The Girl with No Name
Copyright 2013 by Edward -EC-
EC's Erotic Fiction - /~caligula97030/

(warnings: public nudity, sex between adults, corporal punishment, maledom, 
humiliation, war violence, language)

Chapter Eight – The Student

Danka and her fellow initiates eagerly awaited the Fall Equinox, when they would 
give up the title of “Initiate” and become fully accepted members of the Cult of 
the Ancients. To mark the change in their status, they would wear the Cult of the 
Ancients’ skull on their formal outfits. They handed over their dresses and tunics 
to the group’s most experienced seamstress, who carefully embroidered the skull 
that would tell the world that the wearer was a fully-accepted Follower.

Equally important was the skull-staff. Following the sacrifice of the five fortune-
hunters, one of the elders cut off their heads and took them to a secret chamber 
under the Altar of Blood-Nourishment. He spent several days cleaning the skulls 
before soaking them in a special solution to harden the bone. He drilled holes at 
the base that would allow the skulls to be mounted on staffs. Finally, he coated 
the skulls with a special sealant that would prevent them from getting stained and 
make them as sturdy as a hard piece of wood.

The skull-staff issued to a new Follower was nothing more than a simple wooden 
pole, but most Followers learned wood-carving and eventually carved designs or 
pictures into their staffs during their free time. One way for a Christian to tell how 
long a cult-member had been a Follower was to look at their staff. The most 
elaborately carved staffs belonged to Followers with the most experience.

However, the season did not give the Initiates much time to think about what life 
would be like after they became fully accepted Followers. The first three weeks of 
September were an extremely busy period for everyone in Babáckt Yaga’s 
settlement. It was the last opportunity to bring in food, harvest a final batch of 
alchemy ingredients, and haul wagonloads of mysterious cave-charcoal. 

The final cave-charcoal trip took more than a week and was the most unpleasant 
event in September: the roads already were muddy, the wagon wheels were 
constantly getting stuck, and the loads were unbelievably heavy. Káloyankt 
reminded Danka that as bad as lugging the black rocks might be, the trip would 
save the Followers from having to spend the winter chopping wood for fires.

The activity in the kitchen was frenetic, the final chance to preserve food that 
would allow the Followers to survive the winter. The kitchen had been in an open 
building all summer, but just before the cave-charcoal trip, the settlers enclosed 
the structure with a set of ingenuously-made wooden panels. The building would 
become a warm refuge from the bitter weather outside: not just a place for 
cooking and eating, but also a place for study and singing practice.

----------

The trip to the Altar of Blood-Nourishment was an unpleasant slog along muddy 
trails passing through endless groves of trees obscured in cold fog and mist. It was 
hard to believe that just a few weeks before the area had been so green and 
pleasant. Danka and the other initiates were hugely relieved when the Altar finally 
came into view. The Followers went through the secret door and into the 
underground labyrinth to rest and change into dry clothing.

The ceremony took place at midnight. The Followers were arranged just like they 
were during the sacrifice: the men immediately around the altar and the women 
standing around them in a circle, holding their staffs and chanting. Everyone, with 
the exception of Babáckt Yaga and the five initiates, was dressed in their formal 
black clothing. Babáckt Yaga was covered in her black and white ceremonial 
paint, while the initiates were naked. The newest members trembled as they 
waited in the cold night air, but the equally-naked alchemist didn’t seem bothered 
by the temperature in the least.

Danka expected Babáckt Yaga to spend a long time shouting prayers and 
incantations, given her normal penchant for ceremonial flare and drama. However, 
on that night Babáckt Yaga seemed very humble and subdued. One by one the 
initiates knelt in front of her while she took their hands and silently prayed.

Danka was the first of her group to pray with her mentor. As soon as she knelt and 
took the old woman’s hands, her world went black. The large hostile eyes from 
the forest re-emerged. As always, the eyes took over her world and were only 
thing she could see.

“I have returned, Danka Síluckt. You see, I didn’t forget you.”

“Of course you didn’t forget about me. I never thought you would. Now I know 
you won’t leave me in peace. But I’ve accepted it.”

