s values and the culture in which she had been raised.
———-
Danka thought about her own options as she looked around at the men in the camp. She was desperate for sex, but unable to make up her mind what kind of lover she wanted. She liked the attractiveness and vigor of younger men, but they quickly bored her because she did not find young men intellectually challenging. She preferred the intellect and experience of older men, but older men had their own faults, vices, and problems. To avoid having to settle on a permanent partner, she was tempted to have sex with any man who was interested in her, like she had done at the university in Sebernekt Ris. However, by the end of 1756 she had matured enough to realize the militia was not the university, and the community of the Defenders was very different from the one created by the Followers. Being promiscuous would compromise her honor, threaten her reputation in the Defenders’ community, and possibly cause conflict among the men. She did not want to risk her standing among her peers. She was respected and well-liked throughout the encampment, even more so than when she had been with the Followers of the Ancients.
Perhaps it was pure hubris, but she enjoyed being respected and well-liked.
———-
A heavy snowstorm swept over the central mountains on November 15, putting an end to travel, foraging, military drills, and just about anything else that involved extended activity outside. The Defenders congregated in the bathhouse and the kitchen, the only two buildings that were adequately heated. Isauria and Danka spent much of their free time sitting on their bed, wrapped in blankets while Isauria practiced writing or doing arithmetic problems. There were not many books in the encampment, but some of the Defenders had brought a few with them, which Danka borrowed for Isauria to read. Several of the Oana’s nymphs were illiterate, so, if Isauria’s book had an interesting topic, for entertainment they gathered in the frigid bunkhouse, huddling under their blankets while listening to the girl practice reading out loud.
Unable to do much else in the snowy hills during the winter, the snowbound Defenders spent a lot of their time making, repairing, and modifying weapons. Oana gave Danka several suggestions for improving Isauria’s crossbow. The blacksmith enjoyed experimenting with weapons, including projectiles, to see if he could improve on their performance. So, Oana frequently sent her nymphs outside to test modified crossbow bolts, to see if any of the new designs might be worth distributing to the entire squad.
———-
During the second half of 1756, the Defenders of the Duchy did not really have a supreme chief, nor were they under the direct control of the Grand Duke’s army. Leadership among officers such as Commander Saupeckt depended on having respect from their soldiers and building prestige through their units’ over-all contributions to the militia movement. The most obvious were battlefield victories, but there were other ways commanders could make meaningful contributions, including bringing in supplies, identifying new resources such hidden springs or new fishing ponds, improving travel and communication, producing and or finding innovative ways to repair weapons, and improving medical care. Commander Saupeckt’s unit was considered a top provider of medical care, give that he had three field surgeons and an alchemist working in the cave, led by a practitioner who had previous experience working with the Followers of the Ancients.
The leading doctor’s name was Ilmatarkt. He originally was from Nagoronkti-Serifkti and had assisted a group of Followers during vaccination campaigns in 1749 and 1751. He was the son of a bookbinder who provided housing to the Followers in exchange for medical training for their children. Because he was the only member of the Defenders who had received formal medical training from the Cult, he was considered the person most qualified to handle medical care for the militia.
Danka first met Ilmatarkt when she helped bring in her wounded squad-mate for a follow-up examination and to have the wound disinfected. Ilmatarkt was impressed with Danka’s work and amazed that a nymph who had sustained such a serious injury in battle had survived and was well on her way to healing. He congratulated Danka and wanted to find out more about her, but the September fighting and October foraging pulled her away.
After the first snowfall, Danka was back in the cave, asking about alchemy ingredients she needed to prepare batches of birth-control paste. Doctor Ilmatarkt, pleased that she had survived the fall campaign unscathed, invited her to share a bottle of ale in a small side grotto he used as his place of work.
They chatted about Nagoronkti-Serifkti, the vaccination campaigns, and the True Believers. Because of his training and association with the Cult of the Ancients, Ilmatarkt suspected that his life was in danger when he heard about the raid against the Followers’ compound in 1752. He fled with his two sisters to Starivktaki Moskt. The sisters went their separate ways: one enrolled in the Old Believers’ Seminary and the other married a blacksmith’s apprentice.
Ilmatarkt could have remained in Starivktaki Moskt, but with his sisters occupied with their new lives and responsibilities, he became lonely and restless. He went to the capitol, set broken bones and performed some surgeries to earn money for traveling, and continued south to Horkustk Ris. Although by that time Horkustk Ris had become a besieged border town, he liked the city and made friends with some of the city guards. When the Grand Duke evacuated the city, he accompanied the guards to assist refugees who needed medical assistance, and in doing so unwittingly joined the Grand Duke’s army. Because his unit remained with the refugees, he missed seeing the battles for the city and the Grand Duke’s victory.
After the battle of Iyoshnyakt-Krepockt, Ilmatarkt’s unit quickly moved east to attack villages of foreigners still living in Horkustk Ris province. He came close to being killed when his company lost a skirmish with a much larger column of retreating soldiers from the Lord of the Red Moon’s army and the squad he was with became separated from the rest of the unit and was overrun. Ilmatarkt was captured along with one of the guards while the others were killed. The Red Moon soldiers planned to impale their two prisoners, along with a group of captured village women, as a parting insult to the Grand Duke’s army. The invaders had even laid the hooks on the ground in front of the captives to show them what was about to happen. However, because the Red Moon Army commander was absent, the impalement had to wait.
