Back to Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-Two � The Benefactor
The
harvest was as pitiful as everything else about the children's destitute
farm. Even with Vesna�s late-summer efforts to salvage the garden, its
produce would have been barely enough to feed the occupants for a month.
So� the failed harvest meant several trips to the market to purchase
food for the winter, along with supplies needed for preserving
vegetables, hay for Moonlight, and seeds to plant next year. Vesna was
not surprised to spend most of her remaining silver on ensuring her
hosts� survival over the winter. After all, not having any wealth seemed
to be her Path in Life.
She spent September and October organizing the harvest and teaching the
children what she knew about preserving food and preparing the ground
for planting the following spring. She tore down the chimney and built a
new one with a better design that heated the house more efficiently and
was not a fire hazard. She had to build a stable for her horse, using
the boards from the pigsty and some of the fencing.
Vesna visited to the bookseller in Pl�tnackt D�k several times during
the autumn to obtain information about the road repair and the flooded
mine. As she suspected, the road was not repaired, even after the first
snow fell in the mountains. During her final visit in October she bought
a piece of slate, chalk, quills and an inkwell, and parchment. When
Vesna and the children were driven indoors by the first snowfall in
November, she announced how she planned to spend the winter: everyone in
the household would learn to read and write.
So, Vesna spent the next five months cooped up with six children,
teaching them writing and basic math. She taught them to sing hymns and
campfire songs and how to pray to the Lord-Creator. She would have
preferred to teach them to pray to the Ancients, but knew in the
Vice-Duchy indoctrinating them as Followers would put their lives at
risk. She entertained them with stories of her travels and her
adventures during the wars of 1754 and 1758. She talked a lot about her
year in the forest with the Followers and her studies at the university.
She even talked about her time in the Grand Duke�s castle, but omitted
the detail of performing sexual favors for the Sovereign.
She realized she was good at story-telling. She also learned about
handling children. Marg�ckta was intimidated by Vesna, but at the same
time deeply admired her. The girl matured over the winter and realized
she had more potential than spending the final year of her life as a
starving prostitute. Vesna talked to Marg�ckta and the younger girls at
length about her experiences as a woman and what she knew about
relationships with men. She talked to the boys about the various men she
knew and what made some better than others. She explained about guilds
and the military and about the rich and poor. By the end of the winter
the older children had a fairly good grasp of the way the Realm of the
Living worked. The younger children understood less, but perhaps in the
future they�d know what questions they needed to ask.
When the spring of 1760 arrived, Vesna had to spend less time on lessons
and more time worrying about the farm. She kept the children busy with
spring planting. She returned to the marketplace to buy hens to re-stock
the chicken coop and several piglets. When the owner of an adjacent farm
died and the widow told Vesna she needed to sell a portion of the
property, Vesna bought the land with five of her remaining pieces of
silver. She had to buy more seed to plant in the new section, but she
knew if the harvest went well, there would easily be enough food for the
following winter, plus some extra produce to exchange in the market for
cheese and tools.
By the beginning of May she had only four coins from the original fifty
she had taken from Rika Chorna. She knew what she needed to do with her
remaining silver. After the May-Day celebration she braided Marg�ckta�s
hair. She then took the girl to a tailor in Pl�tnackt D�k to have her
fitted for a dress. The girl was speechless as Vesna tied the yellow
sash around her companion's waist, indicating she was available for
marriage. Vesna struggled to hold back tears as the traumatic memory of
her own failed effort to buy a dress forced itself into her thoughts.
She was afraid to speak and let the girl hear her voice crack from
emotion, so she tapped Marg�ckta and directed her to the church to
obtain a citizenship certificate. She exchanged the last of her coins
for the parchment and seal.
The two women, one wearing a new courting dress and the other wearing a
simple working outfit, left the church. Marg�ckta still didn't know what
to say to Vesna.
As they exited the plaza into the marketplace, they passed the town�s
pillory. Vesna stopped to examine one of the ankle-chains. She ran her
fingertips over the links and opened the metal cuff. She turned to her
companion.
