Chapter 15: The Grand Duke’s Favorite

By the end of 1753, The Grand Duke was becoming increasingly concerned about the disappearance of the Cult of the Ancients. Their absence meant an end to the vaccination campaigns against smallpox and other illnesses. The mortality rate among the villages due to lack of medical services already was worsening, according to reports he was receiving. Contemporary European medical practices that had been discredited in the Duchy, such as bleeding, were making a comeback in some areas of the country. Meanwhile, the True Believers were encouraging their adherents to accept sickness as punishment from God and turn away from medical treatment altogether. The True Believer priests gleefully filled the void of medical services with the idea that physical suffering was the result of Divine Judgment for sin and idolatry, and for the Duchy’s refusal to submit to the Roman Church.

The Grand Duke pondered how to confront the deteriorating situation of public health in the Duchy and counteract the ignorance being spewed by the True Believers. He had seen the horrid conditions in neighboring countries and did not want his realm to resemble the rest of Europe. The Cult of the Ancients had been the main reason the Duchy’s people were relatively healthy. Well, the Cult was now gone, so their services would have to be replaced. Replaced by whom?

The ruler first considered trying to convince the Prophets of the Old Believers to fill the void left by the Followers of the Ancients. Their attitude towards the cosmos and to role of science certainly was better than that of the True Believers. However, relying on the Old Believers to expand their activities into medicine would increase their control of the Duchy’s society at the expense of the Royal Family. The Old Believers were strong enough as it was, the Grand Duke had no desire to see them become even stronger. The only other Danubian entity organized enough to provide health services was the Crown itself.

Over time the Grand Duke would come up with a solution that would seem perfectly logical in the 20th Century, but in the middle of the 18th Century was a radical idea. Why not have the Crown control the nation’s health services? If the nation’s best medical staff were working under the direction of the Grand Duke, the True Believers would not be in a position to oppose modern medicine, because to do so would entail rebelling against the government itself. Choosing which cities would receive medical services would allow the Grand Duke to leverage support from the town councils: if a town council did not support him, he simply wouldn’t send any medical staff.

The Grand Duke faced a dilemma with his idea: he did not have any precedent to provide guidance concerning how he could organize the Duchy’s doctors and bring medicinal services under his control. He understood that he needed to hire a large number of doctors as government employees, which would involve creating an organization to control their services and travels, pay them, provide supplies, compile records, and conduct medical research. The ruler would need to create a Ministry of Health, but he did not yet understand the concept in those terms, since such a project had never been attempted by any other ruler in Central Europe.

The Grand Duke spent restless nights thinking about the Duchy’s medical dilemma. The problem was simple: the Cult of the Ancients was gone, the medical services they provided needed to be replaced, and it was up to the Crown to figure out how to replace those services. But ... how? The sovereign desperately cast about for ideas; talking to his advisors and sending letters to his ambassadors asking how medical services were provided in the countries where they were stationed.

At the same time he was seeking ideas from foreign capitols, he thought about the most unusual member of his concubine group, the educated peasant girl. He continued probing her knowledge of medicine and alchemy throughout November. He ordered her to assist with the delivery of some babies, including the children of several ex-concubines who had moved to the maternity area before Silvitya was brought to the castle. He was impressed with her skills and knowledge. When workers were injured from falls or soldiers were injured during combat practice, he ordered her to tie her hair and cover it with a scarf and assist with surgeries and setting broken bones. He observed her as she performed her duties with confidence. There was no doubt about it: Silvitya had received training to be a doctor from the Cult of the Ancients.

At the end of November, the Grand Duke ordered Silvitya to kneel in front of him in the throne room and talk in detail about the university in Sebernekt Ris. Then he stunned her by commenting:

“I find it very interesting that you did not start your medical studies in the university. You were an advanced student, which means you were already trained by the Followers of the Ancients. I understand that you traveled with the Cult as a doctor before you ever set foot in Sebernekt Ris. I presume you must have spent the summer of last year in Nagoronkti-Serifkti and Daguruckt-Tok, marking the people against the pox. Before that, you spent the previous winter in the forest, receiving training and practicing your skills. Is that not so?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your humble serving girl was there, marking the people against the pox.”

“And, I am correct about your winter in the forest?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your humble serving girl received medical training in the forest.”

“And, when you were in the towns, you showed yourself to the public and performed your duties wearing a Follower’s dress?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, your humble serving girl was wearing a Follower’s dress.”

“And, you carried a skull staff. The Followers did not let members practice medicine if they were uninitiated and had not received their staffs. Is that not so?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your humble serving girl carried a staff.”

The Grand Duke switched to archaic Danubian. He didn’t speak it fluently, but did speak well enough make himself understood:

“Excellent. So, I have, in my castle and under my command, a Follower of the Cult of the Ancients. A witness to the Old World. A woman with knowledge of the Old Ways. And, most importantly, a woman who can train my staff and teach me the secrets of the Cult’s alchemy.”

