Chapter 21: The Slave-Owner

As the Bulashckt family and Silvitya were fleeing south, the Grand Duke spent several days surveying the ruins of the capitol and listening to reports about the evacuation. The fire had gone as planned, leaving the entire area within the city walls completely cleaned out. The only structures left standing were the Great Temple and a few nearby ancient buildings, the main cathedral and two other churches built by the Roman Church during the 1300s, and a few stone armory buildings near the castle. However, not everything had gone perfectly and unfortunately there had been some casualties. As the day progressed, Royal Guards and workers searching the smoldering ruins found several burnt corpses.

The Guards had no way of knowing who the bodies belonged to, with a notable exception. The captain of the detachment guarding the castle saw that Protector Alexandrekt Bulashckt was missing. He knew Protector Bulashckt had a nice house located within the city walls and decided to check its ruins. The men made the ghastly discovery that Alexandrekt Bulashckt and his entire family had perished inside their house. It seemed strange that someone as smart as Protector Bulashckt would not have made it out of the fire, but the guards speculated that his wife must have stayed in the house waiting for him and by the time he realized where his family was, the fire cornered everyone in the residence and they perished.

The Grand Duke took the news of Alexandrekt Bulashckt’s death stoically, but inwardly he was very upset. He lost one of his best guards, but even worse was the loss of one of his oldest daughters. It was regrettable that the girl was only a year away from being ready to be taken into the castle: she would have had her hair braided in just six years and be ready to marry off. The Grand Duke looked at the charred bodies, hoping his offspring was not among them. Unfortunately there was a corpse of a nine-year-old girl that corresponded with the daughter, so she had indeed been lost. That was most unlucky. The ruler ordered the bodies to be taken to the military cemetery and buried with honors. A Prophet from the Great Temple would lead the funeral, which was a privilege usually reserved for ministers and nobility.

When the Grand Duke returned to the castle two days later, there was more bad news waiting for him. His favorite concubine Silvitya was missing. No one had a clue what happened to her. The ruler checked her sleeping chamber, only to discover she had left behind her jewelry.

The other women were extremely worried of course, and seemed to suspect that the ruler himself had been responsible for her disappearance. The Grand Duke said nothing, figuring it would be best to let the concubines speculate about their spokeswoman and wonder what she had done to displease him. The Grand Duke never directly asked anyone what happened to Servant Silvitya. If the other concubines were scared that he had killed her, then it was unlikely they had anything to do with her absence. The Royal Guards and the matrons also took it for granted Silvitya had somehow run afoul of the Sovereign’s temper and that he was responsible for her death. If he started asking a bunch of questions, it would be apparent that she instead had run off, and it would look like he had lost control of one of his servants and lose honor. So, it was better to let everyone think he had secretly executed her. Besides, even if she had run off, it was likely she perished in the fire, given that she would have had to cross the entire city to reach a gate. If that was what happened, searching for her body would be futile. It would be one of several severely charred corpses found in the ashes and would never be identified.

So, the disappearance of Servant Silvitya remained a mystery for the Grand Duke. Why would she leave the safety of the castle? How did she get out? Did she go looking for him? Was she trying to find Protector Bulashckt? Was there someone else she was trying to find? Well, whatever happened, it was best to stay quiet and use Silvitya as a “lesson” for the other concubines. When they did anything that even hinted at irritating him, the ruler commented:

“You know, it is most unfortunate what happened to Servant Silvitya. Hers is a fate you wouldn’t wish on anyone, is it not? But I trust you understand your Path in Life better than she understood hers.”

As for the ruler himself, he was troubled by the vanishing of his favorite woman, but life had taught him to hide his emotions, even from himself. Love always led to tragedy and the loss of Servant Silvitya was just one example out of many why it was best to avoid becoming too emotionally attached to anyone. The Grand Duke pondered that Servant Silvitya could just as easily have betrayed him as simply disappearing and that he had made himself ridiculously vulnerable. Well, he’d have to ensure that never happened again. He’d replace the girl with another “favorite”, console himself by indulging with the remaining concubines, and move ahead with his plans for the Duchy.

