Back to Chapter 8
Chapter Nine � The Follower of the Ancients
The first two Followers among those who had left the settlement for the
winter returned in the middle of March. The men braved several days
struggling up mountain trails covered with icy mud, leading four pack
mules loaded with spices, dried fruit, books, and correspondence from
Seb�rnekt Ris. The men�s arrival was a time of excitement in the
settlement as its residents spent their meals reading letters and
listening to the newcomers� updates on events around the Duchy.
One of the men, a middle-aged field-surgeon named Ermin, also brought
some bad news. In October he had left in the company of his pregnant
wife, but returned as a widower. In January the wife had suffered a
miscarriage and died of blood-poisoning a few days later. Ermin was
distraught, because he was unable to help her and never managed to
figure out what happened. He spent the day after he arrived with Bab�ckt
Yaga, carefully describing his wife�s symptoms and the measures he took
trying to save her. The Cult leader kept a journal in which she detailed
unsolved medical cases, and now faced the unhappy task of adding one of
her Followers to its contents.
Danka never understood why, but of all the middle-aged men in the
settlement from whom she had received instruction over the previous
summer, she had liked Ermin the best. He had traveled widely and was
interesting to talk to. He also was an excellent instructor for the
newcomers, patient and capable of explaining complicated subjects so
that anyone could understand them. If an initiate did not grasp what he
was teaching, he did not automatically assume it was because of his
pupil�s stupidity or stubbornness.
Precisely because Danka liked Ermin, Bab�ckt Yaga tasked her with
helping him unpack and setting up his bath. The alchemist figured that
Ermin needed to talk and knew that Danka was an excellent listener. She
also calculated that being alone with Ermin might help Danka begin
winding down her relationship with K�loyankt. She disposed of Danka�s
current lover by sending him on a fishing expedition with another young
female Follower.
So�Danka accompanied Ermin to the bathhouse. She took his clothes and
dropped them in a tub of hot water as he settled into the bathtub.
She stripped as well, taking advantage of the heated water to wash her
own clothing. She then covered his head with soap so she could
shave his face and scalp. He had
not been shaved since the end of January. He sat quietly while his young
companion cleared away two months� growth of hair.
After she finished shaving Ermin, Danka told him to just relax while she
dealt with their clothing. The Followers had constructed a rolling
device to extract water from wet clothes that was much more efficient
than trying to wring them out.
She noticed her companion staring at her body as she moved about the
room. She couldn�t fault him for it: after having spent two months
alone, he couldn�t be expected to look away from the bare figure of an
attractive young woman. Danka realized she was somewhat attracted to him
as well. The years had taken their toll and he was not particularly
good-looking, but she liked his personality and appreciated his talent
for teaching. Most importantly, she found him interesting to talk to.
She patiently listened as he described what happened to his wife and his
own feelings of guilt and sadness. His situation was frustrating,
because he understood medical knowledge was advancing and eventually the
ability to help a woman in his wife�s situation would be developed.
That was fine for future generations, but didn�t do him any good.
As she passed the clothes through the roller, she continued with the
conversation. Her background did not give her much experience for
expressing sympathy, so she did not try to comfort him with kind words.
Instead she encouraged him to go into technical detail about what went
wrong with his wife�s pregnancy and what would have been needed to save
her. She prompted him to talk as a doctor and a teacher, not as a
grieving husband. As always, she wanted to learn. As Ermin�s teaching
instincts took over and when he continued to talk about the miscarriage
as a medical practitioner, his emotions began to recover.
Danka returned to her companion to rinse off his head and make sure she
had not missed any spots. She decided to rub some more soap on his back.
Without thinking about what she was doing, she massaged his shoulders.
When she inadvertently brushed his skin with her breasts, he reached up,
grabbed her arm, and pulled her to his front. He looked up at her with a
hungry expression. Suddenly, the mood in the room completely changed.
�You do understand, young lady, that it�s been over six months for me. I
have not touched a woman for six months. If you wish to tempt me, there
will be consequences.�
Danka was shocked. She hadn�t really thought about sex, but how could
she have been so oblivious? She was naked, with a naked man, in a warm
room, and had just spent the last hour letting him watch her as she went
about her duties. Finally, she was massaging him. Yes, that would indeed
be tempting for any man. Yes, there would be consequences. She realized
that�s what she wanted. She glanced into the bathwater and noted that he
was hard.
She wasn�t sure what to say, but with her free hand she caressed Ermin�s
arm. So�it was decided. She would give herself to him. That afternoon
her body would belong to Ermin, not K�loyankt.
Ermin let go of Danka�s arm. He knelt in the bathtub and grabbed the
girl�s shoulders. He kissed her hard on the neck and ran his wet hands
up and down her back. He stood up, kissed her passionately, and ran his
hands over her bottom. She massaged his penis, making it as hard as she
could. And yes, he was hard. He certainly would have no trouble entering
her.
The bath house was not set up for love-making: there was no comfortable
place to lie down. Danka noted a sturdy worktable. That would have to
suffice. Actually, the table gave her an idea. She placed her hands on
the surface, spread her legs, and looked back at him. She assumed the
traditional submissive
love-making position.
She looked back at him and smiled. I�m yours�take me�I surrender myself
to you�
Neither lover really understood what was going on in Danka�s mind at
that moment. There was no hesitation, nor a single thought about
K�loyankt. She was desperate to give herself to Ermin. Without saying
anything, he placed one hand on her shoulder and caressed her bottom
with the other. He explored her vulva and slipped his finger into her
wet pussy. He teased her clitoris and ran a fingertip around her
trembling sphincter. He continued to tease to make her desperate�to make
her truly want it.
Finally, he pushed her down onto the table and motioned her to arch her
hips to expose herself as much as possible. Six months�he had waited six
months. He thrust very hard as six months of pent-up desire and
frustration poured out of him into Danka�s eager body. She squealed with
pleasure and he grunted loudly. Oh yes�so good�
Bab�ckt Yaga stood near the back wall of the bath house listening to her
two subordinates. She was deeply satisfied. Hopefully, Danka would
realize on her own that her Path in Life did not include staying with
K�loyankt. He was a fine young man, but it was not his destiny to be
Danka�s husband. The alchemist knew that his Path in Life would take him
back to Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki. He would take over his father�s house and
help transform that city. To fulfill his Path in Life, he needed a girl
acceptable to the town�s nobility. Danka wouldn�t suit him, nor would
life among the spoiled aristocrats suit her. They needed to separate.