Silvitya went white and tried to catch her breath. There was no point in trying to deny anything. As much as she hated the Grand Duke, she had to admire his perception, his patience, and his talent for uncovering people’s secrets. Silvitya had taken oaths not to disclose anything about her activities as a Follower. The ruler was well-aware of her oaths, so he gathered information and clues through casual comments and waited until he needed to do nothing more than force her to confirm what he already knew.

The Grand Duke continued, still struggling to express himself in archaic Danubian:

“I know your secrets, but not because you betrayed your oath. You remained loyal to your beliefs and your fellow Cultists. I simply outsmarted you. There are other details about your life that I know, which I will reveal to you when the moment suits me. Do you understand me, Follower Danka?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, your humble serving girl understands.”

The Grand Duke switched back to speaking modern Danubian.

“Excellent. I am sworn to serve the needs of the people of the Duchy and, as my humble serving girl, you will assist me. We will begin by having you tell me about the pox mark. I want to know how the scarring works. I understand there is a paste that you put on the knife before you cut a patient. So, I need to know how you create the paste, what ingredients go into it, and how you prepare the knife and the paste for making the mark. You will first tell me; then you will write the instructions on a sheet of parchment.”

In a trembling voice, Silvitya obeyed, explaining how the vaccine was created, using pox from sick cows. The Grand Duke was delighted.

“So, that’s the secret. Cows. Who would have thought, cows? No wonder no one else could figure it out. Now, Follower Danka, you will sit at my desk and write your formula and instructions in detail. I will re-create the pox remedy, so if you need to add any research or outside sources, you’d best include them in your report.”

The Grand Duke spoke with an implied threat in his tone of voice. Silvitya suspected he knew about her relationship with Antonia and was perfectly willing to use that vulnerability against her. It would be best to avoid risking any mention of Antonia, so Silvitya humbly responded: “To hear is to obey, Your Majesty.”

For several weeks the Grand Duke continued questioning Silvitya, as she knelt on hard stone floors in the cold throne room, with a shivering body and aching knees. He forced her to give up everything she knew about the Followers’ medical knowledge and Babackt Yaga’s research. Finally he sent her into his study to write about the information she had given him. She knew that she needed to provide him with reports that were completely accurate, so she included references to Babackt Yaga’s studies and research, which were locked in the dean’s office at the university in Sebernekt Ris. The Grand Duke ordered soldiers to go to the university and demand the current dean surrender the Followers’ writings. When the shipment of secret documents arrived, the Grand Duke built a hidden annex to the Royal library in which to store them. He kept the only key to the room with him at all times.

For months Silvitya wrote her reports, wondering what the Grand Duke planned to do with them. She answered his questions, only to be rewarded with yet more questions or a writing assignment. She dreaded the thought of the ruler asking her about Antonia, but fortunately she kept him pleased enough that he never felt a need to use that weakness against her. She also wondered if anyone from the Cult of the Ancients would attempt to retaliate for the information she was giving up. It seemed unlikely, with Fitoreckt dead and no successor taking his place, but really she had no way of knowing what was going on in Sebernekt Ris. All she could hope was that she would be forgotten and that the Cult of the Ancients truly was defunct.

Although he knew part of her real name, the ruler continued calling his concubine Servant Silvitya. It turned out he wanted to conceal her identity from outsiders as much as she did, and had no interest in letting anyone else in the castle know that her real name was Danka or that she had been a Follower. He was not interested in protecting her, but instead protecting his own reputation and plans.

Years later Silvitya would discover the sovereign copied her reports into his own handwriting so he could present them to the public and claim credit for the Followers’ discoveries. The Grand Duke impressed his ministers and foreign ambassadors with his “research”, his amazing intellect, and his understanding of science. Throughout the winter of 1753-1754, it seemed that every week he emerged from his study with a new discovery to benefit the Duchy’s people. One of his most impressive works was an account of the rat-plague that struck down the citizens of Rika Heckt-nemat, in which he speculated that it was not rats, but instead fleas, that were the culprits transmitting blood poison from person to person, which would explain why people not in direct contact with rats were still getting sick. He concluded by noting sanitation and measures to control rats (and their fleas) would prevent a similar tragedy from happening to another city.

Drawing upon his tireless hours with medical journals, dedicated research, and amazing discoveries; the Grand Duke set up field hospitals and alchemy labs on the outskirts of the capitol to produce medicine and potions. As the Royal Ministry of Health and Alchemy began to take shape, the Crown hired medical students to resume the Followers’ abandoned vaccination campaign. The Grand Duke’s employees fearlessly entered towns and villages still under the control of the True Believers. Unlike the Followers, they did not have to appease town councilmen or negotiate with clergy members. They simply entered where they were ordered to go, conducted their vaccinations, and moved on. Any clergyman who objected quickly received five arrows to the chest. The townsfolk were impressed with the medical care provided by their ruler, which gained their loyalty and made them more willing to pay taxes and provide soldiers for upcoming military campaigns.

