The Girl with No Name Ch. 23

"Then here's a thought. Why don't you give me the money she'll need to purchase her certificate? I'll pay her for her service over the past month plus her wages for next year, and then she can pay you to purchase herself."

"Pay you... to pay her... to pay me..."

"Yes."

"But I did spend three-and-a-half gold to buy her. That was my own money... it was all I had... from a property title I sold."

"And, as I understand, you've since earned it back. Or at least most of it. So there's no problem..."

"No. I suppose there's no problem."

"Then give me all your coins. I'll borrow whatever's missing from the commander. You'll have your part of the money returned when you surrender your servant's paper."

When Oana finished braiding Danka's hair, the two women emerged from the water and dried each other's bodies. Danka then retrieved her coin-purse and emptied out the stash of coins taken from the logging camp. There were 14 silver pieces and 18 copper coins altogether. She handed them to her commander. Thus, she had to give up any hope of somehow recovering part of the gold she had originally invested in Isauria when she purchased her.

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For the trip into the mountains, Oana temporarily returned Danka's donkey to use as a pack animal. Danka and Isauria loaded all of their weapons and campaign supplies onto the beast. Danka decided to allow the girl to ride as well, given that she was not very heavy and there was no point wearing her out unnecessarily. So, the quiet dark-haired servant rode perched on top of the animal while Danka took turns leading him with another member of her squad. As her squad's new recruit, Danka remained naked, even though the weather no longer was suited for being undressed. Although in the fall it was customary for nymphs to wear capes, Oana and the other squad members remained topless. They did so in solidarity with their newest companion, since by custom Danka would not be able to get dressed until she had arrived at the winter encampment.

Chilly breezes whipped around the long column of Defenders when they left the settlements and traveled upstream towards their seasonal destination. As she walked and shivered in the increasingly cold air, Danka had the consolation of knowing where and how she and Isauria would spend the winter. They would be in a warm, safe place with plenty to eat. However, the independent life she had hoped for would elude her. Her existence would revolve around the needs of Oana and the other nymphs, preparing for the next summer's campaign... and, of course, the whims of the Destroyer.

The settlement turned out to be more comfortable than Danka had anticipated. At first glance it appeared to be very little: nothing more than some obscure huts scattered around a wooded hillside. However, the huts were spread over a large area, some of which had hidden passageways in their floors. The tunnels lead to a large natural cave, in which the Defenders kept their weapons, food, supplies, and records. The cave's temperature was constant throughout the year: it was cold inside but never close to freezing. Best of all, the stream that had formed the cavern provided the Defenders a steady and unlimited supply of pure water. The Defenders did not actually live in the cave, because they knew that too many occupants at a time would spoil the air inside. However, as a place to safeguard their food and belongings, the cavern served the militia much better than any man-made structure.

Danka reported to the squad's bunkhouse and selected a bunk large enough to accommodate both herself and her ward. There was nothing unusual about the arrangement, since most of the nymphs had a sleeping partner to conserve warmth during cold weather. They would be fairly comfortable over the winter: instead of sharing a cramped bedroll on hard ground, they'd be sleeping on a real mattress with real blankets. Isauria made the bed on the assumption she'd be sharing it with Danka.

Oana showed up at the door and directed Danka to go into the cave, find her belongings, and retrieve Isauria's slave certificate. To her enormous relief, her bucket and its contents were intact, including the Merchants' Guild collar, her writings and notes, and her supply of blue powder and birth-control paste. Oh yes... birth control paste. She'd need that for herself, because with all the young men running around, it was inevitable that she'd have a sexual relationship with at least one of them. Equally important would be her ability to supply her fellow squad-members with the paste. Babies were not welcome intruders in the lives of Oana's squad, so anything that could safely prevent them would be very welcome among her peers.

When Danka emerged with the paper, she saw her squad leader talking to Isauria and handing her a bag of coins. The girl looked very nervous at the thought of holding so much money. Oana gave Danka a look clearly signaling that she needed to resolve Isauria's slavery situation immediately. She exchanged salutes with the girl and walked towards the blacksmith's hut.