“Perhaps, Danka Síluckt, perhaps you have accepted my presence. But that 
doesn’t mean your Path in Life will ever be any easier. Learning brings 
knowledge, and knowledge brings despair. I have blessed your Mistress with 
much knowledge, more than any other living mortal. And yet, she is no happier 
for it. I granted her many extra years of life, but those years have brought her no 
joy. Like your Mistress, you will be blessed…”

“I wouldn’t call anything from you a blessing. And my Path in Life is my own, 
not yours or anyone else’s. Now…I call upon the Ancients to cast you out…”

The eyes slowly faded and vanished. Danka knew that it was nothing more than a 
reprieve. The Profane One would return…of that she could be sure, but at least 
now she knew it was possible to fight back.

When her consciousness returned to the Realm of the Living, her eyes met those 
of Babáckt Yaga. The old woman’s expression did not change, but it seemed that 
she was fully aware of what had just happened in her initiate’s inner world. 
Somehow, she knew.

With a slight tug of her hands, Babáckt Yaga silently ordered Danka to stand up. 
An elder brought her the black dress, now complete with a finely-stitched image 
of a skull.

“You will dress. You now have earned your rightful place among the Followers of 
the Ancients. The Ancients will bless you with knowledge, and burden you with 
responsibility.”

Danka was extremely grateful to get dressed and finally cover her body against 
the chilly wind whipping around the open meadow. Babáckt Yaga picked up a 
newly-crafted staff, complete with a real skull, the skull of a man who had been 
alive, just three weeks before. The skull contained a finely crafted oil lamp, which 
was vented through the eye sockets and designed to be resistant to being blown 
out unintentionally. An elder lit the lamp. The alchemist held out the staff.

“In much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in 
increasing pain. This staff brings burden and responsibility into your life, not 
peace and happiness. Perhaps the Ancients will allow you a few moments of 
happiness as you progress through your days in the Realm of the Living, but 
happiness is a gift, and a very fleeting one at that. Do you accept that the Path of 
Your Life is not the blind pursuit of pleasure?”

“I accept that, Babáckt Yaga. The blind pursuit of pleasure is not my Path in 
Life.”

“Then you will take up this burden. Everyday, for the rest of your time among the 
living, you must earn the right to carry it. Learning is never finished. Acquiring 
knowledge is never finished. And the struggle to serve will never be finished.”

Babáckt Yaga handed the staff to Danka. The women let out a long wail. When 
the eerie mournful noise finally died down, Danka left the altar and took her place 
among the Followers. She waited for her fellow initiates to receive their outfits 
and staffs. As each of her companions took up their burden, she celebrated by 
wailing along with the others.

The Followers spent the night sleeping in the underground passages before 
closing them up for the year. The next day they took precautions to hide the 
entrance and to clean the holy site to remove all evidence of their most recent visit.

----------

As soon as they returned to Babáckt Yaga’s settlement, most of Danka’s 
companions prepared to leave the mountains for the entire winter. Within days 
they departed, taking with them pack loads of alchemy ingredients and medical 
equipment. The majority of the Followers took up residence in the houses of 
wealthy provincial citizens instead of constantly making the arduous trek up and 
down snow-covered mountain trails. No matter where they went, the Followers 
could always rely on a patron to provide free room and board, which was a small 
price to pay for having a doctor readily accessible to their families and friends. 
Hosting a Follower also provided honor and prestige within the community, 
because the Followers attended the medical needs of anyone nearby who needed 
their services.

----------

Winter came earlier, stayed longer, and was much harsher in the northern 
highlands than in the cities in the Duchy’s western valley. As the nights grew 
colder and a storm of sleet hit the compound, Danka realized that she would miss 
the comparatively mild climate of Starívktaki Móskt. While the valley-dwellers 
still enjoyed the gentle sunshine of the early fall, in the mountains the tree leaves 
already had turned with the cold frosty weather.

