Back to Chapter 15
Chapter Sixteen � The Instructor
The
Grand Duke returned to the castle in a foul mood. During his trip he had
discovered the awful news that the entire western half of the Duchy was
under threat and that most of H�rkustk Ris province was not under
Danubian control at all. The only enclave remaining was the provincial
capitol, and the only reason that city was still under the Duchy�s
control was that the Kingdom of the Moon had not yet sent an army large
enough to conquer it. H�rkustk Ris was the only major Danubian city to
the south of the Duchy�s capitol. After that city was taken, there would
be nothing standing between the Army of the Moon and the Duchy�s people.
The city was packed with Danubian refugees who had been denied
permission to move north, precisely to prevent the people of Dan�bikt
M�skt from knowing how bad the situation was immediately to the south.
There was inadequate food for the crowd and a lot of the refugees had
become sick.
The Grand Duke rounded up his military advisors and demanded to know why
no one had told him about the foreign occupation of H�rkustk Ris
province and the plight of tens of thousands of sick refugees. It turned
out the advisors had been divided about telling their ruler the truth.
Some advisors did want to tell him about H�rkustk Ris as early as the
previous summer, but they were overruled by the advisors who were
determined to procrastinate. The advisors remained loyal to each other
because of oaths they had taken as a group, so the ones who wanted to
talk to the Grand Duke about the occupation were stuck in a dilemma.
They either had to betray the ruler, or betray their peers. In Danubian
culture, betraying one�s companions is considered extremely
dishonorable, so the more honest advisors� actions were restrained by
cultural taboos.
The Grand Duke was angry at himself for not realizing his advisors were
lying to him. Now that he knew what was going on, he needed to find out
why he had been deceived. The ruler summoned the Grand Prophet of the
Great Temple to assist his interrogation of his subordinates. With the
Prophet present, the advisors would have to lie in front of the leading
Clergyman from the Danubian Church if they wanted to continue protecting
each other. The presence of the Prophet, coupled with the Grand Duke�s
insight and ability to extract information through simple conversation
forced the full story out of them. He already understood that it was not
simple fear or procrastination that had motivated some of his
subordinates to cover up the invasion and force their companions to go
along with the deception. It turned out that the traitors had made
arrangements with the Lord Blood-Moon to be spared, along with their
families and properties, when the Kingdom invaded the Duchy. All they
had to do was facilitate the capture of H�rkustk Ris by withholding
intelligence and delaying any response from the Danubian Crown.
The Grand Duke did not want the public to know that he had been deceived
by his own advisors. So, there was no public trial of the traitors, no
retaliation against their families, no public spectacle at all. He
simply grabbed a long bow and ordered Royal Guards to take the traitors
to the execution post. He ordered them tied to the post one-by-one and
shocked his spectators by conducting the executions himself. The castle
staff, the Royal Guards, and the matrons watched with dumbfounded
expressions as their ruler launched five arrows into a traitor, checked
to make sure he was dead, ordered the body taken away, and then
proceeded with the next execution.
Before ordering the bodies taken out of the castle and returned to their
relatives, the ruler wrote the following for each household:
If you value your lives and the safety of your children, you will not
ask why this happened. I assure you my action was justified. Bury your
relative, say nothing, and your Path in Life will continue in peace.
Disobey my command, and the Destroyer will visit you. The choice is
yours.
The Grand Duke of the Duchy of Upper Danubia
----------
From their balcony the concubines watched their master killing his
subordinates. They were terrified, because they did not yet know what
was going on and assumed the sovereign had gone mad. His behavior over
the next several days did not reassure them. He vented his anger and
fear through sex and copulated with the eleven women as though he were
possessed. He did not spare the group�s spokeswoman: she had to join her
companions in the Royal bed-chamber and endure his rough treatment.
After spending a week calming his nerves with his women, the ruler
re-emerged, determined to meet the impending threat coming from the
south. He had several months to prepare for the upcoming military
campaign, because during the 18th Century it was very difficult for any
country to invade any other country during the winter. Large-scale
military operations usually took place in the summer, when it was easier
for invading armies to live off the land.
The Grand Duke replaced his executed advisors with field commanders from
the Royal Army. He ordered the commanders to familiarize themselves with
standard military strategies and drills commonly used in Europe at the
time. He did not plan to emulate those strategies, but needed to know
how to counter them. The Danubian Royal Army, especially the cavalry,
would have to adapt to fighting on open ground and abandon the
traditional strategy of using forested areas for concealment and
protection.
