The Girl with No Name Ch. 09

After spending the second day of the Solstice celebration resting, bathing, finishing off the previous day's feast, and performing various rituals honoring the Ancients, the Followers dressed in their formal Cult outfits and prepared for the main part of their gathering. Over the past two months the Cult had captured eleven men who would be sacrificed. Nine of the men were fortune hunters, and the other two had attempted to kidnap the daughter of an Elder, without realizing who she was.

Danka proudly held her skull-staff and chanted with her companions as the terrified, struggling, screaming victims were dragged onto the altar one-by-one. Her Mistress was ready with her ancient dagger, naked as always with her body covered with chalk and charcoal in a pattern that made her look half-way between a skeleton and a ghoul. She stared into their eyes with a wild and cruel expression as she raised the knife. The red fire reflected in her eyes made her look truly demonic. The victims, every last one, screamed in terror as the Cult leader plunged the blade into their chests. It had to be that way, because ancient custom dictated that a victim had to be screaming when he was killed.

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Ermin, Danka, and Káloyankt returned to Sebérnekt Ris with Fítoreckt's group after the Solstice instead of travelling on to Babáckt Yaga's forest settlement. Danka was perplexed by the arrangement. She had spent the past month wondering why she and Káloyankt were staying behind, why the others had left for the Seminary in the capitol and she hadn't. Babáckt Yaga and Fítoreckt knew their young disciple would be curious and that they owed her an answer. Fítoreckt offered to take Danka to the top of the hill so she could see the waterfall. Káloyankt, who already had seen the waterfall the previous year, spent the day in Sebérnekt Ris helping Elders prepare medications.

Danka and Fítoreckt mounted horses and rode up to the crest of the hill. The Elder allowed the girl to sit quietly and appreciate the scenery. She could see the lands of the foreigners to the north and the Duchy to the south. On the western shore of the East Danube River there were steep cliffs that made crossing the river from that direction impossible. She realized that Danubia was a natural fortress, a land in which its inhabitants could live in peace because it was so difficult to get into. Soon enough she would learn that peace was truly a gift from the Creator, a very fragile gift that could break at any time.

"Danka Síluckt, your Mistress asked me to bring you here so you can see for yourself some of the work of the Ancients and the Creator. But you also have questions, which you should now ask and I will attempt to answer."

"Well...Alchemist Fítoreckt...I guess I'm curious about...the Great Temple...and us...why everyone...the young people...are having to go there."

"The answer is that the Ancients have revealed to your Mistress and me that the remnants of the Old World are about to vanish. We, the Cult of the Ancients, are destined to disappear with the passing of those remnants. And yet, somehow the Old World must continue to safeguard the well-being of the Duchy. Our final tasking from the Ancients is to figure out how we can contribute when, as a Cult, we are no more. The only answer is to place our people in the heart of the Danubian Church. It is from there our inheritors will continue to guide the future of the Duchy. The Cult only has a few hundred members, while there are hundreds of thousands of Old Believers. So, if the Ancients indeed wish to continue watching over the Duchy's people, who do you think they would favor?"

"I...I guess they'd favor the Church, Alchemist."

"Exactly. They'd favor the Church, not the Cult. Your Mistress would say that it is not our Path in Life to question why that should be...why after being served for so long the Ancients would turn their backs on the Cult and favor the Church. She would argue that it is our Path in Life to simply accept what is happening with humility. I know the answer, however, even if your Mistress would argue that I am speaking with arrogance. Alchemist Babackt Yaga lives completely in the traditions of the past, and that is how she trains the people whose Paths in Life cross with hers. From your time with her, you know what it is like to live in the manner of the days of old, when our people lived among the trees. You can also understand that time has passed. Most people don't live in the forests anymore. The future of the Duchy will be in the villages and cities, not in the Realm of Nature. The Ancients need to follow our people into the reality of the New World, but they cannot do so through the Followers."

