The Girl with No Name

Chapter Twenty-Four -- The Surgeon's Wife

A heavy snowstorm swept over the central mountains on November 15, putting an end to travel, foraging, military drills, and just about anything else that involved extended activity outside. The Defenders congregated in the bathhouse and the kitchen, the only two buildings that were adequately heated. Isauria and Danka spent much of their free time sitting on their bed, wrapped in blankets while Isauria practiced writing or doing arithmetic problems. There were not many books in the encampment, but some of the Defenders had brought a few with them, which Danka borrowed for Isauria to read. Several of the Oana's nymphs were illiterate, so, if Isauria's book had an interesting topic, for entertainment they gathered in the frigid bunkhouse, huddling under their blankets while listening to the girl practice reading out loud.

Unable to do much else in the snowy hills during the winter, the snowbound Defenders spent a lot of their time making, repairing, and modifying weapons. Oana gave Danka several suggestions for improving Isauria's crossbow. The blacksmith enjoyed experimenting with weapons, including projectiles, to see if he could improve on their performance. So, Oana frequently sent her nymphs outside to test modified crossbow bolts, to see if any of the new designs might be worth distributing to the entire militia.

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During the second half of 1756, the Defenders of the Duchy did not really have a supreme chief, nor were they under the direct control of the Grand Duke's army. Leadership among officers such as Commander Sáupeckt depended on having respect from their soldiers and building prestige through their units' over-all contributions to the militia movement. The most obvious were battlefield victories, but there were other ways commanders could make meaningful contributions, including bringing in supplies, identifying new resources such hidden springs or new fishing ponds, improving travel and communication, producing and or finding innovative ways to repair weapons, and improving medical care. Commander Sáupeckt's unit was considered a top provider of medical care, give that he had three field surgeons and an alchemist working in the cave, led by a practitioner who had previous experience working with the Followers of the Ancients.

The leading doctor's name was Ilmátarkt. He originally was from Nagorónkti-Serífkti and had assisted a group of Followers during vaccination campaigns in 1749 and 1751. He was the son of a bookbinder who provided housing to the Followers in exchange for medical training for their children. Because he was the only member of the Defenders who had received formal medical training from the Cult, he was considered the person most qualified to handle medical care for the militia.

Danka first met Ilmátarkt when she helped bring in her wounded squad-mate for a follow-up examination and to have the wound disinfected. Ilmátarkt was impressed with Danka's work and amazed that a nymph who had sustained such a serious injury in battle had survived and was well on her way to healing. He congratulated Danka and wanted to find out more about her, but the September fighting and October foraging pulled her away.

After the first snowfall, Danka was back in the cave, asking about alchemy ingredients she needed to prepare batches of birth-control paste. Doctor Ilmátarkt, pleased that she had survived the fall campaign unscathed, invited her to share a bottle of ale in a small side grotto he used as his place of work.

They chatted about Nagorónkti-Serífkti, the vaccination campaigns, and the True Believers. Because of his training and association with the Cult of the Ancients, Ilmátarkt suspected that his life was in danger when he heard about the raid against the Followers' compound in 1752. He fled with his two sisters to Starívktaki Móskt. The sisters went their separate ways: one enrolled in the Old Believers' Seminary and the other married a blacksmith's apprentice.

Ilmátarkt could have remained in Starívktaki Móskt, but with his sisters occupied with their new lives and responsibilities, he became lonely and restless. He went to the capitol, set broken bones and performed some surgeries to earn money for traveling, and continued south to Hórkustk Ris. Although by that time Hórkustk Ris had become a besieged border town, he liked the city and made friends with some of the city guards. When the Grand Duke evacuated the city, he accompanied the guards to assist refugees who needed medical assistance, and in doing so unwittingly joined the Grand Duke's army. Because his unit remained with the refugees, he missed seeing the battles for the city and the Grand Duke's victory.

