Back to Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Eight � The Avenging Stranger
Tan�lickt and Danka departed from the Great Temple before sunrise on
August 6, only four days after Danka first entered the city. The two
penitents had very little time to spare if they were going to cross the
entire western valley, go into the mountains, cross the pass near Novo
Sumy Ris, and navigate the hilly country along the road that lead to
their destination in Novo S�kukt T�k before the weather became too cold
to travel. The real problem was the pass dividing the western valley
from the eastern valley: it could receive snow as early as the first
week in September, which was not good news for two people having to
travel as naked penitents.
Danka carried her bucket, while Tan�lickt carried a sack containing some
wrapped packages the Priest had given him, along with flint and tender
for lighting campfires, string to set snares, a small knife for cleaning
game and preparing food, a sling, and fishhooks in case they camped by a
stream. They'd be able to stay in churches and chapels until they passed
Star�vktaki M�skt, but then they would have to camp in the forest until
reaching the pass. He would have preferred to carry the sack over his
shoulder, but was prohibited from covering his body and therefore had to
carry it in his hand, in the same way Danka had to carry her bucket.
Danka wondered why Oana would be stationed with guards at the other side
of the Duchy and in territory only nominally loyal to the Royal House.
Tan�lickt explained there were two reasons: Oana had some friends
serving in the Vice Duke's Provincial Guards, and also she needed to
stay away from other former Defenders. Tan�lickt was not the only member
of the militia who had serious doubts about Oana's performance in the
battle. The Grand Duke would not have had time to worry about a single
ex-nymph, given that his commanders had to find places in the Royal Army
for nearly 500 new recruits. If the Vice Duke wanted Oana for an
assignment in the eastern valley, he could have her.
Danka enjoyed the walk to the east much less than she enjoyed the walk
from Gordn�ckt Suy�stenckt to Dan�bikt M�skt. The pace which she and her
companion traveled was nearly twice as fast as the leisurely speed she
had walked in the month before. Tan�lickt was used to walking with a
quick marching shuffle that was just short of running, Danka was
hard-pressed to keep up with him, but she dared not complain. Tan�lickt
knew the pass well enough to understand they absolutely had to arrive
before September 1. They had to go on foot and they only had three weeks
to reach it. If they did not get over the pass before the first snow,
they'd be stuck for eight months waiting for the area to clear. Danka
was too exhausted at the end of each day to want sex, but she had
promised her companion he could have sex with her when he wanted, and he
did want sex every night. They made love, fell asleep, and within a few
hours Tan�lickt was tapping her on the shoulder so they could have
breakfast and head out. Tan�lickt even considered stopping to collect
food along the route as a waste of time.
Danka had to credit Tan�lickt for his self-discipline and efficient
traveling the day they passed to the north of Gordn�ckt Suy�stenckt,
less than two weeks after departing the capitol. Because it was the
middle of the afternoon, Tan�lickt had no desire to stop there, to
Danka's relief. The last thing she wanted was run into Isauria. She had
said goodbye and that farewell needed to be final. It would not do to
part with her former ward only to show up a month-and-a-half later and
have to say goodbye all over again.
They crossed the hills overlooking the town and descended towards the
road that went into the mountains and eventually to the Vice Duchy. The
landscape was mostly forested, with some small pastures in a few areas
flat enough for livestock. The road climbed above the Rika Chorna River,
which flowed rapidly through a canyon that was increasingly deep and
narrow. Tan�lickt kept up his frenetic pace, but as the elevation rose
and the nighttime temperatures dropped and they cuddled each other for
warmth, Danka fully understood they would be in deep trouble if they
didn't get over the pass within a few days.
When the road veered from northeast to east, they passed a series of
rapids and waterfalls. Then the road moved away from the river. The road
continued along the hillsides, but the river flowed through a large
valley, the middle of which was completely flat and covered with thick
dark vegetation. Tan�lickt commented they were passing the Great Swamp
of Misery.
"It's definitely not a place for humans. The land is
cursed and will actually eat you if
you try to cross it. At night sometimes you can see illuminated ghosts
deep in the marshes. There are wolves and every kind of blood-sucking
insect you can imagine."
"So, no one goes in there, even to hunt?"
"No. Why would anyone go in there? It's too dangerous. You'll just have
to believe me. You told me you spent three weeks walking across the
Kingdom of the Moon with nothing more than the protection of the
Ancients and I believe you. You'll have to believe me when I tell you
that ground eats humans."
The shivering penitents arrived at the pass on September 2. There was a
small shrine and an inn run by the Old Believers' faction of the
Danubian Church. The resident Priest and Priestess were in their
eighties and had been working in the same location for six decades.
Danka recognized them: she had once seen them visiting Bab�ckt Yaga's
settlement. Tan�lickt handed over a sealed letter from his supervising
Priest at the Great Temple. The old man read the letter and smiled
mischievously. He handed the document to a much younger attendant, who
immediately mounted a donkey and rode off to the east.
Tan�lickt relaxed slightly, knowing the most risky part of the trip was
finished. They still had to spend a couple of days descending the
eastern slope, but from that point the threat from the weather would
lessen the further they progressed. The travelers sat by a fireplace
while Tan�lickt updated the Priest on the aftermath of the Defenders'
disastrous campaign and what he saw as he and Danka crossed the western
valley. As she lay on a thick wool blanket, Danka promptly fell asleep,
completely exhausted from nearly four weeks of frantic walking.
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Tan�lickt and Danka woke up early the next morning and continued their
trip. The pace remained the same, but most of the traveling was downhill
and for the first time Danka was able to enjoy some panoramic views of
the Vice Duchy of Rika Chorna. She was curious about the name, given
that at no point did the Rika Chorna River actually flow anywhere
through the Vice-Duchy. Her companion explained that when the refugees
from Lower Danubia first entered the area in 1512, they harbored
resentment against King Vladik for not having defended their homeland
against the invading Ottomans. Therefore they wanted to claim for
themselves as much territory in the eastern half of Upper Danubia as
possible, which included the Great Swamp of Misery and the headwaters of
the Rika Chorna River. According to the Vice Duke, the border between
the Grand Duke's realm and the Vice Duchy was located at the entrance of
the canyon they had just passed through. According to the Grand Duke,
the boundary was the pass itself.