Fítoreckt paused to make sure Danka didn't have any questions or comments. She did, but couldn't put them into words. The Elder continued:

"Alchemist Babackt Yaga understands the will of the Ancients as much as I do. She also understands that her Path in Life is about to end, and when that happens the traditions of the forest will become nothing more than memories. A month ago she ceded leadership of the Cult to me, and the Elders voted in secret to allow that to happen. So, I am the one leading our transition, the one who is moving our people into the Danubian Church. It is our Path in Life to influence the Church by having our people join their Clergy. So, I have seen the future and am making the arrangements. With every passing year the Church will serve the Creator and the Ancients more and serve the Roman God less. The Ancients are finding their voice for the future, and the Followers in the forest are destined to be no more."

"Then...if it's our Path in Life to join the Old Believers' Priesthood, why aren't you sending me and Káloyankt? And...why just the two of us? I mean...Alchemist Babáckt Yaga told me she didn't want me to stay with him...with Káloyankt, that is. Did she change her mind on that?"

"Not at all. Soon your Paths in Life will separate and the only thing you will keep of each other will be memories. Your lover's Path in Life is to wait until his father dies, and then to return to Sevérckt nad Gorádki and take over his family's household. He will become an important and influential man in that city, and when the time comes, he will use his wealth and position to serve the Ancients. He will live in comfort and dote upon his wife and children. Exactly the life you envisioned for yourself, is it not?"

"Yes, Alchemist. The life I want..."

"It is not your Path in Life to be his partner. You already know that. It is not your Path in Life to sit in luxury and watch your children grow and pass your time embroidering and listening to music and reading novels and gossiping with your friends. That life does not suit you. If you seek it, you would become a tool of the Profane One and bring grief into your household."

"So...what is my Path in Life?"

"We don't know. The Ancients have not yet revealed your destiny to us any more than they have revealed it to you. Your Mistress has desperately sought an answer concerning what to do with you. All I can say is that you must continue learning and improving your knowledge. Our time is short and you must bear witness to your world and learn as much as you can."

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At the beginning of July, Ermin led a team of Followers to a farming center with a large water-mill called Dagurúckt-Tók. The town was about halfway between the nation's capitol and Nagorónkti-Serífkti. On the map it appeared tantalizingly close to Rika Héckt-nemát, which lay to the southeast. However, the two city councils bitterly rivaled each other and citizens from each town were prohibited from visiting the other. The feud was so severe that the residents had torn down a stone bridge along the road connecting the two towns in the early spring of 1750.

The Clergy members of Dagurúckt-Tók were Old Believers and welcomed the Followers. The welcome was warm and appreciative, unlike the grudging tolerance granted by the Senior Priest of neighboring Nagorónkti-Serífkti. They were housed in a residence owned by the local Clergy and received the best food produced in the town. The city council provided a wagon and several mules to assist the Followers' vaccination campaign and attending injuries.

The Followers spent the next two months attending to the medical needs of Dagurúckt-Tók and the surrounding villages. Danka perfected her skills performing simple operations and re-setting broken bones. She assisted Ermin as he prepared smallpox vaccine and ether for surgeries. She attended several births, including one during which she and another female follower managed to save a baby who was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.

Over the summer Danka continued to make love to both Káloyankt and Ermin. At the beginning she tried to keep her relationship with the Elder secret from her younger partner. She could not keep the sexual part of her relationship with the older man secret because of the close proximity of everyone's rooms, but did try to hide the emotional part. It was accepted that Followers were not monogamous in their sex lives and Ermin was a widower. However, as the summer progressed, Danka understood that she increasingly enjoyed Ermin's maturity and was bored trying to converse with Káloyankt.

Káloyankt did not help his situation with his reaction. He was smart enough not to openly confront Danka about Ermin, but he insisted on having sex with her as much as possible. She responded by forcing him to lie on his back so she could pretend to be Lilith when she was with him. She forced him to assume submissive positions for love-making and he always complied. The more he went along with her demands, the more the relationship began to deteriorate. It was as though he had lost all of his backbone with her. She lost respect for Káloyankt and understood the time had come to completely disengage herself from him.