The colder climate forced the Followers to give up their habit of not wearing 
clothing in the settlement and while wandering in the nearby mountains and 
streambeds. However, even during the winter the Followers sought to set 
themselves apart from conventional society. They didn’t wear their formal Cult 
clothing, but instead wore fur-lined leather shirts and boots. If the temperature 
outside remained above freezing, they wore nothing else, which meant they 
remained naked between their knees and their waists. Danka thought the cult 
members looked very odd, their bare thighs and bottoms contrasting with their 
fur-covered feet and torsos. Even in the coldest weather the settlers rarely wore 
any type of trousers, but instead protected their bodies with outer robes that were 
black and similar in appearance to the hooded prayer robes used by worshipers in 
the Danubian Church.

Babáckt Yaga’s settlement was quiet after her doctors departed for the winter. 
The only people remaining were the ones who most recently had joined the Cult 
and still needed training, and a few older members who had retired from 
travelling. The older members spent their days educating the younger ones, 
making sure their knowledge and skills were passed on before their Paths in Life 
ended.

The medical training over the winter was intense and often depressing. The camp 
kept a supply of preserved headless bodies from sacrificial victims for the young 
Followers to practice on and dissect. The young members also practiced on live 
animals such as pigs, which had to be deliberately injured. Sometimes the senior 
Followers cut the pigs with swords or daggers, and sometimes they pushed an 
animal off a platform onto rocks to break its bones. Then it was up to the younger 
Followers to anesthetize the struggling and squealing subject to evaluate and treat 
its injuries. Any animal about to be butchered for meat was injured and operated 
on several times before finally being killed. It was cruel and unpleasant work, but 
at the time there really was no other training method available. Babáckt Yaga 
could not afford to place her group’s reputation in jeopardy by having her newest 
students train on human patients and risk making a mistake.

Training for operations and attending injuries was only a small part of Babáckt 
Yaga’s education for her newest subordinates. She left the physical training to the 
elders. For her, understanding alchemy was much more important than being a 
good field surgeon. She already had introduced the newcomers to creating basic 
medicines. Now that they had their skulls and were fully accepted in the Cult, 
they could be trusted with preparing more sophisticated medicines and working 
with the most expensive and hard-to-obtain ingredients. One of the first recipes 
that the three women learned was preparing the Followers’ much-coveted birth-
control paste.

“No matter where you go, with this knowledge every woman, from harlot to 
baroness, will seek your favor and friendship.”

As the snow fell and the cold wind whipped around the settlement, Babáckt Yaga 
gathered the five newest members of her group into her laboratory and library. 
Over the years she had collected a copy of every book on medicine and alchemy 
known at the time, including ancient texts written in Arab, Greek, and Latin. She 
had inherited part of the collection, but during her life had greatly expanded it. 
She also had translated many of the Greek and Latin texts into Danubian and 
wrote commentaries on the effectiveness of the medical procedures and how to 
improve upon them. Whenever she finished a translation, she had a Follower 
make a copy and had it sent to an associate who maintained a library and printing 
press in Sebérnekt Ris.

As an example of her work with translations, Babáckt Yaga directed her students’ 
attention to a couple of old books lying on her study table. The titles were in a 
foreign language: Historia Plantarum and De artificiosis extractionibus liber. The 
books were in horrible condition: very worn and with the pages covered with 
annotations handwritten in Danubian.

“Two hundred years ago a young man called Valerius Cordus conducted research 
on plants and their medicinal uses. He wrote extensively and recovered much of 
the knowledge that was lost during Humanity’s Great Rebellion against the 
Ancients. My Path in Life included translating these works into the language of 
the Duchy to ensure his knowledge is available to our people. The Paths of the 
Followers’ Lives calls upon us to expand upon what people like Valerius Cordus 
discovered. I say expand, because there are many plants unique to the Duchy that 
Valerius Cordus did not know about. So, we’ve studied his experiments and 
applied them to Danubian plants. Also, we’ve imported and cultivated the most 
useful foreign plants described in his works and refined his medical research. 
Year after year the Followers have built upon his knowledge, and in doing so, we 
are acting in defiance of the Profane One. The day will come when the Profane 
One will tire of my efforts and end my Path in Life, but until that day comes, I 
will continue my work to recover what has been lost, and your Path in Life is to 
assist me in that effort.”

So…during her first winter as a Follower, Danka’s duties included copying 
translations that would be sent to Sebérnekt Ris, where they would be printed for 
further distribution. She perfected her penmanship and continued to expand on her 
vocabulary. Strange to think, just two years before she had been completely 
illiterate, and now she was transcribing complicated medical studies. 