"So far,� Tan�lickt said, �neither side has formally challenged each
other's claims about where the Grand Duke's control ends and the
Vice-Duke's control begins. Of course, the Grand Duke says the border
question is irrelevant because the Vice Duchy is part of the Grand
Duchy. The Vice-Duke has different thoughts on the matter. I'm not sure
how, short of a war, that'll be resolved."
Danka said nothing, the thought to herself: I do know how it'll be
resolved. The Grand Duke will send his illegitimate daughters, dozens of
them, to marry into the leading families. That's what he's planning to
do with all those girls. He'll conquer this place without firing a
single shot. And, of course, the girls will have no say in the matter.
Three days after crossing the pass, the two penitents entered Novo Sumy
Ris, the first town in the Vice Duchy. The town itself was not big, but
it boasted an over-sized church that was an exact replica of the one in
the original Sumy Ris. Danka couldn't resist the urge to go in. She was
greeted by a black-robed Priest who angrily chased her out, hitting her
several times with his staff. When the penitents knelt on the steps,
several True Believer Clergy-members, all men, kicked their upturned
bottoms and hurled insults at them. A group of city guards, wearing
uniforms that were different from the ones worn in the western valley
and H�rkustk Ris province, grabbed the visitors and forced them to leave
the town. Both Danka and Tan�lickt were shocked at the treatment.
Penitents were respected in the western half of the Duchy, but in the
Vice-Duchy, which was still under the control of the True Believers'
faction, it turned out True Believer priests had very little respect for
collared penitents. Church rules forbade Old Believer penitents from
entering churches and local Clergy members were free to mistreat them.
As they were forced to move towards the crossroads at the entrance of
the town, Danka and Tan�lickt passed the market square and a young man
who was chained to a pillory. Apart from the petty criminal, Danka and
Tan�lickt were the only naked people in the entire town.
The guards kicked Danka and Tan�lickt in their backsides and thighs
before pushing them to the ground. The penitents were not sure what more
the watchmen would have done had to them had not the apprentice from the
chapel at the pass not reappeared. When he whistled loudly for them to
step away, the guards bowed their heads as he took charge of the two
visitors. As soon as the guards left, he apologized about not getting
back in time to prevent Danka and Tan�lickt from entering Novo Sumy Ris.
He offered to tie their belongings to his saddle, but did not say much
more after ordering the naked couple to follow him. It turned out they
would have to be escorted for the rest of their trip. They exited the
main road to continue east for a day before turning south again to
finish their journey along back roads and farming paths. Villagers and
field workers stared at the two penitents, but didn't say anything
because they were being escorted by a Church Apprentice.
The trip between Novo Sumy Ris and Novo S�kukt T�k was much longer than
Danka had expected. They spent almost all of the remainder of September
on the final portion of their journey. Danka had not realized that Novo
Sumy Ris was as far from Novo S�kukt T�k as it was from Star�vktaki
M�skt, and they were not going along the most direct route. The final
week of the trip was the worst. The autumn rains started and the
penitents spent several miserable days walking in chilly drizzle along
muddy paths. On the last day of the month, finally... finally...
finally... Novo S�kukt T�k's rooftops and church steeples came into view
through the rainy mist. The apprentice handed back his companions'
belongings and escorted them to a farmhouse owned by the family of one
of the town's Priests. As soon as his guests were at the door, the
apprentice departed.
When Danka and Tan�lickt entered, they were greeted by a young man she
had studied with at the university, and who had been one of her many
lovers during her year of studying. She remembered his name as Ernockt,
which was fortunate because she had so many lovers at the university
that she had forgotten most of their names or never knew them in the
first place. Ernockt was considerably more talkative than the apprentice
had been, asking Danka and Tan�lickt to talk about their trip while an
assistant prepared a hot bath for both. While the two penitents were
cleaning up, the assistant unpacked their belongings and laid them out
to dry near the fireplace, along with their soggy boots. A farmer's wife
came in and served a meal of deep-fried vegetables and blackberry bread,
both of which were specialties of the Vice Duchy. Tan�lickt exited his
bath first. Ernockt produced a key and unlocked his penance collar, then
told him to put on a new set of worker's clothing. Danka noticed a
peasant's dress hanging on the wall and realized she'd be wearing it as
soon as she exited her bath. When no one was looking, she unlatched and
removed her collar. The others would realize she was wearing a fake
collar, but all she could do was hope they'd understand it was a secret
that needed to be safeguarded. The two men were surprised to see her
with her collar already removed when she exited the tub to put on the
dress, but neither said anything.
As they ate, Ernockt explained what was going on. He was officially a
scribe for the city council, but he also was part of a secret network of
Old Believers and ex-Followers who were working in the Vice-Duchy to
undermine the authority of the True Believers and the Vice-Duke. The
group wanted the Duchy to be united under a single independent Church
and a single Royal Household. The secret society viewed the True
Believers as traitors to the Duchy's culture because of their ties with
the Roman Church. They collected information about the various True
Believer parishes, identified sympathetic Clergy members who would be
likely to work with the rival faction if it took control of a town, and
laid out plans to eventually seize Churches. The conspirators' plans
sounded far-fetched, but it was precisely through a well-timed
conspiracy and the good luck of friendly council members that the Old
Believers seized control of the parish in Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki. That
coup essentially drove the True Believers out of their last stronghold
in the western valley and cut the eastern parishes off from their
contacts in Rome. Ernockt's position was especially important, because
as a scribe he had access to all of the records of the town councilmen
and the True Believers' parish. The Prophets in the Great Temple knew,
in detail, everything that was happening in Novo S�kukt T�k. Considering
the way they were treated in Novo Sumy Ris, neither Danka nor Tan�lickt
had any misgivings about working with a man whose Path in Life it was to
undermine the True Believers.
Dressed in their workers' disguises, Danka and Tan�lickt followed the
scribe into town. They entered a small but very clean residence that
Ernockt's group used as a safe-house. The host pointed out the window at
a fortress-like building just a few doors away. It was a True Believers'
convent, the only one in the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia operating at
that time. Danka commented that she had heard of convents in other
countries, but was surprised to find out there was one in the Duchy. The
idea of a bunch of women isolating themselves from society and spending
their entire lives in celibacy struck Danka as totally odd. She had no
clue why anyone would want to live like that. Ernockt responded:
"The lifestyle has its attractions, especially if you're a woman in the
Vice Duchy and don't want to marry."