Now that Danka had betrayed her relationship with K�loyankt, hopefully
leaving him would be much easier.
----------
The next day Danka had finished some outdoor chores and was about to
return to Bab�ckt Yaga's study to continue working on transcribing a
book. It was still too cold to walk around naked, so she was wearing her
coat and boots. As usual, she was bare between her waist and her knees.
She saw Ermin repairing a fence. She could tell by his expression that
his mood had greatly improved. She now understood the reason that
Bab�ckt Yaga had wanted her to be alone with him and was strangely
excited to see him. It wasn't that she simply wanted another round of
sex: she wanted something more that she really couldn't define. She
realized that she wanted him to take her again. She wanted to submit to
him, a desire she had never experienced with K�loyankt.
The two Followers exchanged some comments about the day's chores, before
the conversation shifted to the book Danka was working on. Ermin gave
the young woman some observations about the translation, but was
distracted by the strange look in her eyes. Without really thinking
about what she was doing, Danka placed her hands on the fence and
smiled. Ervin's penis started to stiffen. He grabbed her hand and led
her behind a storage cabin, to a spot that was hidden from the rest of
the camp. There happened to be an abandoned barrel partially buried in
the ground, at perfect level for what the two lovers wanted to do. Danka
got on her elbows and knees, exposing herself as much as she could.
Ervin caressed her bottom and teased between her legs. Already she was
wet, but Ervin made an odd comment, originally meant to be a joke, that
set loose a wild fantasy in her thoughts.
"You really are an undisciplined temptress, young lady, distracting me
from my duties and ignoring your own. Perhaps your bottom is more suited
for touch of the birch rod than the touch of my hand."
Her heart pounded at the thought of submitting to discipline from him.
As her lover's hand gently stroked her bottom, she went wet thinking
about what it would be like to endure the birch rod. To be alone with
him in a hidden part of the forest, to be bent over, feeling his
fingertips on her unprotected skin, but knowing that the sharp sting of
the birch rod was only moments away...yes...she knew that she wanted it,
as long as it was Ermin wielding the switch. She thought about the
anticipation, of going out among the birch shoots and finding the
perfect rod, peeling off the bark and cutting it to the right length. Oh
yes...then she'd shyly hand it to him...and surrender herself.
Ervin's fingertips gently traced her wet labia and teased her clitoris.
He was surprised by how wet she had become. Her breathing was coming out
in gasps. Fascinated by her reaction, he patted her bottom and added:
"You haven't answered my observation, young lady."
"I...I'd like that..."
Danka was shocked by her own answer. Yes, it was something she suddenly
craved, but she couldn't imagine confessing such a strange desire.
"Yes my love, you would like it, wouldn't you? Naughty girl...I knew it.
Then I�m obligated to accommodate you. As soon as the snow clears I'll
take you to the birch grove and we'll spend a nice long afternoon
there.�
With that he entered her. She experienced a delicious orgasm as her
thoughts filled with the strange fantasy that she was destined to share
with her newest lover.
----------
K�loyankt returned from his fishing trip in a strange mood. He was eager
to make love to Danka, but there was something very strange about what
he was doing. It seemed he was desperate, as though he wanted to prove
to either himself or to her that they were still a couple and still
committed to each other. Danka wondered if he suspected her relationship
with Ermin. However, she reasoned it was much more likely that he had
cheated on her by making love to his fishing companion, which would have
been fine with her.
Instead of paying a visit to Altar of the Equinox, the Followers spent
March 21 through March 23 stranded in their settlement. A late winter
storm covered the entire northern mountain range with heavy wet snow.
Nearly half a fathom fell in less than a day, forcing the followers to
spend their time cleaning off rooftops and clearing paths instead of
giving honor to the Ancients. The leader retreated into her study which,
during a moment of crisis, was unusual for her. No one saw her for three
days. When she emerged, she was sullen, morose, and appeared depressed.
She seemed reduced in stature, as though she had lost something in her
soul. She had nothing to say at the moment, apart from announcing that
she had decided to send three of the newest Followers to the seminary in Dan�bikt M�skt. Out of five recruits, only Danka and K�loyankt would
remain behind. After a moment of silence, one of the young women asked:
�So�we shall not be working in the villages this summer?�
�No. That is no longer your Path in Life. Your Path in Life will be to
serve the Ancients through the Danubian Church. You�ll be safer there
than anywhere else.�
The young Followers looked at each other. Safer? That was an odd thing
for her to say�
----------
Bab�ckt Yaga�s settlement remained isolated for two weeks following the
late snowstorm. The snow started to melt within a few days of the storm,
but on March 30 the temperature rose and there were two days of heavy
rain. The snow was now gone, but the paths were covered in deep mud and
washed out in many places. It wasn�t until the second week of April the
Followers began using the trails.
Meanwhile, in the settlement Danka continued with her studies and her
daily chores. She also struggled to balance the two men in her life.
Unlike her relationship with K�loyankt, from the beginning both Danka
and Ervin knew their affair was just that, an affair. There was not a
chance they could stay together. And yet, he excited her, for reasons
she could not have explained, even to herself. She loved being submissive
to him in a way that never would occur to her when she was with K�loyankt. With her younger lover she would never even think of assuming
the submissive love-making position, but with Ervin it seemed to come
naturally. As for the promise of a birching in the woods, had K�loyankt
suggested such a thing, she would have brushed him off with a joke. Had
he insisted, she would have become angry. And yet, with Ervin, the
promised afternoon of discipline and love-making in the birch grove was
something she very much anticipated.
As she lay awake, pondering the strange twist in her love life, she
wondered what it all meant. She could only hope it wouldn�t end badly.
She was still known as �K�loyankt�s woman� around the settlement and her
partner seemed totally oblivious to what she was doing with the Elder.
Ervin was tremendously helpful with being discreet. He had his own
reason to be quiet: the older women would have disapproved had news
about his relationship with the peasant girl become public.
