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"If you want your families to eat, they will only do so with the blessing of the Ancients. The Ancients will only give you their blessing if you respect the ways of the Old World. That's the way your Paths in Life will be whenever you are with me. I am a Follower of the Ancients, I am a woman of the Old World, and you will obey, just as I obey the Ancients. If you disobey me, the wrath of the Ancients awaits you in the woods, and the switch awaits you in the Plaza."
So...the naked ex-concubine led her equally naked companions through the forested hills, gathering a multitude of roots, berries, mushrooms, herbs, and fungi. The women were surprised by how many items previously unknown to them could be gathered and prepared. Silvítya led the women to various streams to catch fish and collect freshwater mussels. The streams offered a respite from the constant wandering when the guide and her companions relaxed along the shore and swam in the cold water. The women became used to traversing the hills in the nude and eventually started to enjoy it. The cool breezes felt comfortable on their uncovered skin and it was nice to not worry about damaging or soiling clothing that was both expensive and difficult to replace.
The trips to the woods offered a welcome break from Mayor Alexándrekt Buláshckt's increasingly rigid militaristic rule over Malénkta-Gordnáckta. He insisted that all men and boys engage in constantly practicing both fencing and archery. The males practiced for war as much as they worked their fields, while the women wore themselves out foraging and preserving food for the grim winter that lay ahead.
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As the weather started to become colder, the foraging expeditions into the mountains ended, along with Silvítya's temporary authority over Malénkta-Gordnáckta's other women. She had taught her companions what she knew about finding unusual food items and innovative methods of preparing meals, but now that her knowledge had been dispensed, the other women saw no need to continue following the orders of someone who looked no older than 17. Silvítya became known around the town as "the Cult girl" as the women increasingly resented her efforts to impose her beliefs on them. The other women dismissed her and her strange religion as soon as they no longer needed her. By the end of October their gratitude for what she had taught them was forgotten.
There were other changes in Malénkta-Gordnáckta that troubled Silvítya, especially in the house of her hosts. Stepkakta discovered she was pregnant in October and became even more ill-tempered than she had been over the summer. She was very unpleasant to be around, so Silvítya avoided her as much as possible. Nor did Silvítya approve of Stepkakta's treatment of the house slave. On several occasions she had witnessed the mistress tie her servant to the kitchen table and give her severe switchings, while Nowáckt's servant was forced to watch "to learn her place".
Stepkakta never beat the younger girl, not because of her age, but because of her value. However, already there were numerous signs that Nowáckt was not going to treat her well. Throughout the fall and winter he and Alexándrekt's step-daughter bullied his servant and forced her to do humiliating things. For example, at the end of October, Nowáckt and his cousin "punished" the girl by cutting off part of her hair and then forced her to look at herself in a mirror. When she cried at seeing her reflection, all four of the Buláshckt children ridiculed her.
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Alexándrekt proved his talent as a soldier by training and organizing the town's men into a competent platoon-sized militia within just two months. No group of soldiers from the Kingdom of the Moon could have entered Malénkta-Gordnáckta without sustaining casualties. However, the mayor knew the town's preparation for combat remained totally inadequate. The men had a mis-matched collection of personal weapons, there was no extra iron ore, and the community only had six horses, of which four belonged to the Buláshckts. Adding to the mayor's worries was the lack of salt, which was needed to preserve meat in an age when there was no refrigeration. For Malénkta-Gordnáckta to survive and prosper, the inhabitants would have to trade for the goods they needed, but unfortunately they had nothing to offer.
The town's fortunes changed when a group of refugees from a manor immediately south of the border fled from a group of soldiers loyal to the Lord of the Blue Moon. The manor owner was loyal to the Lord of the Red Moon, so he and his family: women, children, and house servants included, were hung outside their house on the Kingdom's infamous impalement hooks. The field workers did not stick around to see what was going to happen to them. Yes, they had heard that the Danubian Duchy no longer was a safe place, but they were panicked and had nowhere else to go. So, reluctantly they crossed the river and fled north.