The purpose of the visit was to talk about Oana, not the convent. It
turned out the former squad leader had used her connections to find a
comfortable position as the leader of a group of female guards
protecting the Convent. Her set-up was quite nice. The leader of the
convent had issued Oana a small house, adjacent to both the main gate
and the barracks where the other female guards were staying. She lived
alone, but usually there were city watchmen milling about. Ernockt
handed a shawl to Danka and a hat to Tan�lickt. It was raining outside,
which would allow the former Defenders to cover themselves and avoid
being recognized, even if they did come within sight of their target.
Before doing anything else, they needed to become completely familiar
with the streets and buildings near the convent and the main church.
Danka and Tan�lickt examined alleyways, doors, windows, and walls to
consider how they would access and escape from Oana's house. After
eating dinner and resting, the couple went back out to see how the town
looked at night and consider how darkness would influence their
selection of hiding places and escape routes.
At midnight Danka told Ernockt and Tan�lickt to wait a block away from
Oana's house. She couldn't resist the urge to see her. Like the ghost
she would pretend to be, she silently slipped past a city watchman and
snuck around the house. The windows were closed, but one in the back had
a gap wide enough to allow her to see most of the house's interior.
Danka looked in. Sure enough, there she was. Oana was not alone. A much
younger male guard was with her. They both were naked, and Oana was bent
over in the submissive position. Apparently she liked having sex that
way. Danka tightened her lips. If Oana entertained men in her house
every night, obviously getting to her when she was alone would be
difficult. But somehow she'd have to do it.
She could not simply go in and kill her or kidnap her. Just as she
promised Dalibora she'd find and punish Oana, she had promised the
Priest in the Great Temple she'd not spill Oana's blood. There was
nothing more for her to do for the moment than try to memorize the
interior of the residence and the arrangement of the furniture. Danka
realized it would be a good idea to re-create the entire layout of
Oana's residence and practice moving about in the dark. As best she
could, she tried to memorize the size and distance between each piece of
furniture within her range of vision. When Oana's lover departed and she
extinguished her lantern, only the dim light from the stove was visible.
Good. Now Danka knew what the house interior looked like when only the
stove was lit. Still, the detail that Oana's house had a cast-iron stove
for burning cave-charcoal irritated her. Danka had introduced the stove
to comfort her companions in the Defenders' base camp, but it was the
woman who had betrayed the others who was benefiting.
When she was ready to leave, Danka had to time her movement to slip past
the city watchman milling about the house. That was another problem,
what to do about that watchman. She rejoined her companions and they
returned to the nearby safe-house. Danka described what she saw and
sketched the layout of Oana's living quarters. Over the next few days
she'd go back to verify the size and placement of the furnishings,
assemble a replica in the basement of the farmhouse, and practice moving
about in total darkness. Also, she needed to figure out what she wanted
to say to Oana when she confronted her.
Five days after Danka saw Oana's new house for the first time, Ernockt
showed up with a young woman who looked exactly like one of the recruits
Oana had brought back with her the previous spring. At first Danka
wondered if one of Oana's nymphs had miraculously survived the battle
and, like Danka, had managed to escape. The woman, whose name was
Jesk�ckta, was not the nymph, but instead was her younger sister. She
wanted to join the conspiracy against Oana. It turned out that Danka's
group were not the only nymphs Oana left behind. There were two
additional injured nymphs, one from Dalibora's squad and the woman from
Oana's squad, who she had tricked into not joining the evacuation.
The surprising news came from a musketeer of another commander's company
who Danka had never met. However, according to the story he told
Jesk�ckta's family, his circumstances in Aksheriri Ris were very similar
to Danka's. He was watching over the injured nymph from Dalibora's squad
and trying to construct a sling from bed linens to carry her out, when
Oana showed up with Jesk�ckta's sister, who had broken her leg when
falling off a rooftop. Oana ordered the musketeer to leave the house and
accompany her. She ordered the two injured nymphs to stay in the house
and bolt the door. The Grand Duke's army was positioned outside and
already the first Defenders were leaving. Oana ordered the musketeer to
cover her as she ran towards the gate. To his horror, the man realized
the squad leader was leaving with no intention of attempting to bring
out the two injured nymphs. He screamed at her that they needed to go
back and help the injured women evacuate, but Oana ignored him and ran
off. He ran back, having to evade a squad of Red Moon troops when he got
near the house. When he returned, it was too late. A squad of Red Moon
troops already had broken the door and decapitated the two nymphs. They
were holding up the heads as trophies and playing around with the
Danubians' crossbows.
The musketeer was furious at Oana, because it was completely her fault
those two women had been killed. Had they been helped to the north gate,
there would have been enough Defenders to carry them down the hill. The
musketeer couldn't do anything against the enemy soldiers, because there
were at least 20 of them. He tried to return to the north gate, but the
Red Moon troops had re-taken that section of the city and the only
remaining escape route was through the ruins of the garrison building.
The musketeer was determined to get out, but it was obvious he would not
make it to the Grand Duke's evacuation. He remained hidden, hoping to
survive until nightfall. Shortly after he found a promising hiding
place, the Lord of the Blue Moon's soldiers launched an assault against
their rivals. The Danubian survivor crawled through burning ruins as
fighting raged all around him. By nightfall he had made it outside and
was able to crawl through the partially-filled defense trenches to move
away from the city and the fighting. He spent several nights sneaking
northward until he reached the Duchy. Upon returning, he did not go to
the capitol, because he did not know the evacuees had been taken there.
Instead, he stole a horse and a set of clothing to set out for the Vice
Duchy. He knew the names and the hometowns of the two dead nymphs, so he
decided to look for their families and tell them what happened. He found
Jesk�ckta's family first and told them what he knew about their dead
family member and Oana's betrayal. He then departed to find the second
nymph's family and was not heard from again. From their description,
Danka was able to confirm the identities of the two nymphs. So... it
turned out that Oana had left not four, but six nymphs to be killed by
the Kingdom of the Moon's troops. The only consolation was that the two
other nymphs were killed quickly. Danka could only guess they must have
had their crossbows ready and forced the enemy troops to shoot them as
soon as they pushed the door open.
