The Girl with No Name Ch. 25

Danka planned to prepare additional bombs as empty goose-eggs and more beeswax arrived at the encampment. She would have liked to prepare some landmines as well, but mines would have been useless. The mobile nature of the Defenders' manner of fighting made the positioning of explosive traps unrealistic as a tactic. The sling-tossed bombs were a different matter.

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The Defenders moved towards the border at the end of May. The first part of the trip consisted of walking with pack mules along steep hillsides to return to the villages. The settlements took care of the Defenders' horses over the winter, where they had to be left because the mountains did not have enough forage. The militia exchanged their mules for horses and continued mounted towards the combat zone. The settlers had cleared a series of meadows and had set up ponds to water animals, so the Defenders and their mounts arrived at the border at full strength and in excellent health.

The situation to the south had deteriorated over the winter. The village from which the Lord of the Blue Moon's troops had been attacking Commander Sáupeckt's section of the border had been raided by troops from the Lord of the Red Moon, precisely because the troops assigned to protect it had launched a raid against Red Moon territory. The scope of the civil war was expanding into previously peaceful areas. The land was burnt and desolate, there was no food, and the surviving population was desperate.

The Danubians decided to further demoralize the foreign towns near the border by riding through the region in a show of force. They could gather a total of 1500 Defenders, which was a force larger than any of the broken Kingdom of the Moon units operating in the eastern section of the country at the time. Commander Sáupeckt and his fellow commanders discussed the possibility of permanently occupying some of the southern land, and the ride-through would allow them to see how feasible that idea would be.

The Danubians gathered and forded the small river marking the border at the end of the first week of June. 1500 mounted Danubian militia fighters would not have been a match against the Lord of the Red Moon's powerful army just three years before, but by 1757 the Kingdom's armies had been decimated by continuous fighting, movement, and atrocities. At that moment neither faction had an available unit in the area large enough to counter the unexpected invasion from the Duchy.

The Danubian column rode unopposed through the war-torn region for several weeks. They did not attack any civilians as long as the local populace did nothing to impede their procession. When word spread that the Danubians were not as cruel as the Lord of the Red Moon's men, the locals stopped fleeing. Instead, the wretched, starving foreigners silently stood along the roadways, sullenly staring at the strange invaders. Danka noticed the women and girls paying particular attention to the squads of nymphs, sitting on their horses with crossbows in their hands and satchels of bolts slung over their bare shoulders. It was bizarre and scandalous for the Kingdom's women to see their Danubian counterparts with their heads and torsos uncovered, with cold hard expressions on their faces and, above everything else, holding weapons they clearly were accustomed to using against male opponents.

Danka remembered her husband's words from the previous year: "...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."

There was an important exception to the Danubians' rule about not attacking non-combatants. Any foreign priests, monks, or other church officials that could be captured were immediately chained and sent northward to the Duchy. They would be held in a forest prison until the Defenders returned from their campaign, to be sacrificed in the Destroyer's bonfires. The Defenders didn't just want the foreign clergy as sacrificial victims; they also wanted to demonstrate that the blessing the Roman God and his executed son had supposedly granted the Kingdom of the Moon was a total lie. The Roman deities couldn't even protect their own clergy, so how could they protect the Kingdom? The local populace only lived because the Danubian militia allowed them to live, not because of any Divine blessing from Rome.

Although the Defenders met very little resistance during their tour through the southern towns, their leaders decided to return to the Duchy at the beginning of July. The main problem was lack of food in the Kingdom. There was not much point in raiding or foraging, because the previous year's harvest had been destroyed when the Lord of the Red Moon's troops invaded the region. The Defenders could move into any area they wanted, but they couldn't stay because there was nothing for them to eat.

The column of militia fighters was both relieved and disappointed when their horses waded the shallow river back into the Duchy's territory. The fight they had expected did not happen. The fighters were alive to celebrate and feast in the three villages, but they had not fulfilled their Paths in Life as Defenders. The units drifted off towards their assigned protection zones, not having accomplished anything apart from showing off to a bunch of wretched foreigners and exploring some of the enemy's territory.