Alexándrekt set up a trap for the refugees as soon as he found out they had crossed the border. The townsmen waited until the foreigners were moving between two hills. They were set up with crossbows on both sides of the road, while the mayor and five mounted companions charged the group from the front. The refugees scrambled up the hillsides, only to fall to the crossbows of the Danubians. The mayor had ordered only the foreign men to be killed, while as many of the women as possible were to be captured alive.
The townsfolk caught 36 women and girls. They herded their shivering, naked prisoners northward and sold them at the same market where Alexándrekt had bought his slaves several months before. The men triumphantly returned to their town with new horses, new crossbows, a pile of crossbow bolts and arrows, two muskets, gunpowder, and several barrels of salt. The town celebrated their good fortune as Alexándrekt trained several of his men to ride their new horses and Stepkakta distributed salt among the town's women. Already there was talk of a new raiding expedition to capture more slaves and how much easier that would be now that more of the men had horses.
Silvítya felt sick. She couldn't figure out if Alexándrekt had changed or if she never knew him in the first place. Instead of the thoughtful devoted family man she had seen in the castle, the Alexándrekt in front of her was a brutal raider and enslaver. Not only was he a slave owner, but he was killing refugees and actively catching and condemning women to a lifetime of servitude. Of course, everyone else totally adored him because he was doing everything necessary to ensure Malénkta-Gordnáckta's security and prosperity. However, at what price? What kind of community was he creating? Certainly not one where Silvítya would want to live.
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The grim autumn turned into an equally grim winter. The salt barrels and hunting expeditions ensured that Malénkta-Gordnáckta would not actually starve, but throughout the end of the year food would be in short supply. The men were gone most of the time, not only hunting animals but pursuing rumors about groups of refugees. During the bleak months of December and January they captured a total of 24 more foreign women and took them to the slave market. The additional trading netted some iron ore, crop seed, tools, and cave charcoal.
Additional families entered Malénkta-Gordnáckta and claimed ownership of the remaining parcels of vacant land. Silvítya decided to sell the title of her plot to one of the newcomers, given that she had no desire to farm or settle in the area. Hers was one of the last properties available, so she received three-and-a-half gold pieces, which was a good price for a plot that size. As soon as the weather became warm, she would go into the hills and continue with her travels. Everything about her neighbors disgusted her and she longed never to see any of them again.
Meanwhile, the vicious civil war to the south dragged on. Silvítya periodically climbed into the watchtower on the hilltop overlooking the border and talked to the sentry. Occasionally she could see plumes of smoke in the distance and knew some ghastly atrocity had just been committed by one of the warring factions. She thought about her odious neighbors and the senseless southern warlords. More than any other time in her life, she questioned the goodness of the cosmos and wondered whether people had ever done anything to deserve their place in the Realm of the Living.
"Where is the Creator? Where are the blessings from the Ancients? The only presence I ever feel is that of the Destroyer. I don't feel anything else."
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Stepkakta's fourth pregnancy turned out to be her most difficult. Her health had suffered from traveling and adjusting to a new environment, so by February she had to spend most of her time in bed. She was more unpleasant than ever as her shrill voice echoed throughout the mayor's residence. However, that was good fortune for the house slave, given that the Mistress was too weak to administer any more whippings. Silvítya, who until that time had been little more than a family guest, took on many of the duties needed to run the household. By the late winter she no longer sympathized or cared about anyone in Alexándrekt Buláshckt's family, but she did not want the children running amok and tormenting the servants.
As a condition for helping out, she insisted on taking control of the girl originally purchased for Nowáckt by telling Alexándrekt there was no way she could operate a household including a sick pregnant woman and four rowdy children with a single slave. She would have to bring the girl into the kitchen and teach her how to cook and perform other household duties. Silvítya was furious upon seeing the condition of Nowáckt's servant. The young captive was a truly pathetic sight, with insults written on her body, her head partially shaved, her remaining hair dyed red and blue, and her expression traumatized by constant bullying.