Fortunately for the prisoners, a group of Defenders of the Duchy operating in the area were able to take advantage of the delay to organize a rescue. The Danubians entered the village at night, battled the Red Moon soldiers guarding Ilmatarkt and the others, and escaped with the prisoners. The Defenders lost two of their own men, so even though they had saved their countrymen, they were not sympathetic towards them. They took the women to Horkustk Ris province and abandoned them in a large village held by the Grand Duke’s army. The Defenders drafted the two rescued men to replace the two killed in the fight. Ilmatarkt had been with the Defenders ever since, although his original senior officer traded him to Commander Saupeckt for a man who knew how to make gunpowder.
Danka responded with a heavily censored summary of her life, omitting the reason she left Rika Heckt-nemat and her two years serving the Grand Duke as a concubine. She did feel confident enough around the doctor that she talked about her time with Babackt Yaga. The pair exchanged information and gossip about people they had both known in Nagoronkti-Serifkti and Starivktaki Moskt. When she mentioned Ermin, she found out that Ilmatarkt had worked under him multiple times. At the time the doctor knew him, Ermin’s wife was still alive and she was friends with both Ilmatarkt’s sisters.
The conversation turned to the destruction of Babackt Yaga’s settlement and the True Believers’ effort to consolidate their power in Nagoronkti-Serifkti. Danka described what happened and the sacrifice Ermin made so she could escape and warn Alchemist Fitoreckt in Severckt nad Goradki. The memories of the chaotic fighting and Ermin’s last words came back into her consciousness, as though they had just happened. Unable to continue, Danka sat quietly as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“A lot of me died with Elder Ermin. I guess I loved him, in a way I never loved anyone else, but I never had the chance say anything to him about that. It seems such a long time ago, and yet, it wasn’t.”
There was a moment of silence, before Ilmatarkt slightly changed the subject.
“So, since you were there and bore witness, it’s true, the rumors, that the Cult of the Ancients disbanded?”
She saw no harm in giving the doctor a detailed account of the Cult’s final ceremony and the sealing of the caves. She was reluctant to tell Ilmatarkt about Alchemist Fitoreckt’s revenge against the True Believers’ priest, although she did mention that she had heard the priest later went mad and the townsfolk of Nagoronkti-Serifkti killed him. After the caves were sealed, the Followers dispersed and vanished into Danubian society. She concluded with:
“So, it is true, the Cult did disband, and now I think I know why. Our leaders knew the Ancients had decided to forsake the Realm of the Living. The Ancients departed, and now the Destroyer rules our Realm. Alchemist Fitoreckt understood. Maybe the Ancients warned him they were leaving. Anyhow, the Cult is gone. I was there for the end. As they say: ‘What happens to a breath, after the words that it carried have been spoken?'”
An awkward moment of silence followed. After some thought, Ilmatarkt responded:
“If the words were important enough, people will remember them. If the words are immortal, then the breath’s Path in Life is immortal. You can’t have the words without the breath. So there’s your answer. The breath is indeed gone, but the words of the Cult will remain, as will its accomplishments. You, sitting there in front of me, with your knowledge and memories, are one of those accomplishments, Follower Danka.”
“Follower. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I miss being called ‘Follower’. It was the only time I ever felt my Path in Life had any purpose to it. I was part of something, something very ancient and so much greater than myself. I went in as little more than an ignorant peasant girl, but when I put on my Followers’ dress, people looked at me with respect and awe.”
“Well, here, among the Defenders, your life will have a purpose. And when we go south, and you’re riding your horse with a squad of armed nymphs, the women of the Kingdom of the Moon will look at you with respect and awe. Remember, the Kingdom’s women don’t fight. They don’t do anything other than serve their men. So when they see the infamous Danubian nymphs, women carrying weapons, it makes them wonder about their own Paths in Life. And as far as being part of something much greater than yourself, among us, you will be. We’re defending the Duchy. You, a mere woman, have taken up arms and are defending the Duchy. You can’t be part of anything more important than that.”
“I know, but it’s not the same for me, as my service to the Realm of the Living when I was in the Cult.”
“Of course it’s not the same. When is anything the same? But are you telling me a nymph’s skirt is any less honorable than a Follower’s dress? Different, yes. Less honorable, no.”
Danka knew that it would be getting dark shortly, and that she needed to get back to her squad. As much as she wanted to continue her conversation with the doctor, she had to cut it short. Instead, she asked about various ingredients, his chemistry supplies, and if there was anything in particular he needed when she was out foraging. He smiled and responded:
“Ha! Here you are, claiming that you need to get back to Oana, and you’re asking about topics that will take us all winter to cover. There’s always tomorrow: the snow and the cave are not going anywhere.”
“You want me to come back? Just to talk?”
“I’d be honored.”
———-
Danka returned the next day with Isauria. The doctor seemed disappointed that she had not returned alone. However, he welcomed the apprentice and introduced her to the fundamentals of alchemy. He then disposed of her by assigning one of his assistants to talk to her about medical procedures and to visit several patients recovering from injuries and sicknesses.
As soon as Isauria was gone, he talked to Danka at length concerning her experience as a chemist and field surgeon. They compared their training in the Cult and impressed each other with their knowledge. As the conversation progressed, it became clear to him that Danka had participated in the Grand Duke’s campaign in 1754, even though she was trying to give him the impression she was studying at the university in Sebernekt Ris at the time. The doctor did not press her on the discrepancy in her narrative.
Throughout December, Danka spent most of her time with Ilmatarkt. They worked in his laboratory preparing medicine, teaching each other details about alchemy and improving each other’s skills. He showed her some experimental glassware he had ordered from a local glassblower, while she shared the inventions she had seen at the Followers’ settlement, the most important of which was the iron stoves for burning cave-charcoal. They chatted about other topics, such as politics, the Kingdom of the Moon, and religion. Danka shared much of what she had learned from Babackt Yaga and from her time at the university with a man who was genuinely interested in what she had to say.
