Back to Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty-One � The Slave-Owner
As the Bul�shckt family and Silv�tya were fleeing south, the Grand Duke
spent several days surveying the ruins of the capitol and listening to
reports about the evacuation. The fire had gone as planned, leaving the
entire area within the city walls completely cleaned out. The only
structures left standing were the Great Temple and a few nearby ancient
buildings, the main cathedral and two other churches built by the Roman
Church during the 1300s, and a few stone armory buildings near the
castle. However, not everything had gone perfectly and unfortunately
there had been some casualties. As the day progressed, Royal Guards and
workers searching the smoldering ruins found several burnt corpses.
The Guards had no way of knowing who the bodies belonged to, with a
notable exception. The captain of the detachment guarding the castle saw
that Protector Alex�ndrekt Bul�shckt was missing. He knew Protector
Bul�shckt had a nice house located within the city walls and decided to
check its ruins. The men made the ghastly discovery that Alex�ndrekt
Bul�shckt and his entire family had perished inside their house. It
seemed strange that someone as smart as Protector Bul�shckt would not
have made it out of the fire, but the guards speculated that his wife
must have stayed in the house waiting for him and by the time he
realized where his family was, the fire cornered everyone in the
residence and they perished.
The Grand Duke took the news of Alex�ndrekt Bul�shckt�s death stoically,
but inwardly he was very upset. He lost one of his best guards, but even
worse was the loss of one of his oldest daughters. It was regrettable
that the girl was only a year away from being ready to be taken into the
castle: she would have had her hair braided in just six years and be
ready to marry off. The Grand Duke looked at the charred bodies, hoping
his offspring was not among them. Unfortunately there was a corpse of a
nine-year-old girl that corresponded with the daughter, so she had
indeed been lost. That was most unlucky. The ruler ordered the bodies to
be taken to the military cemetery and buried with honors. A Prophet from
the Great Temple would lead the funeral, which was a privilege usually
reserved for ministers and nobility.
When the Grand Duke returned to the castle two days later, there was
more bad news waiting for him. His favorite concubine Silv�tya was
missing. No one had a clue what happened to her. The ruler checked her
sleeping chamber, only to discover she had left behind her jewelry.
The other women were extremely worried of course, and seemed to suspect
that the ruler himself had been responsible for her disappearance. The
Grand Duke said nothing, figuring it would be best to let the concubines
speculate about their spokeswoman and wonder what she had done to
displease him. The Grand Duke never directly asked anyone what happened
to Servant Silv�tya. If the other concubines were scared that he had
killed her, then it was unlikely they had anything to do with her
absence. The Royal Guards and the matrons also took it for granted
Silv�tya had somehow run afoul of the Sovereign�s temper and that he was
responsible for her death. If he started asking a bunch of questions, it
would be apparent that she instead had run off, and it would look like
he had lost control of one of his servants and lose honor. So, it was
better to let everyone think he had secretly executed her. Besides, even
if she had run off, it was likely she perished in the fire, given that
she would have had to cross the entire city to reach a gate. If that was
what happened, searching for her body would be futile. It would be one
of several severely charred corpses found in the ashes and would never
be identified.
So, the disappearance of Servant Silv�tya remained a mystery for the
Grand Duke. Why would she leave the safety of the castle? How did she
get out? Did she go looking for him? Was she trying to find Protector
Bul�shckt? Was there someone else she was trying to find? Well�whatever
happened, it was best to stay quiet and use Silv�tya as a �lesson� for
the other concubines. When they did anything that even hinted at
irritating him, the ruler commented:
�You know�it is most unfortunate what happened to Servant Silv�tya. Hers
is a fate you wouldn�t wish on anyone, is it not? But I trust you
understand your Path in Life better than she understood hers.�
As for the ruler himself, he was troubled by the vanishing of his
favorite woman, but life had taught him to hide his emotions, even from
himself. Love always led to tragedy and the loss of Servant Silv�tya was
just one example out of many why it was best to avoid becoming too
emotionally attached to anyone. The Grand Duke pondered that Servant
Silv�tya could just as easily have betrayed him as simply disappearing
and that he had made himself ridiculously vulnerable. Well, he'd have to
ensure that never happened again. He'd replace the girl with another
"favorite", console himself by indulging with the remaining concubines,
and move ahead with his plans for the Duchy.
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The speculation about Servant Silv�tya�s fate showed up in the writings
of several former concubines and castle staff-members. A popular poet
wrote a fanciful story claiming that Silv�tya was not killed by the
Grand Duke at all, but instead fled the castle to escape the Destroyer.
As she ran through the city, the �Profane One� pursued her and spread
fire to prevent her from turning back. Thus, the �Girl with No Name�
caused the Destroyer to pass through Dan�bikt M�skt and was indirectly
responsible for the city�s subsequent burning. A song-writer took the
poet�s Destroyer idea and incorporated both the execution rumor and the
story from Rika H�ckt-nem�t; that the Girl with No Name had called out
to Beelzebub the Destroyer to save her from a second death sentence.
Yes, she was indeed spared, but at the cost of another city, the
Danubian capitol.