�You know, I spent a day on the pillory, a few years ago.�
�You, Mistress Vesna?�
�Yes. I spent a day on the pillory because I wanted a dress so I could
look for a husband. I was just like you, just as desperate, and just as
willing to do stupid things. To pay for the dress, I stole apples...
from a farmer. He had me arrested, but then he repented and saved my
life. So, you're not the only one. I know what it is to be poor and not
have a dress.�
"But... last fall... you did have money, Mistress Vesna. Why didn't
you...?"
"It wasn't my Path in Life. It just wasn't. So I never bought the
dress... at least not for myself. Instead, I bought it for you."
�I don�t know what to say, Mistress Vesna� how to thank you.�
�I don�t want you to thank me. Words don�t mean anything. What matters
is what you do with your time in the Realm of the Living, not what you
say about it. The only way you can thank me is to find a decent husband
and lead a decent life. The neighbor boy two farms from yours� what
about him? He seems nice.�
�Yes, Mistress Vesna. I was thinking about him.�
�Certainly he�d be better than what you were thinking about doing last
year, don�t you agree?�
Marg�ckta blushed and nodded.
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Vesna spent some of her spare time exercising her horse and preparing
him for traveling. She still hoped to return to the western valley
before the end of the summer. The road was clear and the marauding
workers had gone back into their mine, so the danger was greatly
reduced, although not completely eliminated.
As she thought about her plan to return to the western valley, Vesna
watched with rising hopes as the neighbor courted Marg�ckta. If he
married her and moved to the farm, the children would become the young
couple�s responsibility and she�d be free to leave. Unfortunately,
because protocol required several months of courtship before marriage,
it was unlikely Marg�ckta would marry in time for Vesna to make it
through the mountains before the first snow. Maybe that wasn�t so bad.
There were worse places she could spend a year than a farm with a bunch
of kids. She fervently prayed to the Ancients for an answer to her
question, should she stay another year at the farm or try to figure out
how to make the children independent enough so she could leave.
The answer to her prayers came in late June, the day after the summer
solstice. A ragged, wretched-looking man showed up on the property.
Vesna ran into the house to grab her crossbow and make him leave, but
when she went back out, she saw the children gathered around him,
hugging him. He was Tan�lickt�s son; the prospector everyone thought had
died the previous year.
At first the man was extremely happy to see the farm and the children in
such good condition. That happiness vanished when he found out his
father, his wife, and his sister were dead. He ate a quiet dinner,
thinking about his failed excursion in the mountains and the loss of his
relatives during his absence. He had been irresponsible in his
desperation to find silver, but it was his family that suffered as the
result. Vesna consoled him with hard logic.
�Well, the only way you can redeem yourself is to stay here and take
care of your kids. You have a nice farm if you work the land, and I�ve
taught the children how to do that. Marg�ckta is courting right now, so
her Path in Life looks good. What happens to the others is up to you.
You�re the father.�
�I� don�t know� how to thank you for what you�ve done.�
�In a way, you�ve already thanked me. I prayed for an answer to my
question about leaving the Vice-Duchy before the end of the summer. I
wanted to go, but I didn�t want to abandon the kids or leave before
Marg�ckta got married. You�re back, so now I can resume my Path in Life
of wandering. You can thank me every day by making sure this farm is a
safe place to live and feed your children. That�s all I�m asking of
you.�
As Vesna prepared to resume her journey, her host realized he could
partially return the huge favor she had done for his family. He knew the
mine region very well, so he told her about the various paths and lanes
traversing the area, emphasizing the ones that were the safest and the
ones that were the easiest to move through on a horse. She marked
various locations on her map as she listened to his advice. Vesna
finally had the knowledge she needed to successfully make the voyage to
Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki.
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Vesna rode to Pl�tnackt D�k wearing her worker�s dress. She spent the
short summer night exchanging information with the map-maker. He gave
her a parting gift, a small compass. Shortly before sunrise she changed
into her guard outfit and left the town.
She
rode though a region of impoverished farming homesteads. As the terrain
became steeper she passed through sheep pastures. The road became
steeper and narrower as it traversed a series of rocky hills that
divided the settled area from the forest. The only people she saw along
the road were miners hauling ore or workers taking up supplies.
