The Girl with No Name Ch. 26

The Red Moon faction consolidated its control of the east gate and its cannons. As soon as the unit's commanders could bring up some cannon crews, the guns fired into the area still held by the Danubians. There were several explosions around the government area of the town. Then Danka saw the infirmary blow up. A cannonball or shell must have hit the room where the sling-bombs were being kept and set them off. Following a massive explosion that sent debris raining over the surrounding area, the building completely collapsed into burning wreckage. If Ilmátarkt was still in there (which was extremely likely) she had just become a widow.

Before Danka had time to mourn her husband, Dalibora's calf was shattered by a musket-ball and she tumbled to a balcony before falling to the street. Danka and the remaining nymphs had to go down and rescue her, because it was obvious she was still alive and must not be captured. When the women got to her, she was bleeding profusely and it was obvious her leg was badly hurt. Danka tore off her own skirt and ripped it into strips to make a tourniquet. The surviving nymphs, joined by a squad of Danubian musket-men, covered Danka and another squad member as they dragged Dalibora towards a stone house. They laid her on the floor and Danka more closely examined the wound. The bone was shattered. There was no question the leg would have to be amputated, but Danka did not have access to surgery equipment. All she had was a pouch of morphine and some other medicines to sedate injured patients.

Oana showed up, dragging in a member of her squad who had been shot in the chest. Danka cursed herself, because in the past she had successfully operated on a similar injury, but at that moment she did not have the equipment. Without surgery was not likely the second patient would survive very long. Danka's only option was to sedate her and try to control the bleeding.

The noise of battle continued outside, but Danka was out of the fight. Her quiver was empty and somehow her crossbow had broken. Even if she had crossbow bolts, she wouldn't have been able to use them. She was naked, having given up her skirt to make the tourniquet for Dalibora. Her husband was most likely dead. Her squad leader would never walk again, even assuming she could be operated on before her wound festered. She was in a wrecked stone house with two dying patients she could not treat, in a ruined town deep inside enemy territory.

For a while nothing happened. She peered outside and saw no living soldiers, but there were several dead men from the Red Moon faction lying on the street. Danka's heart jumped into her throat. Red Moon soldiers had been fighting right outside the house. Had they taken the city? The noise of battle had subsided, but by dawn break it increased again. From what Danka was able to hear from her location, it seemed the fighting from the east had died down and the new fighting was to the north, and perhaps not even in the city. Then the firing from the east picked up again.

Oana suddenly banged on the door and called out to Danka to let her in. She dragged in another nymph who had a serious head injury. A quick look at the new patient told Danka she was mortally wounded. Dalibora weakly asked what was going on. Oana paused for a moment, as though she were trying to decide whether to tell the truth or a lie. Finally she responded:

"Nothing's going on. The Red Moons are still in the outer part of the city, but we've pushed them back somewhat." Oana turned to Danka. "Make sure you keep this door barred and don't go out. No matter what you hear or think you're hearing, do not open this door and don't go out. I'll come back when it's safer."

"Can you at least get me a weapon? I don't have any bolts and my crossbow is broken."

"That's your fault. And no, I don't carry around extra weapons to pass out to dishonored careless fools. Now bar the door and don't go outside until I come back."

The battle sounds continued for a while. Danka thought she could hear "DOC-DOC DANUBE! ... DOC-DOC DANUBE! ... DOC-DOC DANUBE! ..." in the distance, but figured it must have been her imagination. The shooting from the north stopped, but there seemed to be a lot of shouting and movement outside. Then that stopped as well. There was more shooting from the direction of the wrecked garrison building and muffled screaming. There was a long period of relative silence, occasionally interrupted by a shot or a scream. Later, in the afternoon, there was another round of shooting near the warehouses and marketplace. Several squads of cavalrymen rode by the house. Later, a group of foreigners stopped outside the door and chatted for a bit before moving away. Danka felt sick. The Red Moon army must have retaken Aksheriri Ris. She looked around the house for women's clothing, but there was nothing. Whatever clothing the owners had they would have taken with them when they evacuated.

She noted a ladder going up to a loft, and another leading to a hatch door in the roof. Maybe she could go up to the roof and observe what was happening in the town. The house was close to the highest point on the hill and its roof stood above the rooftops of the nearby houses, so she had a panoramic view of both the city and the countryside beyond. When she looked to the north, in the distance she saw a large column of troops headed in the direction of the Duchy. She then heard series of horrific screams and some cruel laughter. She looked towards the mayor's residence and saw that the banner flying over the building was from the Blue Moon faction, not the Red Moon faction. Apparently the Lord of the Blue Moon had taken control of the city.

She looked again at the retreating column. Were they Danubian? Was it possible the Grand Duke's regular army did show up to evacuate the surviving Defenders? That would have explained the "DOC-DOC DANUBE! ... DOC-DOC DANUBE! ... DOC-DOC DANUBE! ..." she had heard earlier. But then...why would Oana not have returned to tell her and the others to leave with everyone else? Was it possible that Oana was killed? Or was it possible that she knew about the evacuation? Danka's mind went over the last conversation with her. She seemed to be hiding something. She had repeatedly told Danka not to look outside until she came back. The horrible thought came into her consciousness that Oana had deliberately left her and Dalibora behind, but why would she do that?

Dalibora weakly called out to her. Danka descended the ladder. Dalibora was conscious and in a lot of pain. Danka administered some morphine and the squad leader asked what was going on. As best she could, Danka described what she saw from the rooftop. The squad leader agreed there must have been an evacuation, that Oana knew about it, and out of pure spite, did not tell the rescuers about Danka and her three patients.

"Remember... Oana has the Destroyer in her soul. I'm not surprised. Not at all. She hated both of us and blamed us for her squad being taken away last year. She wanted revenge, and now she got it."

"But...she'd hate us that much... to leave us to be impaled?"

"She hates us that much, Defender Danka. She hates us that much."

"So what do we do?"

Dalibora thought for a moment before responding. She weakly sat up to look at her leg.

"You know... I'm still your commanding officer."

"Yes."

"You are sworn to obey me."

"Yes, I'm sworn to obey you."

"Then I am ordering to you poison me. And I'm ordering you to poison the others. I don't what to be in the Realm of the Living when the foreigners break down that door. As soon as my soul separates from my body, you will escape. Somehow you will sneak out of this cursed town and somehow you will return to the Duchy. When you return, you will find Oana. Those are my last orders."

"But..."

"I am ordering you to poison me. I am ordering you to separate my soul from my body. What part of that don't you understand?"

Danka prepared a fatal dose of sedative. There was a barrel of rainwater and a cracked cup with which she could administer it. She held Dalibora's hand while holding the cup to her mouth. It took about a minute for Dalibora's eyes to roll up slightly and her grip to loosen. Danka administered another dose to the woman with the chest wound. She looked at the woman with the head injury. She was unconscious and it was clear she was dying, so Danka did not bother trying to poison her. She glanced again at her dead squad leader.

A loud bang on the door made her jump. She heard shouting in the Kingdom's language and another bang. Dropping her medicine pouch, she rushed up the ladder and pushed open the hatch, just as the main door crashed open. A squad of Blue Moon troops entered the house as Danka exited and moved away from the opening. The course thatch dug into her unprotected skin, but that was the least of her worries. She lay flat as the hatch opened and a man looked both ways to make sure no one was on the roof. Fortunately he did not climb up to check the other side, so Danka stayed hidden. She watched the troops haul out the three corpses and toss them onto the street below.

From her vantage point Danka watched the enemy soldiers leave the house. One soldier marked the door with a piece of chalk to indicate the house had been checked and cleared. Danka crept back towards the hatch. If at all possible, she had to get back inside. She would be spotted on the roof as soon as someone happened to glance in her direction. It turned out all the soldiers had indeed left. She decided to stay in the loft in case anyone came back in and wait for nightfall before attempting to escape.

She looked at the bloodstains on the floor where her companions had died. She mourned the fact their bodies had been tossed outside, to lie in the street until someone came along and loaded them into a garbage wagon. They would not be given proper burials and would not be given mirrors, so they'd have nothing to hold up before the Creator in the Afterlife. As for her husband, and the other doctors, and all of their patients, not even bodies were left, given the force of the explosion and the fire that had destroyed the infirmary. She wondered how the Creator handled such situations.

For the first time, Danka prayed directly to the Destroyer. Very well, you've made me your witness. You've denied my desire to die with my companions. You've taken my husband. Now what? If you want me to escape and bear witness, how am I supposed to do that?

Danka waited in silence for a long time. There was no response. She was beyond exhausted, so there was nothing for her to do except sleep and wait for sunset so she could get out of the house.

She woke up to a world that was pitch black. It was true the house had no lanterns and was abandoned, but surely there would be some light coming in somewhere. She reached around and to her dismay, couldn't find anything to lay her hands on. She had to be in a void. What this the Realm of the Destroyer? Finally light did enter her imagination. So...the Destroyer had finally returned. Hopefully she'd receive instructions concerning what she needed to do next. But the familiar eyes did not appear. Instead, she saw Babáckt Yaga. Her former mistress's eyes stared deep into her soul.

"What have you done?"

"I...I don't understand, Alchemist."

"What have you done?"

"I guess...I guess I survived a battle, Alchemist. Now I need to figure out how to escape and bear witness of what happened here."

"To escape? To bear witness? To bear witness for whom? For the Profane One?"

"Yes, Alchemist. To bear witness for the Profane One."

"And you were foolish enough to think the Profane One would help you..."

"I was foolish enough to think that, Alchemist. That's what I was expecting."

"The Profane One helps no one. The Profane One will not help you. Serving the Profane One is vanity. Didn't I teach you that?"

"Yes, Alchemist."

"And you ignored my teachings. You ended up ignoring everything, didn't you?"

"Yes, Alchemist."

There was a long pause while Babáckt Yaga's eyes bore into Danka. The former Mistress continued:

"Do you really think you deserve to escape? Maybe a Blue Moon impalement hook is where you belong?"

"I don't know what I deserve, Alchemist."

"You don't know what you deserve. Well then... I, not the Destroyer, but I, will give you what you don't deserve. I will guide you to safety. But for you to accept my help, you must obey my instructions."

"Yes, Alchemist?"

"You are to take nothing with you from this cursed kingdom. You are not to carry anything in your hands, nor wear anything on your body. You will need to take off your boots and leave them behind: they're ruined anyway. When you leave this house, you will see a path ahead of you. It won't be lit up or obvious, but you'll know it's there. You will follow that path and not deviate from it. It will guide you out of Aksheriri Ris, guide you across the war zone, and guide you into the Duchy. The path will lead you to food and will lead you around your enemies. Throughout most of your journey, your enemies will be close-by, but they won't see you if you walk along the path precisely at the moment it shows itself. When the path deviates, you'll know you need to sleep."

"That's it, Alchemist? I just need to follow a path?"

"It will be hard at times, because often the path will lead you right out into the open, across fields and over hilltops, even though crowded areas. Part of the purpose of your journey will be to test your courage and your faith. But if you stay on the path and traverse it when it indicates, you will remain in the Realm of the Living and you will fulfill your Path in Life. There's one more detail. You must unbraid your hair before you begin your journey. Until you reach safety, your hair must be loose. Braids are a symbol of honor, and right now you have no honor."

Fearful that Babáckt Yaga's apparition would disappear, Danka undid her braids and fluffed out her hair.

"Now, go to the front door and turn left. Don't crouch or try to hide. Walk with confidence and dignity. Whenever you see the path, keep going."

"Alchemist?"

"Yes Follower Danka?"

"Will I ever see you again?"

"No. The Realm of the Afterlife allows me only one visit to the Realm of the Living. I've just used it on you. Now, like everyone else, I will fade and exist only in memory."

Babáckt Yaga's image disappeared, allowing Danka to see the dim evening light entering through openings in the dwelling's walls. Not knowing what else to do, she exited the front door and turned left, as instructed. Sure enough, in the darkness she could make out a path, a slightly lighter line of dried mud leading towards the city's eastern gate.

She struggled not to crouch or hide, which was very difficult given that she was completely naked in a strange town full of enemies. As she walked, she wondered about her unprotected feet, worried she might step on something sharp or stub her toe. She felt nothing: no rocks, no glass, no metal, no thorns. Wreckage was all around her, but her feet only touched cool smooth dirt.