Several other poets and song-writers added their variations to the story
and in doing so unwittingly served the interests of both Silv�tya and
the Grand Duke. The truth about the Great Fire of 1755 lay buried under
increasingly thick layers of elaborate myth and fanciful tales.
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The former Royal Guard and the former Royal concubine entered the forest
and spent the late afternoon walking through dense old-growth trees.
They were still ahead of most of the other refugees and the road was
mostly clear. However, they had lost precious time trying to find the
parents of the children they rescued, so the guard insisted on walking
as quickly as possible. As they moved along the road, Alex�ndrekt
periodically whistled what sounded like a strange bird-call. He
listened, waited several minutes, and whistled again. Finally his
efforts were rewarded with a response. He changed the whistle, as did
his respondent. He oriented himself through several more exchanges and
led Silv�tya away from the road. They arrived at a clearing, where a
wagon and three horses were partly concealed by trees. An attractive
woman dressed in a caravan outfit like Silv�tya�s and a 12-year old boy
stood guard with crossbows over the campsite and three children. The
children, a girl and two young boys, huddled together under the wagon.
Alex�ndrekt introduced Silv�tya to his wife, Stepkakta, and a nephew,
Now�ckt.
They moved out immediately and returned to the main road, even though it
was close to sunset. The boy watched the back of the wagon while the
former guard rode his horse in front. Alex�ndrekt�s wife took the reins
of the wagon team and followed her husband�s order that she teach
Silv�tya how to drive. The three children, still bewildered from being
taken out of their comfortable home, sat quietly with their older cousin
in the back. After sunset the trip continued. Alex�ndrekt and Now�ckt
walked up front, each carrying a crossbow. Silv�tya and Alex�ndrekt�s
wife had longbows within their reach.
Silv�tya was dead tired, given that she had not slept at all for two
days, but she forced herself to conform to the rigid military-style
discipline of her traveling companions. It was obvious that Alex�ndrekt
had trained both Stepkakta and Now�ckt in the use of weapons and army
survival skills. The boy in particular, behaved as any ordinary Danubian
soldier would behave: he carried his crossbow with ease and confidence.
The group traveled non-stop through the night and the following morning.
They stopped midday, but only because Alex�ndrekt was monitoring the
horses and calculated they needed to rest due to the heat. The group
found a stream where the animals could drink and where everyone could
bathe. Alex�ndrekt and the boys bathed separately from the women. The
males and the girl went to sleep immediately, while the women stood
watch over the camp.
During the watch Stepkakta braided Silv�tya�s hair. Silv�tya was elated
when she looked into the water and saw her reflection. Finally, after
two years, her hair was braided and her public honor as a woman was
restored. Now that she looked like any other decently-attired Danubian
woman, she truly felt she had escaped the clutches of the Grand Duke.
After the afternoon meal Silv�tya slept on a blanket under the wagon. It
was her first opportunity to sleep in three days, and her first
opportunity to sleep as a free woman in two years.
Later, throughout the trip Silv�tya would provide an important
contribution to the group whenever they were passing through a wooded
area. In spite of her past as a university student and a concubine, she
was not a spoiled city girl who would be a burden on the others. She had
skills that she had learned when living in Bab�ckt Yaga�s settlement:
she knew secrets of food gathering in the forest and could instantly
spot and identify anything that was edible. While Stepkakta set up a
fire and prepared a meal, Silv�tya scoured the woods for food. The first
time she went foraging, Stepkakta was just starting to grumble about
Silv�tya�s absence when her companion returned with a sack containing a
banquet of mushrooms, roots, herbs, and berries.
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The group left the main road leading to the ruins of H�rkustk Ris
shortly before the forest ended. They followed a road that was little
more than a rough trail westward towards the East Danube River. When
they approached the shore, they turned south to travel along the water�s
edge. Fine flat beaches, exposed because of the low water-level during a
drought year, made the trip both easy and pleasant. An unbroken line of
cliffs, which comprised the Duchy�s western border, extended both
upstream and downstream along the opposite side of the river.
At night the team moved in silence, but during the day there was time
for conversation. Silv�tya and Alex�ndrekt�s wife exchanged stories
about their experiences as concubines and compared observations about
the how the ruler had changed over the past nine years. Stepkakta had
been one of his very first concubines, picked from a village when he was
still just the heir to the throne. The young Prince saw her drawing
water from a well as he was passing through with his hunting party and
took a liking to her. Like Silv�tya, Stepkakta entered the sovereign�s
service as a peasant and exited with the manners and skills of an
upper-class woman. As the Crowned Prince said at the time: �it�s always
interesting to catch a crow and turn her into a dove.�
�Then�that explains�there�s a tapestry above the Duke�s throne�he�s got
a tapestry�that shows a crow sitting in a cage and a dove sitting on
top.�
�Yes. The tapestry must have been made after my time, but that�s what it
would mean. His Majesty has many reasons for keeping concubines, but one
of them is to use us to humble the nobility. He wishes to prove that
noble families are not inherently superior to average citizens. Anyone
can be taught to act like a noble, and therefore nobles have no special
rights, and therefore, like everyone else, they must submit to the Royal
House. By having us act as ladies of class, he is sending his rivals a
political message.�
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The Bul�shckt group proceeded along the river for several days, passing
to the south of H�rkustk Ris and the squads of Royal Guards stationed
there to receive refugees and push them further south. Alex�ndrekt would
go around the ruined city to the west, then turn directly east and
follow a series of rough roads southeast. He had seen some properties
close to the southern border that interested him, but the family would
have to move quickly to ensure they occupied the land before any other
Danubians arrived to stake a claim.