----------
On April 15 the entire settlement packed up for travelling. There were
50 Followers from Bab�ckt Yaga�s compound and the area surrounding
Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki. The Followers� first destination was the town of
Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti. They spent several days in a frustratingly slow
descent as they led pack animals loaded with books, manuscripts,
equipment, partially prepared ingredients, and finished potions. The trek down the
mountain was uneventful, apart from its physical difficulty. Upon
emerging into the flat farmlands of the Western Valley, the Followers
put on their formal garments, picked up their skulls, and marched
solemnly along the road leading to their destination. They marched at
night with their skulls lit, singing ancient hymns in a ritual that had
been going on for 5000 years. Along the roads, groups of True-Believer
Christians stood quietly and gawked.
Upon arriving in Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti, Bab�ckt Yaga�s group greeted more
of their brethren and set up camp. The town continued to be surprisingly
receptive to the Cult of the Ancients, in spite of it being full of True
Believers. The Followers had the local Priest to thank for the welcome,
given that he was much more concerned about what the Followers could do
for his parishioners than he was worried about their Pagan beliefs.
The Followers spent three days in Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti. During that time,
Danka and her companions had little to do, so they took advantage of
their free time to walk around the town and the surrounding area. She
felt very proud of herself as she showed off to the locals, especially
to well-dressed young women and men that were her age. Strange to think,
just two years ago they would have dismissed her as an illiterate and
dishonored laborer. Had she approached them, they would have hissed and
kicked her. Now, they were intimidated. Yes, now, when she looked at
them, they were actually afraid of her, afraid of the haughty-looking
girl in the sinister back dress.
And the skull on my staff�yes it is real�and I saw the man to whom it
belonged when he was still alive. You�ll never match any of that. None
of you.
Her thoughts wandered to her hometown of Rika H�ckt-nem�t. It was not
far from Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti; just a couple days� journey south. Could
she go there? Oh, how would she love to return in her Cult outfit and
show off and then�and then�and then what? Well, if she went back
unaccompanied and her neighbors remembered the Beelzebub story, it was
quite possible they�d finish what they started: strip off her outfit,
tie her hands, and throw her into the Rika Chorna. That thought made
Danka understand a very important reality: her Follower�s dress only
protected her and gave her status if she was with other Cult members. As
soon as she was alone, she�d be just as vulnerable as she was while
wearing her laborer�s clothes.
So�Danka was smart enough to understand that returning home in a
Follower�s dress wasn�t going to do her any good. Her Mistress would
never approve such a trip and even if she did, the girl�s status as a
Follower would be irrelevant. Rika H�ckt-nem�t was a city of True
Believers, where the town council was even more hostile to the Followers
of the Ancients than the leaders of Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki.
However, the temptation of seeking status and power so she could seek
revenge did not leave Danka�s thoughts. She wondered: if I can�t do it
as a Follower, then how could I do it? She tried to suppress the idea,
but it stubbornly resurfaced.
Status�power�revenge�
----------
The long solemn line of Followers marched west from Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti.
They traveled slowly, in single file, with their skulls showing their
presence and lighting their way. Each night additional groups of Cult
members joined the main procession. They sang ancient hymns and chanted
as they marched. They only traveled during darkness and stopped to set
up camp as soon as the sun came up.
During the day, the Followers not tasked with cooking or attending pack
animals engaged in the usual medical routine; spreading out among the nearby villages to vaccinate the locals
against smallpox, perform surgeries, and sell medications. The Cult
doctors were welcomed by most of the local villagers, in spite of their
strange songs and sinister-looking clothing. Bab�ckt Yaga�s subordinates
adjusted their prices according to people�s ability to pay and were
perfectly willing to accept trade goods or workers� services in lieu of
silver. When performing operations or delivering a baby, they only
demanded payment if the procedure was successful. Even villagers who
were totally destitute received attention. The Followers always needed
help digging out cave-charcoal, so many of the poorest clients trekked
up to the mountains to spend a couple of days pulling black rocks from
the ground as reimbursement for medical attention for family members.
With K�loyankt accompanying her as a bodyguard, Danka spent most of her
mornings in village squares or marketplaces selling finished potions and
recipes. The birth-control paste was the favorite; Danka could count on
selling all of her jars within an hour or two of presenting her wares.
Nervous young women, many of whom were keeping their purchases secret
from their husbands or fathers, furtively approached her with silver
coins as soon as they discovered what she was selling.
The procession left the Western Valley and turned northwest, travelling
several days along a winding road through hills and mountains. On the
final day of the journey the Followers did not stop when the sun came
up, but instead continued moving towards their destination of Seb�rnekt
Ris. In the distance Danka could see the East Danube River and a huge
waterfall on the northern the horizon. Above the waterfall there were
yet more hills, most of which lay beyond the Duchy�s northern border.
Seb�rnekt Ris was situated in a stunning location, on top of a hill with
the main road passing by to the east and steep slopes running to the
East Danube River to the west. Danubia�s northernmost city guarded the
only route that connected the Duchy to north-central Europe. The
waterfall blocked the river as a possible transportation route, so the
only way into the Western Valley was by travelling along the road. There
was a fort with a cannon battery facing to the north and the main city
had two walls encircling it. The city was surrounded by gardens that
concealed traps and defensive positions. Assuming that a foreign army
could ever force its way past the cannon crews guarding the border
defenses, they would still have to conquer Seb�rnekt Ris before moving
south.
Danka knew through her history studies that during the reign of King
Vladik the Defender there had been two major invasions passing through
Seb�rnekt Ris by armies from the Holy Roman Empire trying to conquer the
Danubian capitol. On both occasions the invaders had captured the town
and killed most of the inhabitants, but there they remained trapped,
unable to make it past the rugged terrain and King Vladik�s guerrilla
archers. It was interesting to see the place in real life and try to
imagine how it must have been when the King�s Royal Army was battling
the invaders.
Bab�ckt Yaga�s old friend F�toreckt ran the town�s university and print
shop. Both institutions were set up inside a large compound that
included a bathhouse and bakery. The instructors all wore Cult of the
Ancients uniforms, but many of the students were dressed in ordinary
civilian clothing. Students stepped outside to unload the pack mules,
while the travelers entered the compound to bathe, change their clothes,
eat, have sex, and sleep.