The former Followers of the Ancients were not in a position to object to the Danubian ruler’s actions, claims, and plagiarisms. They were scattered, not in frequent contact with each other, and would have had to emerge from hiding to say anything. The Grand Duke’s claims that the research was his thus went uncontested. As the years passed and the Crown’s efforts to address the Duchy’s public health concerns improved, ordinary Danubians gave praise to the Creator for having granted them such a wise ruler who had taken so much trouble to become an expert in medical research. He became known as the “Great Visionary”, an unofficial title he would keep throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries.

The Grand Duke’s priority was securing the Cult of the Ancients’ medical studies, but he was aware the Followers had some other interesting achievements that could benefit both the Royal Household and the people of the Duchy. Over the ensuing decade the “Great Visionary” would claim responsibility for inventing some soil management and water conservation practices, a cast-iron stove, removable wooden panels for utility buildings, and the introduction of cave-charcoal as a source of heating.

The cave-charcoal was the most significant innovation introduced by the “Great Visionary”, one that would greatly reduce the unnecessary destruction of trees. As a child he had heard stories about the Followers burning magical black rocks instead of firewood. He questioned his concubine about the rocks and found out that, sure enough, the rocks really existed and there were several places in the mountains where they could be dug out. During the summer of 1754, a Royal expedition would locate the Followers’ abandoned mines and bring back the first samples of cave-charcoal to Danubikt Moskt, allowing the Grand Duke to claim credit for introducing the Duchy to coal.

During her internment in the Royal Residence, Silvitya didn’t have much news from the outside world, apart from what little the ruler chose to tell her. Every day she saw dozens, or even hundreds of castle servants, Royal Guards, ministers, scribes, soldiers, and ordinary workers, but she felt unable to talk to them about anything going on outside the fortress walls. The only source of news from the outside came whenever a new concubine was brought in to replace one who had become pregnant. The new girls rarely had anything to say that was of interest to Silvitya, since for the most part they only knew about their respective towns and families.

Magdala continued leading the group and introducing newcomers to the lifestyle and shared community of the concubines. However, her stomach continued to grow, a constant reminder of her pending departure from the group and her replacement with another spokeswoman. The women were not looking forward to her exit, because she had been an excellent leader that kept problems and disputes to a minimum. It seemed that even the Grand Duke was reluctant to pull her from the concubine group and assign her to the maternity ward. She was obviously pregnant and the ruler had long since stopped having sex with her, but he left her in her position until her pregnancy had completed five months.

Meanwhile, Silvitya spent endless hours with the sovereign, bathing him, massaging him, allowing him to run his hands over her body and through her hair, and submitting to his sexual desires. He enjoyed teasing her. He knew that she did not like being sodomized, so he made her bend over and traced his fingertip around her sphincter. And yet, as much as he teased her and silently threatened her, he did not actually enter her bottom. Even when having normal sex with her, he treated her decently. He did not make her participate in group sex sessions with other concubines or overtly humiliate her. He shared his supply of imported treats such as Turkish delight, flavored honey, and dried fruit. He talked to her in a perfectly normal manner, although Silvitya continued to refer to herself as “your humble serving girl”.

It was obvious, to both Silvitya and the other concubines, that she had become the Grand Duke’s favorite. She suspected she would become the group’s next spokeswoman. Assuming the role of leader was not something she anticipated with happiness. She would have to deal with nine other personalities, of young women whose backgrounds were totally different from hers, and keep them out of trouble in an environment that was very stressful and very artificial. Her only recourse was to talk to Magdala about leading the concubines and speaking on their behalf.

Magdala appreciated that her likely successor was seeking her insight instead of trying to do everything according to her own wishes.

“The most important rule is to remember that you are responsible for everything that goes on in the group. Never try to shift blame for a problem away from yourself, even if you feel another sister is at fault or has acted foolishly. Be prepared to face the switch for someone else’s mistake. Make everyone feel included, but at the same time, make sure everyone conforms to the practices of the group. Don’t be afraid to discipline a sister for errant behavior or to correct ignorance. Do you remember how I handled you, when you dishonored yourself at the dinner table?”

“Yes, Sister Magdala.”

“I didn’t strike you or humiliate you or raise my voice at you, but I spoke to you in a firm manner, telling you that you needed to correct your eating habits. You will remember that I told you how to correct them, to go into the kitchen and request instruction. You always need to do that when a sister shows ignorance. Point out the problem, tell her how to correct it, and make her understand that she is responsible for doing what is needed to conform. Remember that our Paths in Life are, in some ways, very difficult, and that we must do what is needed to conform and get along with each other.”