The Bul�shckt family would have an enormous advantage of having the
tools, horses, and cooking utensils needed to set up a household upon
arriving at their destination. They also had blank letters from the
Grand Duke granting them rights to the property they would be taking.
Stepkakta and Silv�tya practiced forging signatures and finally decided
that Silv�tya should be the one to attempt to forge the names. She
signed several officials� names and made the documents look authentic.
One of the letters would be for Silv�tya. Alex�ndrekt had taken for
granted the assumption she would be content owning and farming a small
plot of land for the rest of her life. The
property title planted
doubts in Silv�tya�s thoughts about what she wanted for her future. She
could indeed operate a farm, but there was no way living off a plot of
land appealed to her. Maybe� maybe if she had a partner or a family� she
could be a farmer, but to do it alone?
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The family turned away from the river and crossed a region that had been
a war-zone the previous year. The area already was occupied by
recently-arrived Danubian settlers, so signs of both destruction and
recovery were everywhere. Alex�ndrekt talked in detail about the
skirmishes between the Royal Guards and garrisons of the Lord of the Red
Moon�s men as they passed through villages and manors. They arrived at
the same town where Mirjana�s captors had sold her relatives. The slave
market was still active, selling off captured refugees from the Kingdom
of the Moon. All of the slaves were women or girls, all of them were
collared and naked.
Silv�tya�s illusions about Alex�ndrekt suffered a severe blow when she
watched him purchase four slaves. He bought two middle-aged women to
work in the fields, a younger one to help his wife in the household, and
a girl who would be the personal servant of Now�ckt. Silv�tya was
horrified when she saw the naked foreigners kneeling next to the wagon.
Alex�ndrekt had talked incessantly about his freedom, his
step-daughter�s freedom, and Silv�tya�s freedom, but had no qualms about
keeping foreign women as slaves.
Silv�tya was most troubled by the girl that had been given to Now�ckt.
The boy was 12 and his new servant was only slightly younger. He would
shave his head in a few years and would want what any teenaged boy would
want. Silv�tya even overheard Alex�ndrekt discussing the purchase with
Stepkakta: ��yes, I know she was expensive, but I need to keep that boy
out of trouble. We�ll have enough worries as it is, so I don�t want him
wandering off looking for adventures.�
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A group of displaced families from the capitol joined Alex�ndrekt as his
family and slaves departed eastward. They all had titles to
landholdings, but so far every place they had seen already had
occupants. Alex�ndrekt explained that the best remaining property would
be along the southern border. There were several abandoned villages
within sight of the Kingdom of the Moon. If the others joined the
Bul�shckt group, Alex�ndrekt would teach the men how to fight so they
could defend both the Duchy and their new land. The men agreed, elected
Alex�ndrekt their mayor, and a large column of families proceeded
towards the border. Originally there were 13 families, but by the end of
the journey they had been joined by 15 more.
Three days later the group arrived at a village containing some refugees
from the Kingdom of the Moon. The Danubians chased out the foreigners
and quickly set up their new town. Alex�ndrekt didn�t bother to find out
if the empty settlement had a previous Danubian name; he simply called
it Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta because it was located next to a small hill with
a dilapidated watchtower at its summit.
The Bul�shckts, along with the four slaves and Silv�tya, established
their household in Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta�s nicest residence. Alex�ndrekt
left his wife, the three children, and the two younger slaves in the
town, but took his nephew, the two older slaves, and Silv�tya to
establish ownership of a large plot of farmland outside the village.
Forested hills lay immediately to the east of the property, and a small
river that was recognized as the border between the Kingdom of the Moon
and the Duchy formed a small portion of the boundary to the south. It
was a risky location, but someone would have to live along the border
and stake out the land for the Duchy. I suppose a former Royal Guard is
as good a man for that duty as any, Silv�tya thought to herself.
Alex�ndrekt handed a switch to his companion and told her to have the
slaves start clearing one of the fields. Meanwhile, he would go with
several of the men to divide up the rest of the land around
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta. Later he would have to organize some hunting
expeditions in the woods. The fields had been abandoned over the
previous year and there was very little food in the area. The situation
would improve after the next year�s harvest, but until then the new
residents of Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta would have to live by hunting and
gathering.
As she stood in the field, holding her switch and watching the two
wretched naked women sweat and struggle with their task, Silv�tya felt
despair sweep over her. What am I doing, watching over another
person�s slaves? Why did the Ancients lead me here, to the edge of the
Duchy, to this abandoned location? Is this truly my Path in Life? Is
this why I escaped the capitol and the Grand Duke? What am I doing, just
standing alone in a field?