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During the month of October, Danka and her companions worked out the
details of their revenge. They scouted the house several more times,
making note of their target's schedule and the schedules of her various
lovers. They bought furniture that matched Oana's furnishings, set up a
replica of her living area, and practiced moving about in total
darkness. They became completely familiar with the streets around the
convent and how they would access the house and escape from it. Danka
was happy to have Jesk�ckta as part of the conspiracy, and even more
happy that Jesk�ckta looked exactly like her dead sister. For the ruse
Danka was planning, the stroke of luck was perfect. While Danka and
Jesk�ckta worked out the lines they would say to Oana, Ernockt and
Tan�lickt purchased oil lamps and a prepared a chemical mixture that
made lantern oil burn an eerie bluish-green. They prepared special dye
to blacken skin and assembled several sets of tightly-fitting black
clothing and matching face masks.
October seemed to pass by very quickly. The four conspirators spent most
of their days planning their trap for Oana, but there was time to relax,
enjoy each others' company, and even explore the area around Novo S�kukt
T�k. Jesk�ckta took her companions to her village and talked about the
days when she and her sister were children, before her father tried to
force her into an arranged marriage. Fortunately for Jesk�ckta, the
father had since died and a brother was running the family farm.
Jesk�ckta would have to leave eventually, but she was not in a hurry and
was determined to have more say over who she married than her sister
had.
Within a few days of meeting Jesk�ckta, Tan�lickt lost interest in
Danka. He quit approaching her for sex and shifted his attentions to the
villager. He entertained her with tales of the Defenders' exploits and
descriptions of what life was like for the nymphs and musketeers. Not
having seen anything apart from her farm and Novo S�kukt T�k (which she
considered very cosmopolitan), Jesk�ckta listened to the description of
a fascinating world of adventure and danger. Danka noticed that
Tan�lickt exaggerated the bravery and performance of Jesk�ckta's sister.
In life she had not been an exceptional fighter, but her sister did not
have to know that. Meanwhile, Tan�lickt started asking about land and
farming in the region and if there were available farms near Novo S�kukt
T�k or homesteads further east. Jesk�ckta promised to ask her brother
the next time she saw him.
At first, Danka was glad to be free of Tan�lickt's attentions. She liked
him, but there was nothing intellectual about him and she would have
been bored with him had they attempted to stay together. Being with
Tan�lickt, she realized she would be very hard-pressed to find someone
as interesting as Ilm�tarkt. Yes, her husband had a lot of strange
ideas, but she was never bored talking to him and the conversations
challenged her to think about the world in ways she had not previously
imagined. Tan�lickt was more a man of his era, competent with a musket
or a plow, but not one to trouble his mind with things that did not
directly affect his life. And yet, as Danka watched him and Jesk�ckta
flirt with each other, she felt a twinge of jealousy. It was the first
time in her life a man who had been interested in her turned away to
pursue another woman. Oh well. There was nothing for her to do other
than wish them the best and finish her plot against Oana.
----------
By the last week of October the rains in the eastern valley had stopped.
The first snowfall was only a few weeks away, but in the meantime cold
dry winds whipped the last of the leaves off the trees. Now that the
rain and fog had cleared, Danka had the chance to look at the steep
mountains immediately to the southwest of Novo S�kukt T�k. In the
distance Danka could see jumbled peaks where the headwaters of the Rika
Chorna River were located. Just a year before she had been on the other
side of those mountains in the Defenders' encampment, wondering what the
Vice Duchy was like and listening to stories of fellow nymphs who were
from places like Novo S�kukt T�k.
During the middle of the month, various friends of Ernockt snuck in with
barrels of preserved food to lower through the floor and hide in a
secret compartment under the house's basement. The Vice Duke's tax
collectors were roaming around and typically barely left the farmers
with enough food to make it through the winter. Danka and Jesk�ckta
helped Ernockt's friends with some of the cooking and preserving, which
forced them to delay their plan to confront Oana. Finally, the farmers
left at the beginning of the last week of October and Danka could resume
her plot against Oana.
----------
On October 26th, Guard Mistress Oana Adonckta, the head of the security
of the True Believers' Convent in Novo S�kukt T�k, entertained one of
the town's young male watchmen, as usual. She did the same thing every
night, unsure herself why she gave sex away for free. When she reflected
on the matter, the only explanation she could come up with was that she
simply enjoyed having sex and young men did not entangle her in any
commitments.
Oana had lived alone for many years. She once was married, but it turned
out she was unable to have children and her husband left her. She took
advantage of her childless status to have a series of lovers. Eventually
she joined the Defenders, mostly out of boredom. The militia life gave
her much of the life she wanted, until that nasty newcomer Danka started
causing so many problems for her squad and Dalibora undercut her
leadership. Well, she did get even with those two, didn't she? Many
would have said that it was inexcusable for a nymph to abandon another
nymph, but that was just too bad. Danka and Dalibora, and the others for
that matter, had caused trouble for Oana, so their deaths at the hands
of the soldiers of the Kingdom of the Moon was what they deserved.
Besides, it was the Destroyer, not Oana, who ultimately determined their
fates. Meanwhile, she had started a new life and was proving her value
to the True Believers, so her future seemed bright, maybe even more so
than in the militia.
However, after her lover departed, Oana felt strangely uneasy. Something
was not right. She lay awake in the darkness, listening to the cold wind
blow through the streets and rooftops of Novo S�kukt T�k. She could
swear she could hear a ghostly whisper:
"Nymphs take care of each other. A nymph never leaves her sister in
the hands of the enemy. No nymph ever faces the pain of defeat alone..."
She took a deep breath and threw off her bed covers. She needed to light
a lantern and see what was causing that strange whispering noise. The
problem was she couldn't move her arms. Something, or someone, was
holding her hands and feet to the bed. Then, to her horror, a woman's
face slowly came into view. As it became increasingly illuminated, she
recognized who it was, the injured young recruit from a village near
Novo S�kukt T�k she had left behind in Aksheriri Ris, just before she
fled though the north gate. For a few moments the face said nothing. It
was obvious it must be a ghost, given the sad expression and weird
blue-green illumination that could only come from the Realm of the
Afterlife.
Oana opened and closed her eyes several times, trying to make the
apparition go away. Then she began to pray:
"Destroyer I served you... Destroyer protect me... Destroyer I served
you..."
The face spoke softly:
"But squad-leader... Defender Oana... why do you call upon the Profane
One? Didn't you renounce the Profane One in the Temple Plaza? Didn't you
say the Profane One has no power over the Realm of the Living? Didn't
you betray the one whose protection you now seek?"
Oana gave up praying. It was true. She had renounced the Destroyer. The
Destroyer had no reason, none whatsoever, to protect her.