———-
At first Danka tried bringing Isauria into the cave to learn about medicine, but the girl felt more comfortable hanging out with other apprentices or practicing her crossbow with Oana’s squad-members. They continued to sleep together for warmth in the nymphs’ frigid cabin, so everyone still looked upon Isauria as being Danka’s apprentice. However, during the days Danka and Isauria usually went their separate ways as the girl increasingly spent her routine away from her former owner. Danka was not bothered in the least by Isauria’s growing independence. She still viewed herself as cursed, so the sooner Isauria’s Path in Life moved away from hers, the better it would be for both.
Meanwhile, Danka spent as much time as possible with Ilmatarkt and his assistants. They prepared medications, exchanged various experiences as medical practitioners, and tested modifications of recipes to see if they could be improved or if the preparation could become more efficient. Danka shared Babackt Yaga’s discovery about the rat plague and the poisonous fleas, to which the doctor responded:
“That is a mystery we’ll have to investigate. It seems, from what you’re telling me, that not all the fleas are poisonous, just some. It seems they become poisonous for a mysterious reason, that they are not that way naturally. Something makes them poisonous, and only occasionally. What would that be?”
“Wouldn’t it just be a trick of the Destroyer?”
“No. It’s something else, something from the Realm of Nature. We need to find out what change or event can make fleas become poisonous.”
“How would we do that?”
“We’ll have to look at the fleas themselves, and I know for a fact it can be done. If magnifying lenses are lined up in a certain way, it is possible to see very small things, strange moving things, everywhere. Especially in water. If we can find the right combination of lenses, we could study the fleas.”
Ilmatarkt showed Danka a strange contraption he had been working on, which allowed the user to see items such as pollen and dead insects in amazing detail. When the doctor showed her a couple of dead fleas under the lenses, she was horrified by how ugly and scary-looking they were. She commented that something so monstrous could only have been a product of the Destroyer. The doctor gave her a skeptical smile:
“Perhaps. But, ugly or not, the fleas contain a mystery we need to solve.”
———-
Oana was increasingly irritated that Danka was gone most of the time, but she was not about to confront Ilmatarkt concerning her squad-member’s absence. Instead, she confronted Danka over the fact that she had left Isauria’s training to the rest of the squad. Danka, still annoyed that Oana had denied her any chance of recovering a portion of the three-and-a-half gold she had paid for her former servant, responded:
“We agreed I have no claim over Apprentice Isauria’s life. That’s in her emancipation certificate, of which you have a copy with my original signature. As you’ll remember, you ordered me to kneel before the Priest with 35 silver pieces, half of which I had to give back to you, and swear I had no rights over her. So, she’s not really my problem, is she? You’re the squad leader and you need to train her. I now have other duties with the medical staff.”
Oana was offended that one of her subordinates would dare speak to her in such a manner, but she could not fault the newcomer for helping the militia’s doctor, and everything Danka had said about Isauria’s emancipation was true. In her haste to cancel Danka’s ownership over Isauria, Oana had ensured that any further relationship between them would be voluntary. However, she had not expected Danka to take on responsibilities outside the squad that would allow her to leave Isauria behind.
Danka’s insubordination was only one issue out of several irritating the squad leader. By the beginning of the new year, morale in the squad had deteriorated because the nymphs were bored. Some of her squad members had obtained ale from the men and were drinking too much of it, some were neglecting their training, and some were gossiping and trying to discredit each other. Worst of all for Oana’s reputation as a leader, she discovered that four of her nymphs were abusing their new sexual freedom by charging their male lovers a silver piece for each encounter: to put it simply, they had become prostitutes.
Oana was so livid when she discovered the prostitution that she wanted to whip everyone in her squad. She ordered all of her nymphs, including Isauria, to strip inside the cabin, place their clothing in a pile, and stand by their bunks. However, as she brandished her switch, she decided that whipping the entire squad would be impractical and would further jeopardize her leadership. Instead she snapped:
“I’ll do all of you a favor. Since you want silver so badly, why don’t I make it easier? After-all, your customers have the right to see what they’re purchasing. That’s only fair! So, I’m changing your uniforms, to allow you to properly show your fine wares in the marketplace to your buyers.”
The squad leader angrily dug through the clothing pile and confiscated all of the trousers. Until further notice, the nymphs would be naked between the tops of their boots and their waists so they could “properly display themselves to their clients”. She made an exception for Isauria who, because of her young age, did not share any responsibility for the scandal. The unhappy squad members retrieved their remaining clothing while Isauria stood next to Oana. As she watched the humiliation of her squad-mates, the apprentice had a smug expression on her face: the first time Danka had ever seen her like that.
The squad leader was not finished dishonoring her subordinates, because she had reserved a special humiliation for the four perpetrators of the prostitution scandal. She ordered them to assume “the prisoner’s stance”; standing with their legs spread and their hands behind their heads. She announced that she needed to check the condition of the “goods for sale” and make sure her squad was offering “only the very best for our loyal and hardworking men”. She ran her fingers though each culprit’s pubic hair before exploring her vulva with sensuous fondling. She shoved her fingers into the offenders’ vaginas and teased their clitorises.
“So tell me, do you become aroused when a man touches you for silver, or do you prefer to just act and pretend? Remember, ‘the Destroyer enters the Realm of the Living through the mouth of the liar’, or I guess in your case, through the cunt of the liar.”
The four culprits broke down crying as the other squad members tried to look away. It was difficult for Danka to watch her battle-hardened peers in their current condition: so embarrassed they were reduced to tears. The most humiliating insult in traditional Danubian culture was for a person to endure having his or her genitals touched by member of the same sex, especially a superior. The treatment was absolutely the worst way one woman could inflict dishonor on another. The nymphs were completely debased, not only by having their genitals fondled by their female leader, but also knowing the other squad members would have to spend the rest of the winter running around bottomless due to their behavior.