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The commander ordered Danka and her husband to pick up a supply of empty goose-egg shells from the villagers, return to the laboratory in the winter encampment, and make as many bombs as possible. The couple entered the cave and set up the alchemy equipment. However, before Danka had the chance to mix the ingredients for a new batch of bombs, her husband expressed doubts about the project and a possible improvement. The volatility of the bombs and their extreme fragility troubled him. They were simply too dangerous to carry long distances. He wondered if it was truly necessary use goose-egg shells for the casings. Wouldn't blown glass make better casing material? What about glazed ceramic? Perhaps that would be even better than glass.

He brought up the alternatives to his wife, but she was skeptical, commenting: "I don't know, my love. The Followers used goose-eggs for a long time, and I'd imagine it was for a good reason."

"Well, we need to find out if there really was a good reason. I think the only reason they didn't try a better casing was because under their circumstances it wasn't necessary. Our needs are different and I'd like to use a casing that's more dependable than an eggshell."

Ilmátarkt worked on a glazed ceramic design for the explosive bombs that looked like a goose egg, but was twice as big. The section dividing the explosive from the accelerant was part of the internal design. There was a hole between the sections that would be sealed with beeswax, but it was much smaller than the area that would need to be sealed inside a goose egg. He also devised a glass casing for the fuse. When she packed in the explosive, Danka had to agree Ilmátarkt's design was a huge improvement. The test blast from the enhanced bomb was comparable to the power of explosives that would be used in the late 20th century. Not only did it destroy trees; it tore a hole in the ground and shattered the stones on a nearby hillside.

When he saw the destruction from the enhanced bomb, Commander Sáupeckt whistled with satisfaction and anticipation. Assuming he could keep them secret until the first time they were used, he knew they would guarantee him a victory. That meant he could be more daring in his efforts to provoke a raid from the Kingdom of the Moon, and that for the first battle he would not have to call upon other militia commanders for help. He pondered the possibility of conducting a full-blown massacre of a large enemy unit, using nothing but his own troops and the new bombs.

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After his counterparts departed with their units, Commander Sáupeckt came up with a plan to goad one or both of the Kingdom's factions to make another attempt to attack the Defenders in their home territory. Without consulting the other militia leaders, he ordered three of the captured foreign priests to be brought to the main village to be burned alive. A fire was set up in honor of the Destroyer and the three foreigners were brought to the village square. However, one of the victims' bonds had been left loose, on purpose. The villagers threw him against a wall while they tied up the other two priests. Realizing he had a chance to escape, the young cleric untied himself and fled. A squad of Commander Sáupeckt's most trusted men chased after him, but their orders were not to capture him. Instead, they were to stay close enough to make the priest believe he was about to be caught, but all the while making sure he headed in the right direction so he could safely cross back into the Kingdom.

The staged escape had a specific purpose; to goad the Kingdom's factions to attempt a rescue of the remaining captured clergymen. Undoubtedly the escapee would warn his countrymen what was happening to the priests. The Roman God would be quite displeased with the Lords if they allowed the Danubians to sacrifice the Kingdom's priests to the Duchy's Beelzebub. It was ironic that in the Kingdom torturing and impaling civilians was perfectly acceptable, but to do anything to a priest was considered an unacceptable outrage. How horrid that the Danubians would leave worthless civilians alive, and instead defile sacred clergy members!

As soon as the Kingdom's men entered the mountains, Commander Sáupeckt would try out his new bombs. His plan was to defeat and annihilate a force much larger than his own with no help from the Defenders' other militia units. The glory of the victory and all the loot would be reserved solely for him and his unit. More importantly, he hoped to keep the sling-bombs a secret and use them in another surprise attack at some point in the future.