----------

An important arrangement that the settlement’s remaining residents had to make 
for the winter was sleeping. There were three sleeping houses, but at any given 
time only two were occupied. Every month the houses were rotated so that one 
could be left “fallow”. That meant the structure was evacuated, swept out, and the 
windows left open to freeze any insects or rodents that had taken up residence 
inside. The Followers took clean bedding, bathed, and set up in the house that had 
previously been unoccupied.

Danka learned why Babáckt Yaga took such extreme precautions. In a country 
where fleas, lice, and bedbugs were still extremely common, the alchemist was 
determined to keep such vermin to a minimum in her settlement. She was 
convinced that blood-sucking insects carried many of the “Profane One’s” curses; 
most notably bubonic plague. 

By the mid-1700’s the Danubians had figured out that bubonic plague was 
associated with rats, hence they started calling the sickness “the rat plague” and 
began measures to reduce the number of rats in their settlements. After decades of 
observations and reading, Babáckt Yaga suspected that it was not the rats that 
directly brought the plague to humans. She had figured out that both rats and 
humans were affected by the same disease, and looked for a possible common 
cause. Finally, through a series of experiments with groups of sick and healthy 
rats, she determined that the rat plague was caused by a blood-poison that was 
transmitted by fleas, not the rats themselves. Ridding an area of rats certainly 
helped control the plague, but what really mattered was ridding an area of fleas.

She researched other blood-poisoning curses of the Profane One, and had decided 
that insects, especially fleas and mosquitoes, were the Profane One’s messengers 
that carried blood poison from one person to the next. Thus, the way to stop the 
Profane One from poisoning blood involved minimizing the number of blood-
sucking insects.

----------

Each sleeping house was heated with a metal stove for cave-charcoal. However, 
the heating was inadequate: during the coldest months it was just enough to keep 
the rooms’ temperature from falling below freezing. The beds helped, because 
they were enclosed with thick covers on top and around the sides. All of the beds 
were large enough to fit two people comfortably, so to conserve warmth each 
Follower slept with another person, either their closest friend or a lover. So…a 
final detail that Danka needed to arrange was finding a person to share her 
assigned bed. 

Danka knew that she needed to take Káloyankt as her sleeping partner. After 
having spent the previous winter enjoying a bed to herself at the Church Temple, 
she was not thrilled at having to return to sharing one. Unfortunately, the cold did 
not give her or anyone else a choice in the matter. She had to have another person 
to keep her warm while sleeping, and Káloyankt was the logical choice. It was 
what he expected and what everyone else expected. Rather than risk hurting his 
feelings and spurring possible gossip among her companions, Danka announced 
that she would pass the winter with Káloyankt.

Káloyankt was, of course, elated. Now that she officially shared his bed, he 
considered her as “his woman”. During the long winter nights he was guaranteed 
sex whenever he wanted it, because Danka acquiesced anytime he touched her 
and sought to arouse her. Danka and Káloyankt were young, vigorous, and in 
excellent health. Under their dark canopy they practiced every sexual position 
imaginable many times over.

Káloyankt was under the impression that sharing a bed and having sex with 
Danka would solidify their relationship, with the end result being marriage 
whenever they were ready to leave Babáckt Yaga’s settlement and venture forth 
into the world. Danka fully understood her lover’s expectations, but the more time 
she spent with him, the more her doubts about the relationship increased. She 
couldn’t understand why, because Káloyankt was the type of man she was 
looking for. He was educated, intelligent, and the son of nobility. He was a good 
sexual partner and a vigorous lover. He respected her and did not seem to hold her 
peasant upbringing against her.

And yet…and yet…Danka spent many sleepless nights troubled by her own 
illogical emotions, even as she lay in her lover’s arms and felt his breath on her 
body. She couldn’t imagine staying with him past the spring. He was a part of her 
present, but if she couldn’t force herself to love him, how could he be part of her 
future?