Following her map and the advice of Tan�lickt�s son, she left the main
road and followed a side trail. She camped briefly before resuming her
journey at daybreak. Towards the end of the day she came across a small
meadow where Moonlight could graze. She decided not to go any further
that day. Instead, she stripped off her clothing and spent her time
praying to the Ancients for guidance.
She spent the following six weeks slowly traveling west. During that
entire time she did not see another human. She had to stop to hunt and
gather mushrooms and berries while letting Moonlight browse. During much
of the journey she walked, and whenever she walked, she was naked,
according to the custom of the Followers. She didn�t have to think about
anything apart from making sure she was going in the right direction and
day-to-day survival. She was alone and independent, not having to please
anyone except herself and the Ancients who continued to protect her and
guide her journey. For the first time she did not have to meet anyone�s
expectations. All she had to do was keep moving at a pace of her own
choosing.
If surviving in the mountains during the winter not been a concern,
Vesna would have been content to spend the rest of her time in the Realm
of the Living traveling through the forest and avoiding contact with
other people. However, she noticed the days already were becoming
shorter and the nights longer. Occasionally there was a hint of chill in
the air to remind her the summer would not last much longer and she
would have to leave her temporary paradise.
After several weeks of navigating the trails, she was able to see
cleared flat farmland in the distance whenever she was at a vantage
point that offered her a view to the west. She knew she was looking at
the western valley, meaning she had escaped from the Vice-Duchy. The
area around her was starting to look familiar. The path led into a wider
lane. She looked through the trees and saw a wagon crew hauling a load
of cave-charcoal. Yes, she knew exactly where she was, she was close to
one of the Followers� mines. The wagon crewmembers were not Followers,
however. Vesna realized the mine must have been taken over by outsiders.
She avoided the road as she descended towards Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki.
However, as she neared the grassy hills with the sheep pastures, she had
no choice: she had to end her time alone in the Realm of Nature and
re-enter civilization. She put on her guard�s clothing, but left off the
helmet and the Vice-Duchy�s tunic. As always, she loaded her crossbow
and was vigilant for trouble. She rode towards the town, taking the same
route she had taken in the opposite direction nearly a decade before
with the odious lover who had treated her so cruelly.
As she looked at the steeples and rooftops of Sev�rckt nad Gor�dki, she
saw the familiar buildings, including the large house where she had lost
her virginity and where her former lover K�loyankt was undoubtedly still
living with his family. She had heard that he was doing well and that
the town continued to prosper under his family's influence. However, she
had no desire to see him. A visit from her would only disrupt the
tranquility of his Path in Life. She�d not go into the town. Instead,
she�d let her horse graze among the sheep and would continue traveling
south the following day.
So� she had safely returned to the western valley. At sunset she took
off her guard outfit and prayed to the Ancients. She thanked them for
allowing her to escape the Vice Duchy, but what should she do now? Where
should she go? What was her Path in Life? She had no home, no friends,
no commitments, no commanders, no duties or promises to fulfill, and no
purpose. She had no silver. She had nothing, except for a horse and a
couple of weapons. What now?
When she stood up, she looked towards the south. Beyond Sev�rckt nad
Gor�dki there was little except farms and orchards. There was
Star�vktaki M�skt, but she certainly didn�t want to go there. The only
other place she could go to would be Gordn�ckt Suy�stenckt.
Of course� that�s where she could go. She�d visit her former mentor, the
Priestess who had taught her to read. She�d have a place to stay and
someone to give her advice until she figured out what to do. She got
dressed the following morning and rode south. She moved quickly as
Moonlight galloped and trotted along the lanes between the orchards. She
reached her destination by the end of the week.
When she entered the church, Vesna knelt upright as she waited for the
Priestess. She felt very strange because it would be the first time her
former mentor would see her wearing clothing. She would have felt more
at ease had she stripped and put on her penance collar, but she knew
that part of her life had passed. Whatever the future held for her,
she�d have to stop running around the Duchy pretending to be performing
Public Penance.
