The Girl with No Name

Chapter Twenty-Eight -- The Avenging Stranger

Tanélickt 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 Sókukt Tók 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 Tanélickt 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 Starívktaki Móskt, 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. Tanélickt 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. Tanélickt 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 Gordnáckt Suyástenckt to Danúbikt Móskt. The pace which she and her companion traveled was nearly twice as fast as the leisurely speed she had walked in the month before. Tanélickt 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. Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt was tapping her on the shoulder so they could have breakfast and head out. Tanélickt even considered stopping to collect food along the route as a waste of time.

Danka had to credit Tanélickt for his self-discipline and efficient traveling the day they passed to the north of Gordnáckt Suyástenckt, less than two weeks after departing the capitol. Because it was the middle of the afternoon, Tanélickt 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. Tanélickt 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. Tanélickt 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 Babáckt Yaga's settlement. Tanélickt 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.

Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt 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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Tanélickt 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," Tanélickt 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 Hórkustk Ris province, grabbed the visitors and forced them to leave the town. Both Danka and Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt passed the market square and a young man who was chained to a pillory. Apart from the petty criminal, Danka and Tanélickt were the only naked people in the entire town.

The guards kicked Danka and Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt 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 Sókukt Tók 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 Sókukt Tók as it was from Starívktaki Móskt, 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 Sókukt Tók'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 Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt 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. Tanélickt 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 Sevérckt nad Gorádki. 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 Sókukt Tók. Considering the way they were treated in Novo Sumy Ris, neither Danka nor Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt. 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 Tanélickt 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 Tanélickt 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 Jeskéckta, 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 Jeskéckta'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 Jeskéckta'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.