----------

The daily routine of studying chemistry and medicine, learning new alchemy 
formulas, preparing potions, practicing surgery on cadavers and injured pigs, 
spending several hours copying translations, and practicing hymns and chants in 
archaic Danubian left Danka’s companions mentally exhausted at the end of each 
day. Apart from learning, the Followers had to attend to their physical needs in a 
hostile environment. They had to prepare meals, care for their livestock, and keep 
their living area clean. There were time-consuming setbacks, such as the day four 
pigs escaped and only two were re-captured, and the night an extreme cold snap 
killed a third of the settlement’s hens and burst a cistern. Even in a well-run 
settlement, winter was a time of hardship.

As the months went by and the winter solstice approached and passed, Babáckt 
Yaga noted the progress of the newest Followers. If they became tired or 
discouraged, she eased their training or shifted their responsibilities. She did not 
expect the same results for everyone, knowing that different people learned at 
different paces and had different strengths and weaknesses.

The alchemist was most impressed by Danka. She seemed to be the most 
promising recruit to enter the Cult of the Ancients…ever. The peasant girl was 
used to physical hardship, so the challenges of winter life did not trouble her in 
the least. She did not flinch or hesitate when confronted with an injured animal: 
she calmly sedated the subject and set about sewing up wounds or splinting 
broken limbs. She could evaluate internal injuries and tell if there were wounds 
that were untreatable.

The girl was extremely smart. By the beginning of 1752 her vocabulary matched 
that of many people who had years of formal education. During those darkest 
months, the young Follower transformed into a different person. She was 
determined to erase her identity as a “peasant girl”. Her Pagan beliefs and newly-
acquired knowledge gave her confidence in her own abilities, which pushed her to 
pursue increasingly challenging subjects in her studies. Babáckt Yaga calculated 
that, at the rate she was progressing, within just a year Danka would fully 
understand all of the subjects needed to be an alchemist; including botany, 
chemistry, and working with mathematical formulas. 

The detail of Danka that impressed Babáckt Yaga the most, however, was her 
desire to learn for the sake of learning. She never tired of spending time alone 
with Danka because she saw so much of her own personality as a young woman 
in the new recruit. Whenever Danka showed up under the alchemist’s laboratory, 
she could count on the ladder dropping and receiving a call to climb up. She was 
desperate to learn and Babáckt Yaga was eager to teach. 

After her companions had gone to bed for the night, Danka visited her mentor to 
receive instruction in archaic Danubian. She didn’t just want to sing in archaic 
Danubian; she wanted to be completely fluent in the dialect of the Ancients. She 
also wanted to learn Latin and German. She became interested in maps and in 
learning about the countries surrounding the Duchy. She wanted to know about 
history and understand why times changed from generation to generation. 
Babáckt Yaga, whose memories went back a century, appreciated the opportunity 
to share stories of a forgotten lifetime with a person whose journey in the Realm 
of the Living was just beginning.

----------

At the beginning of February Babáckt Yaga began the process of preparing a new 
batch of longevity potion from her supply of dried mushrooms. The first step in 
that process was deciding how much of the potion to make. 

For the first time in her life, alchemist had a huge supply of specimens from “The 
Joy of the Ancients”. Although the stock of the potion’s key ingredient was 
enormous, it was destined to be the final harvest. Because of the way the 
mushrooms grew, the species was unlikely to ever recover from the previous 
summer’s slaughter. 

There was another consideration. The potency of preserved specimens of “the Joy 
of the Ancients” peaked about six months after they were dried, but then 
gradually weakened. Babáckt Yaga was not sure how long finished potion would 
last, because she had never tried keeping it in storage for more than a year. Well, 
she would just have to take that risk. She decided to convert most of her 
mushrooms into longevity potion. 

The next decision she would have to make was determining who would be given 
the potion over the following year. When taken properly, the potion’s effect on a 
subject was to slow down the normal aging process by three fourths. That meant a 
person taking the treatment over a four-year period would only age one year. If 
the patient stopped, the aging process resumed at a normal rate. Over the years 
she had administered the potion to herself and others, Babáckt Yaga had not 
noticed any negative side-effects.

She would continue giving the potion to herself, of course. There were a couple of 
elders working on medical research who also would receive the potion, to give 
them time to finish their work. There were some researchers in Sebérnekt Ris, and 
her old friend Fítoreckt, who was the Followers’ leading alchemist in the 
northwestern part of the Duchy, who also would continue with the treatment. 