With the icy wind punishing her bare bottom and thighs, Danka casually walked out of the cabin and made her way to the kitchen to pick up some ingredients needed by the medical staff. Unlike the other nymphs, she was not embarrassed at all by presenting herself with the lower half of her body on full display. She had been naked in public throughout much of her life, so her biggest concern was the cold, not the embarrassment. The fighting men and the kitchen workers stared at her, but she did not react nor attempt to turn away to hide anything. Inwardly she enjoyed the attention.
She felt differently about her situation as she descended into the tunnel to visit Ilmatarkt. She knew that he was attracted to her and wondered how he’d react upon seeing her naked from the waist down. It was obvious he enjoyed looking at her, but at the same time he tried to not make his staring too obvious. He respected her, so he was reluctant to do anything to further embarrass her. She explained what happened; that the entire squad was being punished because four of its members were charging men to have sex with them. She added that she had been naked for extended periods of time in her past, so Oana’s punishment really did not bother her. Ilmatarkt commented:
“If you were from Rika Chorna, it would be different: you’d be much more upset and humiliated. In the Vice-Duchy, among the True Believers, what Oana is making you do would be considered a very severe punishment, excessively harsh indeed.”
“I’m not worried about it. I’d much rather be naked than be whipped, or have my hair unbraided, or have my food taken away from me.”
As she placed her supplies on the table, Danka noticed her companion looking at her uncovered backside with a hungry expression. She bent over to better display the curves of her bottom and her muscular thighs. She wanted to show herself to him and see what might happen. The doctor moved behind her:
“Your squad leader certainly did me a favor by punishing you. You are very pleasing to the eye.”
Ilmatarkt placed a hand on her back to silently instruct her not to move. He explored her bottom with his other hand, massaging her uncovered backside. Her skin was cold from having been exposed to the outside elements and covered with goose-pimples. She enjoyed the feel of his warm hands on her chilled skin. Wanting more, she spread her legs and arched her back, lewdly displaying her body and inviting him to explore her vulva.
“I’m a total hypocrite, you know.”
“In what way?”
“I emphasized to Apprentice Isauria that she needs to avoid using the position I’m in now. I think she’d laugh if she could see me.”
“We’re all hypocrites, each in our own way. You’re no worse than anyone else.”
Ilmatarkt’s fingers explored Danka’s vulva. As he teased her clitoris and gently pushed inside, she moaned and became wet. She couldn’t resist. It had been six months since she last had sex with anyone, and that last time didn’t really count. She had seduced a man not because she was attracted to him, but to find out if all of his fine words about family loyalty really meant anything.
The doctor took off his clothes. Danka was surprised that he would take off his shirt, given how cold it was in the chamber. He put his shoes back on and positioned himself behind her. Following protocol, Danka did not move once she had committed herself to having sex. She was his to use and enjoy. Oddly enough, the feeling of abandoning herself totally aroused her. She was more than ready when he entered her and started to vigorously thrust. She struggled to keep her voice as quiet as possible to avoid drawing attention of people working in other parts of the cave.
Danka ended up staying with Ilmatarkt the entire night. He had a very nice bed; much more comfortable than the one she shared with Isauria in the women’s cabin. The bed alone would have made her want to stay, but she also wanted more sex. They made love two more times before wearing themselves out. She fell asleep and remained unconscious well into the next day.
———-
While Danka was sleeping with her new lover, Oana became increasingly upset over her absence. The squad leader was in a foul mood anyway over the humiliation from her subordinates’ whoring, and now she had to deal with a member who was AWOL. At sunrise the next day she sent her nymphs to find out where Danka might be. One of the kitchen workers mentioned that she had taken some supplies to the medical staff, had gone down into the cave, and had not come back out.
Oana was more than furious. She already considered Danka the most rebellious and disrespectful member of her squad, and now she was going AWOL with the medical staff. Some suppressed snickers and mocking looks from her half-naked subordinates worsened her mood. It seemed she had lost the respect of her entire squad, and in doing so had lost control over her authority to command.
All of the women, especially Danka, needed to be taught a lesson. Oana decided to formally flog her in front of the rest of the squad. Maybe severely disciplining one of her nymphs would restore some order. The squad leader threw some chains with cuffs over the cabin’s main support beam and sent Isauria to the unit commander to ask for his whip. When Danka returned, she would face an entire evening of being restrained and whipped.
After hanging the chains, Oana turned around and noticed her squad members staring at her with hostile expressions as they whispered among themselves. There was no doubt about it, she had lost their respect. What she did not realize was how close she was to facing an open mutiny in the cabin and that her plan to flog a squad member was making the situation considerably worse.
Oana was missing two of the things needed to “teach her squad a lesson”; Danka and the whip. The only whip in the unit was with Commander Saupeckt, since flogging was reserved for the severest offenses and only he had the authority to allow its use. Oana assumed that, because she was his lover, he’d lend it to her. She also needed to retrieve Danka before her temper subsided or before the other nymphs could object to what was about to happen. She decided to send the lowest-ranking member of her squad, Apprentice Isauria, to ask the commander for the whip. As soon as she had it, she’d fetch Danka and make her return to the cabin.
Isauria wanted to warn her former mistress, but did not know where she was. Instead, she ran around the snow-covered compound looking for Commander Saupeckt. He was not in any of his usual locations, so she decided to try the cave. One of the medical assistants told her that the commander was not there, but confirmed that Danka was present, sleeping in the side-chamber that had been taken over by lead doctor. Isauria was relieved that she could warn Danka before resuming her search for Commander Saupeckt. She burst into the doctor’s sleeping area and surprised the lovers in their bed.