The most significant decision facing the Grand Duke was his country�s
reliance on crossbows. The crossbow had served the Duchy admirably over
the past several centuries, but it was an archaic weapon suited for
guerrilla skirmishes and silent raids. It was not a weapon suited for
confronting a large modern enemy army on open ground. Like it or not,
the Grand Duke�s army, or at least many of its troops, would have to
switch over to using muskets. The Danubian ruler wrote to a Vienna arms
dealer to speed up the purchase of modern muskets. He cringed at the
cost of the cumbersome weapons and their ammunition, but he had no
choice.
----------
Most rulers would have despaired knowing what the Grand Duke and his
Army was up against, but the Danubian ruler�s personality was not prone
to despair. He knew that, no matter how bad the situation facing him
might be, he still had some decisions to make and options available.
None of the choices were very good ones, but they were choices
nonetheless. Besides, not all of the news coming from the south was bad.
The Kingdom of the Moon did have some significant weaknesses that could,
under the right circumstances, work in favor of the Duchy.
The most important potential vulnerability was a rival heir contesting
the Kingdom�s throne. The now deceased Lord of the Red Moon had a
brother who advised him, who had taken the title of �Lord of the Blue
Moon.� While the brothers were both still alive, they complimented each
other�s talents and made a very effective team. After-all, they had
maintained their independence from the Ottoman Empire and even managed
to annex some additional Ottoman lands. Trouble began, however, after
Lord Blood-Moon seized the Crown and banished his uncle to the other
side of the Kingdom. The Lord of the Blue Moon shortly died under
suspicious circumstances and his oldest son, who was a first-cousin of
Lord Blood-Moon, took the title as the new Lord of the Blue Moon.
To avoid both the fate of his father and his older cousins, the younger
Lord of the Blue Moon consolidated support of several nearby noble
families and started planning to contest the Throne. Under current
conditions, there was no way the Lord of the Blue Moon could openly
confront the Kingdom�s current ruler, but if the Lord Blood-Moon�s
forces suffered some defeats, it was possible the situation to the south
could change.
The Grand Duke considered the news of the rival House of the Blue Moon
important. He did not plan to make an alliance with the alternate heir,
but the prospect of a civil war in the southern Kingdom, should the Lord
Blood-Moon�s forces be weakened, would play into his plans if he could
win some battles on Danubian territory.
The Danubian ruler did not harbor any illusions his Army could possibly
match the Kingdom of the Moon�s army in a traditional battle on open
ground. The only hope of winning a fight with the enemy would be to
combine modern and traditional Danubian tactics, which would entail
luring the invaders into a location favorable to the Danubians. How many
such locations were there in H�rkustk Ris Province? Well, in the past
there would have been plenty. During the reign of King Vladik the
Defender, the area was heavily forested, allowing the last Danubian King
to fight the Ottomans using guerrilla tactics. For a century after the
King�s victories, the trees remained as the Duchy�s most important line
of defense. However, settlers, both Danubian and foreign, had since cut
down most of the forest, leaving only a narrow strip between the capitol
and H�rkustk Ris. Now the only feature marking the official southern
border was a small river and a low-lying range of hills. The hills were
still partially forested, but the land immediately to the north was not.
The Grand Duke studied maps and pondered from where his army could
launch raids. He found very few suitable locations, of which most were
away from the main road leading though H�rkustk Ris and thus could be
bypassed very easily. Still, there were some possibilities, including
some areas along the East Danube River, or possibly the city of H�rkustk
Ris itself. However, for any such plan to work the Grand Duke had to
have a full understanding of his enemies and the way command decisions
were implemented in the Kingdom of the Moon.
Fortunately for the Duchy, one of the Danubian Grand Duke�s remaining
advisors had an excellent network of informants in both the House of the
Red Moon and the House of the Blue Moon, including a spy with direct
access to Lord Blood-Moon and two of his top generals. The Danubian
ruler was interested in the Kingdom�s battle tactics, equipment, and
troop strength, but he was even more interested in understanding the
thinking and psychology of his enemies. He knew from the beginning the
only hope he had of winning the upcoming war would be to find out about
any psychological vulnerabilities of the enemy leader and try to
outsmart him.
The Kingdom of the Moon had an excellent army and cavalry. They were
seasoned veterans that had humiliated the Sultan�s army over the past
two decades, men who were proud, competent, and well-trained. They
totally disdained their opponents and enjoyed killing and torturing
�inferior� prisoners. They had done some horrible things to Turkish
captives, so it was safe to assume if they ever seized control of the
Duchy, its people would suffer tremendously. The Army of the Kingdom of
the Moon had never suffered a defeat, so they were confident to a fault.
The Army of the Moon�s tactics usually focused on charging into an
enemy�s position with massive force to overwhelm any opposition,
following an initial artillery barrage. Much of the strategy relied on
speed and terror. The strategy had been employed against Ottoman and
rival lords� cities, forts, castles, and hilltop positions over the past
two decades. It had always worked, so it was predictable. As the Grand
Duke and his commanders studied battle after battle won by the Army of
the Moon, the over-all pattern of the fighting was always the same: the
artillery barrage, the overwhelming charge, and then atrocities against
the conquered.