Danka was not really expecting her commander's plan to work. Surely the Lord of the Blue Moon would not blindly sent troops into the Danubian mountains, given the humiliating defeat from the previous year. Certainly he'd take precautions, and if need be, not be overly worried about the priests. Anyhow, it seemed the Lord of the Blue Moon's forces were depleted and unable to defend their own territory, let alone launch a cross-border raid.

All of Danka's doubts about the Blue Moon faction were true. A column of 2000 men did cross into the Duchy on July 17, but their banners were red, not blue. A commander from the Lord of the Red Moon's Army, hoping to avenge the battles of 1754, came directly from Sumy Ris and led his troops into the forest, completely unaware of the defeat endured the previous year by the Kingdom's rival faction. The Danubians began their counter-attack predictably enough, with hit-and-run archery raids. The column sustained a few casualties, but the force attacking it was ridiculously small. The foreigners continued advancing against the villages. They had no plans to actually occupy them: they'd simply kill whoever was there, rescue the priests, burn buildings and supplies, and withdraw.

The pathetically small size of the force countering the Red Moon column played into Commander Sáupeckt's plans. The Red Moon troops were overconfident by the time they reached a large meadow that was only a half-day's march from the villages. The area was completely open: there was no way the guerilla tactics of the Danubians would be of any use in such an area. The foreigners watered their horses and allowed them to graze. The troops set up their encampment well away from the trees and from the deadly bolts of their enemies. A few musket volleys would easily dispatch any Danubians foolhardy enough to appear at the wood line. The final part of the march would be more challenging, but there was no reason to think the villages would not be under the Kingdom's control by the middle of the next day.

Commander Sáupeckt had only 230 fighters under his control. At the last moment he decided to ask his most trusted counterpart for back-up, which increased the force with 110 additional Defenders. The leading commander positioned his own troops at the exit leading back towards the border, while the other unit deployed at the exit that led towards the villages. The Defenders were hopelessly outnumbered, but they knew that Commander Sáupeckt would not have deployed in such a manner had he not devised a horrible surprise for the enemy.

The commander had sixteen squad members who knew how to use slings: the four who had trained under the unit's doctor, and twelve more he had recruited and trained himself. Each sling-bearer carried a wooden box containing four sling bombs: one flash bomb and three explosive bombs. The plan was extremely simple. The men would first sneak past the line of sentries and creep close enough to throw their charges into the encampment, causing chaos with the flash bombs and then injuries with the explosives. The other Defenders then would attack the stunned foreigners. The sentries and outer defense would be attacked first, then the main unit of Defenders would rush the camp and with traditional weapons and kill as many as possible.

The blinding light from sixteen simultaneous flash bombs was truly amazing. The meadow momentarily lit up much brighter than daytime and anyone not covering their eyes during the flash was blinded by the extreme light. Within the invaders' camp, wild screaming and disorganized shooting began immediately, but it was too late. The bomb throwers did not have to worry about being spotted when they stood up to discharge the second round of bombs: their targets were totally blinded. The men calmly flung their explosives in unison and ducked to avoid the blast. As soon as the noise subsided, they stood up, loaded their slings a third time, twirled their eggs, and let them fly into the camp. There were three sets of horrific explosions that wrecked the entire enemy encampment. Maimed horses and mutilated men scrambled in every direction.

Both militia units charged forward as soon as the final blast went off. They quickly dispatched the stunned sentries before heading into the main cauldron of maniacal horses and mutilated and dying men. Their attack was not going to be a battle; it was going to be a massacre. The archers ran among the injured foreigners and wildly emptied their crossbows at anyone who was still moving, while the men with muskets bayoneted anyone lying on the ground. A handful of invaders were still able to put up a fight, but the biggest danger for Danubian and foreigner alike was the multitude of blinded injured horses running around, tumbling, and crashing into everything in sight. A few tents caught on fire, giving the Defenders enough light to complete their grim task.

