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That small gesture was the beginning of an unusual friendship between an elite soldier and a glorified sex-slave. Protector Buláshckt had his own memories of the war, ones of the actual fighting and following the Grand Duke around. He had seen everything war had to offer, from the ruler's reckless bravery, cunning, and resourcefulness to his viciousness and cruelty, to his genuine concern for the well-being of his men and willingness to share all of their hardships.
Like Silvítya, he had changed over the summer. The strong confidence he had in his life, in the Duchy, and his duties as a guard seemed to have vanished. His expression was very troubled. When she looked at him, at times he tightened his lips and looked away, as though he was thoroughly ashamed of himself. Yes, he could take pride in what he had done during the confrontations with the Lord of the Red Moon's army, but he could not take pride in his participation killing non-Danubian civilians following each of the battles and the final expulsion of all the foreigners from the Duchy.
Oddly enough, Silvítya was reassured. Her friend's conscience was tormented by what had happened in the aftermath of the campaign. He was not a cold-hearted killer, nor an unthinking follower of the Grand Duke. He followed the sovereign's brutal orders because he felt it was necessary for the future of Danubia, but he understood those some of those orders were immoral. He knew that he would have a lot to answer for when he held up his mirror before the Creator. He needed someone to talk to as much as Silvítya needed to talk to. He understood her need to bear witness to the events of the war. Over time, as the two gained each other's trust, he started relating his memories of the fighting while she wrote them down. At first he only talked about the fighting and the Grand Duke as a military leader, but eventually he talked about the less heroic things done by the Royal Army. The soldier and the servant exchanged news on many of the injured she had treated. She wrote brief biographies about many of the men who had been killed, but was even more interested in finding out about the fates of the men whose injuries she had treated. The Guard asked around for information on the survivors and brought news as he was able to collect it. Everything she learned went into the growing stack of parchment.
As the trust between them grew, Silvítya and Protector Buláshckt began sharing information about their personal lives. She learned about his past, his military training, his travels, and some details about his family. She gave away some of the information on her own life, describing her life in Sebérnekt Ris and her previous year as a Follower of the Ancients. Like most Christians, he knew very little about the Cult. She talked about Rika Héckt-nemát and the wretchedness of her life there. The only detail she left out was the reason she left: she let him think that she ran off to escape her family's poverty, not because she had been pilloried. She did not mention anything about her life in Starívktaki Móskt. Protector Buláshckt was aware that she was leaving important gaps in her life story, but he never pressed her for information. He figured if it was the Creator's desire for him to know those details, he'd find out when the time was right.
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Silvítya was so busy over the winter that she did not notice the months pass by. She attended births, comforted new women that had been brought into the concubine group, half-heartedly tried to encourage the others to read, and interceded whenever the matrons wanted to harass one of the girls. She spent her afternoons kneeling next to the Grand Duke as he talked to advisors. Whenever she had time, she met with Protector Buláshckt and wrote down whatever he wanted to share about the Royal Guards' actions during the war. Documenting the events of the war and the people who participated in it provided a genuine purpose for her Path in Life, something she had not experienced since the Cult of the Ancients was dissolved.
By March of 1755, none of the girls who had been serving as concubines at the beginning of 1754 were still living in the concubine quarters, with the single exception of their spokeswoman. Concubines became pregnant and left, while new women were brought in to replace them. One girl, a merchant's daughter from the capitol, became pregnant within weeks of becoming a "sister" and left the group for the maternity ward a mere three months after she entered. All of the others, and even some who came afterwards, carried the Grand Duke's seed and had transferred to the maternity ward.
She watched Royal Guards escort new mothers out of the castle on their way back to their hometowns. It was particularly painful watching Magdala depart. She very much wished that Magdala could return to take charge of the concubines and relieve her of that responsibility. She felt terribly lonely, missing the companionship of her predecessor and the intimacy of Antonia. She couldn't relate to any of the new girls. She dealt with the newcomers' problems as best she could, but did not bother to become close to any of them. During the first part of 1755, the only friend she was interested in having was Protector Buláshckt, and the only activity that interested her was working on her memoirs about the pervious year's war.