The trip was an annual event that mixed religious fanfare, getting all
of the Followers together in one place and delivering translations and
medical research for printing. Following a huge feast there were singing
competitions with sweet-cakes given out as prizes. Danka and her two
companions from the previous year won prizes by singing the seduction
hymn they had used to capture the Austrian fortune-hunters. The singing
was followed by the annual naked dance. All of the Followers, the elders
and leaders included, stripped and spent the next hour dancing
rhythmically around several bonfires. The dance was followed by the
Great Fire Benediction, where everyone had to make love to at least one
person he or she had never met. Danka was thrilled and took full
advantage of being able to experiment with different partners and
without worrying about any consequences or obligations. She wore herself
out having sex with six men, ranging from an initiate from Seb�rnekt Ris
to an Elder working in Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti.
The next morning Danka was one of the first Followers to wake up. She
was surrounded by hundreds of naked, sleeping bodies. The entire
compound reeked from the stench of stale sex. Danka knew that
undoubtedly she must have been among the most offensive, with the sweat
of six men covering her body and their semen dripping out of her vagina.
She didn�t know what to make of her situation, now that she was alone
with her thoughts. Her body ached and her vulva was raw, but she
certainly had no regrets. No Christian could ever do what she had just
done. Her thoughts wandered to the uptight Seminary student in
Star�vktaki M�skt, the one who had taught her how to read. She�d love to
see that judgmental woman�s expression if she only knew what her former
student had just done. With that the young woman rushed to the bathhouse
to bathe ahead of the waking crowd.
She passed Bab�ckt Yaga, who was lying with her arms around a young man
who couldn�t have been any older than Danka. The leader�s century-old
body was not a pretty sight. Danka smiled and suppressed a laugh. Not
bad, Alchemist�110 years old and you�re still going�not bad at all�
----------
Some of the Followers began departing the day after the Great Fire
Benediction, mostly medical staff who would be working in the villages
surrounding Seb�rnekt Ris. Meanwhile, Bab�ckt Yaga and F�toreckt
organized the annual trading expedition that would cross the border.
There were items the Followers could not obtain in Danubia, such as
amber, copper, jade, chalk, dyes, and several alchemy ingredients. For
those items they would exchange medicines, Danubian mushrooms, potions,
magnifying glasses, fine linen, and vanity items such as crafted
jewelry. A total of 40 Followers would travel north, leading teams of
pack-mules and driving several wagons. They changed out of their
Followers� uniforms for the trip. The men put on Trader�s Guild outfits
and the women wore average Danubian dresses. The trip was extremely
important, so both Bab�ckt Yaga and F�toreckt would lead the others.
Danka was thrilled as she sat in a wagon riding next to K�loyankt. Never
could she have imagined that she�d actually have to opportunity to leave
the Duchy and see a foreign land. Her excitement built as they traveled
north of Seb�rnekt Ris and passed over a ridge between two hills with
steep rocky cliffs.
There was a small fort on the road itself, but the more important
defenses guarding the route were higher up. Danka knew that the Kingdoms
of Austria and Poland, both of which were much larger and more powerful
than the Duchy, lay on the other side of the border. However, there had
been no foreign invasion attempt since the early 1500�s because of the
region�s topography. The cliff-sides were a perfect defensive location,
in which the Danubian Royal Army had constructed underground forts
filled with captured enemy cannons. The Duchy had been fortifying and
improving their positions for two centuries. As long as there were
enough soldiers to staff the forts and operate the gun batteries, the
northern border now was impenetrable.
After passing the fort and cliffs, the Followers could again see the
East Danube River, but now they were above the waterfall. They descended
a short slope leading to a small tributary of the main waterway. The
smaller river formed the Duchy�s northern border. The region to the
north was covered by low hills, most of which were treeless and were
being used as sheep pastures. A stone bridge, guarded on both sides by
garrisons of border guards, spanned the river. On the opposite side,
about half an hour�s ride north of the border, was the town that was the
trading expedition�s destination.
The group stopped on the Danubian side of the bridge. They split up:
Bab�ckt Yaga would stay behind with the group managing the animals,
while F�toreckt would lead the group making the crossing. Danka would go
with the group crossing over because of her experience with bartering
and because she had studied German and Slavic. The young woman had her
doubts concerning her abilities, but was determined to do her best. She
knew having to trade with foreigners was another of Bab�ckt Yaga�s
challenges that she�d have to pass.
K�loyankt explained that the foreigners were scared of witches and would
be very likely to burn the alchemist alive if she fell into their hands.
Therefore their Mistress had to stay on the Danubian side of the border.
He explained how the trading would be arranged: the Danubians crossing
over would take a single wagonload of wares. After those items were sold
or traded the wagon would return and a second wagon would transport
another load. The precaution was necessary to prevent the entire caravan
from being attacked and robbed.
�They need what we�re bringing. They�d prefer to slit our throats and
take our things for free, but they can�t do that if we have only a small
portion of our trading goods with us at a time.�
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Danka didn�t know what to expect on the opposite side of the bridge.
Unconsciously she had expected everything to be exotic and beautiful,
for the Duchy�s northern neighbor to be a land of beauty and mystery.
The foreign land was none of that. The trading group found themselves
surrounded by stench and squalor as they passed filthy hovels and hoards
of malnourished sick children. She observed the peasants working in the
fields and noted that the women were much more heavily dressed than
Danubian peasants would be. All of the women were wearing aprons, long
sleeves, and headscarves. As a peasant�s daughter, Danka couldn�t
imagine working outside in such an outfit on a hot day.
The Danubians entered the town. The inhabitants were different from the
visitors in every way imaginable. Everyone, except people who were
obviously poor, seemed way over-dressed. The women wandered about in
large frilly dresses and covered their heads with shawls. The men wore
heavy coats with multiple rows of buttons. The hair of both sexes was
totally different from the hairstyles of the Duchy. Instead of shaving
their heads or cropping their hair short, the male foreigners wore their
hair in long pony tails. A few official-looking men had an abundance of
white curly hair, which Danka later learned were actually wigs. The
women had their hair done-up, but it was not braided. A big difference
was the use of hats. Many of the foreigners wore them as symbols of
status, which contrasted with the Danubians. In the Duchy hats were a
practical item worn by workers and peasants. Guild members wore them as
well, but average citizens, especially women, tended not to use head
garments.
There were plenty of soldiers milling about. They wore colorful uniforms
with tall black hats and carried huge muskets, contrasting with the
soldiers of the Duchy, who wore tunics and had light comfortable
uniforms designed mostly for running and mobility.
Danka winced at the stench of the foreigners. Unlike the Danubians, they
didn�t bathe and they didn�t wash their outer clothing. Many of them
were missing teeth and the odor coming from their mouths was something
to behold.