The Danubian leader pondered his enemy�s strategy: always the same�
predictable� overwhelming force� terror� confidence� and maybe�
over-confidence?
There was another clue provided by an informant as he repeated a couple
of jokes and mocking comments made by the Lord of the Red Moon to his
commanders about the Duchy�s towns and the fact most Danubian
settlements still had city walls. The Lord of the Red Moon had mentioned
how much fun it would be to blast away every city wall in the Duchy, for
the cowardly Danubians to watch in terror as their medieval defenses
fell, and give them time to think about their fates before they were
slaughtered.
The Grand Duke fully understood that his enemy was planning genocide
against the Danubian people. Lord Blood-Moon viewed the inhabitants of
the Duchy as inferior and as illegitimate occupiers of land he needed
for the great Kingdom he was putting together. Only �great countries�
had the right to exist in Europe and the Duchy was not a �great
country�. So� it needed to be obliterated.
The Grand Duke knew that any effort to counter an invasion from the
south had only one chance of succeeding. The Danubians absolutely had to
win their first battle. If they did not, there would be no opportunity
to withdraw and fight a second battle: they would be overwhelmed.
Everything the Grand Duke had read or heard about Lord Blood-Moon
indicated his army would come to any location the Danubians chose to
defend, with the expectation of overrunning their positions and
inflicting a crushing defeat. That knowledge gave the Danubian ruler a
critical advantage: he could choose any location he wanted for his army
to make its stand. So� the question would be: where to fight that
critical battle? What location in H�rkustk Ris province would give the
Danubians their greatest advantage?
----------
Silv�tya spent much of March kneeling by the Grand Duke�s side at his
throne, cringing as he ran his fingers through her hair. He spent day
after day talking to his military commanders about the Duchy�s
preparations. He also spent hours with councilmen from villages that had
been attacked and over-run by the Kingdom of the Moon, with the hope of
gathering additional information about the Kingdom and how its army
operated. In spite of the uncomfortable posture and humiliating
situation she had to endure, she carefully listened to everything being
said. No one was bothered by her presence: she was just a naked
concubine and certainly could pose no threat.
Whenever she had any free time at all, Silv�tya perused the Royal
Library�s books and maps to fully understand what was going on to the
south. She quickly realized the Duchy was in very grave danger. At first
she wondered about trying to escape the castle with Antonia and fleeing
north, but she knew that her Path in Life was not to live as a refugee
from a defeated country. She was a Danubian, sworn to serve the Duchy
and its ruler, whether she liked him or not. F�toreckt�s final words
came back to haunt her thoughts:
�That is not to say the Ancients will not call upon you to serve. I
firmly believe they will, but the manner in which you serve will be
different from what your Mistress and I envisioned. 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?�
The next time the Grand Duke called his favorite concubine to his
bed-chamber, the Grand Duke forced her to have sex by forcing her to
assume the submissive posture and taking her from behind. He conducted
his usual routine of fingering her anus and silently threatening to
sodomize her, but as usual, did not carry out that threat. She bathed
him and allowed him to fondle her scalp. The humiliating treatment would
make what she had to do much harder, but she forced herself to speak:
�Your Majesty, your humble serving girl wishes to know if you need her
to do anything to assist or prepare for the Duchy�s defense.�
At first the Grand Duke was surprised by the question. It means she has
been paying attention to the conversations� but� what am I thinking? Of
course she had been paying attention. This girl is different from the
others� smarter and more aware of her surroundings. Indeed, she can be of
use to me.
�You mentioned training your companions in medicine, is that not so, my
favorite minx?�
�Yes, Your Majesty, that is so.�
�That training is no longer optional. You will teach your companions to
become field doctors. I will see about sending some of the castle�s
other women to you. Write down an instruction plan and tell me what
supplies you will need.�
�Your humble serving girl will need some of the books from the
Followers� collection, Your Majesty, along with parchment and ink. Your
humble serving girl will need alchemy ingredients and medical
instruments. Your humble serving girl will need some dead bodies, and
later she will need some live pigs for practices and a person willing to
injure them.�
�Yes. I will supply you with what you need. Train your sisters. Tell
them that anyone who fails to learn will face the switch and the
pillory. A motivated student is an attentive student, is that not so?�
�Yes, Your Majesty, that is so.�
----------
The Grand Duke tasked one of his most trusted soldiers to help Silv�tya
gather what she would need to train the castle women as field doctors.