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Three concubines who had become pregnant left for the maternity ward during the last half of March, bringing the number of "sisters" down to six. The Royal Household did not replace them because the Grand Duke was planning to look at some captives from Hórkustk Ris province. The newly appointed governor of Iyóshnyakt-Krepóckt had asked the ruler to visit the border to see some suggestions he had for improving the country's defenses. The official reason for the trip was legitimate, but the governor enticed his ruler by adding that he was holding a large group of captive foreign women in the governor's compound. If His Majesty was interested, he could indulge himself and take any of the girls that he wanted to the Royal Residence as concubines. The lure of southern women prompted the Grand Duke to accept the invitation. He departed the capitol accompanied by a military escort during the first Monday of April, with the expectation of being gone two weeks.
The concubines in the castle were relieved to have a break from their Master, but wondered about the trip and why the departing "sisters" had not been replaced. They received their answer when the Grand Duke and his escort returned to the capitol at the end of April. The entourage included six new concubines: all of them girls from the Kingdom of the Moon. Their families had crossed into the Duchy over the winter, trying to escape the civil war raging to the east of Sumy Ris, only to be taken captive by Danubian Royal Guards or village militias.
Between 1755 and 1764, Royal Guards routinely attacked groups of foreign refugees fleeing north into the Duchy to keep the border region cleared out for returning Danubians. The steady flow of refugees was viewed as a serious threat by the Danubian Crown, given the enormous effort to retake the region during the summer of 1754. Besides being looked upon as a threat that needed to be confronted, the foreigners also provided the Royal Guards with an extra source of income. Typically the Guards killed all the males, but took the women and girls captive and sold them as servants. The more desirable young women became the concubines of village elders, while the others were auctioned in villages or sold to farmers. The slaves had no hope of escaping. They didn't speak Danubian, wore collars, and were forbidden to braid their hair, which immediately identified them as foreign captives. Their families no longer existed and returning to the Kingdom of the Moon was not possible because it was in the midst of a brutal civil war.
Slavery was officially forbidden in the Duchy by law and by the Old Believers of the Danubian Church, so the women were legally classified as criminals, not slaves. In many cases Royal Guards or village councils even staged quick trials in which conviction was guaranteed and the sentence was always a lifetime of servitude. The trials and sentences were total fiction, however. Convicted Danubian criminals officially belonged to the Crown, had some legal protection and limited rights, and certainly could not be sold. The foreigners were property, nothing more. The Crown officials and slave owners justified what they were doing because the women were viewed as invaders who were attempting to usurp the Duchy's territory. The foreigners had willingly entered the Duchy: no had one forced them to cross the border (which was not true at all; they were fleeing a war in their homeland).
The most desirable young women were handed over to the governor in Iyóshnyakt-Krepóckt. He treated them well and made sure they remained healthy, but to him the captives were nothing more than a commodity. He passed some out as gifts to visiting officials and kept the best ones for his own use. He set aside fifteen women in anticipation of the Grand Duke's visit, figuring the ruler would choose the girls he wanted for himself and let his commanders take the others. The Grand Duke was fascinated by the captives' beauty: the governor certainly did have good taste picking out the best women for him. He had a hard time deciding which ones he liked the best and only reluctantly reduced his selection to six. He would have been tempted to take them all, but nine veteran commanders had escorted him, so he rewarded each with a slave.
When the Grand Duke returned to the castle, the naked captives were forced to endure the in-processing routine from the matrons. They had to be examined, bathed, and have their armpits shaved and their hair trimmed. Also, their collars had to be removed. One of the castle blacksmiths carefully removed the collars, ensuring that the Grand Duke's new acquisitions were not marked when the latches were released.