Danka moved with Dalibora's squad, firing bolt after bolt into the agonized men struggling all around her. At the moment she didn't have time to think about what she was doing: she simply followed orders and acted as a nymph was expected to act. She only stopped when she became separated from the others and ran out of bolts. Then her adrenaline ran out and her fatigued arms went limp. The crossbow fell out of her hands and she collapsed onto a pile of bloody corpses. A couple of the bodies were still somewhat alive.

One dying man pushed up and tried to grab her. She tried to get up, but lost her balance and fell to the ground. A man fleeing from a Defender's crossbow was hit, staggered, and fell on top of her, completely pinning her. She felt the enemy's body jerk as the Danubian fired a finishing bolt and his soul separated from his body. The Defender ran off, not noticing in the darkness that his victim had fallen on top of a nymph.

Danka struggled to breathe. The wind was knocked out of her and she remained stuck under the corpse that crushed her chest. For a few minutes she lay quietly, gasping for breath and staring at the stars and smoke. The massacre continued. Danka knew that she had to get up and find more crossbow bolts, but she couldn't move. She weakly pushed at the corpse, but her exhausted arms could not budge it, any more than a toddler could have moved a dead horse. So that was it. She was out of the fight. She continued staring at the stars and smoke, wondering how long it would be before someone found her.

The stars and smoke disappeared as her world went completely dark.

Oh no... please... no... not now...

"Danka... Danka... Danka..."

She saw nothing until she turned her head. The unblinking yellow eyes were staring at her. When she tried to turn her head in the other direction, the eyes followed her.

"Don't try that with me, Danka. You have to answer."

"Yes. I have to answer. You're not giving me much choice about it, are you?"

"I'm not giving you any choice at all, Danka Síluckt. When I call, you will answer."

"And this... this is your work?"

"Ha! Actually, in this instance you bear the responsibility. You're the one who made this glorious victory possible. You volunteered the knowledge of the bombs. You made the bombs. You showed your companions how to use the bombs. You allowed your husband, the unbelieving fool that he is, to improve the bombs. You placed the bombs in the hands of your commander. The only thing your commander did was put them to good use. The rest of it is your doing, not anyone else's."

Danka had no idea how to respond. The eyes vanished, but her world remained completely dark.

Finally the darkness cleared from her brain and she looked up into the predawn light. Two men from her unit, each carrying a bloody sword, spotted her lying under enemy corpses. They pulled off the bodies and helped her up. She was unsteady on her feet. One of the men handed her the crossbow, which she accepted and held limply in her hands.

"Defender Danka. Your husband's looking for you. There are plenty of injured and you need to report to him immediately."

"Which way?"

"The doctors took over that tent, the tall one with the banner."

Danka tried to pull herself together as she walked towards her husband's surgery area. She was dead tired, but no one cared. A long day of operations lay ahead of her.

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The Defenders' casualties were unusually heavy for a single battle. Those killed outright during the fighting numbered 15 and the total number of seriously wounded was 39. The medical staff spent the day sedating patients so her companions could remove bullets and sew up bayonet slashes. There were several burns and multiple trampling injuries from horses. Some of the wounds were too serious to successfully treat given the level of medical knowledge at the time; of the 39 seriously injured patients only 21 could be saved. Danka quietly poisoned the others to put them out of their misery. Two of Oana's recruits were among the mortally-wounded patients the medical staff was unable to save.

The day ended and the field surgeons stepped out of the medical tent. In spite of the losses, the victory was significant. As far as anyone knew, not a single man from the Kingdom of the Moon escaped. The uninjured Defenders stood guard over groups of villagers who had been drafted to collect and haul away the enemies' weapons and clothing. The seized equipment coming out of the battle would be impressive, making Commander Sáupeckt's unit by far the wealthiest and best-provisioned group of Defenders operating along the border. Now Danka understood why he didn't want other units participating in the attack. Not only was he trying to keep everything secret, but he also did not want to have to share the loot. He would allow the villagers to keep clothing, leather, and whatever food and condiments they found, but all weapons, metal, uninjured horses, and coins had to be turned over to the militia.