The speculation about Servant Silvitya’s fate showed up in the writings of several former concubines and castle staff-members. A popular poet wrote a fanciful story claiming that Silvitya was not killed by the Grand Duke at all, but instead fled the castle to escape the Destroyer. As she ran through the city, the “Profane One” pursued her and spread fire to prevent her from turning back. Thus, the “Girl with No Name” caused the Destroyer to pass through Danubikt Moskt and was indirectly responsible for the city’s subsequent burning. A song-writer took the poet’s Destroyer idea and incorporated both the execution rumor and the story from Rika Heckt-nemat; that the Girl with No Name had called out to Beelzebub the Destroyer to save her from a second death sentence. Yes, she was indeed spared, but at the cost of another city, the Danubian capitol.

Several other poets and song-writers added their variations to the story and in doing so unwittingly served the interests of both Silvitya and the Grand Duke. The truth about the Great Fire of 1755 lay buried under increasingly thick layers of elaborate myth and fanciful tales.

The former Royal Guard and the former Royal concubine entered the forest and spent the late afternoon walking through dense old-growth trees. They were still ahead of most of the other refugees and the road was mostly clear. However, they had lost precious time trying to find the parents of the children they rescued, so the guard insisted on walking as quickly as possible. As they moved along the road, Alexandrekt periodically whistled what sounded like a strange bird-call. He listened, waited several minutes, and whistled again. Finally his efforts were rewarded with a response. He changed the whistle, as did his respondent. He oriented himself through several more exchanges and led Silvitya away from the road. They arrived at a clearing, where a wagon and three horses were partly concealed by trees. An attractive woman dressed in a caravan outfit like Silvitya’s and a 12-year old boy stood guard with crossbows over the campsite and three children. The children, a girl and two young boys, huddled together under the wagon. Alexandrekt introduced Silvitya to his wife, Stepkakta, and a nephew, Nowackt.

They moved out immediately and returned to the main road, even though it was close to sunset. The boy watched the back of the wagon while the former guard rode his horse in front. Alexandrekt’s wife took the reins of the wagon team and followed her husband’s order that she teach Silvitya how to drive. The three children, still bewildered from being taken out of their comfortable home, sat quietly with their older cousin in the back. After sunset the trip continued. Alexandrekt and Nowackt walked up front, each carrying a crossbow. Silvitya and Alexandrekt’s wife had longbows within their reach.

Silvitya was dead tired, given that she had not slept at all for two days, but she forced herself to conform to the rigid military-style discipline of her traveling companions. It was obvious that Alexandrekt had trained both Stepkakta and Nowackt in the use of weapons and army survival skills. The boy in particular, behaved as any ordinary Danubian soldier would behave: he carried his crossbow with ease and confidence.

The group traveled non-stop through the night and the following morning. They stopped midday, but only because Alexandrekt was monitoring the horses and calculated they needed to rest due to the heat. The group found a stream where the animals could drink and where everyone could bathe. Alexandrekt and the boys bathed separately from the women. The males and the girl went to sleep immediately, while the women stood watch over the camp.

During the watch Stepkakta braided Silvitya’s hair. Silvitya was elated when she looked into the water and saw her reflection. Finally, after two years, her hair was braided and her public honor as a woman was restored. Now that she looked like any other decently-attired Danubian woman, she truly felt she had escaped the clutches of the Grand Duke.

After the afternoon meal Silvitya slept on a blanket under the wagon. It was her first opportunity to sleep in three days, and her first opportunity to sleep as a free woman in two years.

Later, throughout the trip Silvitya would provide an important contribution to the group whenever they were passing through a wooded area. In spite of her past as a university student and a concubine, she was not a spoiled city girl who would be a burden on the others. She had skills that she had learned when living in Babackt Yaga’s settlement: she knew secrets of food gathering in the forest and could instantly spot and identify anything that was edible. While Stepkakta set up a fire and prepared a meal, Silvitya scoured the woods for food. The first time she went foraging, Stepkakta was just starting to grumble about Silvitya’s absence when her companion returned with a sack containing a banquet of mushrooms, roots, herbs, and berries.

The group left the main road leading to the ruins of Horkustk Ris shortly before the forest ended. They followed a road that was little more than a rough trail westward towards the East Danube River. When they approached the shore, they turned south to travel along the water’s edge. Fine flat beaches, exposed because of the low water-level during a drought year, made the trip both easy and pleasant. An unbroken line of cliffs, which comprised the Duchy’s western border, extended both upstream and downstream along the opposite side of the river.