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Alex�ndrekt�s training in the Danubian military manifested itself in
every detail of his behavior as he organized his new community. He
assessed each man under his command to determine his strongest skills or
talents and made sure each of his subordinates was doing his best to
further the interests of Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta. By the end of September
the town had a fully operational blacksmith�s shop, a glass-blower, a
cobbler, and a weaver. There was a shortage of livestock, but a group of
teenagers snuck across the border, raided a farm, and brought back some
live chickens and a pair of sheep. That was hardly enough for village of
300 people, but at least it was a start.
Alex�ndrekt knew that Silv�tya had training from the Cult of the
Ancients for living and foraging in the woods, so he employed her to
lead gathering expeditions into the nearby hills. Both he and Stepkakta
had been very impressed with her talent for finding anything edible
during the first days of their journey, so it was logical to place
former Follower in charge of foraging expeditions. The commander ordered
each family to send at least one woman or girl to the plaza with bags
and baskets, with the understanding they were to follow Silv�tya into
the hills and do exactly what she told them to do. Anyone failing to
follow her instructions would face a public switching in the plaza upon
returning. The severe command was necessary because most of the women
were guild wives or field workers that had no experience collecting food
in the forest. As long as the women were accompanying Silv�tya, they
would be under her command, no questions asked.
Silv�tya was not particularly religious when she was in a �civilized�
environment, but when she was in a natural setting, she did feel the
presence of the Ancients. Her religion might no longer have formally
existed, but the spirituality she had learned with the Cult stayed with
her and influenced her view of the world. Therefore, as she led others
into the woods, she insisted on maintaining the practices of the Old
World. She shocked her companions by stripping and ordering the others
to undress as well. The oldest woman in the group would stand watch over
the dresses, but the others would show respect to the Realm of Nature by
entering the forest as the Great Spirits had created them. Noting the
reluctance of her companions, she snapped:
�If you want your families to eat, they will only do so with the
blessing of the Ancients. The Ancients will only give you their blessing
if you respect the ways of the Old World. That�s the way your Paths in
Life will be whenever you are with me. I am a Follower of the Ancients,
I am a woman of the Old World, and you will obey, just as I obey the
Ancients. If you disobey me, the wrath of the Ancients awaits you in the
woods, and the switch awaits you in the Plaza.�
So�the naked ex-concubine led her equally naked companions through the
forested hills, gathering a multitude of roots, berries, mushrooms,
herbs, and fungi. The women were surprised by how many items previously
unknown to them could be gathered and prepared. Silv�tya led the women
to various streams to catch fish and collect freshwater mussels. The
streams offered a respite from the constant wandering when the guide and
her companions relaxed along the shore and swam in the cold water. The
women became used to traversing the hills in the nude and eventually
started to enjoy it. The cool breezes felt comfortable on their
uncovered skin and it was nice to not worry about damaging or soiling
clothing that was both expensive and difficult to replace.
The trips to the woods offered a welcome break from Mayor Alex�ndrekt
Bul�shckt�s increasingly rigid militaristic rule over
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta. He insisted that all men and boys engage in
constantly practicing both fencing and archery. The males practiced for
war as much as they worked their fields, while the women wore themselves
out foraging and preserving food for the grim winter that lay ahead.
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As the weather started to become colder, the foraging expeditions into
the mountains ended, along with Silv�tya�s temporary authority over
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta�s other women. She had taught her companions what
she knew about finding unusual food items and innovative methods of
preparing meals, but now that her knowledge had been dispensed, the
other women saw no need to continue following the orders of someone who
looked no older than 17. Silv�tya became known around the town as �the
Cult girl� as the women increasingly resented her efforts to impose her
beliefs on them. The other women dismissed her and her strange religion
as soon as they no longer needed her. By the end of October their
gratitude for what she had taught them was forgotten.
There were other changes in Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta that troubled Silv�tya,
especially in the house of her hosts. Stepkakta discovered she was
pregnant in October and became even more ill-tempered than she had been
over the summer. She was very unpleasant to be around, so Silv�tya
avoided her as much as possible. Nor did Silv�tya approve of Stepkakta�s
treatment of the house slave. On several occasions she had witnessed the
mistress tie her servant to the kitchen table and give her severe
switchings, while Now�ckt�s servant was forced to watch �to learn her
place�.
Stepkakta never beat the younger girl, not because of her age, but
because of her value. However, already there were numerous signs that
Now�ckt was not going to treat her well. Throughout the fall and winter
he and Alex�ndrekt�s step-daughter bullied his servant and forced her to
do humiliating things. For example, at the end of October, Now�ckt and
his cousin �punished� the girl by cutting off part of her hair and then
forced her to look at herself in a mirror. When she cried at seeing her
reflection, all four of the Bul�shckt children ridiculed her.