The man was Protector Alex�ndrekt Bul�shckt, the Royal Guard responsible
for bringing her to the castle the previous summer. She felt
apprehensive having to face him after the rough and condescending
treatment she had endured during the first day she was with him.
However, she hoped to find out what happened to her bucket and to have a
source of news from the outside.
She expected him to treat her in the same rude manner he had treated her
before. However, Protector Bul�shckt seemed completely different,
addressing her with courtesy and speaking to her in a normal manner. She
told him what she needed and what the items were for. He sent for a
couple of horses and told her she�d be leaving the castle with him.
While they waited, the concubine and the Protector discussed medicine at
length, including emergency field operations. He was impressed with her
knowledge upon hearing about some of the operations she performed during
the summer of 1752.
He was even more impressed to learn she had been a Follower of the
Ancients. She was not the ignorant peasant girl that he imagined when
she was taken into custody. He did something no one had ever done in her
life: he apologized, asking her pardon for calling her an �idiot� and a
�dumb peasant girl� the previous year. She was surprised, because no one
ever apologized to her about anything.
When the horses were ready, one of the castle matrons brought a red
scarf and wrapped Silv�tya�s hair. Although concubines were not allowed
to braid their hair, it would not be acceptable to have one of the Grand
Duke�s women wandering outside the castle with her hair loose. The red
scarf also protected her by identifying her as a concubine and therefore
as property of the Grand Duke. The matron also handed over a pair of red
shoes to protect her feet. Silv�tya would go out with her head covered
and her feet protected, but otherwise would remain naked.
The day was overcast and chilly, but to a young woman who was used to
being naked, the temperature was bearable. She ignored the chill, happy
to have the chance to see something besides the interior of the castle.
She followed her escort to the main city market and to several alchemy
shops to search for potion ingredients and other medical supplies, such
as metal instruments and wood for splints. She selected several small
pigs that would be used for live practices. Protector Bul�shckt paid the
seller to take them to the castle.
Everywhere she went in the city, Silv�tya had to endure the stares of
everyone around her. She was not in any physical danger, but her red
scarf and uncovered body subjected her to curious glances from the women
and lustful stares from the men and boys. Her escort took the shortest
routes possible and tried to move quickly to minimize the time she had
to spend outside, but several thousand residents saw the naked concubine
as she rode through the narrow streets and walked around the
marketplaces. It seemed that every one of her spectators had to stare at
her. She never imagined she�d actually be glad to return to the castle,
but after being gawked at all day she was really looking forward to
getting back.
The final stop was at the Temple of the Ancients, where she would have
to go to obtain cadavers. Purchasing the bodies would not be difficult:
there were plenty of destitute refugee families living outside the
capitol who were unable to give their dead relatives proper burials.
Many desperate families would be happy to release their relatives�
corpses in exchange for having money to buy food for several weeks.
Silv�tya approached a Priest, who told her to kneel and wait until an
Apprentice could deal with her request. After several minutes of
kneeling with her face to the ground and being forced to completely
expose herself to Protector Bul�shckt, a pair of female Temple
Apprentices dressed in ragged black seminary robes approached to take
her request. By very unfortunate coincidence one of the women had been
one of her fellow initiates during her year in Bab�ckt Yaga�s
settlement. Silv�tya�s former companion was totally shocked to see her
in the capitol and wearing, of all things, a concubine�s scarf.
The former Followers badly wanted to catch up on each other�s news, but
Silv�tya�s embarrassing predicament prevented them from having any
meaningful conversation. Silv�tya explained about purchasing cadavers
and having them delivered to the castle. The Apprentice wrote down the
request. They were about to part ways when she commented:
�Follower Danka� I need to ask� what� I mean� what happened to you? How did
you enter His Majesty�s service� as a concubine?�
Tears welled up in Silv�tya�s eyes, but she forced herself to respond:
�Hubris, Apprentice. My soul was full of hubris and the Ancients chose
to punish me. Things like this happen when hubris makes a person stupid
and that person acts on her stupidity. I was a fool, with my head full
of pride and foolish thoughts. If you knew what I was thinking at the
time my Path in Life crossed with that of His Majesty, you would agree
the punishment the Ancients gave me was just.�
----------
Silv�tya set up a make-shift medical school in an empty Royal Guard
barracks located in the city at the base of the hill where the castle
was located. The location forced the concubines to leave the castle each
day. The classes started at the beginning of April. Fortunately, spring
that year had come early to the Duchy, so the weather was warm enough
for the women to walk down the hill in relative comfort. They put on
their red scarves and shoes and, under the escort of Protector Bul�shckt
and one of his squad members, cheerfully made the trek. Although their
days no longer were spent in idle relaxation, they enjoyed the walks and
the chance to get away from the confines of the castle. It was nice to
have the chance to exercise and see the East Danube River and a portion
of the city.