It was fortunate that Alexándrekt had obtained a horse for his nephew, because over the winter the boy was absent most of the time, tasked to learn everything needed to become a mounted soldier. Nowáckt accompanied his uncle whenever the men went out, whether it was on a routine patrol or a slave-raiding expedition. The boy's soul was becoming hardened and callous towards anyone weaker than himself, but the inhabitants of the household were spared from having to deal with him very much. The other children were still young enough to be intimidated by Silvítya, so she was able to establish order within a few days.
She learned the names of the two house slaves, Marla and Isauria. Up until that moment she had only known them as the "Kitchen Slave" and the "Young Slave". The substitute house-mistress cut off Isauria's ruined hair, evened the stubble on her scalp, and gave her a headscarf to hide what had been done to her by Alexándrekt's step-daughter. Silvítya was thoroughly disgusted and promised herself that when she left town, she would somehow try to take the adolescent with her. Anyhow, at least Isauria was now under her control and for the time being would be spared any further bullying.
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As much as she was disgusted by Malénkta-Gordnáckta's reliance on slavery, Silvítya was impressed by how quickly Mayor Buláshckt had organized an undisciplined group of refugees and a collection of abandoned houses into a fully functioning community capable of feeding and defending itself. Over the late winter additional slave raids allowed the town to purchase a wagon-load of cheese and barley; another wagon full of beets, carrots, and potatoes; and several pregnant breed-sows. In the early spring the entire community turned out to plant the fields, including everyone in the Buláshckt household, with the exception of the still bed-ridden Stepkakta.
The planted fields and green hills reminded Silvítya that it was time to fulfill the promise she had made to herself and leave. She correctly assumed that had she simply asked for permission to depart and to take Isauria with her, the mayor would have denied the request. Silvítya was too valuable to the household and he would consider her trying to leave before his wife had her baby a dereliction of duty.
Silvítya prayed about her dilemma to the Ancients. The answer she received was to conduct a test of Alexándrekt's character to see how loyal he truly was to his wife. If he passed the test of character, she would have to stay. If he failed the test, then she would be able to coerce him into letting her have everything she wanted.
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Silvítya knew that Alexándrekt had a favorite spot in the hills immediately to the east of his estate. It was a rocky overlook that included a large flat stone upon which it was possible to sit, lie, set up a spyglass, or use as a firing position. There was a brook nearby with a small pool that was large enough for two people to fit comfortably and take a bath, or for a horse to take a drink. A horse could be tied near the water and still be within sight of the rock, so it was an ideal location for a military man to rest with his horse.
Silvítya returned to her old habit of searching the forest for edible items as soon as the weather was warm enough for her to run around the hills in the nude. She took advantage of the stone shelf as a location to offer up her prayers to the Ancients and as a place to spread out her mushrooms and herbs so they could dry in the sun. She knelt and prayed in archaic Danubian, hoping that eventually the Ancients would answer her prayers.
Alexándrekt spent several days observing the young Follower, fascinated by her naked figure as she prayed in the bright late spring sunshine. Yes, in the Grand Duke's castle she had been constantly naked for two years, but that had been forced upon her. Now she was in her natural environment, willingly sharing herself and her body with the lost soul of the Old World. Hearing her singing and praying in the Old Language and surrendering herself to the Realm of Nature made her seem mysterious and sinister, but at the same time made her very sexy.
A week after he started observing her in his favorite spot, Alexándrekt approached Silvítya. Her skin was starting to tan and her sweat glistened in the warm sunshine. She remained on her knees as she silently looked back at him, waiting to see what he would do.
"You're a strange girl, Silvítya. You're different from anyone I've ever met. Different, and far more interesting."
Silvítya remained on her knees, looking at the mayor, but still with no answer. Alexándrekt became nervous at her silence, but the sight of her was making him increasingly aroused. He had not had sex with his wife for over six months, so the girl in front of him looked sexier to him than ever. He badly wanted her and she was well-aware of what was going on in his head. Finally, still keeping her silence, she stood up and put out her hand.