Each of the foreign girls had to endure a switching before they were sent to the concubines' quarters. They hadn't done anything wrong apart from having difficulty understanding orders, but the matrons forced each newcomer to bend over a switching bench and receive 15 strokes. The foreign girls had to understand, even though their collars had been removed, they would have no rights or privileges in the castle. Dozens of Royal Guards and castle staff gathered when word went out that six foreign women were about to be whipped. The matrons waited until the courtyard was full before ordering the girls to stand in a row and assume the prisoner's stance, with their legs spread and their hands clasped behind their heads. Castle servants moved the switching horse to a wooden speaker's platform that was about a fathom in height. A matron grabbed the first young woman by the hair and dragged her up to the platform. The girl cried in terror, thinking she was about to be executed. A second matron tied the newcomer's hands and ankles to the legs of the switching bench. The matron took her time delivering the strokes, giving her victim plenty of time to feel each blow before receiving the next. She ran her hand over the girl's bottom and patted the welts, which was an insult in traditional Danubian culture. When the matrons finally untied the sobbing captive and pulled her up from the bench, they forced her to stand on the platform and turn around several times so everyone could have a good look at both her body and the welts crossing her bottom. The entertainment lasted all afternoon, as a different matron punished each foreigner.
The Danubian concubines stood on their balcony, watching the switchings. For them the punishments were entertainment as much as they were for the castle staff. However, they knew that as soon as the punishments were over, the traumatized foreigners would be brought up to the concubines' quarters and the Danubian women would have to deal with them. Silvítya was tempted to tell her companions that the foreigners were fellow "sisters" and needed to be treated as equals. However, she knew such an arrangement was not possible. The foreigners did not speak Danubian and presumably knew nothing about table manners and other etiquette. Besides language, they had to learn many new skills, and learn them very quickly. She correctly assumed the Grand Duke would judge her leadership on how swiftly the newcomers adapted to their responsibilities in the castle. She did not want the foreigners to be kept together and have the opportunity to converse in their own language. So, as the punishments progressed, she discussed with her companions how they should deal with the Grand Duke's newest acquisitions. Silvítya decided that each of her companions would take a foreigner into her room and would be responsible for training her. The concubines would have to handle teaching etiquette, while Silvítya would take responsibility for teaching Danubian. To make sure all of the foreigners received the same schooling, they would be rotated every week: each Danubian girl would be assigned a new foreign girl every Sunday until the foreigners were properly trained.
Silvítya left her companions and descended to the courtyard. As much as she hated asking a matron for a favor, she felt that she had to borrow a switch. She had no plans to punish any of the foreigners, but felt that it would be good for them to see her carrying the implement when she was giving instructions to make sure they took anything she had to say seriously. The matrons ordered her to kneel while making the request, but finally they gave her what she wanted and she went up the stairs with her new symbol of authority.
The matrons did not bring up the foreigners until the sun was low in the horizon. The girls were miserable and totally traumatized. They were humiliated as well, but by that time they had learned to never try covering themselves. They kept their hands at their sides as they walked through the castle corridors, knowing they'd receive a painful swipe from the switch if their hands moved to cover their vulvas.
As soon as the foreigners entered the concubines' quarters, Silvítya took over. Fortunately she spoke a little of the language of the Kingdom of the Moon, which was a dialect of Slavic with a lot of Turkish and some Danubian vocabulary mixed in. She didn't speak it well, but was able to make herself understood. Directing the newcomers by pointing with her switch, she ordered them to kneel in a line. She started by asking them if anyone spoke Danubian. No...none of them spoke Danubian. How wonderful. Well, you will have to learn, and learn quickly.
Silvítya taught the newcomers several phrases they would need to know around the Grand Duke, starting with "to hear is to obey, Your Majesty". Then she introduced the Danubian concubines and assigned a foreigner to each, including one to herself. With difficulty she explained that each foreigner would have to treat her Danubian mentor as her mistress and kneel when talking to her.
Her first trainee's name was Mirjana. Apart from her physical beauty, there was nothing special about Mirjana: in her previous life she was the daughter of a cloth merchant. Her family fled when the Lord of the Blue Moon's men burnt her village and killed most of the men. In that attack she lost her father and uncle, but her grandfather and brother survived and the remaining members of her family joined a group of peasants headed north. The refugees were totally unaware that the Grand Duke had retaken southern Danubia until they already had crossed the hills into Hórkustk Ris province. A group of Royal Guards surrounded the group, separated the males, and blindfolded the women. Mirjana did not see her grandfather's killing, but could hear what was going on. It turned out the Royal Guards were somewhat more merciful than the majority of the Danubian soldiers roaming the border, because they spared the younger boys. They ordered the boys to bury the slain men and then to return to the Kingdom of the Moon and warn others not to try to cross into the Duchy. Mirjana had the small consolation knowing that her brother, at least at the time she was taken captive, remained alive.
As soon as they moved the captured women and girls far enough so they could not see what had happened to the men, the Danubians removed their blindfolds and ordered them to strip. Naked except for their shoes, they spent three days walking in chilly rain under guard to a small town that had a slave market. Mirjana's mother, aunt, older sister, and two cousins were collared and auctioned, along with most of the group's other women, to separate buyers. The Guards kept Mirjana and one other teenager they considered particularly attractive and transported them by mule to Iyóshnyakt-Krepóckt to sell to the governor. The governor handed her over as a gift to the Grand Duke two weeks later.
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The bell rang four times, indicating the ruler wanted four women to report to his bed-chamber. Silvítya surprised her companions by ordering three Danubians to go with her and to leave all the foreigners behind. The girls were still in shock from their predicament and from having been publicly switched and humiliated, so their spokeswoman figured it would be a good idea to give them a day to recover before having to deal with the Grand Duke. She ordered the two remaining Danubian concubines to continue teaching the foreigners how to say phrases in the language of the Duchy.
The Grand Duke was surprised to see familiar faces instead those of his newest acquisitions. He was irritated enough that he did not give his "favorite" any preferential treatment that evening: she had to line up with her companions and endure being taken from behind. However, after he exhausted himself and dismissed the others, he had Silvítya perform the usual routine of preparing his bath and sitting with him while in the water. He chatted about the worsening civil war in the Kingdom of the Moon and commented about the growing number of refugees trying to cross the border. As much as a nuisance as the refugees were, it was nice they were providing the Duchy with an ample supply of slaves, especially young women. Silvítya tightened her lips and said nothing. When he asked how the new concubines were doing, the "favorite minx" described her training regimen and her plans to make the newcomers learn to speak Danubian as quickly as possible.
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Silvítya brought two of the newcomers when the bell rang in the afternoon and three others when the Grand Duke wanted women in the evening. As usual, he treated them roughly and wore himself out copulating as though he was possessed. He was pleased with their training and ability to understand his commands, so much so that he forgot about being irritated with Silvítya the previous night for not bringing up any of the foreigners. He dismissed the unhappy girls after he was finished with them. As usual he kept Silvítya after sending off her companions. As usual, she bathed him and knelt, waiting to be dismissed.
"My favorite minx, I've just realized something. You've been my favorite for a year; it would seem... more than a year. You have served me well, don't you think?"
"Your humble serving girl's Path in Life is to serve you, Your Majesty."
"Yes, it is, isn't it? But, your service has been exceptional, and therefore I will do something exceptional for you, my favorite minx..."
Silvítya's hopes rose that maybe the ruler was about to release her or change her status in the castle. She was dismayed when, instead, he produced a fine necklace made from white gold and sapphires and placed it around her neck. He directed her to look at herself in the mirror. Yes, the necklace was a beautiful piece of jewelry that any woman would have desperately wanted. But it meant that Silvítya's life was about to move totally in the opposite direction of what she had hoped.