The Grand Duke originally had planned for the concubines to conduct
their medical training inside the castle, but Silv�tya reminded him
about the cadavers and pigs. She persuaded him to move the teaching
venue when she asked:
�You humble serving girl wishes to know if Your Majesty truly wants dead
bodies and screaming pigs inside the Royal Household. Perhaps Your
Majesty would prefer a different location?�
The concubines already had received some medical training from their
spokeswoman, but it was mostly related to women�s healthcare,
potion-making, and disease prevention. The women now would receive
training that would be totally different: treating injuries. On the
first day Silv�tya started the lesson by killing and dissecting a pig.
The cadavers had not yet arrived, and the spokeswoman figured it would
be less traumatic for her class to be used to looking at dead animals
before having to deal with looking at dead humans.
Silv�tya wondered about the castle doctors. The Royal Household did have
several doctors, but none of them had come to the class to assist with
the teaching or monitor what was going on. It turned out the Grand Duke
had sent the rest of his medical staff to be with his troops while they
were training. There was another reason no castle doctors were present:
the Grand Duke wanted the women trained according to the practices of
the Followers of the Ancients, with no interference from his staff,
whose training had been very different.
On the second day of class, the concubines were joined by six wives of
Royal Guards. The six newcomers totally ruined the day for the
instructor by assuming they were superior to their naked instructor and
ten naked classmates. No� that would not do. Silv�tya would have to
remove them from the class or force them to behave if she were to teach.
The sovereign�s solution was simple: the wives would have to strip
before leaving the castle and accompany the concubines as they walked in
the nude down the hill. The wives would spend the entire day as naked as
their classmates. The Grand Duke added two more rules to make sure there
was no more friction among the students. Any student, whether she was a
concubine or castle wife, would have to kneel when talking to the
instructor. Also, the instructor would carry a leather switch and had
the Grand Duke�s explicit authority to use it on any student causing
trouble or failing to perform.
The six wives were aghast the next morning when Protector Bul�shckt
ordered them to undress, while Silv�tya tapped the switch in her hand.
Their pride and arrogance vanished immediately. They huddled together
and walked very slowly down the hill. Silv�tya realized she had the
chance to exercise her authority by demanding they uncover themselves
and walk normally. After several warnings, she ordered the worst
offender to place her hands on a fence. When the woman desperately
looked at Protector Bul�shckt, he responded:
�You heard His Majesty�s orders, just as well as I did. You are
commanded to obey your instructor. Disobedience merits the switch. What
part of that can�t you comprehend? Now, you will place your hands on the
fence and accept punishment. If you don�t, I will report your
disobedience to His Majesty and he will deal with you directly.�
The woman started to cry, but she reluctantly placed her hands on the
fence and stuck out her bottom. Silv�tya struck a hard blow across both
sides. The woman shrieked and pulled away, holding her injured backside
with her hands. Protector Bul�shckt pulled out his sword.
�Hands on the fence, bottom out. Quit dishonoring yourself with your
cowardice.�
Silv�tya delivered four additional hard strokes. The wife shrieked and
pulled away with each new welt, only to face the Royal Guard�s sword and
a warning to resume her position. After the fifth stroke, Silv�tya
ordered all six wives to kneel and concluded with:
�Now, you�ve heard your orders and you will comply with them. You will
continue walking, at a normal pace, with a normal posture, and with your
hands at your sides. You might as well pretend you�re concubines,
because as long as you are with me, you are no better than any of your
classmates. Remember, if you had just treated us with respect yesterday,
none of this would be happening to you.�
Silv�tya could tell that Protector Bul�shckt and his squad member were
thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. They knew the arrogant wives and
relished the sight of them being humbled by, of all people, a concubine.
----------
Silv�tya realized that she had a gift for explaining things such as
complicated medical procedures and operations. Her peasant background
assisted her, because she felt much more comfortable demonstrating with
her hands instead of just talking and pointing to pictures in her
medical texts. Every lesson revolved around hands-on practice with
cadavers or injured pigs; from the very first day the women were
expected to get their hands dirty.
The
instructor had proven her willingness to use the switch with the Guards�
wives. Knowing that they would have no recourse if they misbehaved, none
of the visiting women dared test their instructor again. They were
afraid of Silv�tya, but all they had to do was follow her instructions
to the best of their ability and nothing would happen to them.
Oddly, the next woman in the group to face the switch was Antonia.
Silv�tya�s lover did not understand that when she was instructing, the
personal relationship they shared was irrelevant. Antonia had to learn
field surgery just as much as any other student, but Silv�tya could tell
that she was taking the class for granted and not paying attention to
the careful calculations needed to administer anesthesia. When it was
her turn to anesthetize and operate on a pig that had been shot with two
arrows and had a broken leg, Antonia totally botched the assignment. The
pig died from an overdose because Antonia had improperly prepared the
formulas for both the general anesthesia and the local pain-killer.