The traders passed the town�s cathedral. The priests were all men,
dressed in black and carrying crucifixes, in a similar manner as the
True Believers in the Duchy. The foreigners moved their hands in front
of their chests upon passing the entrance of the church. Danka later
learned the gesture was to form an imaginary cross and it was related to
the execution of the Son of Man, who the foreigners called Jesus Christ.
There were several statues of a woman inside the cathedral which Danka
knew through her reading represented Jesus� mother Mary. It was
interesting and a little frightening to see all those statues and the
veneration of the Virgin Mary in real life.
The local leaders were hostile to the Danubians, especially the priests,
who viewed them as heretics.
The average residents were simply curious about the strange-looking
traders. The Danubian men were dressed in trader�s tunics, wore their
hair extremely short, and had shaved their faces. Even stranger were the
women, who were wearing nothing more than traditional white dresses and
shoulder shawls, with nothing covering their heads or arms. They
casually spoke to their men with confidence and behaved in an arrogant
manner unbecoming of a proper Christian woman.
The Followers entered the town market to set up in several stalls they
had previously rented. Danka and three older female Followers would
barter, but had instructions to only interact with foreign women. They
were not to have any conversations with men, because the Danubians had a
separate stall set up for male customers. Meanwhile F�toreckt and an
assistant would barter with the local tradesmen to sell their linen and
other bulk items.
Danka�s language studies helped her while she was talking to the foreign
women. She couldn�t speak well, but she spoke just enough to
communicate. She was the youngest member of her trading group, but of
the four she was the most talented for haggling and bartering. She
cajoled the customers and forced them to admit the Danubians were
offering goods that could not be bought from anyone else.
�Our lives are short, and the Lord has numbered our days. Do you really
wish to wait until next year to buy what we are selling? Is not the
silver you spend today worth the year you will have ahead of you to use
your purchase?�
Danka noted what strategies worked to convince the foreign women to part
with their silver and what was less effective. As the day progressed she
became better at what she was doing, to the point that her companions
let her do all the talking and contented themselves with assisting. The
foreigners tended to underestimate the young Danubian, but quickly
learned the girl was extremely shrewd.
The Followers had three wagons they were using to move their trading
goods across the border. They emptied a load of Danubian goods in the
marketplace and waited until the wagon was filled with foreign items. A
mounted messenger returned to the Danubian side of the border to tell
his companions to send the next wagon to the bridge. The new wagon
waited until the first one had safely crossed back into the Duchy before
proceeding north.
A group of foreign priests entered the marketplace to watch the
Danubians with disapproving expressions. When the church bell struck
four, they approached F�toreckt.
�You�ve stolen enough from our people, you thieving heretic. Now take
your whoring women and remove your satanic presence from our town. You
have defiled and insulted us long enough.�
F�toreckt ordered the women to pack up immediately. They loaded their
few unsold items into the waiting wagon. The Followers were ready with
an armed escort to get everyone safely across the border. The women sat
in the wagon while the men guarded them with crossbows. Now that the
day�s trading had ended and the Danubians had nothing more to offer the
foreigners, their situation had become considerably more dangerous. The
local priests were disgusted by the presence of Danubian heretics in
their city and wanted nothing more than to kill all of them. The locals
could have attacked and slaughtered the Followers with the smallest
provocation. The only thing holding them back was knowing that if the
traders were killed, they wouldn�t be back the following year with their
goods.
Danka noted the hostile expressions of the townsfolk and the bewildered
stares of hoards of dirty, starving children as she rode out of the
foreign town. What a thoroughly miserable place, she thought to herself.
So this is what the rest of the world is like?
Danka was enormously relieved when the expedition crossed the bridge and
returned to the blessed territory of the Duchy. So�now she could say she
had seen a foreign land. Yes, it was true that her foreign experience
was nothing more than spending a day in the marketplace of a town right
on the other side of the border, but that was enough for her. She had
learned many things during her trip, the most important of which was
what it meant to be a Danubian. She could take pride in who she was and
where she was from. The Duchy had plenty of faults and problems, but
life there was certainly better than it was on the outside.
Danka was thrilled when she and her companions passed through the
protection of the cliffs guarded by those blessed cannons and
fortifications. As the expedition climbed the hill returning to
Seb�rnekt Ris, she was grateful to the gun crews and border guards. Yes,
if what she saw and experienced in the foreign town was the life the
foreigners had to offer, it was best to keep them out.
----------
Two days after the trading expedition returned to the Followers�
compound, Danka and K�loyankt had to say goodbye to their three
companions who, along with six other newly-initiated Followers from
other places, were heading to the capitol to become Seminary students in
the Great Temple. A sympathetic Priest provided them with identity
papers giving them new names and biographies that did not mention
anything about their membership in the Cult of the Ancients. In Dan�bikt
M�skt their lives would totally change. Not only would they have to
suppress many of their beliefs and customs as Followers, but they�d also
have to find marriage partners. Bab�ckt Yaga and F�toreckt had warned
them not to attempt to marry among themselves. They�d have to find
different partners and maintain a professional distance from each other.
Danka, K�loyankt, and Ermin were part of a group remaining behind in
Seb�rnekt Ris when Bab�ckt Yaga and her entourage returned to the forest
settlement. They became a medical team that performed surgeries, mostly
on laborers and farmers suffering from broken bones or bad cuts from
work-related accidents. They vaccinated children, treated infections,
and performed autopsies.
In the middle of June, Ermin and his assistants were tasked by the local
magistrate to determine the cause of death of a guild member who died
under suspicious circumstances. Ermin determined that, sure enough, he
had been poisoned. The Follower was called as a witness at the trial of
the man�s nephew, who was suspected of wanting to take over the victim�s
business. With the assistance of Danka and K�loyankt, Ermin had
conducted his own investigation and found out where the nephew had
purchased the ingredients to make the poison. The verdict was guilty and
the sentence was separation of the soul from the body.
For the first time in her life Danka witnessed a
public execution. At noon on the day
following the trial the man was tied to a post. Five city guards with
longbows lined up and in quick succession shot five arrows into the
prisoner�s chest.