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Alex�ndrekt proved his talent as a soldier by training and organizing
the town�s men into a competent platoon-sized militia within just two
months. No group of soldiers from the Kingdom of the Moon could have
entered Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta without sustaining casualties. However, the
mayor knew the town�s preparation for combat remained totally
inadequate. The men had a mis-matched collection of personal weapons,
there was no extra iron ore, and the community only had six horses, of
which four belonged to the Bul�shckts. Adding to the mayor�s worries was
the lack of salt, which was needed to preserve meat in an age when there
was no refrigeration. For Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta to survive and prosper,
the inhabitants would have to trade for the goods they needed, but
unfortunately they had nothing to offer.
The town�s fortunes changed when a group of refugees from a manor
immediately south of the border fled from a group of soldiers loyal to
the Lord of the Blue Moon. The manor owner was loyal to the Lord of the
Red Moon, so he and his family: women, children, and house servants
included, were hung outside their house on the Kingdom�s infamous
impalement hooks. The field workers did not stick around to see what was
going to happen to them. Yes, they had heard that the Danubian Duchy no
longer was a safe place, but they were panicked and had nowhere else to
go. So, reluctantly they crossed the river and fled north.
Alex�ndrekt set up a trap for the refugees as soon as he found out they
had crossed the border. The townsmen waited until the foreigners were
moving between two hills. They were set up with crossbows on both sides
of the road, while the mayor and five mounted companions charged the
group from the front. The refugees scrambled up the hillsides, only to
fall to the crossbows of the Danubians. The mayor had ordered only the
foreign men to be killed, while as many of the women as possible were to
be captured alive.
The townsfolk caught 36 women and girls. They herded their shivering,
naked prisoners northward and sold them at the same market where
Alex�ndrekt had bought his slaves several months before. The men
triumphantly returned to their town with new horses, new crossbows, a
pile of crossbow bolts and arrows, two muskets, gunpowder, and several
barrels of salt. The town celebrated their good fortune as Alex�ndrekt
trained several of his men to ride their new horses and Stepkakta
distributed salt among the town�s women. Already there was talk of a new
raiding expedition to capture more slaves and how much easier that would
be now that more of the men had horses.
Silv�tya felt sick. She couldn�t figure out if Alex�ndrekt had changed
or if she never knew him in the first place. Instead of the thoughtful
devoted family man she had seen in the castle, the Alex�ndrekt in front
of her was a brutal raider and enslaver. Not only was he a slave owner,
but he was killing refugees and actively catching and condemning women
to a lifetime of servitude. Of course, everyone else totally adored him
because he was doing everything necessary to ensure
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta�s security and prosperity. However, at what price?
What kind of community was he creating? Certainly not one where Silv�tya
would want to live.
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The grim autumn turned into an equally grim winter. The salt barrels and
hunting expeditions ensured that Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta would not actually
starve, but throughout the end of the year food would be in short
supply. The men were gone most of the time, not only hunting animals but
pursuing rumors about groups of refugees. During the bleak months of
December and January they captured a total of 24 more foreign women and
took them to the slave market. The additional trading netted some iron
ore, crop seed, tools, and cave charcoal.
Additional families entered Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta and claimed ownership of
the remaining parcels of vacant land. Silv�tya decided to sell the title
of her plot to one of the newcomers, given that she had no desire to
farm or settle in the area. Hers was one of the last properties
available, so she received three-and-a-half gold pieces, which was a
good price for a plot that size. As soon as the weather became warm, she
would go into the hills and continue with her travels. Everything about
her neighbors disgusted her and she longed never to see any of them
again.
Meanwhile, the vicious civil war to the south dragged on. Silv�tya
periodically climbed into the watchtower on the hilltop overlooking the
border and talked to the sentry. Occasionally she could see plumes of
smoke in the distance and knew some ghastly atrocity had just been
committed by one of the warring factions. She thought about her odious
neighbors and the senseless southern warlords. More than any other time
in her life, she questioned the goodness of the cosmos and wondered
whether people had ever done anything to deserve their place in the
Realm of the Living.
�Where is the Creator? Where are the blessings from the Ancients? The
only presence I ever feel is that of the Destroyer. I don�t feel
anything else.�
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Stepkakta�s fourth pregnancy turned out to be her most difficult. Her
health had suffered from traveling and adjusting to a new environment,
so by February she had to spend most of her time in bed. She was more
unpleasant than ever as her shrill voice echoed throughout the mayor�s
residence. However, that was good fortune for the house slave, given
that the Mistress was too weak to administer any more whippings.
Silv�tya, who until that time had been little more than a family guest,
took on many of the duties needed to run the household. By the late
winter she no longer sympathized or cared about anyone in Alex�ndrekt
Bul�shckt�s family, but she did not want the children running amok and
tormenting the servants.
As a condition for helping out, she insisted on taking control of the
girl originally purchased for Now�ckt by telling Alex�ndrekt there was
no way she could operate a household including a sick pregnant woman and
four rowdy children with a single slave. She would have to bring the
girl into the kitchen and teach her how to cook and perform other
household duties. Silv�tya was furious upon seeing the condition of
Now�ckt�s servant. The young captive was a truly pathetic sight, with
insults written on her body, her head partially shaved, her remaining
hair dyed red and blue, and her expression traumatized by constant
bullying.