When the apprentice delivered the news about the impending flogging, the doctor calmly stood up. He did not bother to try to cover himself.
“Apprentice, your squad leader will do no such thing to Defender Danka. That woman has gone mad, thinking she has the authority to lay a hand on her. You can continue searching for the commander and deliver his whip to your squad leader; in fact, I encourage you to do so. But, I guarantee Defender Oana won’t be using it. Instead, she will receive a lesson in humility.”
Ilmatarkt noticed the frightened look in Isauria’s eyes. He added:
“Don’t repeat anything I just said. Just find the commander and deliver the whip, as you’ve been ordered. But rest assured Defender Oana won’t be using it.”
As soon as Isauria left, the doctor turned to his lover. His next words totally shocked her.
“How would you feel about marrying me?”
“What?”
“Marrying me. Right now. We’d make good partners. Our Paths in Life are compatible. And, you have good reason for marrying me today. Oana can’t flog you if you’re my wife.”
“I, I don’t know, this is a bit sudden.”
“I was planning to ask you anyway. Your squad leader’s latest bout of temper changed the timing of my proposal, nothing more.”
Danka took a deep breath, trying to absorb the shock of the sudden development. She didn’t love Ilmatarkt, but he certainly was the most compatible man she had known in a long time. She enjoyed talking to him and working with him. He had just proven himself as a good lover. Assuming they both survived the war; he would earn a good living and would provide her with a good life. Most importantly, she respected him. And, he was right about Oana. If she was married, her squad leader would lose much of her authority over her. The pending flogging would not happen if she could show Oana a marriage certificate. Whether or not she loved the man, under the circumstances it was logical to accept his proposal.
Danka forced a smile and nodded, kissing his hand.
“So you accept?”
“Yes, my love. I accept.”
Ilmatarkt put on his clothes. He handed Danka an extra pair of trousers to put on, figuring that she probably would not want to go before the Priest to get married with the lower part of her body uncovered. The doctor again surprised Danka by opening a small wooden box containing three pieces of jewelry: a silver headpiece, a silver ring, and a silver necklace.
“So, as you can see, I was serious about asking you to marry me.”
Following protocol, Ilmatarkt put each of the items on his fiance. The jewelry identified her as officially engaged.
She forced another smile, as she tried to assure herself the latest sudden change in her life wasn’t a strange dream.
———-
In the Duchy, both in the past and in modern times, a couple’s engagement period normally lasts a year. Apart from the waiting period being considered proper protocol, Danubians entering marriage need to be absolutely sure they are compatible, because the Danubian Church does not allow divorce.
Danka’s engagement with her future husband lasted less than half an hour. She nervously waited while Ilmatarkt’s subordinates summoned the ragged Priest and prepared an official-looking marriage certificate. The Priest showed up, accepted two silver coins as a fee, and performed a brief ceremony. The medical staff acted as witnesses. Danka would have liked to have her fellow squad-members, or at the very least Isauria, attending the wedding, but under the circumstances that was not possible.
The reception consisted of a table with two bottles of wine, a cooked venison leg, and some dried fruit. Danka and her husband (it was still hard to accept she had a husband) ate with four other medical staff and the Priest.
The group was finishing their meal when Danka’s livid squad-leader stormed into the doctors’ section of the cave. She was about to grab Danka by the collar when she saw the hairpiece. The doctor stood up and coldly addressed his visitor.
“Defender Oana. A pleasure to see you, as always. Do you need to speak with my wife?”
“Your wife?”
“Yes, my wife.”
Ilmatarkt held up the marriage certificate.
“I wouldn’t know about that and I don’t care. I’m here to pick up my squad member.”
“Well, as her husband, you’d need to ask me for permission. I’m not granting it and I’m insisting you leave. To leave immediately, without my wife.”
Oana was beside herself with anger, but protocol forced her to depart without Danka. A husband’s authority over his spouse superseded the authority anyone else might have over her.
Oana’s only option was to report to Commander Saupeckt to demand that he order the doctor to turn his wife over for discipline. She was angry enough to complain to the commander, even though she knew bringing him into the squad’s problems would make her lose honor and alert him that she was having difficulties with her command. She would be jeopardizing her position, but at the moment was too angry at Danka to care.
Oana’s encounter with Commander Saupeckt did not go well. Already he had heard complaints about recent problems in the nymphs’ squad; thus he was not sympathetic to the squad leader’s request to formally flog a member for what seemed to be a relatively trivial offense. Danka was not really AWOL: the medical staff knew where she was and she certainly had not left the encampment. Oana countered that the flogging was not so much about the specific incident of Danka’s absence; it was more about her over-all attitude and the fact the squad leader wanted to make an example out of her.
Commander Saupeckt saw the situation differently. He did not believe in “disciplining through setting an example”. Danka’s offense was too trivial to warrant a formal flogging. Any other lapses of discipline should have been handled at the moment they were committed, not all at once. Also, he valued his unit’s doctor and was actually glad to find out that he had married Defender Danka. He had wanted to transfer Danka to the medical unit anyway, but had held off on the move because he did not want to offend Oana. However, Oana’s pride no longer mattered. The commander explained the pending transfer and his reason for ordering it, adding the conflict between the two nymphs and Oana’s loss of control over her squad would make the decision to reassign Danka much easier.
The commander still needed to resolve the leadership problem he had with Oana. The prostitution scandal and the way she handled it already had convinced him that she needed to be relieved of her command. However, she was a talented fighter and instructor, as well as being one of his lovers, so the commander did not want to do anything that would too badly damage her honor. Demoting her and making her serve under a former subordinate was not an option and would likely further degrade the morale of the squad. So… how could Oana be stripped of her command without being officially demoted and disgraced?