Danka approached her servant and handed her the paper.

"Servant Isauria, do you know what this paper is?"

"Yes, Mistress Danka. It's... the proof... the proof that you own me."

"Well, in a moment it's going to be yours. The only owner you will have will be yourself. Oana paid your wages, and you'll use that money to buy yourself from me."

"You... don't want me... as your servant, Mistress?"

"No. I never wanted you as my servant. I only bought you to take you away from Master Nowáckt. He dishonored himself with his treatment of you, and I wanted to put a stop to it before I left Alexándrekt Buláshckt's house. The only way I could do that was to take you with me, and the only way I could take you with me was to buy you. So, that's what I did. Now, you have the money to pay me back. As soon as that happens, you'll receive your certificate and I'll take you to the blacksmith to remove your collar. Then, you'll be just like anyone else in the Duchy."

Danka paused and continued: "Actually, you won't really be free, not in the way I was hoping. We've both been drafted into the militia and you'll be under Oana's command. That's why she paid you for service you have not yet performed. I'm just a member of her squad. You're just a member of her squad. That'll be our Path in Life until Commander Sáupeckt releases us... or, until we're killed in battle."

Isauria didn't know how to respond. It was obvious she was not at all happy about being emancipated, that in fact she was extremely scared. She was used to being Danka's ward, used to following Danka's orders, and used to living under Danka's protection. She had her assigned place in society and really had not given much thought about the future. The idea of living alone in a country she still considered enemy territory totally frightened her. Danka realized she needed to reassure her.

"Obviously you're a bit young to be on your own; although I was just a couple of years older then you are when I started my travels. I'd imagine you'll join the squad as an apprentice, and I'll be the one responsible for training you. So... I'm not completely done dealing with you, Apprentice Isauria. Apprentice Isauria. That's now your title, and it's what I'll be calling you. My title is different as well. I'm now a Defender of the Duchy, so you'll call me Defender Síluckt."

Danka led her servant to the blacksmith's hut, which was one of the few structures in the area made from stone instead of wood. Commander Sáupeckt, the ragged Priest, a scribe, Oana, and three squad members were waiting for her. The blacksmith directed Isauria to lie on a table that had a vice at one end. He positioned her so that her collar could be clamped into the vice, examined the latch and locking mechanism, and selected a metal punch he would drive into the latch to break it. He tapped the punch several times with a hammer, pried at it, and slipped a thin wedge into a narrow opening that he had created in the collar. Two more taps of the hammer, more prying, and the device opened up. Isauria sat up and with her fingertips explored her newly exposed neck, which was stained from the collar's metal. The blacksmith tossed the broken collar into a pile of scrap iron.

The scribe laid out Isauria's original slave bill-of-sale and added a line that Isauria had paid 35 silver pieces (the equivalent of three-and-a-half gold) to purchase her freedom from the peasant Danka Síluckt. Oana ordered Isauria to hand over 35 silver coins and Danka to count them in front of everyone present. Isauria and Danka signed the certificate, with Danka's commander, squad leader, and three nymphs signing as official witnesses. The scribe had prepared a copy of the transaction for the Defenders' permanent records, which everyone present had to sign before it was stamped. To make absolutely sure there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Danka was surrendering her claim of ownership over Isauria, she had to kneel before the Priest and swear that she had accepted the coins as payment for Isauria's slave certificate.

Danka later found out that Oana had made the emancipation arrangement to obligate not only her, but also Isauria, into years of service. The nymphs received a silver piece for each month they served, which was a respectable wage for a lower-class Danubian, especially a woman. Isauria's sale price was the equivalent of 35 silver pieces, paid in advance so she could purchase her slave certificate. The arrangement forced her to borrow the money against her future earnings, obligating her to remain with the Defenders for 35 months until the debt was paid off. A detail left out of the written agreement was that Danka would only keep 16 of the silver coins. The rest would have to be returned to her squad leader, who in turn would return them to the encampment's paymaster.