Instead of simply telling her lover that she did not want to have sex with him anymore, she decided to see if she could leave him in the arms of another woman. Dagurúckt-Tók had a perfect candidate, the Senior Priest's daughter, who had braided her hair immediately before the Followers arrived in July. She had noticed the girl looking at Káloyankt and also at her, with a jealous expression. So...the Priest's daughter was interested in Káloyankt. Good. He had a lot to offer her. Perhaps it would help if her father knew about Káloyankt's background and that he came from one of the wealthiest families in Sevérckt nad Gorádki.

Danka struck up several conversations with the Priest and spent a couple of days setting up a meeting between her lover and the Clergyman's daughter. At first the Priest thought she was trying to seduce him, but no...it seemed the Follower just wanted to talk. They discussed politics and differences between various city councils. Danka kept pushing the conversation to Sevérckt nad Gorádki. Finally the opportunity came for her to mention that one of her fellow Followers was from that city and heir to a large fortune.

The Priest took the bait. He and his wife decided to have the young man eat dinner with his family. That certainly was a bizarre situation, a Follower sitting at the table of a Priest. The Clergy members quickly verified that Káloyankt indeed came from a wealthy family. From that day forward they invited him to dinner on a daily basis. He wanted to refuse, but Ermin angrily insisted that he had no right to jeopardize the good relations the Followers enjoyed with the town council in Dagurúckt-Tók.

"You will accept the honor of sitting at that Priest's table and you will serve the rest of us by doing so. You will behave yourself with that family and do everything you can to accommodate them."

Káloyankt approached Danka to explain the situation and beg her to forgive him. Danka responded with words and thoughts that seemed not really to be her own:

"There's nothing to forgive, Káloyankt. Don't you understand the will of the Ancients? It's not your Path in Life to stay with me. You can't offer a life that would suit me. And you need to take a hard look at me. I'm a peasant. I'm a peasant with some education, but I'm still a peasant. How well do you think I'd fit in with all your fancy neighbors in your father's house?"

"I don't care about him, or the neighbors, or his house. He's dead to me. That life is no longer mine. I belong in the forest. The only person I care about is you."

"Then you need to stop caring about me. I'm telling you it is not my Path in Life to be your wife. That honor belongs to another woman, not me. And you already know who she is."

"The Priest's daughter?"

Danka nodded.

"No. I don't want her. I don't love her."

"You don't love her? Do you think that matters? Do you think what you feel for me matters? Because it doesn't! You need to find a respectable wife who is acceptable to your father's friends and then you need to go home and assume your responsibilities to your family! That is your Path in Life! You're not going back to the forest, you're not going back to Sebérnekt Ris, and you are not staying with me! You have your responsibilities to go home and redeem your family's name from the dishonor of your father! You need the right partner to do that and that person is not me!"

"...and my feelings for you don't matter?"

"No! They don't!"

"I mean...it almost sounds like...that you don't love me...that you never loved me..."

"It doesn't matter, Káloyankt! Why can't you understand? It doesn't matter whether I love you or not! I can't stay with you! It's not my Path in Life! It's not yours, either!"

Káloyankt sat quietly, his eyes full of tears. Danka coldly concluded the conversation.

"I'm planning to spend the night with Ermin. Meanwhile, you need to prepare for your dinner with the Priests and their daughter. She loves you. I don't. Remember that the next time you talk to her or think about me."

With that, Danka left the room. As soon as she stepped outside, she felt sick. She was horrified by the shabby treatment she had inflicted on a wonderful man who she really did care for. She resisted the temptation to go back and beg him to forgive her. She knew that she did what had to be done, but it was no consolation. She hated herself, every bit as much as she hated herself when she gave her body to Bagatúrckt.

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Two weeks later Káloyankt received word that his father had died. Included in the correspondence was a will that stipulated he would inherit his family's fortune, but not until he married a Christian wife in a Christian ceremony. The will also stated that the servants would not be paid until the conditions of the will were met and Káloyankt presented himself to the local Priest with his new wife and paperwork proving she was a Christian married in a Christian Church. The will did not stipulate that the wife had to be a True Believer; just that she had to be Christian.

Káloyankt knew that he was obligated to go home and take care of his family's servants. He understood his Path in Life and his duty to those who depended on him. He proposed to the Priest's daughter and she accepted. The entire town turned out for the wedding and the city council provided an armed escort to make sure the bride and groom made it safely to their new home in Sevérckt nad Gorádki.

As she watched the entourage depart, Danka wondered about the very suspicious timing of the death of Káloyankt's father and the conditions stipulated in that will. Very interesting that the father would die precisely at the moment the Followers needed Káloyankt to return to Sevérckt nad Gorádki. Very interesting that the will would clearly insist on him having a Christian wife precisely at the moment such a partner was available. Not a True Believer, just a Christian.

Babáckt Yaga knew everything there was to know about poisons and quietly entering people's houses. She also was an expert at forging documents. It wasn't hard to figure out what really happened...

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Káloyankt spent his remaining time in the Realm of the Living serving the Ancients and the Creator. He took his father's place in the Sevérckt nad Gorádki city council. A few years after he returned home, he used his family's influence to assist the Old Believers when they seized control of the local church from the True Believers.

He was kind to his wife, and later to his children and grandchildren. However, during all the years he lived with the Priest's daughter, he could never love her. His heart always longed for Danka. He spent the rest of his life writing mysterious stories, poems, and songs about his lost love of the forest. He published his work under various pen-names, giving the residents of Sevérckt nad Gorádki the impression they were written by different men. The works were infinitely depressing and became favorite reading throughout the northern part of the Duchy.

Káloyankt had to keep his writings and his feelings secret from his family, so he never mentioned himself or Danka by name. When fans of the various writings talked about them and speculated about the ideal girl and the author's tragic love for her, they usually referred to her as "the girl in the poems, the one with no name".

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Note 01: One of a wife's duties to her husband in traditional Danubian society was shaving. Normally a woman would shave her husband's face once per week and her husband's scalp once every three weeks. If a man lost his wife, he would not shave for 60 days as a symbol of mourning. A man who was not yet married, widowed, in the military, or traveling could be shaved by any available woman, as long as her social status was inferior to his.

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -

Note 02: In traditional Danubian society, a man of higher social status normally took a woman of lower social status from behind. The lower-class woman presented herself to her partner in the customary submissive position before sexual intercourse. As mentioned in the main narrative, she placed her hands on a table or other surface such as a fence and bent over to display her backside. According to protocol, once she assumed the position, she could not speak or move her hands until given permission. It was understood that when a woman presented herself in such a way, her lover was free to do with her as he saw fit; to include vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, or punishment. The submissive posture was not commonly used by women having sex with a social equal, which would have made Danka's behavior under those circumstances unusual among the Followers.

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -

Note 03: The Christians living just north of the border were hostile to the Danubians because Sebérnekt Ris was run by Old Believers who were heavily influenced by the Followers of the Ancients. The Old Believers were increasingly turning away from Christianity and adapting pre-Christian beliefs, something that foreign Christians looked upon with horror.

The True Believers in Danubia were the most "Christian" of the three religious sects in the Duchy at the time. They accepted widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of the Son of Man and the virgin birth. Mary and other Christian Saints were venerated as Ancients, but even among the True Believers the Virgin Mary did not have the same importance that she had for Christians living outside the Duchy.

Only men could officially be priests among the True Believers. Unmarried women could become nuns, which in practice allowed them to serve as Priestesses. The practice contrasted with the Old Believers, who insisted on having an equal number of Priests and Priestesses, all of whom had to be married to other Clergy members to be ordained.

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -

Note 04: Death by arrows was the only accepted form of execution in the Duchy at that time, and it was considered a point of honor for a group of guards to kill their prisoner with the first volley. The attitude of Danubian culture towards killing a prisoner was to do it as quickly as possible and avoid being overly gruesome about it. The Danubian method of killing criminals to minimize suffering and gore contrasted with most of Europe throughout the Middle Ages and the period of the Enlightenment. It is interesting to note the method of execution changed only once during the Duchy's history. In 1790 the Grand Duke ordered that five muskets would be used to kill prisoners instead of five longbows.