"What... what do you want?"
"We miss you, Defender Oana. We need you to lead us in the Realm of the
Afterlife, just as you led us in the forest. We want you to be with us.
Remember, a nymph never leaves her sisters behind. We always go back.
Isn't that what you taught us? So, we are coming for you."
"You're dead. I'm alive. You can't come back for me."
"Oh, but we can. We must. You see, Defender Oana, we betrayed you by
leaving you behind in the Realm of the Living. It was wrong of us to do
that, because we know you must miss us. You needed to go with us, to
feel the pain of the soul's separation from the body, but sadly, it
didn't happen. So... now the time has come for you to travel with us
through the Realm of Darkness and Despair. Won't you join us?"
"No! Go away! You're dead!"
"Am I? Am I truly dead? Are you truly alive? How would you know that,
Defender Oana? How would you know that? Am I the one who's dead? Are you
the one who's alive? Or maybe... just maybe... it's the other way
around..."
The face slowly faded into darkness. Then the whispering started up: "Nymphs
take care of each other. A nymph never leaves her sister in the hands of
the enemy. No nymph ever faces the pain of defeat alone..."
Suddenly Oana had the use of her arms and legs again. She frantically
groped around the room for her lantern. She screamed when she thought
she brushed up against something that moved. She knocked over the
lantern and it fell on the floor with the sound of breaking glass. She
screamed again and jumped out of bed to push her window open, letting in
the frigid air. The cold didn't matter. She was desperate for light, any
light, to prove to herself she was still in the Realm of the Living. She
climbed out, tearing off her nightshirt as she clumsily fell on the
ground. Her ruined nightclothes were hanging from her windowsill and she
had some bad cuts and scrapes from her mishap. She stood outside her
house shivering, not from the cold, but from mortal fear.
From a nearby hiding place, Danka coldly watched as the bewildered
guards, nuns, and night watchmen gathered around Oana to see why, on a
cold night, she was standing naked outside her open window and acting so
strange. It was as though she had received a visit from someone from the
Realm of the Afterlife, from a ghost she was mortally afraid of
encountering.
Danka knew she'd have to congratulate Jesk�ckta: her part in the plot
had been perfect, her performance flawless.
----------
The group waited a week, to give Oana enough time to try to convince
herself the ghost incident was nothing but a bad dream. Ernockt
collected information from his various informants among the city night
watchmen confirming Oana had been totally traumatized by her "nightmare"
and was completely spooked. She barely slept and spent the nighttime
with her lantern on pacing around her house. During the day she was very
irritable and jumpy. The majority of the night watchmen were avoiding
her because it was obvious something was very wrong. Maybe Beelzebub the
Destroyer had something to do with her erratic behavior. If that was
true, then she'd be dangerous to be around.
As the days went by, Oana became increasingly withdrawn and isolated.
Her fear fed upon itself because there was no one she could talk to
about its cause. Danka almost felt sorry for her, but not enough to
change her plans. Oana had betrayed her most basic responsibility as a
nymph and now she would have to suffer for it. Danka divided her time
between rehearsing movements with the others for the second part of the
ruse and observing her former squad leader to determine when would be
the best time to strike.
On November 5th, Oana had a male visitor, the first one since her
"nightmare". Her behavior during their sex was desperate, as though she
could drive out her fear if she exhausted herself enough. Yes, she'd
exhaust herself alright, and in doing so play right into Danka's plans.
For the first time in over a week she'd sleep soundly, only to have a
horrible awakening.
When the city watchman came out and talked to his counterpart on the
street, Ernockt was hiding nearby. He overheard the men discussing the
evening's sex and found out that Oana was soundly asleep when the man
left her. Yes, her behavior had been extremely suspicious and erratic
over the past eight days, but maybe that had passed. The watchman on the
street commented that he wasn't feeling good at all and needed to warm
up. The two men left together, leaving the house unguarded. Ernockt
couldn't believe his good fortune. He returned to the safe house to
summon the others. Less than a minute later they were inside Oana's
residence.
Danka's target was too soundly asleep to feel the bedcovers being pulled
back and her nightshirt being cut off her body. She did not notice that
her new lantern, which she had kept burning continuously over the past
week, had been put out. She lay naked and uncovered on her bed as Danka
took off her own black gown, placed it near the door, and lay next to
her. Oana curled up from the cold. She started stirring as she sleepily
reached for her blanket. When she rolled on her back, Danka straddled
her. Suddenly Oana's hands and feet were pinned to the mattress. Her
eyes went open, wide with panic mere words couldn't even begin to
describe. Danka's face, illuminated by the eerie blue-green light,
filled Oana's entire range of vision. Danka's eyes appeared wild and
completely black in the strange light, as though they were not the eyes
of a person still alive. She was smiling seductively and with her hands
held Oana's head firmly in place, her thumbs stroking the older woman's
cheeks.
"Defender Oana... Defender Oana... answer me please..."
Oana was so petrified with fear she couldn't answer or struggle. Instead
she started violently shaking.
"Don't be afraid. It's me. Danka. Don't you remember me? Don't you
remember the first day we saw each other? In the logging camp? Don't you
remember that?"
"I... I... please... be gone..."
"Oh don't worry about that. I won't be gone. Don't you worry about me
leaving you again. It's true I left you in the Realm of the Living, when
my soul separated from my body. I left you alone. We all did. But we
felt bad about that, and it was always our intention to come back for
you."
Danka gently kissed Oana's gaping mouth, in a shocking violation of
Danubian protocol. Then she sensuously moved her naked body against
Oana's. The older woman suddenly realized with horror that she was naked
and Danka's naked ghost was violating her. Danka continued:
"I do love you. I will prove it. I will make you remember me. I will
always be with you, watching over you. A nymph never leaves her sisters
behind, isn't that so? Do you really think I'd leave you suffering in
the Realm of the Living when you could be with us in the Realm of the
Destroyer? We love you, Oana. We want you with us. We're returning for
you, Oana, just for you. We'll all pay you a midnight visit, each of us,
here in this very house, every time you go to sleep in this bed. And
then, we'll take you with us. Isn't that wonderful? And when you join
us, we'll remember how kindly you treated us. We will repay your
kindness, love, sacrifice, and loyalty, many times over. You'll be with
us, always and forever."
The light began to dim and Danka's smiling, leering face faded into
darkness. In a well-practiced move, she quickly lifted up and flipped
backwards, her fall caught by Tan�lickt. At the same instant, Ernockt
and Jesk�ckta let go of Oana's hands and backed away from the bed. As
Oana frantically flailed about in the darkness, they silently scrambled
out the door. Danka grabbed her gown on the way out and in a single
rehearsed motion, slipped it on. The moment they exited the house, they
heard the crash of broken glass and knew that Oana had broken another
lantern in the dark. The conspirators scurried along an alley as they
heard their victim desperately banging against her window, trying to
break through shutters she had re-enforced just a few days before. They
disappeared into the safe house as Oana finally caught her breath and
let out an unearthly scream of terror.
Danka and her companions hurriedly changed out of their black camouflage
outfits and put on ordinary workers' clothing. The women put on scarves
and the men wore loose-fitting hats that concealed their faces. Given
that it was cold and windy outside, there was nothing unusual about
their attire, nothing to draw anyone's attention. They would be simple
bystanders, like dozens of others watching Oana's inexplicable descent
into madness.
They went back out just in time to see Oana run down the street. She had
not bothered to get dressed and was bleeding from her efforts to break
out of her house. The house itself had been set on fire, so the night
watchmen and the female convent guards were occupied trying to put out
the flames. The conspirators weren't sure whether Oana had deliberately
set the fire or if it had been set off by accident, but as soon as the
flames reached the roof, the house was doomed. The guards were forced to
run out and concentrate their efforts on preventing flying sparks from
igniting the nearby barracks bunkhouse. The burning thatch collapsed
into Oana's residence and destroyed everything inside. The nuns peered
at the blaze from the windows of the convent, commenting that the soul
of their leading guard must have been possessed by Beelzebub the
Destroyer. After that hideous scream and the inferno that followed, the
nuns were desperately afraid of the woman and hoped never to see her
again. No one could blame them. So, Oana had just lost her home, all of
her possessions, and her job.
The watchmen caught up with the possessed woman, captured her, tied her
up, and took her to a warehouse for storing grain collected as taxes
from farmers. Not wanting her to escape and not knowing what else to do
with her, they chained her to a support beam. The prisoner's condition
was not good at all. She was so spooked she was unable to speak
coherently and her body was covered with painful-looking cuts and
scrapes. Whatever else might be wrong with her, the guards did not want
to leave her injuries unattended, so they summoned a town medical
practitioner. Unfortunately for Oana, Ernockt knew all the practitioners
in Novo S�kukt T�k and was a competent healer himself. So, when the
guards asked a healer to leave his house, Ernockt, who just happened to
be walking by, volunteered to go in the place of his friend. The
practitioner, more than happy to be spared having to get dressed and go
out on that raw, unpleasant night, handed over his medical kit. Ernockt
passed the kit to the guards and told them to wait while he summoned his
assistant.
The conspirators were ready to finalize their mission to avenge the
betrayed nymphs. Ernockt returned to the safe house to summon Jesk�ckta,
who already had changed into a medical apprentice dress. In the Vice
Duchy, injured and sick women could only be treated by female medical
healers: protocol prohibited male practitioners from touching female
patients. So, there was nothing suspicious about Ernockt bringing
Jesk�ckta with him to treat Oana's injuries. Besides her guild dress,
Jesk�ckta wore a loose-fitting shawl that partially covered her face.
When the moment was right, she'd push it back.
Ernockt and Jesk�ckta entered the dark storeroom where Oana was being
kept. She had calmed down enough to be aware of her surroundings, but
was still horribly spooked. Also, she was shaking from the cold and
would need a blanket. For several minutes Jesk�ckta left the shawl
hanging over her face as she dressed Oana's cuts with an herbal paste
solution to sterilize them and stop the bleeding.
Several curious guards quietly stepped inside to see what had happened
to the Beelzebub-possessed woman, but they stood against the wall and
were barely visible in the dark room. Now that she had witnesses, the
moment had come for Jesk�ckta to strike. As Ernockt held up the lantern,
she lifted up her head to allow Oana to get a partial view of her face.
Oana screamed and pulled hard against her chains, desperately trying to
move away. Jesk�ckta smiled and held up a dab of medical paste.
"Get her away! In the name of the Destroyer, get her away from me! She
has no right to be here! Get her away from me!"
Jesk�ckta spoke in quiet soothing voice, so softly the onlookers
couldn't hear what she was saying, They simply assumed she was trying to
comfort the mad-woman.
"But why, Defender Oana? Why are you yelling at me? I just want to help
you. You don't remember who I am?"
"Get away from me! I'm not coming with you! You're dead!"
"Dead? How could I be dead? What would make you think such a thing?"
"I'm not coming with you! I don't care what happened in the Kingdom!
It's not my concern! I'm not coming with you!"
"But... how can you say that? You really don't know who I am?"
"You're a dead nymph! You're dead! Yes, I left you to die, but so what?
You're dead! You're dead! You're dead! Now get away from me!"
"But a nymph would never do that. So I couldn't be dead, could I? You'd
never leave me... you were our squad leader, and we knew you'd come back
for us. We knew..."
"Well I didn't! I didn't go back for you, and because of it you got what
you deserved! All of you!"
Ernockt quietly extinguished the lantern. The next light was a faint
eerie blue-green light that illuminated Danka's face. She and Tan�lickt
had slipped in while Oana was screaming at Jesk�ckta. When her face lit
up, Oana desperately struggled against her chains. Danka slowly
approached.
"Defender Oana, you do need to join us. But why? Why did you do it?"
"Because I hated you! I hated all of you! I wanted rid my life of all of
you ungrateful, disrespectful, whoring, slut-bitches! I wanted you dead!
I didn't want to see you again, so that's why I did it! And I hope you
suffered! I hope the Blue Moons stuck you good!"
The city watchmen, who had until that moment been silently watching the
spectacle, gasped is disbelief. They had know Oana had been a Defender
and was recommended as a competent fighter, which was why the town
council contracted her to lead the convent security detail. They also
knew that she had survived the battle of Aksheriri Ris, so they
understood what all the screaming was about. Oana, in her own words, had
just admitted to the most heinous crime that any member of the Danubian
military, especially a commander, could possibly commit against others
in their unit or under their command.
----------
The next day the city guards convened a military trial for former
Defender and squad leader Oana Adonckta. The charges were six instances
of dishonorable
abandonment. The witnesses included Tan�lickt and Jesk�ckta, but their
testimony was hearsay, so it had to backed up by a first-hand witness.
That witness was Danka. Oana was shocked, horrified, and infuriated that
Danka was not a ghost at all: she was very much alive. Standing only a
fathom away from her nemesis, Danka described in detail what happened in
Aksheriri Ris. The experience of her and her three injured companions
verified that if Oana could deliberately leave behind a fellow squad
leader and three nymphs, there was no reason she couldn't have done the
same thing to Jesk�ckta's sister and the other woman. When a skeptical
guard asked Danka to detail how she escaped from the city, Danka openly
admitted to poisoning her injured squad-leader to prevent her capture
and walking out of the city at night.
"I acted under orders then, and I'm acting under orders now. Defender
Dalibora's last words to me were to find Defender Oana and avenge what
she did to us. So, that's what I did. As for my escape, I am a Follower
of the Ancients and it was the Ancients who guided me out of the Kingdom
of the Moon. Not the Lord-Creator and not Beelzebub the Destroyer. If
that makes me a heretic, then so be it. But that's how I got out. The
Ancients showed me where to go, and I simply followed their guidance."
The tribunal asked the defendant if she had anything to say in her own
defense. Oana, still shocked by the fact Danka was not killed in
Aksheriri Ris and by the complicated trickery she had used to entrap
her, couldn't think of anything. She sullenly responded she had nothing
to say to anyone and no need to justify anything she had done.
Danka expected the guards to execute Oana, but her punishment would be
much more horrible than the simple separation of her soul from her body.
Instead of tying her to a stake and shooting five arrows into her, the
guards brought a large male pig into the hearing room. The pig was
cleaned up and happily grunting as the guards led him to a bowl of left-overs.
While the pig munched on his meal, the leading member of the city
council signed a certificate making him a citizen of the Duchy, and
another certificate reclassifying Oana as property belonging to the pig.
She knelt quietly as a nun loosened her hair and put a collar around her
neck and shackles on her arms and legs. From that point forward Oana no
longer was human. She was less than an animal. The pig officially owned
her, and for the rest of her time in the Realm of the Living it would be
her Path in Life to live among the convent's swine and pay special
attention to her new "master's" needs.
The commanders grabbed Oana's chains and kicked her as they dragged her
outside. They tapped the pig to move him out the door as well. A crowd
of spectators started chanting:
"The Pig is your Master! Serve him well!... The Pig is your Master!
Serve him well!..."
The guards forced Oana to crawl to the convent's pigsty while they
continued kicking her and hitting her back with sticks. The spectators
continued to chant:
"The Pig is your Master! Serve him well!... The Pig is your Master!
Serve him well!..."
Danka sadly watched the spectacle. Her mission to avenge Dalibora and
the other nymphs was completed. She had fulfilled her squad leader's
final orders. She knew that she should have felt triumph, but all she
could feel was disgust with everyone and everything in Novo S�kukt T�k.
More than anything else, she was disgusted with herself.
----------
The following day was a happy occasion for Tan�lickt and Jesk�ckta. He
proposed to her and she accepted. Ernockt gave him two gifts: new
identification papers and the money he needed to buy a set of engagement
jewelry. Former Defender Tan�lickt disappeared from the Realm of the
Living. Under a new identity he would travel with his fianc� to her
village, join her brother's guild, and eventually purchase a plot of
land so he could marry her. He would never return to the capitol, never
serve in the Grand Duke's Army, and never again see the Great Temple.
The couple departed from Novo S�kukt T�k in the middle of the night,
given they did not want anyone from the Grand Duke's Army or the Old
Believers' faction of the Danubian Church to know where Tan�lickt had
gone or what became of him.
Danka was left alone with Ernockt. She spent a couple of days with some
farmers' wives, helping them prepare preserves and dress a couple of
slaughtered pigs. The sight of the pigs tormented her, reminding her of
Oana, condemned to spend the rest of her life chained inside a pigsty.
When the farmers' wives departed and their food was safely hidden from
the tax collectors, Danka decided it was time for her to leave as well.
She had completed her squad leader's final command, her traveling
companion was starting a new life, and she had seen what she wanted to
see of Novo S�kukt T�k. Ernockt was skeptical, pointing out there was no
way she could return to the western valley until springtime.
"I know I can't go over the pass. I know that. But I don't want to stay
here either. I guess I'll go to Rika Chorna, to see the city of the
Vice-Duke. I'll stay there, wait for spring, and see what happens. I
don't know what else to do with myself. But I can't stay in this town."
For the first time, Danka felt her life had no purpose. She was adrift.
She had no one she cared about, no responsibilities, and no goals.
Perhaps if it were summer she'd feel better, because at least she'd have
the option of putting on her collar and exploring a new place. In the
Vice-Duchy she didn't have that option. A penance collar did not give
her protected status and even if it did, winter was starting and there
was no way she could move about, clothed or unclothed. She still had
time to go as far as Rika Chorna, but there she would be stranded for
several months.
She lay awake, wondering what to do. Oana's situation came back to haunt
her. She knew that she couldn't walk away and leave Oana in her current
condition. If Oana had been executed she would have felt justice had
been served. However, the thought of her, or any person, no matter how
heinous, chained up among pigs, eating their food and covered in their
excrement, robbed Danka of her sleep. She had no desire to rescue Oana,
but she did want to put a stop to her misery.
Danka shared her concern with her host: the need to end Oana's suffering
before departing from Novo S�kukt T�k. Surprisingly, he understood and
agreed to assist: first to resolve Oana's situation and then to help his
guest leave Novo S�kukt T�k.
The next day Ernockt escorted Danka into town. In the safe house, Danka
put on a nun's dress. The nuns would be in their mid-day prayers and the
female guards would be eating lunch. Ernockt was friends with the city
watchman who was posted outside the convent's gate, so he'd engage him
in conversation. Meanwhile Danka, disguised as a nun, slipped in to do
what she had to do.
When Danka saw her former squad leader, she was shocked by how much she
had deteriorated. Oana was shivering among the pigs, her hair was filthy
and disheveled, and her body was covered with foul-smelling mud. She
looked very old, as though she had aged two decades during the week she
had been living in her horrible circumstances. No, this couldn't
continue. However evil Oana might be, this can't go on, thought Danka to
herself.
Danka entered the compound and pushed back her hat. Oana sullenly glared
at her.
"Defender, I've done what I came to do, what I was ordered to do by my
squad leader. I'm leaving this town, and I'm never coming back. Before I
go, I've brought you something, to let you escape from your misery.
Drink this, and your soul will separate from your body. It's the same
drink I gave Dalibora so the enemy wouldn't capture her. You can make
your peace with the Creator, or the Destroyer, and then you can depart
the Realm of the Living."
Danka left a small jar on the ground and stepped back. Dragging her
chains behind her, Oana crawled over to pick it up.
"But why are you doing this? I thought the whole purpose of your
trickery was to make me live in dishonor."
"No. The purpose of my trickery was to avenge Dalibora and the others.
That's now completed. We've taken our revenge against you. But, now that
I'm done, I don't see what good it will bring to the Realm of the Living
to prolong your suffering. So... if you wish, you can end it... at the
moment of your choosing."
"I don't know what to say. I ought to thank you, but I can't. I hate you
more than ever: I'd break your neck if I could reach you. But I will use
this escape you've given me. I guess I can say I appreciate having it.
And I have something to ask of you."
"Go ahead, ask."
"I want you to leave before I take this and stay away. I don't want to
give you the satisfaction of seeing my corpse."
"I'm leaving anyway. I'm not worried about seeing your corpse."
Danka made her way past the pigs, trying to avoid stepping in slop, mud,
and manure. She turned to face her defeated nemesis to say goodbye.
Instead, the words that came out of her mouth were as follows:
"You know... there's irony in our situation. When we met, I was a
wandering vagabond. Now that we're parting ways, my Path in Life is
still to be a wandering vagabond."
Tightly gripping the jar, Oana let out a loud hiss, an insult in
traditional Danubian society. Her damaged soul cared nothing about
ironies, nor about anything else apart from the unyielding hatred that
had consumed it.
----------
Following their midday prayers, the nuns returned to their daily
routine. When the church bell struck three, a younger nun decided to
check on the pigs and make sure the pigs' servant had properly fed the
animals and cleaned up their pigsty. It turned out the criminal was
nowhere to be found. When the nun further investigated, she realized the
criminal's soul had separated from her body and she was lying dead in
the mud. The nuns dragged out the corpse and buried her in an unmarked
grave. The woman's death was a mystery, but rumors later circulated that
a mysterious nun, or at least someone in a nun's outfit, had been seen
entering and leaving the convent. That was odd, because all of the nuns
were present at the mid-day prayers.
The townsfolk of Novo S�kukt T�k spent many idle hours during the final
weeks of 1758 talking about the strange possessed woman who briefly led
the convent's security detachment and the even stranger group of former
militia members who testified against her. As soon as the possessed
woman died, the others disappeared without a trace. They must have been
servants of Beelzebub the Destroyer, because somehow they knew they
needed to escape. It turned out the Senior Priest of the town had been
planning to arrest Danka and put her on trial for heresy, given that she
openly admitted to being a Follower of the Ancients. For a True
Believer, being a Follower of the Ancients was infinitely worse than
paying homage to Beelzebub the Destroyer. But the young woman
disappeared the day before she would have been arrested and no one had a
clue where she went. The other nymph (or sister of the nymph, depending
on who one believed) and the Defenders' musketeer had vanished without a
trace as well.
The captain of the city guard kept transcripts of Oana's trial, but
when the witnesses vanished, the records were not where the commander
remembered having left them. Without the documents, he could not compile
a final report to send to the Vice-Duke. Faced with a situation that
made him look incompetent, he decided not to file a report at all and
pretend the trial never happened. Everyone directly involved was either
dead or vanished, so it would be best to forget the entire incident.
The nuns, the female convent guards, and the city watchmen debated their
own memories of Oana and the avenging ghost-woman who destroyed her.
After several months, most people forgot there had been two women at the
trial and they combined the identities of Danka and Jesk�ckta. There was
confusion over the name of the mysterious avenger and disagreement over
what she actually did. Everyone, including the nuns, agreed the nameless
visitor was the most beautiful woman they had ever laid eyes on. They
also agreed the stranger possessed supernatural powers, but there were
as many variations concerning what those powers actually were as there
were people telling the story. Everyone did agree Oana's house burned
down, but there were conflicting versions over how the fire started and
why. Because Oana was buried in an unmarked grave, some witnesses
doubted she was actually dead. Some people even speculated the possessed
guard-woman and the avenging stranger were the same person, with the
Lord-Creator and Beelzebub the Destroyer battling over her soul.
----------
Meanwhile, Jesk�ckta had her own interpretation of what happened to Oana
and how she managed to avenge her sister. Because Danka had completely
vanished, Jesk�ckta claimed complete credit for uncovering the former
squad-leader's treachery and tricking her into confessing. It certainly
sounded better to the grieving family members and the village's other
young women, to have such a heroine living among them, the loyal sister
who had so stealthily brought her sibling's betrayer to justice.
Her fianc� said nothing. He didn't want to impress anyone: he just
wanted to conceal his previous identity, evade his obligation to the
Royal Guards, work his land, be a respected citizen of the village, and
raise responsible children. More importantly, he had no desire to offend
anyone from the family he was planning to marry into. So, he let his
fianc� (and later his wife) spin whatever tales she wanted to spin.
Whatever stories swirled around the village made no difference, not when
he had a field to plow and a harvest to bring in.
----------
Note: The Great Swamp of Misery
contained numerous bogs and quicksand traps, which resulted in the
Danubian belief the land was cursed and ate humans. It was also true
large populations of mosquitoes, midges, and biting gnats made any
effort to enter the area during the summer nearly impossible. For
thousands of years the swamp was universally hated throughout the Duchy.
In the 1920s the Danubian Parliament approved plans to construct a
hydroelectric dam where the Rika Chorna exits from the swamp's former
location into the canyon. The dam project was deliberately over-sized
because the engineers wanted to completely flood the area and destroy
all traces of the swamp. The project was completed in the 1930s and the
Rika Chorna Reservoir remains one of the largest artificial lakes in
Europe today.
Due to a recent flooding scare, the Danubian Ministry of Natural
Resources concluded the Rika Chorna Reservoir is too big and its surface
area should be reduced by a third to lower the danger of potential
flooding downstream. Engineers have increased the water flow through the
spillway and the water-level is now kept 6 meters below where it was
kept throughout the late 20th Century. The Ministry is attempting to
restore some of the original wetlands around the edges of the reduced
lake.