She had numerous close calls as she walked away from the house. A squad of enemy soldiers crossed right in front of her but did not see her. She crossed a street and no sooner had she passed to the other side, a group of enemy cavalrymen galloped past. She walked right past people who had their backs turned, precisely at the moment they would have seen her had they turned around. After each "close call", she became slightly more confident that she really would be able to simply walk away.

The gate was wide open, to allow a supply caravan to pass through. The guards were too busy checking letters and talking to the drivers to notice a naked woman passing by the wagons on the other side. The path veered off the main road and crossed a meadow. Shortly before daybreak Danka came up to an abandoned village with a functioning well. She was ravenously thirsty, and the water was some of the best she had ever tasted. She left the village and crossed an orchard. All of the trees had been stripped of their fruit except for one, which had a single branch containing some apples. The wanderer feasted and continued her walk. The path lead her towards a ruined manor. Its fields lay abandoned, but there were some carrots and beets growing wild among the weeds. She came across another well inside a once-luxurious courtyard which, in spite of the destruction all around it, remained intact. Danka drank some more water and kept going.

By the end of the day, she had gone so far that Aksheriri Ris was no longer in sight. The Path veered into a ruined house, where most of the roof had collapsed. One room, containing a bed, remained intact. Danka soundly slept, the best night of sleep she had enjoyed for months. When she woke up, she noticed a sealed jar lying next to a wall. She opened it to discover it was full of dried fruit. She ate as much as she could before following the path eastward.

The second day was foggy in the morning and rainy in the afternoon. Her feet were covered in mud and her body was covered in water, but getting wet didn't bother her, since she didn't have to worry about her clothing. She could hear the noise from humans all around and see shadowy figures in the distance, but no one came close enough to recognize her as a naked wandering woman. It turned out to be fortunate that she stuffed herself with dried fruit in the morning, because she did not come across anything else to eat until the day had almost ended. As the sun set, she found several wild berry bushes growing next to an abandoned cottage. After eating, the path led her inside, where another bed was waiting.

She continued walking towards the east, in a journey that became more dreamlike with every passing day. During the entire journey she was crossing land that was completely unfamiliar. She walked along stream banks, across meadows, over hills that gave her a panoramic view of the landscape, and even though a small forest. She dreamt of what the land must have looked like during more peaceful times. Her imagination raced through the past, letting her see what the region looked like when it still was part of the Danubian Kingdom and referred to as Lower Danubia. She saw abandoned churches, some of which still had Danubian-style architecture. With each physical remnant of the past, she was able to visualize how it must have appeared hundreds of years before.

Eight days after escaping from Aksheriri Ris, Danka walked over a grassy hill where a few wild sheep were grazing. Nearby was a derelict manor, and on the other side there was a wrecked peasant village where empty impalement hooks were still hanging on some of the ruined walls. The ground was covered with scattered human bones, which were partially buried, bleached, and very brittle. The people in that spot must have been killed years before, perhaps right at the beginning of the Kingdom's civil war. Without really knowing why, Danka was convinced she was standing in the village where Isauria was born and had spent her childhood. Undoubtedly some of the bones under her feet were from the corpses of Isauria's relatives.

If Danka really was in Isauria's village, then Malénkta-Gordnáckta was just a short distance to the northeast. The imaginary path went over a second grassy hill overlooking both the manor and the village before crossing the road and continuing directly east. Danka was enormously relieved the route did not go north, because in her current condition Malénkta-Gordnáckta was absolutely the last place she wanted to go.

The day after she passed the road that led to the Duchy's border, the tops of the southern Danubian mountains came into sight, to her left. An yet, she was never tempted to turn north in an effort to shorten her time in the Kingdom of the Moon. By the middle of her journey she had complete confidence in the path. As long as she followed it, she was perfectly safe. She passed to the south of the ruined town she searched with Isauria, but when she reached the crest of a hill, she looked down and could see both the distant ruins and the river bordering the Duchy. She was only vaguely aware of the change, but by the final week of her trip she was walking completely in the open. She was naked and unarmed, but the Ancients were protecting her.