Silv�tya was furious, partly because a pig had been wasted and partly
because by slacking off, Antonia was inadvertently challenging her
authority. She ordered her student to bend over the instruction table.
At first Antonia was bewildered by the command; not yet realizing the
instructor was dead serious.
�If that pig had been a Royal Guard, what would have happened, Sister
Antonia? What would have happened?�
�Well� uh� Sister� I would have been more careful� but it was just a pig�
�
�It was practice for reality! It was not �just a pig�! I can tolerate
mistakes� those happen! But I will not tolerate a person who dishonors
herself through negligence! That I will not tolerate! You will suffer
the consequences of your negligence, you will learn from your dishonor,
you will try the operation again, and the next time you will succeed!
And now, you will suffer the consequences! Bend over the table, with
your bottom facing the class. Hold the edge with your hands� �
�Sister Silv�tya� seriously� you can�t� �
�Oh� you think I can�t? I believe I can, because His Majesty clearly gave
me the authority to discipline you. And so� what makes you special,
Sister Antonia?�
Antonia�s expression reflected total shock and hurt at the instructor�s
last comment. Her eyes met Silv�tya�s, silently begging to be let off.
You know what makes me special, she plead with her look. I
love you. Doesn�t that matter?
Silv�tya tapped the table with her switch. No, it does not matter,
she silently replied with her unyielding expression. You love me at
night. You are my student during the day. You�re no different than
anyone else.
�You�re already facing 15 strokes for incompetence, inattention, and
disobedience, Sister Antonia. If I need to tie you, I will make it 25.
Do as I say. Bend over and hold the edge.�
Silv�tya banged the table with her switch. Tears welled up in Antonia�s
eyes. She couldn�t believe the person she most loved could do this to
her. Trembling, she bent over the table, with her face towards the wall
and her bottom in clear view of 15 classmates and two Royal Guards.
Silv�tya faced her task with very conflicted thoughts. She was furious
about the wasted pig, but even more angry that Antonia had placed her in
such a difficult situation. Everyone knew that Antonia was the person
closest to Silv�tya. Therefore, the students, especially the six
military wives, were carefully watching to see how their instructor
would handle her. Silv�tya knew she would have to be harsh with her
lover if she wanted the others to take her seriously. It was an
opportunity to make everyone, including Antonia, understand she was not
about to show any favoritism.
Silv�tya also knew her relationship with Antonia would be forever
changed. Until that moment, there had been nothing but tenderness
between the two women. Silv�tya knew that Antonia would be devastated
for days, and that it was very possible the relationship would end.
Silv�tya did not want to lose her lover, but she couldn�t jeopardize her
standing with the Grand Duke or her class.
Silv�tya felt something else as she rubbed the switch over her lover�s
trembling bottom. She was aroused. She very surprised and felt guilty
about it, but she realized she was becoming wet between her legs.
Silv�tya struck hard with a severe blow that was even more severe than
the first stroke she gave to the guard�s wife. Antonia cried out from
the shock of the blow. Her hands immediately covered her injured bottom.
Silv�tya shouted:
�Lie down, Sister Antonia, and do not try covering yourself again! If
you dare disobey me a second time, I will hit you 25 times. Now, is that
what you want?�
Antonia sobbed: �No Sister.�
�The lie down. Face forward, hands on the table, feet on the floor, legs
spread. DO IT!�
Shaking with fear, hurt, and humiliation, Antonia complied. She sobbed
throughout the rest of the punishment, but did not dare move. Silv�tya
struck, waited for each welt to rise so she could clearly see it and
avoid crossing it, and struck again. Although she was not used to
wielding the switch, she had witnessed enough punishments in Seb�rnekt
Ris to know how they needed to be carried out.
After finishing with the 15th stroke, the instructor ordered Antonia to
stand in front of the class, with her hands on the wall and her back
arched to display the darkening welts on her punished bottom. The girl�s
body shook with sobs. Fortunately, she did not have to stay in that
position for very long, because the day was almost over. Silv�tya
ordered the other students to clean the room and carve up the dead pig
so the meat could be delivered to the castle�s main kitchen. As they
went about their duties, the students constantly glanced at Antonia�s
trembling bottom, watching as the welts grew darker.
Antonia�s face was still streaked with tears as the group trudged up the
hill towards the castle. When the concubines bathed for the night,
Antonia sat silently in the water, soaking her injured bottom. Silv�tya
did not approach her, but some of the other women tried to comfort her.
Silv�tya slept alone that night. Antonia slept in her own bed.