After giving the matter some thought, Babáckt Yaga decided to add her student 
Danka Síluckt to the list. The girl had her faults, but those faults were the result of 
her having to come to terms with the conflict between her talent and the 
limitations she was facing. Of all the young people who had passed through the 
settlement over the years, Danka Síluckt showed the most potential, by far. With 
her gifted mind and hunger for learning, it made sense to give her some extra time 
to develop herself. Maybe…maybe Danka Síluckt could even take over the 
settlement some day. Even with the longevity potion, Babáckt Yaga wasn’t 
getting any younger. She had been able to delay the inevitable, but death would 
come to her, potion or no potion. She had to think about a successor. Maybe the 
peasant girl was that person, the one who would guide the Followers into their 
uncertain future.

On the night of February 14, Danka ascended the ladder to receive her extra hours 
of instruction from her patron. As usual, she brought with her a kettle of boiling 
water, expecting to serve tea to the alchemist and to herself. Instead of the normal 
mint and herb mixture, Babáckt Yaga ordered the student to open a ceramic jar 
and remove two spoonfuls of blue powder. The concoction tasted bitter, but left a 
pleasant sensation that would last several days. After finishing their drink, 
Babáckt Yaga commented:


“The Realm of the Living is changing, Danka Síluckt. For many years I have 
pondered where our Path in Life is leading us, and I asked for a sign to illuminate 
the future. I did not request the illumination because I harbor any illusions that I 
can benefit by seeing what will be. I am old and my Path in Life will end shortly. 
I asked for illumination so I could understand in what direction to point those who 
will come after me. I received my answer last summer, with my failure to protect 
‘the Joy of the Ancients’. The Realm of the Living’s connection to the Old World 
is fading, disappearing little by little. That process has been going on for many 
centuries, but I am convinced you will live to see its completion. The Ancients 
have decided to no longer speak to the Realm of the Living through the Followers. 
They will continue to speak, but it will be through others, not us.”

“Do you have any idea who ‘the others’ might be, Babáckt Yaga?”

“Yes. You might think I am discouraged by the passing of the Old World, but 
really I am not. I think the Ancients will eventually speak through the Danubian 
Church, or through the Old Believers, to be more precise. Many Christians are 
looking at us…the people who represent the Old World, and are taking interest in 
what we have to say. They don’t want our rituals, but they do want our knowledge. 
So, when the final Follower puts down his skull for the very last time, and the 
Blood of Life Nourishment flows no more, we will continue to contribute. The 
riddle is how to make that transition.”

Danka pondered how to respond. At the moment she intensely disliked the 
Danubian Church. Now that she had experienced the relative freedom that came 
with living as a Pagan, she was disgusted by the restrictive lifestyle of the 
Christians, even if they were Old Believers. However, deep down she knew the 
real reason of her dislike of the Church stemmed from her memory of Bagatúrckt 
and his father’s failure to control him. Did she really have the right to judge the 
entire Church based on a single traumatic event in her life? Her thoughts jumped 
to a strange question:

“Do you think that maybe…the Followers would join the Church?”

“Some already have. Two years ago I sent two young men to the Seminary in 
Starívktaki Móskt, and last year, just before my Path in Life crossed with yours, I 
sent a young woman to the Great Temple in Danúbikt Móskt. I will send another 
one of your companions to the Great Temple in the spring. So…we are trying to 
make the transition.”

“You...are you telling me…that maybe I should study for the Christian 
Priesthood?”

“Not at all. You’d never make a good Christian. You have the heart of the Old 
World beating in your chest. But in your lifetime, you will experience the 
transformation that is coming among our people. You belong to the new era, but 
the Ancients will grant you a glimpse of the old. You must bear witness to 
everything you see and teach anyone who wishes to learn. You must remember 
everything the Ancients choose to show you and acquire the skills needed to serve 
the Duchy. However, your Path in Life is not to just stand around learning, 
watching, and remembering. You have the Power to heal. You, Danka Síluckt. 
Your Path in Life will be to fix what seems broken beyond repair; to restore what 
no man thinks can be restored. You will carry the knowledge of the Old World 
with you so you can re-build part of the new one. That is why I have started 
giving you the blue tea. I need to hold back the Profane One and buy you some 
extra time to learn as much as you can. When you have learned what you need to 
learn, you will leave this settlement and fulfill your Path in Life.”