After the battle of Iyóshnyakt-Krepóckt, Ilmátarkt's unit quickly moved east to attack villages of foreigners still living in Hórkustk Ris province. He came close to being killed when his company lost a skirmish with a much larger column of retreating soldiers from the Lord of the Red Moon's army and the squad he was with became separated from the rest of the unit and was overrun. Ilmátarkt was captured along with one of the guards while the others were killed. The Red Moon soldiers planned to impale their two prisoners, along with a group of captured village women, as a parting insult to the Grand Duke's army. The invaders had even laid the hooks on the ground in front of the captives to show them what was about to happen. However, because the Red Moon Army commander was absent, the impalement had to wait.

Fortunately for the prisoners, a group of Defenders of the Duchy operating in the area were able to take advantage of the delay to organize a rescue. The Danubians entered the village at night, battled the Red Moon soldiers guarding Ilmátarkt and the others, and escaped with the prisoners. The Defenders lost two of their own men, so they even though they had saved their countrymen, they were not sympathetic towards them. They took the women to Hórkustk Ris province and abandoned them in a large village held by the Grand Duke's army. The Defenders drafted the two rescued men to replace the two killed in the fight. Ilmátarkt had been with the Defenders ever since, although his original senior officer traded him to Commander Sáupeckt for a man who knew how to make gunpowder.

Danka responded with a heavily censored summary of her life, omitting the reason she left Rika Héckt-nemát and her two years serving the Grand Duke as a concubine. She did feel confident enough around the doctor that she talked about her time with Babáckt Yaga. The pair exchanged information and gossip about people they had both known in Nagorónkti-Serífkti and Starívktaki Móskt. When she mentioned Ermin, she found out that Ilmátarkt had worked under him multiple times. At the time the doctor knew him, Ermin's wife was still alive and she was friends with both Ilmátarkt's sisters.

The conversation turned to the destruction of Babáckt Yaga's settlement and the True Believers' effort to consolidate their power in Nagorónkti-Serífkti. Danka described what happened and the sacrifice Ermin made so she could escape and warn Alchemist Fítoreckt in Sevérckt nad Gorádki. The memories of the chaotic fighting and Ermin's last words came back into her consciousness, as though they had just happened. Unable to continue, Danka sat quietly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"A lot of me died with Elder Ermin. I guess I loved him... in a way I never loved anyone else, but I never had the chance say anything to him about that. It seems such a long time ago... and yet, it wasn't."

There was a moment of silence, before Ilmátarkt slightly changed the subject.

"So... since you were there and bore witness... it's true... the rumors... that the Cult of the Ancients disbanded?"

She saw no harm in giving the doctor a detailed account of the Cult's final ceremony and the sealing of the caves. She was reluctant to tell Ilmátarkt about Alchemist Fítoreckt's revenge against the True Believers' priest, although she did mention that she had heard the priest later went mad and the townsfolk of Nagorónkti-Serífkti killed him. After the caves were sealed, the Followers dispersed and vanished into Danubian society. She concluded with:

"So, it is true, the Cult did disband... and now I think I know why. Our leaders knew the Ancients had decided to forsake the Realm of the Living. The Ancients departed, and now the Destroyer rules our Realm. Alchemist Fítoreckt understood... Maybe the Ancients warned him they were leaving. Anyhow, the Cult is gone. I was there for the end. As they say: 'What happens to a breath, after the words that it carried have been spoken?'"

An awkward moment of silence followed. After some thought, Ilmátarkt responded:

"If the words were important enough, people will remember them. If the words are immortal, then the breath's Path in Life is immortal. You can't have the words without the breath. So there's your answer. The breath is indeed gone, but the words of the Cult will remain, as will its accomplishments. You... sitting there in front of me, with your knowledge and memories, are one of those accomplishments, Follower Danka."

"Follower. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss being called 'Follower'. It was the only time I ever felt my Path in Life had any purpose to it. I was part of something, something very ancient and so much greater than myself. I went in as little more than an ignorant peasant girl, but when I put on my Followers' dress, people looked at me with respect and awe."