It was fortunate that Alex�ndrekt had obtained a horse for his nephew,
because over the winter the boy was absent most of the time, tasked to
learn everything needed to become a mounted soldier. Now�ckt accompanied
his uncle whenever the men went out, whether it was on a routine patrol
or a slave-raiding expedition. The boy�s soul was becoming hardened and
callous towards anyone weaker than himself, but the inhabitants of the
household were spared from having to deal with him very much. The other
children were still young enough to be intimidated by Silv�tya, so she
was able to establish order within a few days.
She learned the names of the two house slaves, Marla and Isauria. Up
until that moment she had only known them as the �Kitchen Slave� and the
�Young Slave�. The substitute house-mistress cut off Isauria�s ruined
hair, evened the stubble on her scalp, and gave her a headscarf to hide
what had been done to her by Alex�ndrekt�s step-daughter. Silv�tya was
thoroughly disgusted and promised herself that when she left town, she
would somehow try to take the adolescent with her. Anyhow, at least
Isauria was now under her control and for the time being would be spared
any further bullying.
----------
As much as she was disgusted by Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta�s reliance on
slavery, Silv�tya was impressed by how quickly Mayor Bul�shckt had
organized an undisciplined group of refugees and a collection of
abandoned houses into a fully functioning community capable of feeding
and defending itself. Over the late winter additional slave raids
allowed the town to purchase a wagon-load of cheese and barley; another
wagon full of beets, carrots, and potatoes; and several pregnant
breed-sows. In the early spring the entire community turned out to plant
the fields, including everyone in the Bul�shckt household, with the
exception of the still bed-ridden Stepkakta.
The planted fields and green hills reminded Silv�tya that it was time to
fulfill the promise she had made to herself and leave. She correctly
assumed that had she simply asked for permission to depart and to take
Isauria with her, the mayor would have denied the request. Silv�tya was
too valuable to the household and he would consider her trying to leave
before his wife had her baby a dereliction of duty.
Silv�tya prayed about her dilemma to the Ancients. The answer she
received was to conduct a test of Alex�ndrekt�s character to see how
loyal he truly was to his wife. If he passed the test of character, she
would have to stay. If he failed the test, then she would be able to
coerce him into letting her have everything she wanted.
----------
Silv�tya knew that Alex�ndrekt had a favorite spot in the hills
immediately to the east of his estate. It was a rocky overlook that
included a large flat stone upon which it was possible to sit, lie, set
up a spyglass, or use as a firing position. There was a brook nearby
with a small pool that was large enough for two people to fit
comfortably and take a bath, or for a horse to take a drink. A horse
could be tied near the water and still be within sight of the rock, so
it was an ideal location for a military man to rest with his horse.
Silv�tya returned to her old habit of searching the forest for edible
items as soon as the weather was warm enough for her to run around the
hills in the nude. She took advantage of the stone shelf as a location
to offer up her prayers to the Ancients and as a place to spread out her
mushrooms and herbs so they could dry in the sun. She knelt and prayed
in archaic Danubian, hoping that eventually the Ancients would answer
her prayers.
Alex�ndrekt spent several days observing the young Follower, fascinated
by her naked figure as she prayed in the bright late spring sunshine.
Yes, in the Grand Duke�s castle she had been constantly naked for two
years, but that had been forced upon her. Now she was in her natural
environment, willingly sharing herself and her body with the lost soul
of the Old World. Hearing her singing and praying in the Old Language
and surrendering herself to the Realm of Nature made her seem mysterious
and sinister, but at the same time made her very sexy.
A week after he started observing her in his favorite spot, Alex�ndrekt
approached Silv�tya. Her skin was starting to tan and her sweat
glistened in the warm sunshine. She remained on her knees as she
silently looked back at him, waiting to see what he would do.
�You�re a strange girl, Silv�tya. You�re different from anyone I�ve ever
met. Different, and far more interesting.�
Silv�tya remained on her knees, looking at the mayor, but still with no
answer. Alex�ndrekt became nervous at her silence, but the sight of her
was making him increasingly aroused. He had not had sex with his wife
for over six months, so the girl in front of him looked sexier to him
than ever. He badly wanted her and she was well-aware of what was going
on in his head. Finally, still keeping her silence, she stood up and put
out her hand.
She bent over the rocks in the submissive position as he caressed her
body and struggled out of his clothing. It had been a long time for her
as well, so at least she could enjoy what was about to happen before she
set off her trap. She sighed as he massaged her bottom and ran his
fingers between her legs. She became wet as she positioned herself and
welcomed his hard penis into her eager body. He took his time with her�
if nothing else at least he was a good lover. She abandoned herself to
the moment and allowed herself to climax.
The couple swam in the pool and made love again. She lay on her back on
a batch of clover as he pushed into her. He was rough and vigorous as he
thrust, but a lot more considerate than the Grand Duke had been.
They made love in the same spot over the next several days. Eventually
Silv�tya worked him into the position she wanted as she got him to lie
on his back and she straddled him. The mayor climaxed into her as she
relived her old fantasy of being Lilith.
----------
That night, Silv�tya packed her bucket and put on her trader�s outfit.