----------
The Summer Solstice was approaching. Now that Danka and K�loyankt were
officially Followers of the Ancients, they would travel with the others
into the mountains for the annual celebration, to be held at the Altar
of Blood-nourishment. F�toreckt led his group to the sacrificial site
along a narrow road approaching from the west; a section of the secret
path Danka had not previously seen. She realized that she now knew the
entire route running along the northern mountains from Sev�rckt nad
Gor�dki to Seb�rnekt Ris. If she ever needed to secretly move from one
of those cities to the other, she didn�t have to travel the main road
passing through the western valley.
The Followers spent the first day of the Solstice celebration completely
naked. The day was filled with singing, dancing, and a feast. After
sunset the elders lit the red lanterns and the celebrants spent the
shortest night of the year having sex. As usual, the rule was that
everyone had to make love to at least one person they had not previously
met.
Danka made love to seven men that night. She decided to add a rule for
anyone who wanted to copulate with her. Her lovers would have to lie on
their backs and she would straddle them. Some refused, but she was
pretty enough that plenty of others acquiesced. She totally loved being
on top, feeling the pulsating penis pumping semen into her eager body.
She experienced seven wonderful orgasms with her seven lovers. She was
very sore towards the end, but she pushed herself and was rewarded with
pleasure. When she finished, her vagina hurt, but the pain had resulted
from something what was forbidden among the Christians and thus made her
feel stronger.
This is the way Lilith fornicates, she thought to herself. This is the
way she does it, and this is the way I will do it.
After spending the second day of the Solstice celebration resting,
bathing, finishing off the previous day�s feast, and performing various
rituals honoring the Ancients, the Followers dressed in their formal
Cult outfits and prepared for the main part of their gathering. Over the
past two months the Cult had captured eleven men who would be
sacrificed. Nine of the men were fortune hunters, and the other two had
attempted to kidnap the daughter of an Elder, without realizing who she
was.
Danka proudly held her skull-staff and chanted with her companions as
the terrified, struggling, screaming victims were dragged onto the altar
one-by-one. Her Mistress was ready with her ancient dagger, naked as
always with her body covered with chalk and charcoal in a pattern that
made her look half-way between a skeleton and a ghoul. She stared into
their eyes with a wild and cruel expression as she raised the knife. The
red fire reflected in her eyes made her look truly demonic. The victims,
every last one, screamed in terror as the Cult leader plunged the blade
into their chests. It had to be that way, because ancient custom
dictated that a victim had to be screaming when he was killed.
----------
Ermin, Danka, and K�loyankt returned to Seb�rnekt Ris with F�toreckt�s
group after the Solstice instead of travelling on to Bab�ckt Yaga�s
forest settlement. Danka was perplexed by the arrangement. She had spent
the past month wondering why she and K�loyankt were staying behind, why
the others had left for the Seminary in the capitol and she hadn�t.
Bab�ckt Yaga and F�toreckt knew their young disciple would be curious
and that they owed her an answer. F�toreckt offered to take Danka to the
top of the hill so she could see the waterfall. K�loyankt, who already
had seen the waterfall the previous year, spent the day in Seb�rnekt Ris
helping Elders prepare medications.
Danka and F�toreckt mounted horses and rode up to the crest of the hill.
The Elder allowed the girl to sit quietly and appreciate the scenery.
She could see the lands of the foreigners to the north and the Duchy to
the south. On the western shore of the East Danube River there were
steep cliffs that made crossing the river from that direction
impossible. She realized that Danubia was a natural fortress, a land in
which its inhabitants could live in peace because it was so difficult to
get into. Soon enough she would learn that peace was truly a gift from
the Creator, a very fragile gift that could break at any time.
�Danka S�luckt, your Mistress asked me to bring you here so you can see
for yourself some of the work of the Ancients and the Creator. But you
also have questions, which you should now ask and I will attempt to
answer.�
�Well�Alchemist F�toreckt�I guess I�m curious about�the Great Temple�and
us�why everyone�the young people�are having to go there.�
�The answer is that the Ancients have revealed to your Mistress and me
that the remnants of the Old World are about to vanish. We, the Cult of
the Ancients, are destined to disappear with the passing of those
remnants. And yet, somehow the Old World must continue to safeguard the
well-being of the Duchy. Our final tasking from the Ancients is to
figure out how we can contribute when, as a Cult, we are no more. The
only answer is to place our people in the heart of the Danubian Church.
It is from there our inheritors will continue to guide the future of the
Duchy. The Cult only has a few hundred members, while there are hundreds
of thousands of Old Believers. So, if the Ancients indeed wish to
continue watching over the Duchy�s people, who do you think they would
favor?�
�I�I guess they�d favor the Church, Alchemist.�
�Exactly. They�d favor the Church, not the Cult. Your Mistress would say
that it is not our Path in Life to question why that should be�why after
being served for so long the Ancients would turn their backs on the Cult
and favor the Church. She would argue that it is our Path in Life to
simply accept what is happening with humility. I know the answer,
however, even if your Mistress would argue that I am speaking with
arrogance. Alchemist Babackt Yaga lives completely in the traditions of
the past, and that is how she trains the people whose Paths in Life
cross with hers. From your time with her, you know what it is like to
live in the manner of the days of old, when our people lived among the
trees. You can also understand that time has passed. Most people don�t
live in the forests anymore. The future of the Duchy will be in the
villages and cities, not in the Realm of Nature. The Ancients need to
follow our people into the reality of the New World, but they cannot do
so through the Followers.�
F�toreckt paused to make sure Danka didn�t have any questions or
comments. She did, but couldn�t put them into words. The Elder
continued:
�Alchemist Babackt Yaga understands the will of the Ancients as much as
I do. She also understands that her Path in Life is about to end, and
when that happens the traditions of the forest will become nothing more
than memories. A month ago she ceded leadership of the Cult to me, and
the Elders voted in secret to allow that to happen. So, I am the one
leading our transition, the one who is moving our people into the
Danubian Church. It is our Path in Life to influence the Church by
having our people join their Clergy. So, I have seen the future and am
making the arrangements. With every passing year the Church will serve
the Creator and the Ancients more and serve the Roman God less. The
Ancients are finding their voice for the future, and the Followers in
the forest are destined to be no more.�
�Then�if it�s our Path in Life to join the Old Believers� Priesthood,
why aren�t you sending me and K�loyankt? And�why just the two of us? I
mean�Alchemist Bab�ckt Yaga told me she didn�t want me to stay with
him�with K�loyankt, that is. Did she change her mind on that?�
�Not at all. Soon your Paths in Life will separate and the only thing
you will keep of each other will be memories. Your lover�s Path in Life
is to wait until his father dies, and then to return to Sev�rckt nad
Gor�dki and take over his family�s household. He will become an
important and influential man in that city, and when the time comes, he
will use his wealth and position to serve the Ancients. He will live in
comfort and dote upon his wife and children. Exactly the life you
envisioned for yourself, is it not?�
�Yes, Alchemist. The life I want��
�It is not your Path in Life to be his partner. You already know that.