The Priestess greeted her and told her to stand up. In the two years
since Vesna's last visit she had aged and had added another child to her
family, but her demeanor and her haughty way of carrying herself
remained the same as always.
Vesna had to undergo ritual purification and confession, but since she
no longer was performing Public Penance, the two women could talk to
each other more as equals. After talking about the revenge against Oana
and her participation in Enockt�s group of conspirators, the visitor
explained her new identity and how she started using it in the eastern
valley. The Priestess agreed it would be better for her to keep the new
name and issued a citizenship certificate for Vesna Rog�skt from the
Vice-Duchy of Rika Chorna.
Vesna stayed at the church for a week resting, cleaning her equipment,
praying, and telling her host additional details about what she had
learned in the Vice-Duchy. The two women wrote down Vesna�s observations
about the region and a detailed account of the destruction of the True
Believers� cathedral in Sih�dikti Ris. The Priestess later would send
the information to the Great Temple so the Prophets could add the
account to the archives of the Danubian Church.
The Priestess updated Vesna concerning news from the western half of the
Duchy. She related that the Old Believers had taken over all of the
parishes in the western valley. The only exception was the church in
Rika H�ckt-nem�t. A decade after the plague, the city remained
sealed-off and no one knew what was going on there or if any of its
residents were even still living. The people from the neighboring towns
were convinced the city was cursed, so no one dared to venture past the
guards stationed to close off the road going in. Even talking about the
city was considered a violation of protocol.
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Vesna had entered Gordn�ckt Suy�stenckt assuming her former servant
Isauria would not be there, that she had departed the previous summer to
go to Seb�rnekt Ris. She had indeed left to enroll in university. The
Priestess let her visitor read a couple of Isauria's letters. She
already completed her first year, was about to begin her second year,
and seemed to be doing well as a student.
The Priestess detailed how she had spent the winter of 1758-1759 helping
the girl transcribe all of her former mistress�s writings into
university-quality reports, supplemented by books borrowed from the
seminary�s library in neighboring Star�vktaki M�skt. Isauria spent part
of the winter at the old Temple doing her research and sitting in on
some of the classes for the apprentices.
�Your former servant changed over the year she stayed with us. I don�t
know if I could say she matured, but she did change. She likes the Realm
of Fantasy and to write poems and stories about spirits and legends and
tragic mysteries. The stories about you, the ones circulating around
Star�vktaki M�skt casting you as the evil seducer and murderer of poor
Bagat�rckt, completely fascinated her. She spent her spare time talking
to people and collecting those tales and writing them down, so she could
convert them into poems and fiction. She likes to do that, take old
stories, embellish them, and re-tell them. That�s something about her
that doesn�t please me. I�ve told her the Destroyer enters the Realm of
the Living through the mouth of the liar, but she wouldn�t heed my
advice to only write truthful things about you.�
"I hope she�s not using my real name.�
�Not at all. She likes the mystery. She wants to make you even more
mysterious, so she never refers to you by name. She�s fascinated with
you, but she�s not fascinated with the real you. She�s developed a
fantasy version of you, turned you into a fictional character for her
writings. When I read what she's written, I wonder how much she really
remembers about you.�
�I suppose that�s just as well: her turning me into a poetry character
will help me avoid being identified and arrested. But, I wonder� Isauria
with her poems� and all those other people making up stories about me� I
wonder where it will end.�
�I�ve wondered that too. The stories about your adventures haven�t gone
away. I�ve traveled to different villages and everywhere I�ve gone
people remember you, but they don�t remember the real you. What they
remember are their fantasies about you.�
"But I don't... understand. Why all the stories? What's so interesting
about me? I've spent ten years wandering and I've really accomplished
nothing. I survived, nothing more. I lost everyone around me, either
through death or just saying goodbye. I'm as alone now as I was when I
started out. What's so exciting or romantic about that?"
"I don't have the answer. I wish I did. I guess people tell stories
because it's what they need to do. It would seem Isauria is only one out
of many. And why you? Why not someone else? I don't know."