At night the team moved in silence, but during the day there was time for conversation. Silvitya and Alexandrekt’s wife exchanged stories about their experiences as concubines and compared observations about the how the ruler had changed over the past nine years. Stepkakta had been one of his very first concubines, picked from a village when he was still just the heir to the throne. The young Prince saw her drawing water from a well as he was passing through with his hunting party and took a liking to her. Like Silvitya, Stepkakta entered the sovereign’s service as a peasant and exited with the manners and skills of an upper-class woman. As the Crowned Prince said at the time: “it’s always interesting to catch a crow and turn her into a dove.”

“Then, that explains, there’s a tapestry above the Duke’s throne. He’s got a tapestry, that shows a crow sitting in a cage and a dove sitting on top.”

“Yes. The tapestry must have been made after my time, but that’s what it would mean. His Majesty has many reasons for keeping concubines, but one of them is to use us to humble the nobility. He wishes to prove that noble families are not inherently superior to average citizens. Anyone can be taught to act like a noble, and therefore nobles have no special rights, and therefore, like everyone else, they must submit to the Royal House. By having us act as ladies of class, he is sending his rivals a political message.”

The Bulashckt group proceeded along the river for several days, passing to the south of Horkustk Ris and the squads of Royal Guards stationed there to receive refugees and push them further south. Alexandrekt would go around the ruined city to the west, then turn directly east and follow a series of rough roads southeast. He had seen some properties close to the southern border that interested him, but the family would have to move quickly to ensure they occupied the land before any other Danubians arrived to stake a claim.

The Bulashckt family would have an enormous advantage of having the tools, horses, and cooking utensils needed to set up a household upon arriving at their destination. They also had blank letters from the Grand Duke granting them rights to the property they would be taking. Stepkakta and Silvitya practiced forging signatures and finally decided that Silvitya should be the one to attempt to forge the names. She signed several officials’ names and made the documents look authentic.

One of the letters would be for Silvitya. Alexandrekt had taken for granted the assumption she would be content owning and farming a small plot of land for the rest of her life. The property title planted doubts in Silvitya’s thoughts about what she wanted for her future. She could indeed operate a farm, but there was no way living off a plot of land appealed to her. Maybe, maybe if she had a partner or a family, she could be a farmer, but to do it alone?

The family turned away from the river and crossed a region that had been a war-zone the previous year. The area already was occupied by recently-arrived Danubian settlers, so signs of both destruction and recovery were everywhere. Alexandrekt talked in detail about the skirmishes between the Royal Guards and garrisons of the Lord of the Red Moon’s men as they passed through villages and manors. They arrived at the same town where Mirjana’s captors had sold her relatives. The slave market was still active, selling off captured refugees from the Kingdom of the Moon. All of the slaves were women or girls, all of them were collared and naked.

Silvitya’s illusions about Alexandrekt suffered a severe blow when she watched him purchase four slaves. He bought two middle-aged women to work in the fields, a younger one to help his wife in the household, and a girl who would be the personal servant of Nowackt. Silvitya was horrified when she saw the naked foreigners kneeling next to the wagon. Alexandrekt had talked incessantly about his freedom, his step-daughter’s freedom, and Silvitya’s freedom, but had no qualms about keeping foreign women as slaves.

Silvitya was most troubled by the girl that had been given to Nowackt. The boy was 12 and his new servant was only slightly younger. He would shave his head in a few years and would want what any teenaged boy would want. Silvitya even overheard Alexandrekt discussing the purchase with Stepkakta: “yes, I know she was expensive, but I need to keep that boy out of trouble. We’ll have enough worries as it is, so I don’t want him wandering off looking for adventures.”

A group of displaced families from the capitol joined Alexandrekt as his family and slaves departed eastward. They all had titles to landholdings, but so far every place they had seen already had occupants. Alexandrekt explained that the best remaining property would be along the southern border. There were several abandoned villages within sight of the Kingdom of the Moon. If the others joined the Bulashckt group, Alexandrekt would teach the men how to fight so they could defend both the Duchy and their new land. The men agreed, elected Alexandrekt their mayor, and a large column of families proceeded towards the border. Originally there were 13 families, but by the end of the journey they had been joined by 15 more.