She bent over the rocks in the submissive position as he caressed her body and struggled out of his clothing. It had been a long time for her as well, so at least she could enjoy what was about to happen before she set off her trap. She sighed as he massaged her bottom and ran his fingers between her legs. She became wet as she positioned herself and welcomed his hard penis into her eager body. He took his time with her... if nothing else at least he was a good lover. She abandoned herself to the moment and allowed herself to climax.
The couple swam in the pool and made love again. She lay on her back on a batch of clover as he pushed into her. He was rough and vigorous as he thrust, but a lot more considerate than the Grand Duke had been.
They made love in the same spot over the next several days. Eventually Silvítya worked him into the position she wanted as she got him to lie on his back and she straddled him. The mayor climaxed into her as she relived her old fantasy of being Lilith.
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That night, Silvítya packed her bucket and put on her trader's outfit. She served dinner and brought Alexándrekt a bottle of ale. Then she changed her entire demeanor. In a cold voice she ordered the children to leave the room and told the slaves to return to the kitchen. She placed her hands on the table and stared hard at the surprised mayor.
"You know, Alexándrekt, there have been only three men in my life for whom I've ever had any respect. One of those men was a farmer who taught me the importance of atonement. The second man was an Elder from my Cult who taught me about overcoming one's fear. The third man I admired was you. I thought you had taught me about the importance of one's family. However, I was wrong about you. I don't know whether you changed or if I just didn't know you, but either way, I don't like what you've turned into. So, I'm leaving. I am taking my bucket and I'm walking out of this town."
"Very well, if that's how you feel, then go."
Silvítya reached into her belt and pulled out her coin purse. She placed three gold coins and five silver coins on the table.
"What's this?"
"Payment for Nowáckt's slave Isauria. I'm taking her with me. I understand that you paid four gold pieces for her, but if you've noticed, your nephew and step-daughter reduced her value by ruining her hair. It's a fair price that I'm offering. You wouldn't receive three-and-a-half gold if you tried selling her at the market in her current condition."
Alexándrekt smiled and pushed the money back, but Silvítya stepped away from the table.
"Don't be a fool, Mayor Buláshckt. The Ancients are trying to protect you from scandal. You don't think people in Malénkta-Gordnáckta aren't talking about Nowáckt and the slave you gave him? The Ancients are giving you a path out of your predicament. They are giving you an opportunity to recoup most of your investment and put an end to your family's disgrace. I take the girl off your hands, leave without saying anything, and we'll be forgotten in a few days. Any other choice will fill your Path in Life with dishonor. If you don't believe me, then pick up your sword, strike me down, and see what happens."
Alexándrekt said nothing more, but he realized his companion was right. He had nothing to gain either by killing her or by refusing to sell Isauria. He saw the same cold determination in Silvítya that he had seen when she confronted the Grand Duke in Sumy Ris. She was offering him the chance to get rid of two problems simultaneously. So, he reached into his shirt to take a key off his necklace. He took the coins off the table and unlocked a sturdy metal box that was bolted to the wall. He tossed in the coins and took out a piece of parchment. It was Isauria's ownership certificate. He crossed out his name and added a note stating the girl had been re-sold.
"What's your name? Your real name? The one the Church called you when your hair was braided?"
"Danka. It doesn't really matter, but that's my name. I guess you can put my title on that paper as Peasant Danka, because that's what I am."
The mayor handed the paper to Danka.
"Very well, Peasant Danka. Take your servant and get off my property."
Danka went into the kitchen and called Isauria. The girl followed her, not yet understanding what had just happened. They stepped into the plaza and passed to the back side of the town's church. Danka handed a trader's outfit to Isauria and told her to put it on. She handed her bucket to the girl and they continued to a shed where Danka had been hiding a crossbow and some stolen bolts. She took the crossbow and satchel, along with a traveling backpack containing supplies and tools for living in the forest. Then she exited Malénkta-Gordnáckta to set off with her servant towards the hills. The travelers followed a path that led northeast, away from both the border and from the province of Hórkustk Ris.