“Among the Christians?”

“Yes, among the Christians, but not as a Priestess.”

“Babáckt Yaga…I don’t want to live among the Christians. I’m really happier 
here. I like being a Follower.”

“Who said anything about your happiness? It’s not your Path in Life to seek 
happiness. As long as you pursue happiness, it will evade you.”

----------

As long as I pursue happiness, it will evade me.

Yes, that was indeed the reality of Danka’s life. She thought about those harsh 
words as she returned to the sleeping house. She made love to Káloyankt, before 
spending yet another sleepless night in his arms. 

I’d be happy with this man. He loves me and would give me the life I always 
wanted. I really want to love him. I want to stay with him…and yet…I can’t. I 
know I’ll never love him, because the Ancients wouldn’t allow it to happen. I 
know I could be happy with him, but it is not my Path in Life to be happy. Instead 
of bringing him joy, I’d be destined to bring the Destroyer into his life…to make 
him miserable.

Danka had only one consolation: she had no reason to break up with her lover for 
several more months. She’d have to wait until the summer, when they’d be 
sleeping in separate beds. Then she’d follow her Path in Life and disengage 
herself from a relationship that offered her the life she had so desperately sought 
just two years before.

----------

The days were getting longer. The sun came out occasionally, giving Babáckt 
Yaga’s settlement a welcome break from the dreary mist and snowstorms of 
winter. Patches of bare ground appeared and the snow disappeared from the trees. 
The nights were still cold, but they were not so long, so heating became much less 
of a problem. Shortly the trails would start to clear and the Followers’ isolation 
from the outside world would come to an end.

Whenever she had time, Danka continued her studies. By the early spring she 
became interested in learning what she could about religion and mythology. As a 
Follower, her first priority was understanding her own religious heritage. She 
became familiar with all of the stories of the Ancients and could recite them from 
memory. She was able to read and understand archaic Danubian, but was 
determined to master speaking it and writing it as well. She wanted that 
connection with the Old World, to know that had she lived thousands of years 
before, she would have had the skills to fit into the ancient culture.

She also became interested in the faiths of the modern world. She finished the 
studies she had started the previous year in Starívktaki Móskt by memorizing the 
texts of the Danubian Church, and fully understood the theological differences 
between True Believers and Old Believers. She examined the information that 
Babáckt Yaga had on other religions such as the faith of the Ottoman Empire, 
which the Danubians referred to as “the Followers of Mohammed”. Danka began 
forming opinions on the various religions and assessed their strengths and 
weaknesses.

Danka even became interested in the mythology of non-Danubian people. She 
already was familiar with the Danubian Church texts including the Christian Bible, 
the Book of the Ancients, and the Book of the Correct Path, but now she had the 
opportunity to learn some more about Pagan times throughout Europe. She read 
Babáckt Yaga’s translations of Norse sagas, Slavic folk-tales, and the mythology 
of the ancient Greeks. The Greek stories didn’t impress her, because it seemed the 
Greek gods were nothing more than ordinary men gifted with extraordinary 
powers they didn’t know how to use properly. But then…Danka did come across 
a mythical figure that caught her attention: the Hebrew demon Lilith.

Noting her student’s intense interest in Lilith, Babáckt Yaga directed her attention 
to the sources and references she had available on that topic. The direct mention 
of Lilith in the Old Testament book of Isaiah was frustratingly brief, but there 
were other sources in Kabbalistic writings such as the Zohar that provided 
additional information. For a woman to have that level of cosmic power, to 
terrorize pious men and actively defy and confront the Christian God, made Lilith 
into an object of admiration and fantasy for Danka.

“That’s what I want. To do what Lilith did. I want the power to terrorize the 
pious.”