Three days later the group arrived at a village containing some refugees from the Kingdom of the Moon. The Danubians chased out the foreigners and quickly set up their new town. Alexandrekt didn’t bother to find out if the empty settlement had a previous Danubian name; he simply called it Malenkta-Gordnackta because it was located next to a small hill with a dilapidated watchtower at its summit.

The Bulashckts, along with the four slaves and Silvitya, established their household in Malenkta-Gordnackta’s nicest residence. Alexandrekt left his wife, the three children, and the two younger slaves in the town, but took his nephew, the two older slaves, and Silvitya to establish ownership of a large plot of farmland outside the village. Forested hills lay immediately to the east of the property, and a small river that was recognized as the border between the Kingdom of the Moon and the Duchy formed a small portion of the boundary to the south. It was a risky location, but someone would have to live along the border and stake out the land for the Duchy. I suppose a former Royal Guard is as good a man for that duty as any, Silvitya thought to herself.

Alexandrekt handed a switch to his companion and told her to have the slaves start clearing one of the fields. Meanwhile, he would go with several of the men to divide up the rest of the land around Malenkta-Gordnackta. Later he would have to organize some hunting expeditions in the woods. The fields had been abandoned over the previous year and there was very little food in the area. The situation would improve after the next year’s harvest, but until then the new residents of Malenkta-Gordnackta would have to live by hunting and gathering.

As she stood in the field, holding her switch and watching the two wretched naked women sweat and struggle with their task, Silvitya felt despair sweep over her. What am I doing, watching over another person’s slaves? Why did the Ancients lead me here, to the edge of the Duchy, to this abandoned location? Is this truly my Path in Life? Is this why I escaped the capitol and the Grand Duke? What am I doing, just standing alone in a field?

Alexandrekt’s training in the Danubian military manifested itself in every detail of his behavior as he organized his new community. He assessed each man under his command to determine his strongest skills or talents and made sure each of his subordinates was doing his best to further the interests of Malenkta-Gordnackta. By the end of September the town had a fully operational blacksmith’s shop, a glass-blower, a cobbler, and a weaver. There was a shortage of livestock, but a group of teenagers snuck across the border, raided a farm, and brought back some live chickens and a pair of sheep. That was hardly enough for village of 300 people, but at least it was a start.

Alexandrekt knew that Silvitya had training from the Cult of the Ancients for living and foraging in the woods, so he employed her to lead gathering expeditions into the nearby hills. Both he and Stepkakta had been very impressed with her talent for finding anything edible during the first days of their journey, so it was logical to place former Follower in charge of foraging expeditions. The commander ordered each family to send at least one woman or girl to the plaza with bags and baskets, with the understanding they were to follow Silvitya into the hills and do exactly what she told them to do. Anyone failing to follow her instructions would face a public switching in the plaza upon returning. The severe command was necessary because most of the women were guild wives or field workers that had no experience collecting food in the forest. As long as the women were accompanying Silvitya, they would be under her command, no questions asked.

Silvitya was not particularly religious when she was in a “civilized” environment, but when she was in a natural setting, she did feel the presence of the Ancients. Her religion might no longer have formally existed, but the spirituality she had learned with the Cult stayed with her and influenced her view of the world. Therefore, as she led others into the woods, she insisted on maintaining the practices of the Old World. She shocked her companions by stripping and ordering the others to undress as well. The oldest woman in the group would stand watch over the dresses, but the others would show respect to the Realm of Nature by entering the forest as the Great Spirits had created them. Noting the reluctance of her companions, she snapped:

“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. Silvitya 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 Alexandrekt Bulashckt’s increasingly rigid militaristic rule over Malenkta-Gordnackta. 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.

As the weather started to become colder, the foraging expeditions into the mountains ended, along with Silvitya’s temporary authority over Malenkta-Gordnackta’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. Silvitya 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 Malenkta-Gordnackta that troubled Silvitya, 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 Silvitya avoided her as much as possible. Nor did Silvitya 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 Nowackt’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 Nowackt was not going to treat her well. Throughout the fall and winter he and Alexandrekt’s step-daughter bullied his servant and forced her to do humiliating things. For example, at the end of October, Nowackt 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 Bulashckt children ridiculed her.

Alexandrekt 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 Malenkta-Gordnackta 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 Bulashckts. 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 Malenkta-Gordnackta to survive and prosper, the inhabitants would have to trade for the goods they needed, but unfortunately they had nothing to offer.