When Danka left the blacksmith's hut, Isauria followed her, unsure what else she should do. Oana carefully observed the girl's behavior to determine whether to leave her with her former mistress or to appoint her as an apprentice directly under her command. Collar or no collar, it seemed Isauria felt more comfortable staying with Danka. So... at least for the time-being, Danka would remain more in charge of Isauria than anyone else.

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By October 1, the weather was cold enough that remaining naked was no longer and option for any of the Defenders. Therefore, Oana ordered Danka and Isauria to pick up their winter uniforms, which consisted of a wool tunic and trousers. As much as she was used to running around in the nude, Danka was very happy to finally be protect herself from the elements and the increasingly frigid nights.

The Defenders passed October hauling in food and preparing it for preservation over the winter. As newcomers, Danka and Isauria had to report to the cooks to assist in meal preparation, to learn the process of food preservation, and to share any new ideas or recipes. The cooks were very interested in Danka's knowledge of spices and herbs, some of which they previously had not known. They instructed the newcomers to find and bring in samples, so Danka and Isauria spent much of October foraging, which was fine with them. It was much better to be wandering the woods than to be stuck in a smoke-filled kitchen.

Danka and Isauria rarely foraged in the woods alone. Usually one or more of Oana's other squad members accompanied them to learn what Danka could teach about finding roots and mushrooms. Whenever they were near a stream or pond, the women relaxed while Isauria fished. Danka put forth the effort to know and get along with her peers.

Many of Oana's squad members were from the Vice Duchy of Rika Chorna, so they were able to provide Danka with information about a region which she had never seen and was still a mystery to her. For a woman who had lived independently, the new information did not make Rika Chorna sound appealing. It seemed that women in the eastern valley did not have nearly as much freedom or as many rights as women in the western valley. For example, women could not purchase property, only inherit it, and even then they could inherit land only if a close male relative was not available as an heir. The entire region was loyal to the True Believer faction of the Danubian Church, so women's access to the Priesthood was as restricted as their access to property. Priestesses did exist in the eastern valley, but they only held moral authority over other women and were required to lead lives of celibacy. Priests were married, but never to Priestesses. Marriage restrictions for young women were even more restricted in the east than in the west. Two of Danka's peers openly admitted they had willingly joined the Defenders to escape the restrained existence they would have endured had they stayed behind in their villages.

After hearing descriptions of the Vice Duchy, Danka started to have real doubts about going there with Isauria and trying to settle. She was actually glad her journey had been interrupted. As bad as military service might be, for the time-being it seemed the least onerous of her options. She didn't want to return to any of the places she already had visited in the west, but her goal of going east did not seem any better. At least among the Defenders she was respected and would be treated according to how well she performed her duties. So... for the time-being she was not tempted to desert: it was just easier to stay where she was.

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The relationship between Danka and Isauria changed after the girl's collar was taken off. Danka had never really thought of Isauria as being her property: she treated her more as though she were a troublesome younger sister or niece. However, while she was collared, Isauria viewed Danka as her owner and herself as purchased, and thus less than human. As the fall progressed and Isauria became used to not having a collar on her neck, she started treating her former mistress as she would treat an older relative. Everyone accepted that the girl's education and training remained Danka's responsibility. She was much more responsive around her mentor than she was around anyone else; preferring to follow her around whenever she had the opportunity. Danka increasingly appreciated having the girl as her companion and looked forward to teaching her more of what she knew about life. Isauria was competent in the forest and could handle weapons, but there was plenty more that she needed to learn. Now that traveling and survival had ceased taking up all their time, Danka had opportunity to teach her ward the basics of alchemy, simple surgical procedures, mathematics, and even dining etiquette.