Antonia did not speak to Silv�tya for three days. During that time she
practiced preparing anesthesia and making sure the measurements were
correct. When Silv�tya felt she was ready for another hands-on test, she
managed to sedate and successfully operate on the injured pig. The
second animal survived its ordeal.
That night, Antonia shyly returned to Silv�tya�s bedchamber. She didn�t
say anything, but she allowed Silv�tya to take her in her arms and
comfort her in bed. Silv�tya sat on her bed and pulled Antonia over her
thighs so she could gently caress the bruises and massage her
still-tender backside. Antonia greatly enjoyed lying across her lover�s
lap with her hand gently caressing her bottom. The submissive position
became part of their nightly routine: Antonia lying across Silv�tya�s
lap and enjoying having her bottom gently traced with her lover�s
fingertips and massaged. Silv�tya enjoyed the new routine as well. As
much as punishing Antonia had excited her, she hoped she�d never have to
mark those lovely bottom-cheeks a second time.
The two women never spoke about the discipline incident. On the surface
it appeared their relationship had returned to normal. However,
Antonia�s personality changed: she became quieter and even more
submissive than she had been before. During their remaining time
together, she was careful to obey Silv�tya and comply with anything she
wanted. Silv�tya realized she could have converted Antonia into her
personal servant had she so desired. She wanted to talk to her lover
about the switching, but that conversation never happened.
----------
Throughout the late spring, the Grand Duke kept Silv�tya in his bed
chamber to share his bath, after he had satisfied himself with his other
concubines and she had finished her medical instruction for the day. He
spent countless hours with his favorite servant, talking about the
Duchy�s military dilemma and possible options. He really was not talking
to her at all: he was just thinking out loud and needed another person
in the room; one who was presumably harmless, to allow his mind to work
through the thinking process. It indeed was true that she would never do
anything to counter his plans or betray him. She was his subject
after-all but, more importantly, she was a Danubian who wanted her
nation and her people to survive. It sounded like the Lord of the Red
Moon was a very frightening enemy. It was unlikely anyone in the castle,
not even the concubines, would be spared if the Army of the Moon took
over Dan�bikt M�skt. She would do whatever she could to assist her
ruler. As flawed a man as he might be, the Grand Duke was the Duchy�s
only hope for surviving the looming crisis.
About two weeks after she punished Antonia, Silv�tya spent a normal
evening with the Grand Duke, first satisfying him sexually in the
company of two other concubines, and then sitting alone with him in his
bath. She massaged his back and legs. He became hard and ordered her to
bend over the side of the bath so he could take her from behind. Then
she dried him off and he took her to his bed so she could give him a
final massage for the night. The ruler was not able to relax. He
suddenly sat up and turned to his servant:
�I have a question and you will answer. When you fled from the mountains
and went to Seb�rnekt Ris, what exactly happened to the Followers�
settlement? I understand that it exploded, at a great cost to the True
Believers I believe, but I need to know the details of how that
happened. How exactly did the settlement explode? How did your Elders
prepare for it?�
Silv�tya told her master what she knew, which was frustratingly little.
She believed there must have been a series of tubes connecting holes in
the ground with hollowed-out spaces in the buildings that contained
musket powder. The Grand Duke countered that musket powder could not
have made such violent explosions: it had to be something else, or at
least special musket powder that had somehow been altered to produce an
enhanced detonation.
�I am commanding you to figure out how those explosions were created. I
have settled on a plan to defend the Duchy, but that plan depends on you
finding out how your Elders managed to create those blasts. I will give
you free access to the papers I�ve taken from the Cult and anything else
you need, but you absolutely have to find that formula and replicate it.
And the fuses as well. I need to know how those fuses were created. Your
life depends on it. The Duchy�s life depends on it. And if you need
further convincing, you might consider what the Lord of the Red Moon
would do to Servant Antonia, if he ever gets his hands on her.�
Silv�tya felt sick to her stomach. So, the Grand Duke did know about her
relationship with Antonia. However, that didn�t matter. What mattered
was he had touched on the one person Silv�tya would do anything to
protect. He couldn�t have chosen a better way to motivate her to figure
out the mystery of the Followers� explosive powder and how to replicate
it.
�Yes, Your Majesty. To hear is to obey.�
Silv�tya spent an entire afternoon of frantic searching in the secret
annex of the Royal Library. She suspected the formula would be written
in archaic Danubian in Bab�ckt Yaga�s coded script, which narrowed her
quest considerably. Sure enough, after sunset she found what she was
looking for, a diagram of the settlement with coded images of the fuse
lines. A few minutes later she found the formula for making the fuses
and waterproofing them. She later found several versions of the
explosives recipe, all written in archaic Danubian. She realized the
variations were designed to focus blasts depending on where they were
located and what needed to be blown up. Although she already had what
she needed, she continued searching to see if there was anything else
that could be useful to the Royal Army. She was rewarded by finding the
recipe for making the Followers� explosive goose eggs.