"Well, here, among the Defenders, your life will have a purpose. And when we go south, and you're riding your horse with a squad of armed nymphs, the women of the Kingdom of the Moon will look at you with respect and awe. Remember, the Kingdom's women don't fight. They don't do anything other than serve their men. So when they see the infamous Danubian nymphs... women carrying weapons... it makes them wonder about their own Paths in Life. And as far as being part of something much greater than yourself, among us, you will be. We're defending the Duchy. You, a mere woman, have taken up arms and are defending the Duchy. You can't be part of anything more important than that."

"I know... but it's not the same for me... as my service to the Realm of the Living when I was in the Cult."

"Of course it's not the same. When is anything the same? But are you telling me a nymph's skirt is any less honorable than a Follower's dress? Different, yes. Less honorable, no."

Danka knew that it would be getting dark shortly, and that she needed to get back to her squad. As much as she wanted to continue her conversation with the doctor, she had to cut it short. Instead, she asked about various ingredients, his chemistry supplies, and if there was anything in particular he needed when she was out foraging. He smiled and responded:

"Ha! Here you are, claiming that you need to get back to Oana, and you're asking about topics that will take us all winter to cover. There's always tomorrow: the snow and the cave are not going anywhere."

"You want me to come back? Just to talk?"

"I'd be honored."

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Danka returned the next day with Isauria. The doctor seemed disappointed that she had not returned alone. However, he welcomed the apprentice and introduced her to the fundamentals of alchemy. He then disposed of her by assigning one of his assistants to talk to her about medical procedures and to visit several patients recovering from injuries and sicknesses.

As soon as Isauria was gone, he talked to Danka at length concerning her experience as a chemist and field surgeon. They compared their training in the Cult and impressed each other with their knowledge. As the conversation progressed, it became clear to him that Danka had participated in the Grand Duke's campaign in 1754, even though she was trying to give him the impression she was studying at the university in Sebérnekt Ris at the time. The doctor did not press her on the discrepancy in her narrative.

Throughout December, Danka was spent most of her time with Ilmátarkt. They worked in his laboratory preparing medicine, teaching each other details about alchemy and improving each other's skills. He showed her some experimental glassware he had ordered from a local glassblower, while she shared the inventions she had seen at the Followers' settlement, the most important of which was the iron stoves for burning cave-charcoal. They chatted about other topics, such as politics, the Kingdom of the Moon, and religion. Danka shared much of what she had learned from Babáckt Yaga and from her time at the university with a man who was genuinely interested in what she had to say.

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At first Danka tried bringing Isauria into the cave to learn about medicine, but the girl felt more comfortable hanging out with other apprentices or practicing her crossbow with Oana's squad-members. They continued to sleep together for warmth in the nymphs' frigid cabin, so everyone still looked upon Isauria as being Danka's apprentice. However, during the days Danka and Isauria usually went their separate ways as the girl increasingly spent her routine away from her former owner. Danka was not bothered in the least by Isauria's growing independence. She still viewed herself as cursed, so the sooner Isauria's Path in Life moved away from hers, the better it would be for both.

Meanwhile, Danka spent as much time as possible with Ilmátarkt and his assistants. They prepared medications, exchanged various experiences as medical practitioners, and tested modifications of recipes to see if they could be improved or if the preparation could become more efficient. Danka shared Babáckt Yaga's discovery about the rat plague and the poisonous fleas, to which the doctor responded:

"That is a mystery we'll have to investigate. It seems, from what you're telling me, that not all the fleas are poisonous, just some. It seems they become poisonous for a mysterious reason, that they are not that way naturally. Something makes them poisonous, and only occasionally. What would that be?"

"Wouldn't it just be a trick of the Destroyer?"

"No. It's something else, something from the Realm of Nature. We need to find out what change or event can make fleas become poisonous."

"How would we do that?"

"We'll have to look at the fleas themselves, and I know for a fact it can be done. If magnifying lenses are lined up in a certain way, it is possible to see very small things, strange moving things, everywhere. Especially in water. If we can find the right combination of lenses, we could study the fleas."

Ilmátarkt showed Danka a strange contraption he had been working on, which allowed the user to see items such as pollen and dead insects in amazing detail. When the doctor showed her a couple of dead fleas under the lenses, she was horrified by how ugly and scary-looking they were. She commented that something so monstrous could only have been a product of the Destroyer. The doctor gave her a skeptical smile:

"Perhaps. But, ugly or not, the fleas contain a mystery we need to solve."

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Oana was increasingly irritated that Danka was gone most of the time, but she was not about to confront Ilmátarkt concerning her squad-member's absence. Instead, she confronted Danka over the fact that she had left Isauria's training to the rest of the squad. Danka, still annoyed that Oana had denied her any chance of recovering a portion of the three-and-a-half gold she had paid for her former servant, responded:

"We agreed I have no claim over Apprentice Isauria's life. That's in her emancipation certificate, of which you have a copy with my original signature. As you'll remember, you ordered me to kneel before the Priest with 35 silver pieces, half of which I had to give back to you, and swear I had no rights over her. So, she's not really my problem, is she? You're the squad leader and you need to train her. I now have other duties with the medical staff."

Oana was offended that one of her subordinates would dare speak to her in such a manner, but she could not fault the newcomer for helping the militia's doctor, and everything Danka had said about Isauria's emancipation was true. In her haste to cancel Danka's ownership over Isauria, Oana had ensured that any further relationship between them would be voluntary. However, she had not expected Danka to take on responsibilities outside the squad that would allow her to leave Isauria behind.

Danka's insubordination was only one issue out of several irritating the squad leader. By the beginning of the new year, morale in the squad had deteriorated because the nymphs were bored. Some of her squad members had obtained ale from the men and were drinking too much of it, some were neglecting their training, and some were gossiping and trying to discredit each other. Worst of all for Oana's reputation as a leader, she discovered that four of her nymphs were abusing their new sexual freedom by charging their male lovers a silver piece for each encounter: to put it simply, they had become prostitutes.

Oana was so livid when she discovered the prostitution that she wanted to whip everyone in her squad. She ordered all of her nymphs, including Isauria, to strip inside the cabin, place their clothing in a pile, and stand by their bunks. However, as she brandished her switch, she decided that whipping the entire squad would be impractical and would further jeopardize her leadership. Instead she snapped:

"I'll do all of you a favor. Since you want silver so badly, why don't I make it easier? After-all, your customers have the right to see what they're purchasing. That's only fair! So... I'm changing your uniforms, to allow you to properly show your fine wares in the marketplace to your buyers."

The squad leader angrily dug through the clothing pile and confiscated all of the trousers. Until further notice, the nymphs would be naked between the tops of their boots and their waists so they could "properly display themselves to their clients". She made an exception for Isauria who, because of her young age, did not share any responsibility for the scandal. The unhappy squad members retrieved their remaining clothing while Isauria stood next to Oana. As she watched the humiliation of her squad-mates, the apprentice had a smug expression on her face: the first time Danka had ever seen her like that.

The squad leader was not finished dishonoring her subordinates, because she had reserved a special humiliation for the four perpetrators of the prostitution scandal. She ordered them to assume "the prisoner's stance"; standing with their legs spread and their hands behind their heads. She announced that she needed to check the condition of the "goods for sale" and make sure her squad was offering "only the very best for our loyal and hardworking men". She ran her fingers though each culprit's pubic hair before exploring her vulva with sensuous fondling. She shoved her fingers into the offenders' vaginas and teased their clitorises.

"So tell me, do you become aroused when a man touches you for silver, or do you prefer to just act and pretend? Remember, 'the Destroyer enters the Realm of the Living through the mouth of the liar', or I guess in your case, through the cunt of the liar."

The four culprits broke down crying as the other squad members tried to look away. It was difficult for Danka to watch her battle-hardened peers in their current condition: so embarrassed they were reduced to tears. The most humiliating insult in traditional Danubian culture was for a person to endure having his or her genitals touched by member of the same sex, especially a superior. The treatment was absolutely the worst way one woman could inflict dishonor on another. The nymphs were completely debased, not only by having their genitals fondled by their female leader, but also knowing the other squad members would have to spend the rest of the winter running around bottomless due to their behavior.