She served dinner and brought Alex�ndrekt a bottle of ale. Then she
changed her entire demeanor. In a cold voice she ordered the children to
leave the room and told the slaves to return to the kitchen. She placed
her hands on the table and stared hard at the surprised mayor.
�You know, Alex�ndrekt, there have been only three men in my life for
whom I�ve ever had any respect. One of those men was a farmer who taught
me the importance of atonement. The second man was an Elder from my Cult
who taught me about overcoming one�s fear. The third man I admired was
you. I thought you had taught me about the importance of one�s family.
However, I was wrong about you. I don�t know whether you changed or if I
just didn�t know you, but either way, I don�t like what you�ve turned
into. So, I�m leaving. I am taking my bucket and I�m walking out of this
town.�
�Very well, if that�s how you feel, then go.�
Silv�tya reached into her belt and pulled out her coin purse. She placed
three gold coins and five silver coins on the table.
�What�s this?�
�Payment for Now�ckt�s slave Isauria. I�m taking her with me. I
understand that you paid four gold pieces for her, but if you�ve
noticed, your nephew and step-daughter reduced her value by ruining her
hair. It�s a fair price that I�m offering. You wouldn�t receive
three-and-a-half gold if you tried selling her at the market in her
current condition.�
Alex�ndrekt smiled and pushed the money back, but Silv�tya stepped away
from the table.
�Don�t be a fool, Mayor Bul�shckt. The Ancients are trying to protect
you from scandal. You don�t think people in Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta aren�t
talking about Now�ckt and the slave you gave him? The Ancients are
giving you a path out of your predicament. They are giving you an
opportunity to recoup most of your investment and put an end to your
family�s disgrace. I take the girl off your hands, leave without saying
anything, and we�ll be forgotten in a few days. Any other choice will
fill your Path in Life with dishonor. If you don�t believe me, then pick
up your sword, strike me down, and see what happens.�
Alex�ndrekt said nothing more, but he realized his companion was right.
He had nothing to gain either by killing her or by refusing to sell
Isauria. He saw the same cold determination in Silv�tya that he had seen
when she confronted the Grand Duke in Sumy Ris. She was offering him the
chance to get rid of two problems simultaneously. So, he reached into
his shirt to take a key off his necklace. He took the coins off the
table and unlocked a sturdy metal box that was bolted to the wall. He
tossed in the coins and took out a piece of parchment. It was Isauria�s
ownership certificate. He crossed out his name and added a note stating
the girl had been re-sold.
�What�s your name? Your real name? The one the Church called you when
your hair was braided?�
�Danka. It doesn�t really matter, but that�s my name. I guess you can
put my title on that paper as Peasant Danka, because that�s what I am.�
The mayor handed the paper to Danka.
�Very well, Peasant Danka. Take your servant and get off my property.�
Danka went into the kitchen and called Isauria. The girl followed her,
not yet understanding what had just happened. They stepped into the
plaza and passed to the back side of the town�s church. Danka handed a
trader�s outfit to Isauria and told her to put it on. She handed her
bucket to the girl and they continued to a shed where Danka had been
hiding a crossbow and some stolen bolts. She took the crossbow and
satchel, along with a traveling backpack containing supplies and tools
for living in the forest. Then she exited Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta to set off
with her servant towards the hills. The travelers followed a path that
led northeast, away from both the border and from the province of
H�rkustk Ris.
They walked in silence in the darkness as the quiet girl struggled to
keep up. Danka had not yet explained anything, but Isauria realized that
she had been sold and her new mistress was taking her away from
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta. More importantly, she was being taken away from
those horrid children who had spent the past eight months tormenting
her. She was very happy at the thought of never seeing them again. She
had no idea where her new mistress and her Path in Life would lead her,
but just escaping from the Bul�shckt children was good enough for the
moment.
At daybreak Danka entered the woods and looked for a place to set up
camp. She found a spot near a stream. Isauria was tired, but there would
be no rest until the two travelers had gathered enough food to sustain
them over the next couple of days. Danka taught her servant how to find
berries and edible forest plants and how to prepare them. The weather
was sunny, so she was able to use a magnifying lens to start a fire. The
woman and her servant stripped off their clothing and waded into the
stream so Danka could teach her ward how to catch a fish.
As they ate, Danka looked at her purchase and wondered what to do with
her. She had no desire to keep Isauria, but realized finding a safe
place to leave her would be difficult. The girl�s cropped hair presented
a problem because it made her look like a boy. It would take at least
two years for it to grow back to a length that would be considered
acceptable in Danubia for a young woman. In the meantime Danka would
either have to keep Isauria in the woods or keep her head covered if
they went into a settled area. She wished she could just take the girl
to the border and let her go home, but there was no home for her to go
to. Her village was burnt, her family was dead, and her country was
being destroyed by conflict. The civil war and the ongoing atrocities
were the main reason the enslaved foreign women in southern Danubia
stayed put, even though most could have reached the border just by walking a
few hours. Servitude was their reality in the Duchy, but rape and
impalement hooks were the reality that awaited them to the south.