Silv�tya spent the next several days in the Grand Duke�s study,
dictating Bab�ckt Yaga�s coded script into modern Danubian while he
wrote down the formulas in his own hand. Unknowingly, she was providing
him with yet more inventions he would eventually claim credit for. Upon
assuring himself the formulas were accurate and would provide the
explosions he needed, he would burn Bab�ckt Yaga�s texts and retain only
what was in his handwriting. Even in an hour of grave danger, the
ruler�s thoughts never strayed from shameless plagiarism.
----------
The Royal Army of the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia was at full strength
by the middle of May. The Austrian muskets had arrived, so the men spent
countless hours practicing with their new weapons. The cavalry units
rode around the countryside to the east of the capitol practicing
maneuvers and leading enemy horsemen into ambushes and traps. Meanwhile,
traditional archers with crossbows practiced around the buildings of the
capitol, which was something the men thought was very strange. Wouldn�t
it make more sense to go into the forest and practice there, since that
was the place from which the Duchy had always been defended?
The Grand Duke vanished for a couple of days with several alchemists and
explosives experts. There were a series of very loud explosions that
terrorized local villagers and could be heard as muffled booms in the
capitol. The ruler returned, satisfied that his experimental new
explosives and ingenious fuses had worked exactly as he had hoped. His
chemists immediately set to work creating wagons-full of the new
explosives, countless fathoms of fuse line, and large containers shaped
like bowls. The mood of the troops improved when rumors spread that the
Grand Duke had invented a secret weapon and was planning to use it in
the upcoming campaign.
One of the Grand Duke�s final tasks before starting the campaign was to
pick his most trusted medical team. Yes, he had the castle medics and
field doctors, but now he also had 17 women with knowledge of the
practices of the Followers of the Ancients. He decided to split the
women. The majority of the concubines would stay behind in the castle to
take care of any needs arising in the Royal Household, while four
military wives and three concubines would accompany the Royal Army. His
favorite concubine would lead the group. Fortunately for Silv�tya�s
peace of mind, Antonia was among those remaining behind at the castle.
----------
The Grand Duke and his top generals received blessings from the Grand
Prophet of the Danubian Church in the Great Temple of the Ancients on
the final day of May in 1754. Silv�tya and her two fellow concubines
were among the Royal entourage, dressed in lavender dresses and wearing
the red headscarves that marked them as the Grand Duke�s women. It felt
strange to be wearing clothing again after having spent nearly a year in
the nude.
It was also strange to watch the Grand Duke kneeling to receive a
benediction. She knew he was not the least bit religious, but he had to
put on a performance to satisfy his soldiers and the people of the
capitol. Immediately after the blessing, the Duke�s men would start
their journey south. Many of the men, perhaps most of them, perhaps all
of them, would never see the capitol again.
The Grand Duke had received information Lord Blood-Moon had assembled
his army and was preparing to move northward. The enemy had received
assurances from other European countries that no one would send aid to
the Duchy. Throughout the rest of Europe, rulers and advisors had
written-off the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia. Within a few weeks the
country would cease to exist and the rest of Europe could move forward
with grand international plans to attack the Ottoman Empire. The Duchy
was looked upon as a stone in the road that needed to be kicked aside.
The Grand Duke had to give a speech: everyone expected that from him.
However, he did not want the world to remember him for bombastic words
of victory, should that victory elude him. He gave a very short
statement:
�Today we march: tomorrow we will discover where our Paths in Life will
lead us, and how much longer our Paths will continue. I do not know our
fate, anymore than any other soul in this city would know our fate. We
will either lose and die by our enemy�s hand, or we will win and return.
The Creator and the Ancients will make that decision.�
The Grand Duke looked around at his subjects and concluded:
�I will not see any of you again if we are not victorious. My Path in
Life is the same as the Duchy�s Path in Life. Without the Duchy and the
men who are defending it, I am nothing. I will show my face to this city
only when I think the Duchy�s fate is secure. So� for those of you who
remain behind, I ask that you pray for us, and you pray that I, and the
men standing with me, will once again see our fair land. When that
moment comes, it will be a happy one for all of us.�
There was no cheering, because the Duchy�s citizens knew how serious
their situation had become. Instead, as the Grand Duke and his entourage
departed, the entire city sang an ancient ballad of farewell. It was the
same song the residents of the capitol sang in 1531, when King Vladik
the Defender left the city for the last time in his life, to fight his
final battle against the invading Ottomans.
----------