The commander’s solution was to send her on a recruiting expedition among the manors and villages in the Eastern Valley. He wanted more archers for the upcoming summer’s campaign anyway, so it made sense to have Oana establish a second squad of nymphs. She would recruit and train them: the new squad would be entirely her creation. It would be a chance for Oana to have a fresh start with a new group of subordinates and employ her talent as a trainer.
Commander Saupeckt left the topic of Danka and explained the need for the second squad. Rather than waiting for them to come in one-by-one, it would be better to recruit women over the late winter and early spring, train them as a unit during the late spring, and have them ready to participate in the next summer’s fighting by the end of May. Inwardly Oana was devastated, because she fully understood her lover was about to take away her position and was trying to find a way to do so without dishonoring her.
Oana saluted without saying anything. She’d only make herself look bad if she objected. It was obvious Commander Saupeckt had made his decision and she had little choice but to play along and pretend it was an honor instead of a humiliation.
———-
Danka returned to the nymph’s cabin the following day, after spending a second night with her husband. She was still a nymph and would continue training with the other women, but her relationship with the squad and Oana had changed. She served at the discretion of her husband, not Oana. The only way Oana could force Danka to do anything not approved by the doctor was to appeal to the unit commander. The squad conducted target practice, sewed, and prepared crossbow bolts over the following week, but the nymphs were sullen and quiet. Oana was very reserved and seemed to have lost enthusiasm for her duties. The nymphs were not speaking to their leader, nor did anyone have anything to say to Danka. Isauria seemed unusually nervous and jumpy. Because Danka no longer slept in the women’s cabin, she did not hear any gossip that could have answered her questions concerning what was going on.
On Saturday morning Commander Saupeckt showed up with his second-in-command and the Priest. The nymphs stood at attention while the commander announced the squad would have a change of leadership. Oana and another veteran nymph, a tough peasant woman called Dalibora, stood in front of the others while the Priest recited some prayers in badly-spoken archaic Danubian. Danka tried not to smirk in contempt, because her knowledge of the Old Language far exceeded his. Oana handed her crossbow to Dalibora and the two women saluted each other. Commander Saupeckt then departed, taking Oana with him. The nymphs would not see her again until the following summer. As soon as the commander and his entourage disappeared, Dalibora issued her first command to her troops: to retrieve their trousers and put them on. Her second command was directed at Danka, to make sure all of the women had an adequate supply of birth-control paste.
Danka returned to Ilmatarkt’s cave to prepare a new batch of paste. When she finished, she spent the afternoon making love to her husband, first bent over a table in his lab, and then under his bedcovers.
———-
Danka’s marriage added an entirely new set of worries, responsibilities, and protocol to her life. She remained a nymph and was expected to practice combat with the unit’s other women. She also was a medical assistant, and was expected to spend her time in the alchemy lab working with the doctors as they conducted surgeries and cared for the sick. She continued with Isauria’s education, forcing her to improve her vocabulary and penmanship. Isauria remained in the cabin and had to find a new sleeping partner, but her education was still mostly Danka’s responsibility.
Above everything else, Danka was a Danubian wife. While it was true that Ilmatarkt was amazingly open-minded about the Realm of the Living and its mysteries, he was still a man of the eighteenth century and expected his woman to serve him. Danka had given herself to him: she now belonged to him and was obligated to do whatever he said. She would have to spend much of her time attending to his needs and comfort: cooking and serving him meals, cleaning his clothes and his living area, and submitting to sex whenever he wanted. The adjustment was hard for a person who had traveled throughout the Duchy and had been responsible for her own actions and survival. However, Danka also understood what was expected of a married woman. If Ilmatarkt told her to do something, no matter how unreasonable, she’d do it. It was her responsibility to make sure the marriage worked, not his. If anything displeased a married man, it was assumed his wife was negligent in her duties to him.
Danka’s marriage, like most marriages in the Duchy at the time, was a marriage that arose from necessity and circumstances, and to lesser extent physical attraction. There never was any romantic love between Ilmatarkt and Danka, as we would understand “love” in modern times. Romance was a luxury for the wealthy during peacetime, not for a field surgeon and a female archer living in a frozen military encampment in the middle of a war. They were practical people who were forced to lead practical lives under difficult and dangerous conditions.
Still, Danka was pleased to be officially married, in spite of not being in control of her life anymore. Marriage was, (and remains so in modern Danubian society) the most important part of a person’s Path in Life during their existence in the Realm of the Living. Protocol dictates that an adult who is not married is not complete and is sinning by not fulfilling the Will of the Creator. Danka had not really thought about it, but the years had gone by more quickly than she could have anticipated. Before she left Rika Heckt-nemat she had expected to be married before her 17th birthday. The longest she would have wanted to stay single would have been two years, starting from the time she braided her hair and ending the day she went before a Priest as a bride. Well, at the beginning of 1757 Danka already was 22 years old, well past the age most lower-class Danubian women got married. As a woman with an eighteenth-century mindset, she was enormously relieved that she finally had a husband, even if it was at a relatively late age.
———-
In one way Danka was fortunate for an educated woman at the time, because she had married a man who was intellectually compatible with her. He respected her experience and opinions on professional matters, so her submissiveness as a wife did not affect her freedom to think as an alchemist and medical practitioner. She helped Ilmatarkt and the assistants in the alchemy lab, preparing medicines and talking at length about inoculations, operating procedures, and disease prevention. She talked about her surgical training at the Followers’ compound and the brutal custom of injuring pigs and then operating on them for practice. They went over Ilmatarkt’s notes and field observations. Over the rest of the winter, Danka made numerous corrections, ignoring the custom of a good wife always deferring to her husband’s “wisdom”. If she could improve his knowledge on a medical topic, he gave her the freedom to do so.