“That is not your Path in Life, Danka Síluckt. I know what you seek. You would 
seek pleasure through vengeance against those who dishonored you. And just how 
do you expect to do that? The man who most dishonored you is already dead. As 
for the others, you have no way of knowing whether they continue to live, or if 
they have already held up their mirrors before the Creator. You have no way of 
knowing. Since you fancy yourself following a being who defied the Roman God, 
then I will quote passage from the Roman Bible:

So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who 
will come after the king except what has already been done? And I saw that 
wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, 
but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. 
Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then 
have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.” For there is 
no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the 
coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! 
So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to 
me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

“I recite this to you, Danka Síluckt, for a simple reason. Nearly two years have 
passed since you left Rika Héckt-nemát. What news have you received since your 
departure? How would you know if anything in that city remains as you 
remember it? How would you know if anyone there remembers you? And, 
whether or not anyone does remember you, what difference does it make?”

Danka wasn’t sure how to respond. She thought about saying that she understood 
and would give up on her thoughts of revenge, but to do so would entail lying. 
She had learned never to lie to Babáckt Yaga. Finally the old woman broke the 
silence.

“You have done well, not to speak the deception that is in your heart. You ponder 
seeking power over the pious so you can seek revenge. I fear, eventually you will 
take action. I can see that very clearly. I cannot dissuade you: only you can 
dissuade yourself. However, remember my words…the day you act on your 
fantasies, your life as you know it will be ruined. Your Path in Life will change, 
and you will have to begin anew. Remember my words when that happens.”


----------


Note 01: During my research I came across seven manuscripts that I believe were 
handwritten by Danka Síluckt. There are two journals in the medical school in 
Rika Héckt-nemát that are directly attributed to the founder Vesna Rogúskt-
Orsktacktna. I also found two translations in the Church library in Sebérnekt Ris 
and three more translations in the Royal archives, that appear to have been 
written by the same hand. I had my theory verified by handwriting experts, who 
studied handwriting samples from all seven books and confirmed they were 
scripted by the same individual. The manuscripts show a clear progression in the 
author’s penmanship, with the works in Rika Héckt-nemát being the most recent 
and with the best handwriting. 

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -

Note 02: The final known samples of “the Joy of the Ancients” (amanita 
danuvius-caeruleum) were harvested by scientists working at the university in 
Sebérnekt Ris in 1811. Along with six specimens of “the Joy of the Ancients”, 
scientists collected many other fungi, including numerous samples of the highland 
green moon-cap (amanita danuvius-viridis), which is “the Joy of the Ancients’” 
closest living relative. Because of their appearance, the two species were mis-
classified at the time and have yet to be re-named. In reality they are not closely 
related to any other species of mushroom. Both species grew and reproduced 
extremely slowly, but unlike its extinct relative, the highland green moon-cap has 
the good fortune to be poisonous and to not possess any medicinal value.

The last alleged sighting of a specimen of the “the Joy of the Ancients’” living in 
the wild was in 1820. It is hard to say whether the 1811 scientific expedition 
contributed to its extinction. I doubt it, because only six specimens were collected 
and amateur fortune-hunters were hunting for the mushrooms as well.

In 1935 the Danubian government ordered the transfer of the remaining dried 
specimens to the National Museum of Natural History for better preservation. 
More recently, the Danubian Ministry of Science sent the samples to geneticists in 
Germany to see if the plant’s genetic code can be reconstructed. There are some 
DNA fragments that do not appear in any other plant, including the highland 
green moon-cap. It appears some genetic information has been permanently lost, 
even from the best-preserved specimens. Efforts to fully decode the genetic make-
up of “the Joy of the Ancients” have proven unsuccessful. 

It is hard to over-emphasize the tragic loss resulting from this extinction. I did not 
go into details in the main narrative, but prior to the late eighteenth century, the 
Followers of the Ancients conducted extensive research on various medicinal 
properties of “the Joy of the Ancients”. The plant had other benefits to humans 
apart from longevity. For example, the Followers used a mixture of spores 
combined with ether to cure several severe cases of tuberculosis. One of Babáckt 
Yaga’s journal entries also claimed one of her elders had been able to reverse 
cancer development. Unfortunately, the Followers’ research was held back by the 
dwindling supply of dried mushrooms, which became completely unavailable after 
1800.

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -