The Girl with No Name Ch. 18

"This city...it's not our Path in Life to be here at all. Sumy Ris is a trap. The Duchy cannot hold it. King Vladik understood that. That's why Danubia survived; King Vladik didn't try to hold onto what we couldn't keep. We can't stay here. The Royal Army must leave...and we must leave immediately. Already the Lord of the Red Moon is gathering his army. He will kill us all if we don't get out."

"I've thought the same thing, Servant Silvítya. I don't know how to reach His Majesty with my advice. It seems this city put a curse on him, made him lose all concept of reality, made him mad, really. This place is indeed a trap."

The two Danubians remained silent for a long time, staring out at the flat terrain. Neither knew what else to say about their predicament. Finally, Silvítya glanced at the cathedral.

"Can you take me to the church, Protector Buláshckt? I'd like to see it...and try praying there."

A few minutes later Silvítya knelt in the church. Her mind filled with visions...of the battle in 1502 and the dead bishop. Her vision went dark and she saw the Grand Duke's corpse hanging on a Red Moon impalement hook...above the bodies of the entire Royal Army. The entire Duchy was burning...with all its inhabitants lying dead and the banners of the Kingdom of the Moon flying everywhere. The Lord of the Red Moon was riding triumphantly through his newly conquered territory. Yes, that defeat in Hórkustk Ris had been devastating, but how much greater was the glorious victory in Sumy Ris...where the Danubian Duke and his entire army set themselves up to be annihilated. How sweet that moment and how complete the revenge on the Danubian vermin.

The vision of the Duchy's destruction vanished, to be replaced by Alchemist Fítoreckt. He seemed to have returned to the Realm of the Living; re-invigorated, much younger, and healthier than she had ever seen him in real life.

"Be patient and continue learning. Perhaps you will find yourself in a position to temper and influence the actions and decisions of our nation's leader. How many of us can make such a claim?"

As quickly as Alchemist Fítoreckt appeared, he vanished. Silvítya abruptly stood up.

"Protector Buláshckt, I must speak with His Majesty immediately. I don't care what happens to me after I'm done. He can put me on the pillory or fill me with arrows if he wishes...I don't care. But I must speak with him."

"Very well, Servant Silvítya. I will take you to His Majesty and I will insist you have an audience with him. I will share your fate, whatever fate that might be."

Protector Buláshckt led the concubine back into the palace. He demanded that his fellow Royal Guards step aside so he could take the concubine before the Grand Duke. The sovereign was in his quarters, indulging himself with two young foreign women. Protector Buláshckt opened the chamber door and Silvítya burst into the room. She did not kneel.

"Servant Silvítya! What is the meaning of this? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, Your Majesty, I have not! I'm here to warn you, and to save the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia! You must leave this city immediately! Every one of your subjects must leave immediately! Anyone who stays will share the fate of the Bishop, the one who defied King Vladik in 1502! There's a reason King Vladik abandoned this city! It's the same reason you must leave! You cannot hold Sumy Ris against the Lord of the Red Moon's men! You simply cannot hold it! Go up into the tower and take a good look at the land...everything is flat! The enemy can come at you from any direction! Sumy Ris is cursed! This city will be the death of all of us if you don't take us out...now...today..."

Silvítya took a deep breath. Her knees were shaking badly.

"Your Majesty...I saw what will happen to you...I've seen it! I have visions...the Ancients have cursed me with visions and sometimes I know what will happen! I saw the Bishop...and your Path in Life will end in the exact same place as his, and in the exact same manner! And without you, the entire Duchy will die...all of us! I saw it!"

The Grand Duke didn't know how to respond. His concubine's face was white, her eyes wide with horror, and her body was shaking badly. She was obviously terrified, but not of him. She cared nothing for herself or her own safety at that moment. She was thinking of the Duchy.

In a flash the Grand Duke's illusions and hubris vanished. He fully understood the perilous situation in which he had placed his army and his country. No, it was not the Duchy's Path in Life to reclaim Sumy Ris. The city was a trap, as much in 1754 as it had been in 1502.

The Duke calmly stood up. He looked and felt as though he had just woken up from a strange dream.

"Servant Silvítya, you will take responsibility for preparing your companions to travel. Tell them to pack and to report to the palace courtyard."

Still trembling, Silvítya managed to respond:

"To hear is to obey, Your Majesty."

He put on a robe and called the Royal Guard into the room.

"Protector Buláshckt, you will ensure Servant Silvítya and her companions are properly escorted."

"To hear is to obey, Your Majesty."

Silvítya would have been happy to pack, but she was still badly shaking when she returned to her companions with the news they were about to depart. The others had to gather her things while she stood at a balcony trying to get her breath back and stop trembling. She couldn't believe the Grand Duke had actually listened to her and would heed her warning.

Minutes later the Grand Duke was dressed and had summoned his commanders. He asked them for honest assessments about their ability to defend Sumy Ris against a sustained attack from a larger army. The commanders were forced to admit the city could not be defended.

"That is the conclusion I have reached as well. I have decided it would be foolish for us to stay here, after having looked around and assessing what happened in 1502. Therefore, commanders, it is my decision that our raiding expedition against this city has concluded and we should return to the Duchy. Prepare your soldiers for immediate departure."

"To hear is to obey, Your Majesty."

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The Danubians left Sumy Ris as quickly as they entered, taking with them hundreds of new muskets, cannons, ammunition, gold and silver, loot from the residences, extra horses and wagons, and the 900 rescued captives. The soldiers did not destroy anything or kill anyone else on their way out: they simply let the local population run off. The city's women scrambled around, trying to find cloth and leather to cover themselves with makeshift clothing as the Royal Army's men marched northward.

The Danubians returned to their southern fortress four days after abandoning Sumy Ris. The men had to move slowly with all of the wagons and cannons they were transporting. If what the Danubians had just completed truly was nothing more than a raiding mission and a rescue of captives, then it was a hugely successful one. If it had been the beginning of the re-conquest of Lower Danubia, the operation was a failure. The commanders understood the Grand Duke had made a prudent decision, but the soldiers grumbled about their leader's cowardice. Just five days before, their ruler had been talking about retaking all of Lower Danubia, but now the entire army was returning to the Duchy's territory like a bunch of common raiders. Yes, the loot was nice, but...

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The Lord of the Red Moon arrived in Sumy Ris with 15,000 soldiers on the same day the Danubians crossed back into the Duchy's territory. He personally commanded the troops, unable to accept the news that the Danubians had just raided the city. Sure enough, the story was completely accurate: the Danubian Grand Duke had led the raid and stayed just long enough to empty out the city and humiliate the local population. The Lord of the Red Moon couldn't believe what he was seeing. The armory: empty. The treasury: empty. The food stores and granaries: empty. The stables: empty. This was a personal insult from the ruler of Upper Danubia, who obviously had defeated the 30,000 troops sent to conquer the Duchy. But...how could that have happened? How could the Kingdom's best invasion force have been defeated? How could the "Beautiful Savages" have been defeated by...Danubians?

The Lord of the Red Moon had never suffered a defeat, so he really did not know how to handle such a loss. Any prudent leader would have accepted the defeat for what it was and taken measures to minimize its impact on his rule. After-all, the Kingdom of the Moon was still a formidable nation, even with the loss of an invasion campaign and 30,000 troops. Yes, the Danubians had raided Sumy Ris, but they didn't have the forces to hold it and were smart enough to know that. The Duchy's border was back to where it was in 1752.

The Lord of the Red Moon did not see the situation in that way. The Danubians were inferior and had to be eliminated. The raid on Sumy Ris and the Danubians' refusal to stand up and be killed in a proper battle was proof of that. No, the defeat was unacceptable and it was up to the Lord of the Red Moon to correct the problem. He would take his force north and lead them personally, which was what he should have done in the first place.

A week after the Danubians had evacuated Sumy Ris, their lookouts spotted a large black mass of soldiers and cavalry approaching the border. Yet another invasion force was approaching the Duchy. However, the fort was surrounded by forested hills, precisely the terrain that favored the Danubians and the way they were used to fighting their battles. The Royal Army was rested and had the opportunity to set up their newly-captured cannons. When the Lord of the Red Moon's men charged recklessly up the wooded road, the Danubians were ready for them.

The battle became a grueling three-day nightmare for the Red Moon Army. The Danubians retreated into the trees, elated to be using their traditional crossbows as they silently picked off their opponents. Throughout the second day of the fighting, a heavy rainstorm soaked the invaders' clothing and gunpowder, making movement and firing almost impossible. Discipline on both sides broke down as squad-sized units attacked each other in hand-to-hand fighting in the mud. On the third day, the Lord of the Red Moon's soldiers did something they had never done before: they retreated. As his men scrambled down the hill and away from the border fort, the Lord of the Red Moon could hear the distant taunting of his intended victims:

"DOC-DOC DANUBE!!! DOC-DOC DANUBE!!! DOC-DOC DANUBE!!! DOC-DOC DANUBE!!!"

The Danubian flag flew defiantly over the fortress, in full view of the hostile territory to the south, where it has flown ever since.

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The Duchy did not have time to celebrate the retreat of the Lord of the Red Moon's soldiers. Although the battle at the border had been fought in a location where the Danubians felt at ease using their traditional tactics, the victory had been the most costly of the campaign for the Royal Army in terms of casualties. More than 2,000 Royal Guards lay around the forested hills, either killed or seriously wounded. The Grand Duke's men spent a week searching for the injured and the dead, and the rest of August attending the wounded and setting up a formal cemetery, in which 1,400 Danubians eventually were buried. Thousands of corpses from the Lord of the Red Moon's army were simply left to rot.

Silvítya and her companions spent a grueling month at the fort attending all the wounded. The first days were the worst, when the medical staff had to determine which troops could be saved from their injuries and which men were destined to have their souls separate from their bodies. The first injury she had to deal with was the Grand Duke, who took a musket shot to his right shoulder and broke his left arm falling off his horse. The injuries were not particularly serious, but the ruler insisted that his concubine be the one to treat them.

Silvítya did her best to make sure her master fully recovered. She hated him more than ever, but resisted the temptation to give him an overdose of opium or anesthesia. She was a doctor and proud of what she had been able to accomplish with her piece-meal training, so she was able to separate her personal feelings towards her patient from the tasks she had to perform. Also, she remained a subject of the Grand Duke and a Danubian citizen. As odious a man as he was, the country needed him. Whether it was his cunning, his intelligence, his extraordinary luck, his reckless courage, or Divine Intervention, it was only because of its ruler the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia had survived the threat from the Kingdom of the Moon. So, not only did Silvítya do everything she could to ensure a successful operation; she also converted some of her precious blue powder into special regenerative medicine to ensure he recovered as quickly as possible. With the additional treatment, the Grand Duke's shoulder was completely healed in just a week, and his left arm repaired itself at a miraculous pace as well.

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The final phase of the Grand Duke's military campaign took place during the last week of August and most of September. The western sector of Hórkustk Ris province had been completely secured by the Duchy's men, but many isolated villages in the eastern part of the province remained occupied by subjects loyal to the Kingdom of the Moon. Upon recovering and becoming convinced that no further invasion from the Kingdom was imminent, the Grand Duke ordered his men to reassert the Duchy's control over the rest of the re-captured region. As Danubian Royal Guards occupied more villages and the story of what happened to the Army of the Red Moon got out, the non-Danubian population of Danubia's southernmost province began to panic and flee, abandoning their homes. The Grand Duke ordered several massacres to terrorize the foreigners and speed up their departure. The war against the House of the Red Moon degenerated into a war against all non-Danubians living in the area. The panic was augmented by the fact the foreigners still did not know the details of what had happened during the battle of Hórkustk Ris and the raid against Sumy Ris. The Lord of the Red Moon's army had simply vanished and now the Danubian Grand Duke and his men seemed to be everywhere.

As he led his cavalry around the southern region of the Duchy, the ruler sent messengers north to order all of the Danubian refugees from Hórkustk Ris to return home. There was no way they could go back into the city, but the surrounding villages were empty and there were plenty of houses and free land available for any takers. The Grand Duke dispatched some Royal Guards to order the refugees surrounding the capitol to return south as well. Hórkustk Ris province now was secure and they had no reason to remain camped near Danúbikt Móskt. As the Grand Duke and most of his army finally finished their campaign and trekked north, they passed a long column of refugees heading in the opposite direction, to reclaim their homes or occupy houses abandoned by the foreigners. The refugee camps along the Rika Chorna river were emptied by the time the Royal Army made its triumphant return to the capitol.