The couple spent many hours chatting in bed. Ilmatarkt had formal education and had done some reading before fleeing Nagoronkti-Serifkti, although he had not attended a university. His knowledge of biology exceeded hers, but his knowledge of botany was more limited and he knew nothing about geology. He realized that he had the opportunity to fill in some of gaps simply by talking to his wife about her university studies during her year in Sebernekt Ris. They talked extensively about her readings about religion and philosophy and the competing sects of Christianity. Danka still considered herself a Follower of the Ancients more than anything else, but admitted the events over the past year had badly undermined her beliefs.
“I don’t know anymore. Maybe we really do live in the Realm of the Destroyer. Maybe the Creator and the Ancients really have departed our world, and the Destroyer took over.”
Ilmatarkt’s response totally shocked her.
“I don’t think we live in the Realm of the Destroyer, nor anyone else’s Realm. I’ve never seen the Ancients, or the Creator, or the Destroyer. I’ve not seen Jesus or Mohamed. If I’ve not seen it, as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t exist.”
Danka sat up.
“You… don’t think the Ancients exist?”
“I suppose they existed as real people at some point. Then they died and someone else came along and made up stories about them. The same with Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed. I’m sure they were real men at some point, but they died just like anyone else. Then, people who needed to use their names to justify themselves, or their place in the world, or assume control over others, made up stories and convinced themselves their heroes were still alive.”
“But you don’t believe there was anything special about them.”
“Not really. The must have had strong personalities and loyal followers, but you could say the same about the Grand Duke, or even about Commander Saupeckt. Who knows? Maybe when they die, enough people will make up stories about them and they’ll be the next divine beings. There’s really no reason why that couldn’t happen.”
The conversation continued for a while, before Danka’s husband revealed another blasphemous idea; that he did not believe the Realm of the Creator, or “Heaven”, as the True Believers called it, existed.
“But, what do you think happens when our souls separate from our bodies?”
“I don’t think there’s anything to separate. We die and our bodies rot, just like an animal’s body rots. We’re no different from animals. They are born, they live, and they die. We are born, we live, and we die. There’s no difference in the pattern of life and there is no soul. You cut open an animal or a human, and the insides are exactly the same. You should know that better than anyone else. You practiced operating on pigs so you could operate on men. The organs and bones are the same. The life-cycle is the same. So, what evidence is there that we are different from animals at all? To me, the evidence points in the other direction. We’re just animals, but don’t want to admit it. So, we come up with stories about men who don’t die, who can fly through the air and control the weather and control worlds we’ve never seen. And in the end, we think these friends of our imagination can help us. But what difference does it make, what we choose to believe? Has a god or a prophet or an Ancient ever added a single minute to anyone’s life? I’m convinced it’s all wishful thinking.”
“It’s not wishful thinking, Ilmatarkt. I wish it was.”
“So, you’ve seen an Ancient? In real life? Not just in your imagination?”
“Not an Ancient, but I’ve seen the Destroyer. The Destroyer, visits me every so often, to taunt me, or to tell me what’s about to happen. And it’s not something I want. It’s always something bad.”
“And how do you know that’s not just your fantasy or a bad dream? How would you know that? What makes you so important the Destroyer would only want to talk to you?”
“It’s not fantasy. It isn’t. It’s real, more real to me than anything in the Realm of the Living.”
“Listen. You’ve endured a lot of bad experiences, some of which you’ve shared with me and some of which you’ve chosen to keep secret. These are unpleasant times and we’ve all endured bad events in our lives. The memories affect our perception of the world. I have no doubt the Destroyer visions are real to you. But I’ve never seen anything like that, and until I do, I’m not convinced.”
“Then I hope you don’t. I hope you don’t ever have to know what I know.”
“You’re very knowledgeable about a lot of things. But on what’s real and what’s imaginary, I don’t think you know anything at all. The only place the Destroyer exists is in your thoughts. If the Destroyer wishes to convince me otherwise, let the Destroyer talk to me. Or the Creator, for that matter. Or the Ancients. I’m not going to believe in any of that just because someone else wants me to. I’d have to see it for myself.”
Ilmatarkt abruptly changed the subject.
“We both need to get to sleep. Tomorrow morning I want three eggs cooked with cheese and onions when I get up. The bread is stale, so you’ll need to cook it and burn off the mold. Might as well cook all of it, because I don’t think the scraps will be any good past tomorrow. Make sure you cook an extra portion (of eggs and bread) for yourself and your apprentice.”
“Yes, my love.”
Ilmatarkt fell asleep. Danka remained awake, studying his bare shoulders and the hair which had grown out on his head. She’d have to shave him: it would not do to have her husband looking unkempt. She tried to push aside her worries about his blasphemous musings that would have caused his execution almost anywhere in Europe if he ever shared them in public.
He was a strange man, but Danka was convinced that, as a partner in the Realm of the Living, he was the best she could hope for. She wondered how much longer the war would continue, and whether or not she and her husband would survive it. They’d have to think about leading a respectable life somewhere, and even think about children. After-all, that was one of Danka’s duties as a wife, to bear her husband children. Whether or not she wanted children didn’t matter. As a wife, she was expected to have them as part of her Path in Life.
She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. Perhaps she did not swoon with romance every time she was near her husband, but she did care for him. That was actually good, because her feelings were not the sort that would quickly fade. She was not infatuated: what she wanted was to have a partner with whom she could build a real life.
She reflected about her previous loves and smiled at the naive craziness she had felt the first time. She would never feel that again: Bagaturckt destroyed that part of her soul when he assaulted her in “the Graveyard of Virtue.” Well, now it didn’t matter. That was a long time ago and Bagaturckt was long-dead.