�So Priestess, what should I do? How can I live anywhere if there are
all these strange tales circulating about me wherever I go?�
The Clergywoman thought for a moment before ordering Vesna to kneel. She
grabbed her hands and prayed. The Priestess�s hands clamped down on
those of her visitor as her arms shook violently. She let go and told
Vesna to stand up.
�You need to go home.�
�What?�
�You need to return to Rika H�ckt-nem�t.�
�I� I can�t go there.�
�Oh really? And where else would you go? You�ve told me yourself you
don�t want to go to any other city. Whether you�re a wanted fugitive or
there�s a person you don�t want to see, you�re convinced there�s nowhere
for you to go. Your Path in Life is to return to Rika H�ckt-nem�t. The
city needs you to go back.�
�But� what about... my arrest... and all those people... thinking I
drowned in the river� and� looking for my body?�
�That happened to the peasant Danka S�luckt. She�s dead and there�s no
proof she ever existed apart from a bunch of legends that don�t even use
her real name. You�re Vesna Rog�skt, the traveler from Rika Chorna. You
have the paperwork to prove it. You have nothing to do with the peasant
Danka S�luckt. So� I�m telling you the Path of Your Life is to return to
Rika H�ckt-nem�t.�
�But� go back� to a dead city� and what would I do there?�
�The Creator didn't enlighten me about what you will do there. All I
know is you must go back, as soon as possible. And I�ll tell you how to
go. You can�t go in through any of the main roads because they�re
blocked by Royal Guards. The only way in is a smugglers� trail that goes
through the forest and comes up from the south.�
�So there are people still alive��
�There must be, if smugglers are going in.�
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Vesna left the following morning, wearing her guard outfit. She wore a
tunic with the insignia of the Danubian Church to let others know she
was traveling with the blessing of the Clergy. Moonlight trotted south
through farmland and orchards, as Vesna bypassed Star�vktaki M�skt and
headed straight south towards the main road. She followed it for a
while, reliving the journey she had taken along the same route a decade
before. She crossed the Rika Chorna River and passed the spot where she
saw the stage-coach accident and the farm where she first saw goats. She
looked west towards some forested hills. Rika H�ckt-nem�t lay on the
other side of those hills, but she couldn�t go that way because a
garrison of Royal Guards blocked the road. Instead, she went south and
stayed overnight at the chapel in a village at the southern edge of the
cleared area.
She went into the woods and followed a narrow trail through the hills.
The path continued south for a while until it arrived at a fork. The
left fork continued south towards H�rkustk Ris province. She took the
right fork, which turned west and would eventually lead her home.
She had hoped to complete the trip before nightfall, but when she
noticed the darkness closing in on her she knew she needed to look for a
place to stop. She found a cleared spot near a stream, just large enough
to set up her bedroll and tie her horse. She was very apprehensive: she
knew what was coming.
The night was pitch-black, so she didn�t need to wait for darkness to
surround her. Instead she waited for the sound of the stream to go
silent. She heard the soft flutter of a large bird. Its eyes glowed,
reflecting non-existent light. Vesna stood up. She knew what else was
coming: the ground grabbed her feet. The eyes slowly grew until they
filled her entire range of vision. She had to wait a long time before
the Destroyer spoke to her.
�Danka� Danka� Danka S�luckt�
�Yes.�
�It�s been a decade, hasn�t it? Well, almost a decade. Not that it
matters anymore.�
�Matters anymore? Why? Why do you say that?�
�This is the last time you�ll ever see me, Danka S�luckt. Whether you
wanted to or not, you�ve served me well, but your travels are about to
conclude, and I must release you.�
�Release me?�
There was a long pause, as Danka stared into the unblinking yellow eyes.
�Yes indeed, release you. I have no further use for you, Danka S�luckt,
so it is time for our Paths in Life to separate. You will not see me
again. You will understand that I am leaving you because I have chosen
to spare you, just as I have chosen to spare the Duchy. Other places in
the Realm of the Living will receive my attention. The Duchy, at least
for the foreseeable future, will not.�
The eyes began to fade.
�Goodbye, Danka S�luckt.�
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