Danka thought that a logical place to leave Isauria might be with the
Danubian Church. However, Isauria was an illiterate slave from the
Kingdom of the Moon who barely spoke any Danubian. What use would she be
to the Clergy? Especially with a shaved head?
There was the option of her former lover K�loyankt. There was no
question he could take in the girl and probably would. If she could
somehow make it to Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki and contact K�loyankt, that
would be the best option for Isauria, but it would not be the best
option for Danka. She still felt guilty about the way she treated him
and was humiliated from having been a concubine for two years. She
didn�t know how much her fellow cultists knew about her fate when she
left the university and did not want to find out. Taking Isauria to
Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki would have been the best alternative for safely
disposing of her, but Danka couldn�t bring herself to do it.
Danka decided it was early enough in the year to put off making any
decision concerning where she should go or what she should do with
Isauria. So, she would simply take the girl further into the wild
country and teach her everything necessary to live off the land. There
would be some time to teach her to speak proper Danubian and how to read
and write.
Danka looked around her. She felt the presence of the Old World, the
forest as it had been when the Ancients decided to depart the Realm of
the Living and leave humans to sort out their own fate. She wanted to
believe the Ancients were all around her. Maybe it was time to take a
break from the civilized world of the Christians and try to re-connect
with the world that had preceded them. She had tried to teach her fellow
women from Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta to appreciate the wisdom of the Old
World, in an effort that failed miserably. However, she would be able to
teach some things to Isauria. Along with learning how to live alone in
the forest, Danka would have time to make her appreciate the Ancients
and instruct her in the ways of the Realm of Nature.
Danka still wanted to eventually get rid of Isauria, but increasingly
she understood that by purchasing her, she had taken on an important
responsibility. Before they parted ways, she had to ensure the girl
could take care of herself and have the skills necessary to successfully
pursue her Path in Life in the Duchy.
----------
Alex�ndrekt Bul�shckt�s soul gradually changed after Danka left his
household. He had always liked her, so the circumstances of her
departure greatly upset him. At first he felt betrayed, but as he
thought over the situation, he understood why she had become so
disgusted with him and his family. Yes, it was true that the family had
treated the house slaves in a completely dishonorable manner. It was
true that the Young Slave would be much better off with Danka than with
his nephew. And when Stepkakta had her baby and recovered, he would have
to ensure she would not return to beating the Kitchen Slave.
Now�ckt was livid when he found out that his uncle had sold his servant.
He was determined to go after Danka and recover his property, but
Alex�ndrekt told him that the sale was legal and final, and that he had
good reason to sell Isauria. He had bought the girl to teach Now�ckt to
learn responsibility and how to wisely exercise authority over others.
By mistreating his servant, defacing her appearance, and reducing her
value, he had failed the test of character that Alex�ndrekt had given
him. (The explanation was not entirely true: the original reason for
purchasing Isauria was to keep Now�ckt from getting into trouble by
chasing after neighbor girls. However, it was true that Alex�ndrekt
became deeply disappointed with how his nephew had treated her.)
Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta prospered over the summer of 1756 and more Danubian
settlers moved in. All of the land around the town was taken, but the
farms south of the border in the Kingdom of the Moon were vacant. The
inhabitants had been massacred or driven off by the Lord of the Blue
Moon�s army and the fighting had since moved elsewhere. It was risky,
but several families of Danubians took over properties on the southern
shore of the river and Alex�ndrekt Bul�shckt�s authority expanded into
an area that was not officially part of the Duchy.
The mayor of Mal�nkta-Gordn�ckta did not lead any more slave raids
against foreign refugees. They had stopped coming into that part of the
Duchy anyway, so the town would have to live by more honest means. Over
time Alex�ndrekt regretted his behavior and knew that he would have a
lot to answer for when he held up his mirror before the Creator. Perhaps
he could justify his actions as a Royal Guard under the Grand Duke as
following orders, but the slave raids had been entirely his
responsibility.
Alex�ndrekt wrote extensively about his former friend and the moral
dilemmas she had presented him. He wasn�t sure whether to refer to her
as Silv�tya or Danka. Like others before him, he simply omitted her name
altogether.
Now�ckt also wrote about Danka, making up stories about a pretty witch
sent by the Destroyer to seduce and steal from from young boys and
destroy their dreams. As he grew older, he shared some of his tales as
campfire songs with his friends. The other teenagers started making up
their own stories and the Girl with No Name became an increasingly
loathsome and cruel temptress in the minds and songs of young men on the
Duchy�s southern border.
----------
Note: During the eighteenth
century women in Europe generally could not buy, sell, or own
property. However, the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia was an important
exception, due to the country's history. The tradition of women owning
property started in 1534 when King Vladik's successor faced the dilemma
of defending the Duchy after most of its men had been killed in combat.
He solved the crisis by recruiting unmarried village girls to organize
into squads of guerilla archers to fight for the Duchy. The teenagers
were called Nymphs and the reward for three years of service was title
to a piece of property. After a generation the Duchy's population
recovered and women lost many of the temporary privileges they had
enjoyed during the mid 1500s, but a woman's right to own property
remained part of Danubian law and tradition.