Her thoughts drifted to Elder Ermin. She had been much less naive around Ermin and had other lovers at the time she knew him. However, in a quiet and sub-conscious way she had been infatuated with him. Ermin had treated her as an inferior because of the difference between their ages, but he never betrayed or disappointed her. It seemed Ilmatarkt was a lot like Ermin in many ways, except that he was much younger, maybe around 26. Danka was 22, so the difference in age would not affect how they treated each other.
———-
Danka drifted off to sleep, but did not sleep very long. She woke up in the darkness and groped her way towards the main medical area, where a single lantern was always lit. Shivering in the cold, she lit a second lantern and returned to Ilmatarkt’s bed to retrieve her clothing. She had woken up early, but that was just as well. It would take her a while to prepare the breakfast and summon Isauria.
As she glanced at her still-sleeping husband, a troubling premonition swept through her, that she would not have the opportunity to bear children with him after-all. She worried about the curse that she carried: that because of her, his life would end shortly and end badly. Was he destined to die and was she destined to live without him?
She pushed aside that thought and made her way to the tunnel that led outside. The clear pre-dawn air was brutally cold, but a full moon illuminated the snow, making it easy to find the path leading towards the kitchen cabin.
Suddenly she stopped. Her feet no longer moved; they were firmly anchored to the ground. She took a deep breath before the world vanished into pitch black darkness. Two yellow eyes, starting out as mere dots in the distance, slowly approached her, growing until they filled her entire range of vision.
“Danka. Defender Danka. Danka Siluckt.”
Danka tried to push the image out of her mind. It was her imagination. It was her imagination. Those eyes weren’t real. just her over-active imagination. She needed to pick up her feet and keep walking and get those eyes out of her sight. She tried to move forward, but her feet wouldn’t budge.
“Danka Siluckt, don’t try that with me. You know it won’t work. You can’t wish me out of your life.”
“Then how can Ilmatarkt do it?”
“Because he’s a fool, that’s why. I don’t bother with fools. I let fools think whatever they want, because it doesn’t matter. In the end, everyone comes to me, whether they want to or not.”
“… and you can’t let me live with the same illusion as my husband?”
“I could, but I choose not to.”
“So, what do you want from me?”
“Right now, just to remind you I’m still here. Your husband can prattle on about how my Realm doesn’t exist, but you know that’s not true. And if you try to forget, I’ll return to remind you.”
“Then, what about the question he asked? Why am I so important that you’d only want to talk to me? What makes me so special?”
“You’re my witness. When everyone around you lives no more, you’re the one who will walk away unscathed. You’re the one who will carry the memories.”
“Memories of what?”
There was no answer. The darkness vanished and the moonlit night returned. Danka was able to pick up her feet. She was chilled to the bones and sick with horror and fear, but at least she could move again. She caught her breath and continued her trek to the kitchen. Regardless of the fate eventually awaiting him, for the moment Ilmatarkt was still alive and still needed his breakfast.
———-
Historian’s Note: Throughout the 1750s, the central and eastern portion of the border between the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia and the Kingdom of the Moon suffered from continuous combat. However, the fighting differed significantly from the Grand Duke’s campaign to the west in Horkustk Ris. Instead of a large army defending the Duchy against another large army, the fighting to the east involved much smaller units skirmishing over much smaller objectives. The conflict was not over the fate of the Duchy, but over small sections of the border and the foreigners’ desire to access natural resources located in Danubian territory. Instead of regular troops, semi-independent militias loosely united under the title “Defenders of the Duchy” launched quick small-scale raids against intruders. Almost all militia operations followed a general pattern: the area commander identified a group of combatants from the Kingdom of the Moon that were either in the Duchy or likely to cross the border, goad them to enter an area that favored Danubian fighting techniques, then launch an ambush. If the enemy was forced to withdraw upon the first ambush, there would be a follow-up ambush to inflict as many casualties as possible. If the ambush was inconclusive or likely to result in a defeat, the Danubians withdrew to launch a new effort to goad the enemy into another ambush in a more favorable location.
Usually the objective was not to protect territory, but to inflict as many casualties as possible to sap the enemy’s desire to cross into the Duchy and threaten Danubians. The militia leaders carefully selected targets to ensure either victory or minimal losses. They also wanted to send a clear message to both Lords’ warring factions through their selection of places where fighting took place. The Danubians focused exclusively on military targets they considered were directly threatening the Duchy. The Defenders did frequently conduct raids across the border, but the objectives were always units that were about to cross into the Duchy, or men who had returned from the Duchy to be re-supplied. Unlike the Kingdom of the Moon factions, the Danubians left the civilian population alone.
The strategy had a long-term focus: to demoralize the Kingdom of the Moon’s fighting men. The men became well-aware that the Danubians were not a threat if citizens of the Kingdom of the Moon stayed on their side of the border. As soon as the foreigners crossed or prepared to cross, they could expect to be attacked. Over time the enemy soldiers would view what they were doing in the Duchy as unnecessary and futile, although in 1756 the morale of the invaders had not yet deteriorated to the point the men would dare challenge their commanders. The first large mutiny among the Lord of the Blue Moon’s men would not happen until 1758.
– Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna –
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/map-Duchy-Danka-1757-1008227307
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-Ilmatarkt-and-Danka-485265388
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-Ilmatarkt-and-Danka-02-485317737
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-Danka-table-01-2020-861832606
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-Ilmatarkt-and-Danka-table-01-861832156
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-A-Blasphemous-Idea-861628718
https://www.deviantart.com/caligula97030/art/C24-Danka-Destroyer-2020B-861831393
another great installment. Thanks