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The Grand Duke celebrated his victory with the jubilant citizens of Danúbikt Móskt. The surviving veterans of the Royal Army happily displayed the souvenirs captured from their enemies: the muskets, uniforms, flags, and impalement hooks taken from dead invaders.

When the war was over, the Grand Duke turned out to be as cunning with his own people as he was against the Lord of the Red Moon. During his victory speech he spent hours thanking his commanders and numerous soldiers who had distinguished themselves during the fighting. He thanked the town councilmen who had assisted in recruiting and had sent him men, money, and supplies. He praised the Duchy's people and the Creator for watching over the nation. He did not say anything to bring glory to himself, knowing that his admirers would do that for him. Following the victory celebrations and speeches, he passed out a portion of the captured gold to the soldiers who had fought for the Royal Army and ordered more gold to be given to the widows of the men who had died during the campaign. The rest of the money seized in Sumy Ris would be used to retire part of the Duchy's debt with the Vienna arms dealers. The sovereign didn't keep any of the captured gold for the Royal Household and made sure his citizens were aware of that.

The Grand Duke's public display of gratitude towards the people who had helped the Duchy achieve its amazing victories against the Kingdom of the Moon omitted his most important source of information and advice: his concubine Silvítya. She was the one who had given him the knowledge of the explosives he needed for the victory in Hórkustk Ris, she was the one whose advice narrowly averted a disastrous defeat in Sumy Ris, she was the one who operated on him when he was injured, and throughout the summer she also had operated on countless other wounded Royal Guards. More than any other person serving the Grand Duke, the humble concubine should have received credit for giving him the advice and knowledge he needed to win the war. However, because the public did not know who she was, the ruler felt there was no need to mention her. Instead, he would take credit for everything she had contributed. Her reward would be to simply go back to her old life as a naked sex slave, locked up in the Royal Residence with her "sisters".

So, while celebrations took place in the city's central plaza, Silvítya returned to the castle and her duties as a Royal concubine. The matrons ordered her to strip, unbraided her hair, shaved her armpits, cleaned her up, and sent her back to the concubines' quarters along with her two companions. The Grand Duke expected her to resume her old life as though none of the events she had endured over the past four months had happened. There was absolutely no reward for her efforts and service, nothing except being confined with her ten naked companions and waiting for the bell to ring.

Her only consolation was having Antonia in her arms again. Silvítya's lover was desperately glad to see her, embrace her, and run her hands all over her body. However, it seemed even that small pleasure in Silvítya's life was ruined. She was happy to relax and allow her companion to massage her weary body but, after everything she had just been through and witnessed, she couldn't find peace or enjoy the relationship. She had to pretend to be elated to see Antonia, just as she had to pretend to tolerate the Grand Duke.

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The Duchy returned to its life of peace and isolation. Danubian flags and Danubian uniformed guards appeared along the entire border with the rival nation, as constant reminders the Kingdom's efforts to invade the Duchy had failed completely.

The Lord of the Red Moon found himself in serious trouble after the loss of 40,000 of his best troops. It was hard to believe that the "Beautiful Savages", the terrifying and invincible elite cavalry that had been the Lord's most important source of power, no longer existed. The resurgence of the Duchy, coupled with the humiliation of Sumy Ris and the disastrous defeat at the fort, weakened the Kingdom's support for the House of the Red Moon, while strengthening the position of the rival House of the Blue Moon.

When the Lord of the Blue Moon sent some of his troops into the region around Sumy Ris, the local leaders changed loyalties and declared themselves in rebellion against the leader who had failed them. The Lord of the Red Moon, who by that time had partially reconstituted his defeated army, sent a detachment of soldiers to retake Sumy Ris. In late October there were two bloody and inconclusive battles near the city. Both sides raised additional men over the winter and prepared to launch a major war in the spring of 1755.