It helped that by the end of the year Isauria's ability to speak Danubian had greatly improved, which gave her confidence talking to people and made her less shy. It was good to see her open up. It also helped that her hair was growing out nicely, so every passing week she came closer to the appearance considered proper for an adolescent girl in Danubian society. Danka noticed yet another detail; that Isauria had grown over the past six months. The top of the girl's head came up to Danka's nose by the first snowfall. Another year... it was likely she'd be Danka's height, or perhaps even taller. Danka had to give up thinking of Isauria as "little".

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Commander Sáupeckt brought a peasant woman to Oana's hut during the first week of Novermber. She had been recruited along with several male debtors fleeing a money lender in the eastern town of Novo Sókukt Tók. The new arrival meant that Danka no longer was the newest member of her squad. By that time Danka was a fully accepted member of Oana's group anyway, having proved herself with not only her crossbow, but also with her contribution to the group's knowledge about foraging. As she had anticipated, her birth-control paste recipe made her even more popular among her peers than her food-gathering skills.

The women spent their days at target practice, negotiating obstacle courses, practicing drills in the woods, and practicing sword fighting with the men. They also practiced making cartridges and shooting with captured enemy muskets, in case they ever had to fight using conventional instead of traditional weapons. The women practiced moving in formation and covering each other for both advancing and retreating. As Oana explained to both Danka and the new woman:

"The Kingdom of the Moon soldiers have a major flaw in their strategy. They like to fight by overwhelming the enemy and pushing forward all the time. They're brave... too much for their own good. They consider it dishonorable and treasonous to retreat, so they don't normally pull back, no matter how badly things are going for them. You've already seen what happens when a commander does have to order a retreat: he's expected to kill himself. We... whether it's the Grand Duke's Protectors or the Defenders of the Duchy... have no problem moving in any direction. If we have to pull back, we do. So you have a large enemy moving in only one direction fighting a smaller enemy who can move in any direction. The only objective for them is winning. The first objective for us is staying alive to keep fighting."

In spite of the Defenders' emphasis on mobility, Oana noted that the Danubian strategy relied on being behind concealment and cover, always. As she put it: "The day we expose ourselves to a musket volley, even once, will be the day we lose the battle... and probably the entire campaign. So, that's our weakness. We can't fight in the open."

Because she was younger, Isauria practiced hand-to-hand combat with some adolescent boys serving under various squads as apprentices. As she hung out with the boys, singing war songs and sitting with them at campfires, Isauria slowly began to talk to people besides Danka. At the beginning, when dealing with Danubian boys she was troubled by memories of her former master Nowáckt. However, the Defender apprentices treated her well from the day she was introduced to them. In spite of being foreign-born and a former slave, the boys admired her and accepted her as part of their group when they found out she already had killed two men with a sword and helped kill two dozen others with a crossbow.

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Danka's birth-control paste transformed the lives of the nymphs in Oana's squad. Prior to Danka's arrival, pregnancies were a major concern among the women. Oana responded by trying to impose a regimen of celibacy among her subordinates. Any member of her squad caught having sex with one of the men was publicly stripped and faced a severe switching on her bottom and thighs. Punished offenders endured being naked (or bottomless during the winter) for several days until the welts faded, so the encampment could see the results of their whipping and their shame. The squad members spent much of their idle time trying to time their menstruations and having affairs behind their leader's back. As soon as she was convinced Danka's paste actually worked, Oana lifted the prohibition and the ongoing conflict within the squad abruptly ended. Every woman in the squad immediately found a male partner.

Oana seduced Commander Sáupeckt and became his lover, in spite of the fact he had a wife and children. During one of her foraging trips with Isauria, she stumbled across her commanders in a small clearing. The air was too cold to undress completely, but both had taken off their trousers. Oana was bent over a fallen log in the submissive position, while the commander was fondling and slapping her bottom. Finally he slipped his fingers between her legs, while using his free hand to stimulate himself. When both were ready, he entered her. He was surprisingly gentle, but Danka wondered if that was because of his age as opposed to any feelings of tenderness towards his subordinate.