It is not your Path in Life to sit in luxury and watch your children
grow and pass your time embroidering and listening to music and reading
novels and gossiping with your friends. That life does not suit you. If
you seek it, you would become a tool of the Profane One and bring grief
into your household.�
�So�what is my Path in Life?�
�We don�t know. The Ancients have not yet revealed your destiny to us
any more than they have revealed it to you. Your Mistress has
desperately sought an answer concerning what to do with you. All I can
say is that you must continue learning and improving your knowledge. Our
time is short and you must bear witness to your world and learn as much
as you can.�
----------
At the beginning of July, Ermin led a team of Followers to a farming
center with a large water-mill called Dagur�ckt-T�k. The town was about
halfway between the nation�s capitol and Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti. On the map
it appeared tantalizingly close to Rika H�ckt-nem�t, which lay to the
southeast. However, the two city councils bitterly rivaled each other
and citizens from each town were prohibited from visiting the other. The
feud was so severe that the residents had torn down a stone bridge along
the road connecting the two towns in the early spring of 1750.
The Clergy members of Dagur�ckt-T�k were Old Believers and welcomed the
Followers. The welcome was warm and appreciative, unlike the grudging
tolerance granted by the Senior Priest of neighboring
Nagor�nkti-Ser�fkti. They were housed in a residence owned by the local
Clergy and received the best food produced in the town. The city council
provided a wagon and several mules to assist the Followers� vaccination
campaign and attending injuries.
The Followers spent the next two months attending to the medical needs
of Dagur�ckt-T�k and the surrounding villages. Danka perfected her
skills performing simple operations and re-setting broken bones. She
assisted Ermin as he prepared smallpox vaccine and ether for surgeries.
She attended several births, including one during which she and another
female follower managed to save a baby who was born with the umbilical
cord wrapped around his neck.
Over the summer Danka continued to make love to both K�loyankt and Ermin.
At the beginning she tried to keep her relationship with the Elder
secret from her younger partner. She could not keep the sexual part of
her relationship with the older man secret because of the close
proximity of everyone�s rooms, but did try to hide the emotional part.
It was accepted that Followers were not monogamous in their sex lives
and Ermin was a widower. However, as the summer progressed, Danka
understood that she increasingly enjoyed Ermin�s maturity and was bored
trying to converse with K�loyankt.
K�loyankt did not help his situation with his reaction. He was smart
enough not to openly confront Danka about Ermin, but he insisted on
having sex with her as much as possible. She responded by forcing him to
lie on his back so she could pretend to be Lilith when she was with him.
She forced him to assume submissive positions for love-making and he
always complied. The more he went along with her demands, the more the
relationship began to deteriorate. It was as though he had lost all of
his backbone with her. She lost respect for K�loyankt and understood the
time had come to completely disengage herself from him.
Instead of simply telling her lover that she did not want to have sex
with him anymore, she decided to see if she could leave him in the arms
of another woman. Dagur�ckt-T�k had a perfect candidate, the Senior
Priest�s daughter, who had braided her hair immediately before the
Followers arrived in July. She had noticed the girl looking at K�loyankt
and also at her, with a jealous expression. So�the Priest�s daughter was
interested in K�loyankt. Good. He had a lot to offer her. Perhaps it
would help if her father knew about K�loyankt�s background and that he
came from one of the wealthiest families in Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki.
Danka struck up several conversations with the Priest and spent a couple
of days setting up a meeting between her lover and the Clergyman�s
daughter. At first the Priest thought she was trying to seduce him, but
no�it seemed the Follower just wanted to talk. They discussed politics
and differences between various city councils. Danka kept pushing the
conversation to Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki. Finally the opportunity came for
her to mention that one of her fellow Followers was from that city and
heir to a large fortune.
The Priest took the bait. He and his wife decided to have the young man
eat dinner with his family. That certainly was a bizarre situation, a
Follower sitting at the table of a Priest. The Clergy members quickly
verified that K�loyankt indeed came from a wealthy family. From that day
forward they invited him to dinner on a daily basis. He wanted to
refuse, but Ermin angrily insisted that he had no right to jeopardize
the good relations the Followers enjoyed with the town council in
Dagur�ckt-T�k.
�You will accept the honor of sitting at that Priest�s table and you
will serve the rest of us by doing so. You will behave yourself with
that family and do everything you can to accommodate them.�
K�loyankt approached Danka to explain the situation and beg her to
forgive him. Danka responded with words and thoughts that seemed not
really to be her own:
�There�s nothing to forgive, K�loyankt. Don�t you understand the will of
the Ancients? It�s not your Path in Life to stay with me. You can�t
offer a life that would suit me. And you need to take a hard look at me.
I�m a peasant. I�m a peasant with some education, but I�m still a
peasant. How well do you think I�d fit in with all your fancy neighbors
in your father�s house?�
�I don�t care about him, or the neighbors, or his house. He�s dead to
me. That life is no longer mine. I belong in the forest. The only person
I care about is you.�
�Then you need to stop caring about me. I�m telling you it is not my
Path in Life to be your wife. That honor belongs to another woman, not
me. And you already know who she is.�
�The Priest�s daughter?�
Danka nodded.
�No. I don�t want her. I don�t love her.�
�You don�t love her? Do you think that matters? Do you think what you
feel for me matters? Because it doesn�t! You need to find a respectable
wife who is acceptable to your father�s friends and then you need to go
home and assume your responsibilities to your family! That is your Path
in Life! You�re not going back to the forest, you�re not going back to
Seb�rnekt Ris, and you are not staying with me! You have your
responsibilities to go home and redeem your family�s name from the
dishonor of your father! You need the right partner to do that and that
person is not me!�
��and my feelings for you don�t matter?�
�No! They don�t!�
�I mean�it almost sounds like�that you don�t love me�that you never
loved me��
�It doesn�t matter, K�loyankt! Why can�t you understand? It doesn�t
matter whether I love you or not! I can�t stay with you! It�s not my
Path in Life! It�s not yours, either!�
K�loyankt sat quietly, his eyes full of tears. Danka coldly concluded
the conversation.
