The Girl with No Name Ch. 25

The scene was unbelievably horrific. The enemies had been stripped of their uniforms and the exposed mutilated bodies of horses and men already were starting to reek in the hot summer afternoon. Within a few hours the place would become unbearable and would have to be abandoned to the birds and wolves. No one wanted to imagine what that meadow would look like the next day.

By sunset the stench was too bad for the Danubians to stay any longer. Danka could barely lift her crossbow, but she stumbled along with the rest of her squad while her husband and his assistants struggled to help the injured evacuate. The Danubian dead were taken out as well, hauled by the villagers on the backs of mules. They would be buried the following day, adding 33 graves to the ever-growing military cemetery. It was well after nightfall when the Defenders and the settlers arrived at the main village with the casualties and loot. There would be funerals tomorrow, an assessment of the condition of Commander Sáupeckt's unit, and some badly needed rest.

Before going to sleep, Dalibora handed Danka thirteen silver coins, her share of the loot that had been recovered from the coin purses of the invading force. She said nothing, but looked at the money with disdain. Money. What difference did money make? So... after killing 2000 men and dealing with the deaths of several people she knew, that was all? Thirteen silver pieces? She resisted the temptation to toss the money aside. She didn't want the coins, but forced herself to hold on to them by convincing herself they were partial compensation for the money she had spent on Isauria. Certainly Oana would have made that argument.

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The exhausted nymphs watched as the villagers mounted severed heads on poles and placed them around the village square. The heads belonged to the Red Moon commanders. After the funerals, the captured enemy priests would be forced into the square to see the heads and understand there had been a rescue attempt that had failed miserably. They would be encouraged to pray for a miracle, right up to the moment they were burned alive to appease the Destroyer.

Danka tried to push the image of the severed heads out of her thoughts. As the Destroyer had told her, this was her doing. She realized how much damage that she, single-handedly, had inflicted against the Kingdom of the Moon. The Grand Duke's victory in Hórkustk Ris three years earlier was the direct result of the Followers' explosives recipes. A month later, Sister Silvítya (as she was known at the time) was the one who convinced the Sovereign to pull his troops out of Sumy Ris in time to avoid a defeat. The Defenders' previous summer's victory against the Lord of the Blue Moon's men was partially the result of her actions. This latest victory, against the Red Moon army, was directly the result of her knowledge and actions. As a mere woman, a Royal concubine and the wife of a field surgeon, no one would ever acknowledge her, but the destruction she had unleashed against the Kingdom of the Moon had saved the Duchy, several times over.

How ironic is the Realm of the Living. The Kingdom of the Moon's worst nemesis was a wandering peasant girl, an anonymous young woman no one would ever know about. Danka wondered how many other times in history the Destroyer had used a completely unknown and unacknowledged person to determine the course of events and obliterate a nation. She felt no pride in what she had done, nor really did she feel any shame. The Destroyer just as easily could have used some unknown girl from the Kingdom, perhaps even Isauria, to ensure the destruction of the Duchy. One kingdom was destined to live and the other destined to die, and it was the Destroyer who made the decision which nation would be spared at the expense of the other.

So... maybe the Defenders were right after-all. Maybe the Destroyer did control everything in the Realm of the Living and was the only deity that needed to be honored. Certainly there was no indication that either the Creator or the Ancients had any control over any of the events Danka had witnessed in her travels.

She looked up at the nearby treetops. An owl, that owl, sat in a branch staring back at her.

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Commander Sáupeckt's unit did not participate in any more combat during the remainder of the summer of 1757. A third of his troops had been killed or wounded during the massacre of the Red Moon encampment, so his unit was in no condition for another fight. The injured still had to be cared for and transported away from the unsanitary villages, along with the muskets, ammunition, and other military equipment taken from the battlefield. It was the middle of August before everything and everyone was safely transported back to the winter campground and the new supplies were safely stored away in the caves.

The commander sent several squad leaders and other subordinates to the Vice-Duchy of Rika Chorna and Hórkustk Ris Province to augment his command. He planned a dramatic expansion of his unit: from 90 surviving members to over 400. He now had the weapons and ammunition necessary to create three entirely new companies. Like all Defenders, the newcomers would be trained in guerilla tactics, but their main responsibility would be firing muskets in formation. There were enough surviving horses from the Kingdom to establish a small cavalry unit to augment the musket companies.

Commander Sáupeckt planned to dramatically change the Defenders' tactics and strategic goals during the summer of 1758. He hoped to carry the war into the Kingdom of the Moon and establish a permanent Danubian presence in territory that had not been part of the Duchy since 1502. From what he saw during the ride-through during the previous June, there would not be much military opposition if the Danubian unit was large, properly armed, and not spread out. That would present a problem for occupation: the Defenders simply did not have enough to troops to conquer and occupy. They'd have to do one or the other. An even more pressing problem would be having to bring in food. However, the commander figured that having to ship in food could possibly work to the Defenders' advantage because it could be traded to the locals for equipment and support. Perhaps the commander could even recruit a unit of Blue Moon subjects to fight alongside his men when they attacked the Lord of the Red Moon's depleted forces. If in 1758 he could inflict a defeat on the Lord of the Red Moon's forces comparable to the one he had achieved in 1757, there wouldn't be much standing in the way of his dream of occupying land and turning it over to the Royal Family in exchange for being appointed governor.

The expanded size of his unit would make Commander Sáupeckt the most powerful leader among the Defenders, but to pursue his goal of altering the militia's strategy from defending the Duchy to conquering new territory, he would have to convince the other unit leaders to support him and submit to his command. The militia commanders had mixed feelings about his amazing rout of the Red Moon column. They were impressed with the victory itself and glad that such a large enemy component had been eliminated, but they resented the fact Commander Sáupeckt had conducted the operation without anyone's consent and did so specifically to keep all of the seized weapons and ammunition for his own unit. Still, a victory was a victory and the other commanders had to hide their misgivings about Commander Sáupeckt from their troops. To the ordinary Defenders, Commander Sáupeckt and his fighters were heroes. It was obvious he was intelligent and brave and had great plans for the future of the Duchy. He deserved everyone's respect and deserved to be followed.

Between August and October, the Defenders transformed the three villages into a military garrison that rivaled the largest garrisons under the control of the Grand Duke. Recruits flowed in, happy to have the chance to practice with real muskets and be part of the Duchy's future glory. Other commanders sent some of their troops to train with Commander Sáupeckt's men, so the size of the garrison fluctuated between 1000 and 1500 Defenders at any given time. When the weather became cold the fighters lived in relative comfort, in new cabins heated by ingenious cast-iron stoves that burned cave-charcoal instead of wood. The villagers were put to work mining and hauling the strange black rocks, motivated by the promise of new stoves for their own houses and not having to cut firewood.

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During the winter, Danka continued her busy existence. She trained with Dalibora's squad, learned better how to ride a horse, worked in her husband's provisional laboratory as he prepared medicines and explosives, cooked for him, and spent as much time as possible trying to educate Isauria.

Isauria stood as tall as Danka by the beginning of 1758. Her menstruations had started and she was very interested in the boys running around the village. Danka insisted she started using the birth-control paste and, sure enough, the girl lost her virginity to one of her fellow apprentices in February. Even though she had prepared for it, Danka was furious that Isauria would start having sex so early in life. However, she decided not to say anything. It seemed that Isauria enjoyed her first experience and was ready for it, unlike Danka, who was much more naive, even at an older age.

At least Isauria won't have to go through what I went through. For her, there will never be a "graveyard of virtue", nor will there be a Bagatúrckt to damage her soul...

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Commander Sáupeckt changed over the winter, in a way that worried Danka. Instead of thinking no further than the next battle, he started thinking about the future, of what the Duchy's new southernmost province would be like once it was secured and he was acting governor. There was happy talk of farms and seized manors, of slaves from the conquered population and new Danubian towns. The militia leader was suffering from the same hubris that afflicted the Grand Duke, of imagining himself as the man who had the glory of conquering Sumy Ris and returning to its rightful place within the Danubian Duchy. He started talking more like a town elder or a land-owner and less like a military commander. Meanwhile, the expanded militia spent the winter training to fight a conventional war in open territory. Commander Sáupeckt reorganized the units several times, experimenting with different tactics and maneuvers to see what best fit the needs of his forces.

Danka wondered what it was about Sumy Ris that seemed to make otherwise intelligent Danubian leaders lose their common sense. Yes, the city was the first Christian settlement and the Danubians' second most important political and religious center throughout the Middle Ages, but that had ended 250 years before. Apart from the cathedral and a few other buildings, very little remained from its Danubian past. Yes, the location was ideal for trade, but it was totally indefensible. As the Defenders became increasingly excited about the glory of re-taking the former southern capitol, Danka became ever more uneasy about the future. She remembered the Destroyer's words: "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."

Commander Sáupeckt spent the early spring corresponding with provincial leaders around the Duchy to obtain food for his troops and money to pay them. At the beginning of April the Grand Duke surprised everyone by responding with a large shipment of silver coins, enough to buy some supplies and pay the entire garrison for three months. When she saw the guarded wagons of Royal silver arrive and the paymaster distribute the pay among the troops, Danka wondered why the Grand Duke would be so trusting of a leader who was not part of the regular army's chain of command. Later that night, when they both were in bed, she decided to bring up the topic with Ilmátarkt. Her husband responded:

"This whole situation is a huge bargain for the Grand Duke: a single shipment of silver in exchange for an entire army. Commander Sáupeckt laid a gift at His Majesty's feet and he is smart enough to realize it. We supplied our own muskets and just about everything else. He didn't even have to provide food or horses, just some coins. We are not under his direct control, so we are not his responsibility. We can live or die, we can succeed or fail, with no consequences for the Crown. If we succeed and survive, the Crown claims more land for the Duchy and we are dismissed with some service metals, a certificate of gratitude, and maybe the title to a small farm, nothing more. If we fail, he is not to blame and his army will suffer no losses."

"I guess that makes sense. Certainly sounds like him. All he ever thought about was turning everyone and everything to his advantage. I remember..." Danka caught her breath, regretting that careless statement the instant it was out of her mouth. Ilmátarkt sat up and intensely looked at her in the dim light of the room's single lantern.

"So... you know His Majesty?" Have you met him?"

It was a simple question, perhaps totally innocent, but it forced a difficult decision on her. She did not want her husband to know about her time as a Royal concubine. However, protocol dictated the absolute worst thing a wife could do was tell a direct lie to her husband. It was a terrible sin in Danubian culture, even worse than adultery. In theory, if a man caught his wife lying to him and could prove it, he had the right to kill her. Up until that moment she had insinuated that she had been at the university between 1753 and 1755, but had never openly said that. She looked away.

"Yes, Ilmátarkt. I know His Majesty."

"How could you know His Majesty? When did you meet him?"

"I met him... four years ago. In the plaza of the Great Temple in the capitol."

"What about the university?"

"I was a student for a year. Then I left."

"Interesting... because it confirms something I was wondering about. You showed me your university notes, which I appreciate. However, I did notice that none of those papers were dated after May 1753. No dates from 1754 or 1755. So, I suspected you were somewhere else over the next two years."

"I was in the capitol."

"In the Royal Household?"

"Yes, in the Royal Household."

"Doing what?"

"What do you think I was doing? Why do you think the Grand Duke would keep me in his castle?"

There was a long pause, while Ilmátarkt wondered what to ask next. He did not want to force his wife to openly admit she was lying to him about the two missing years of her life, but he was curious to know more about the Duchy's ruler . She broke the silence.

"In my bucket I have some sealed packages of parchment. All of the information about my life with His Majesty is in there. My notes can tell you the story better than I can. Then..."

"No. I won't read your papers. The decision about what you choose to tell me about your past needs to be yours. But, you do understand that you are never again to deceive me with your words, even by omission."

"I understand that, my love."

Ilmátarkt ordered Danka to get out of bed and stand against a chair with her legs spread and her bottom sticking out. She worried he might punish her. He rubbed her bottom and ran his hands between her legs. When he became erect, he entered her and thrust hard. She could tell by the rough way he was making love to her that he was still irritated. However, there would be no switching from him. On the surface the incident was over.

However, she knew the incident was not over at all. Over time she would need to reveal to him the details of her humiliating life with the Grand Duke. It would have been so much easier for him to simply read about it and ask her a few questions, or for him to interrogate her and extract the story in a single tearful night, but he was not about to let her off so easily. She would have to decide what to reveal and when. The conflict between sharing her past and keeping it hidden would weigh on her conscience. Her husband was very much aware that he had pushed a difficult responsibility onto her, which was his way of punishing her for the attempted deception.

She took a deep breath as they got back in bed. She had to start somewhere, so she figured it would be best to start with information that would be useful for the Defenders' upcoming campaign.

"During the war... the siege... I was in Hórkustk Ris with His Majesty. And I was also in Sumy Ris. I saw the battles... and I talked to some of the Royal Protectors about things I didn't see. So I know, in detail, what happened in both places. I know the layout of Sumy Ris... I saw the old cathedral... and all the newer buildings... the ones built by the Ottomans. It's different from the old drawings we have. If you borrow one of the commander's maps and let me write on it, I can update it for you, so there're no surprises when we go in."

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It was not hard for Danka to anticipate that the incursion into the Kingdom and the effort to capture Sumy Ris was destined to end in disaster. She just hoped the Destroyer was wrong about her own Path in Life and that she wouldn't survive. She had already seen too much and had no desire to have yet more atrocities added to her collection of memories. However, she suspected any release from her grim life was not to be. Her most recent encounter with the Destroyer was always present in her thoughts as she listened to her fellow nymphs talk about the upcoming campaign. At times she saw them as ghosts: already it seemed the separation of their souls from their bodies was closing in on them. Especially at night, as the nymphs sat around the fire, Danka imagined each of her squad-mates holding her mirror.

I wish I could hold up my mirror instead of them. It is my Path is Life to witness their fates and that is not what I desire. I want to be blissfully dead and buried before the souls of the others separate from their bodies. I don't want to have to deal with their deaths. I don't want to have to bury them.

She thought about the two people she most cared about, her husband and her former servant. If the expedition was indeed to end in disaster, there wasn't much she could do to preserve the life of Ilmátarkt. He had to travel with the commander and that was the end of it. However, Danka was able to come up with an excuse to prevent Isauria from leaving the Duchy. The wife of the village elder who had the baby the previous year was pregnant again and about to deliver. The elder was angry that none of the unit's doctors could stay behind to help out. To placate him, and to make sure Isauria stayed in a safe location, Danka assigned her to help with the delivery. Dalibora, convinced the apprentice was still too young to accompany the nymphs on a full-scale military campaign, agreed to order her to remain in the village instead of marching south.