�I�m planning to spend the night with Ermin. Meanwhile, you need to
prepare for your dinner with the Priests and their daughter. She loves
you. I don�t. Remember that the next time you talk to her or think about
me.�
With that, Danka left the room. As soon as she stepped outside, she felt
sick. She was horrified by the shabby treatment she had inflicted on a
wonderful man who she really did care for. She resisted the temptation
to go back and beg him to forgive her. She knew that she did what had to
be done, but it was no consolation. She hated herself, every bit as much
as she hated herself when she gave her body to Bagat�rckt.
----------
Two weeks later K�loyankt received word that his father had died.
Included in the correspondence was a will that stipulated he would
inherit his family�s fortune, but not until he married a Christian wife
in a Christian ceremony. The will also stated that the servants would
not be paid until the conditions of the will were met and K�loyankt
presented himself to the local Priest with his new wife and paperwork
proving she was a Christian married in a Christian Church. The will did
not stipulate that the wife had to be a True Believer; just that she had
to be Christian.
K�loyankt knew that he was obligated to go home and take care of his
family�s servants. He understood his Path in Life and his duty to those
who depended on him. He proposed to the Priest�s daughter and she
accepted. The entire town turned out for the wedding and the city
council provided an armed escort to make sure the bride and groom made
it safely to their new home in Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki.
As she watched the entourage depart, Danka wondered about the very
suspicious timing of the death of K�loyankt�s father and the conditions
stipulated in that will. Very interesting that the father would die
precisely at the moment the Followers needed K�loyankt to return to
Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki. Very interesting that the will would clearly
insist on him having a Christian wife precisely at the moment such a
partner was available. Not a True Believer, just a Christian.
Bab�ckt Yaga knew everything there was to know about poisons and quietly
entering people�s houses. She also was an expert at forging documents.
It wasn�t hard to figure out what really happened�
----------
K�loyankt spent his remaining time in the Realm of the Living serving
the Ancients and the Creator. He took his father�s place in the Sev�rckt
nad Gor�dki city council. A few years after he returned home, he used
his family�s influence to assist the Old Believers when they seized
control of the local church from the True Believers.
He was kind to his wife, and later to his children and grandchildren.
However, during all the years he lived with the Priest�s daughter, he
could never love her. His heart always longed for Danka. He spent the
rest of his life writing mysterious stories, poems, and songs about his
lost love of the forest. He published his work under various pen-names,
giving the residents of Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki the impression they were
written by different men. The works were infinitely depressing and
became favorite reading throughout the northern part of the Duchy.
K�loyankt had to keep his writings and his feelings secret from his
family, so he never mentioned himself or Danka by name. When fans of the
various writings talked about them and speculated about the ideal girl
and the author�s tragic love for her, they usually referred to her as
�the girl in the poems, the one with no name�.
----------
Note 01: One of a wife�s duties
to her husband in traditional Danubian society was shaving. Normally a
woman would shave her husband�s face once per week and her husband�s
scalp once every three weeks. If a man lost his wife, he would not shave
for 60 days as a symbol of mourning. A man who was not yet married,
widowed, in the military, or traveling could be shaved by any available
woman, as long as her social status was inferior to his.
- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -
Note 02: In traditional
Danubian society, a man of higher social status normally took a
woman of lower social status from behind. The lower-class woman
presented herself to her partner in the customary submissive position
before sexual intercourse. As mentioned in the main narrative, she
placed her hands on a table or other surface such as a fence and bent
over to display her backside. According to protocol, once she assumed
the position, she could not speak or move her hands until given
permission. It was understood that when a woman presented herself in
such a way, her lover was free to do with her as he saw fit; to include
vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, or punishment. The submissive
posture was not commonly used by women having sex with a social equal,
which would have made Danka�s behavior under those circumstances unusual
among the Followers.
- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -
Note 03: The Christians living just north
of the border were hostile to the Danubians because Seb�rnekt Ris was
run by Old Believers who were heavily influenced by the Followers of the
Ancients. The Old Believers were increasingly turning away from
Christianity and adapting pre-Christian beliefs, something that foreign
Christians looked upon with horror.
The True Believers in Danubia were the most �Christian� of the three
religious sects in the Duchy at the time. They accepted widely held
beliefs concerning the divinity of the Son of Man and the virgin birth.
Mary and other Christian Saints were venerated as Ancients, but even
among the True Believers the Virgin Mary did not have the same
importance that she had for Christians living outside the Duchy.
Only men could officially be priests among the True Believers. Unmarried
women could become nuns, which in practice allowed them to serve as
Priestesses. The practice contrasted with the Old Believers, who
insisted on having an equal number of Priests and Priestesses, all of
whom had to be married to other Clergy members to be ordained.
- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -
Note 04: Death by arrows was the only
accepted form of execution in the Duchy at that time, and it was
considered a point of honor for a group of guards to kill their prisoner
with the first volley. The attitude of Danubian culture towards killing
a prisoner was to do it as quickly as possible and avoid being overly
gruesome about it. The Danubian method of killing criminals to minimize
suffering and gore contrasted with most of Europe throughout the Middle
Ages and the period of the Enlightenment. It is interesting to note the
method of execution changed only once during the Duchy�s history. In
1790 the Grand Duke ordered that five muskets would be used to kill
prisoners instead of five longbows.
Firing squads of police officers using modern rifles remain in use
today. In recent decades the number of executions in Danubia has ranged
from 6 to 9 per year. Offenses warranting capitol punishment include
un-provoked murder, sexual assault on a child, treason resulting in
damage to Danubia�s national security, an overt act of war against
Danubia, and being the leader of a criminal organization that has
committed acts of violence. All executions are now carried out in the
courtyard of the Central Police Station in the nation�s capitol. Danubia
is the only member country of the European Community in which criminals
are still executed, because leaving the nation�s judicial system intact
was one of the Parliament�s conditions for joining the EU. There is no
system for imprisonment and it is unlikely Danubian culture would ever
accept the practice of jailing criminals. The only way criminals can be
punished in Danubia is by judicial collaring or death.
- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -
