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, occult, language)

Chapter Seventeen – The Battle of Hórkustk Ris

The Grand Duke and his entourage left the capitol and crossed the Rika Chorna 
river in a fleet of ferries. He commented to his commanders that, if he survived 
the upcoming war, he’d have to build a bridge to span the river closer to the 
capitol. It was ridiculous to have to cross like this, in boats like common cargo.

The Danubian Royal Army already was encamped on the south bank, opposite the 
city. As soon as the sovereign showed up, the men began their trek southwards. 
There were 9,000 fighting men, plus another 2,000 wagon drivers, cooks, medics, 
and scouts. All of the men wore colorful ceremonial tunics with embroidered 
griffins as they departed the capitol. The scouts rode ahead, followed by the light 
cavalry and archers. The musketeers marched in the center, with the cannon crews 
and supply trains bringing up the rear. As they marched out of the capitol in their 
colorful new tunics, they made an impressive sight. Thousands of women, 
children, older people, and refugees watched as they left, heartened by seeing the 
uniforms and the soldier’s new muskets.

Silvítya and her companions rode with the other medics, dressed in the traditional 
gray dresses of regular female servants of the Crown. The concubines wore their 
traditional red scarves, but underneath the scarves their hair was braided. It was 
very nice to be “decent” by Danubian standards, after spending nearly a year with 
her hair freakishly and indecently loose. The handful of medical women 
contrasted with a formation that otherwise was all male. They did not ride with 
their sovereign, who instead was riding with his commanders, but he kept them 
within his sight at all times.

Silvítya and her companions knew that their ruler had brought them for two 
reasons. Yes, they would be needed as medics, but the Grand Duke also needed to 
have women for sex. He could have ordered his troops to bring him peasant girls 
captured from nearby villages, but he did not want to waste his soldiers’ time on 
such matters, nor do anything to anger or demoralize local citizens. It was just 
easier to bring some concubines from the castle, in spite of the risk he was forcing 
them to assume by taking them into a war zone.

----------

In spite of his army’s new muskets and careful planning, Silvítya could tell that 
the Grand Duke was extremely worried. The sovereign did not expect to be 
attacked in the woods, but his force would have been ready had that happened. 
The archers immediately would vanish into the forest to cover the light cavalry or 
the musketeers, who would either charge or pull back and lead the enemy into a 
trap, depending on how the attack played out. However, because the Danubians 
were such skilled forest fighters and deadly archers, it would have been extremely 
foolish for any enemy, even the army of the Kingdom of the Moon, to challenge 
them in the forest. 

The Danubians’ disadvantage would begin the moment they stepped out into the 
cleared lands of surrounding Hórkustk Ris. 9,000 men may have seemed like a lot 
for handling any problem to a Danubian inexperienced with the outside world, but 
a 9,000-man army was a paltry force for Europe at that time. The Danubian 
monarch knew that there was not a chance his army could survive a pitched battle 
against an enemy capable of fielding four times the number of troops and guns. 

Silvítya knew that the Grand Duke had planned to lead the Lord of the Red 
Moon’s soldiers into a trap that would involve explosives created from the recipes 
she had divulged to him a few weeks before. The strategy was risky, because the 
enemy would have to be lured into a small area that had previously been prepared. 
If the enemy ended up anywhere other than the precise location where the 
explosives had been laid, the plan would not work. Yes, if monarch was able to 
successfully carry out his plans, the Danubians had a good chance of winning the 
crucial initial battle. However, to win that first fight, and the rest of the war for 
that matter, everything had to go right. How often in life does everything go right?

----------

As soon as the troops were only a half-day’s march south of Danubkt Moskt, the 
ruler ordered them to stop. He ordered all of his men to take off their colorful 
ceremonial tunics and passed out ones that were dull brown. The Danubian griffin 
was embroidered on the new tunics, but with brown thread that was only a shade 
darker than the background. The soldiers suddenly became very drab, but also 
much less visible from a distance. There was another set of uniforms to be passed 
out: clothing that was colored like the uniforms of the Army of the Red Moon. 
The men muttered among themselves. They were Danubians. Why were they 
assuming the dishonor of dressing like the enemy?

The Grand Duke knew the men would object and was ready. He climbed onto a 
wagon and addressed those who could hear him. He explained the purpose of the 
clothing; that it was part of a carefully laid-out plan to defeat an enemy boasting a 
much larger force. He challenged their notion of “honor”. In war the only “honor” 
was doing what was necessary to safeguard the country. He concluded:

“Today, we march to defend Danubia! If we succeed in re-taking our lands, that 
will be our honor! If we die and our families are killed, that is our dishonor! The 
great King Vladik understood that! I understand that! I also understand that, as 
your ruler, what will honor me is not just saving our land, but also keeping as 
many of you alive as possible! You are not marching to die for Danubia! You are 
marching to kill for Danubia! You will obey me, you will kill, and you will return 
to your wives before the first snow! For me, that is the only honor! The rest is 
dishonor!”

Reluctantly at first, but then with more enthusiasm, the troops cheered their leader. 
The disguises were only the beginning. They did not yet know to what extent the 
Grand Duke was willing to force them to do “dishonorable” things in the name of 
defending Hórkustk Ris.

----------

The march through the woods was alarmingly short. The large stretches of forest 
that had defended the Duchy for centuries had been greatly reduced over the past 
200 years. When they emerged into the southern province, it was obvious the time 
the Danubians could hide among the trees and wear down enemies with guerrilla 
warfare had ended. The forest was no longer large enough for hidden archers to 
hold back a determined enemy. Now the country would have to be defended in a 
more traditional manner.

As soon as they were in the open, Silvítya could see that Hórkustk Ris province 
was not at all like the rest of Danubia. The area was mostly treeless, the 
architecture was different, and, more importantly, as the army moved further 
south, the people became different. The Danubian Royal Army passed through 
one village in which the majority of the inhabitants were not even Danubian. The 
foreigners stared at the Duke’s army with fear and hostility.

The Grand Duke got a much warmer reception when his army reached Hórkustk 
Ris. The city was still under Danubian control, but the place was chaotic and 
crowded with refugees. Not wanting to risk having disease wipe out his men 
before they even got a chance to fight, the Grand Duke ordered the majority of the 
army to set up camp away from the city until he had a chance to dispose of the 
refugees.

The Duke, accompanied by the three concubines and his generals, entered the city. 
They were met by the mayor of Hórkustk Ris and the captain of the city’s guard. 
Under escort, the group made their way to the old castle, where they would be 
hosted until further notice. Silvítya could tell that not long before the city had 
been attractive, but now was very run down. 

Silvítya and the other concubines were ordered to strip, bathe, dress in their 
lavender concubine gowns, and await the return of the Duke. While the military 
wives were treated to a more traditional dinner, the three concubines were forced 
to nervously wait in a study for their master to return. The castle women crowded 
around, staring at the newcomers and talking about them as though they were 
three strange animals.

Protector Buláshckt showed up to take charge of the Duke’s women, ordering 
them to set up their medical supplies. The military wives and other concubines 
went to sleep, but Silvítya decided to stay with the Royal Guard while he prepared 
his military equipment. He had one of the new muskets, but looked at the 
cumbersome weapon with total disdain. Yes, it made a terrifying sound and put 
out an impressive cloud of smoke when fired, but it took too long to re-load and 
was not accurate at all. He showed the concubine how it worked and allowed her 
to take a couple of practice shots. The Guard let the concubine try out his other 
weapons and was impressed that a woman could handle them so well. Silvítya 
talked about her training in Sebérnekt Ris. He was curious about the Duchy’s 
northern defenses, never having seen them in real life.

The Guard and his ward talked at length about military strategy, weapons, the 
Duchy’s military history, and the training given to the Royal Guards. Protector 
Buláshckt was impressed with Silvítya’s broad knowledge. Eventually their 
conversation returned to assessing the forces loyal to the Lord of the Red Moon 
and the upcoming battle. He detailed the Grand Duke’s plan of drawing the 
Kingdom’s army into the city and battling them in the streets. If the enemy could 
actually be lured into the city, the strategy could work. 

“From what I know about the Red Moons, once they think their enemies have 
been weakened, they charge straight ahead and don’t ask any questions until 
they're done. There’s a good chance they won’t stop and worry about the 
explosive’s before it’s too late, because I don’t think anyone has ever tried luring 
them over such a trap in the past. I just hope they all come through the wall at 
once. If they’re smart enough to station, say, half of their army outside, His 
Majesty’s plan won’t succeed.”

Silvítya wondered about the city itself. What would happen to Hórkustk Ris?

“I don’t know. Most of it will be destroyed. His Majesty will order many of the 
buildings to be broken into or filled with explosives. The people will all be gone 
before the Red Moons arrive: His Majesty wants them away from the fighting. I 
suspect, if they ever come back, they will find only ashes.” 

----------

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke held a conference with the town’s mayor, a squad of 
Royal scouts, and one of his most trusted spies. Already the Lord of the Red 
Moon was aware that the Grand Duke had brought his entire army to defend 
Hórkustk Ris and seemed eager to defeat the Danubians once and for all. The 
Lord of the Red Moon relished the chance to battle the Grand Duke, because once 
the he was defeated, there would be no one to defend Danúbikt Móskt and the 
entire Duchy could be annexed.

As soon as the Duke received his briefings, he issued a series of orders. The first 
order he gave was for all civilians to leave the city immediately. They mayor was 
not surprised, given that King Vladik had ordered the same for Sumy Ris two 
centuries before when he decided to abandon it to the Ottomans. However, unlike 
his predecessor, the Grand Duke did not have the option of simply abandoning 
Hórkustk Ris. The city was the most northern spot from where he could make his 
stand; abandoning it would leave open the road to the capitol and the entire Rika 
Chorna valley.

The Grand Duke wanted to get the civilians out of the way for their own safety, 
but he also wanted to use them as part of his plan to deceive the Army of the Red 
Moon. The next day, the Grand Duke’s generals rounded up all of the civilian 
men and organized them into platoons, each under the direction of an old or sick 
soldier from his army. Then he passed out the colorful tunics his army had worn 
while marching out of Danube City. The men, disguised as Danubian soldiers, 
would march their families out of the city and northward into what remained of 
the forest. 

Throughout the day, refugees poured out of the city. A total of 60,000 people left. 
From a distance, with the men carrying fake weapons and dressed in fake tunics, 
it did appear as though the Danubian Army had arrived to do nothing except 
evacuate the town and hide in the woods. 

When the enemy commander heard about the evacuation, he broke out laughing. 
Typical of the Danubians…those cowards can’t deal with a real fight. They’re just 
a rabble of scared animals that can’t stand being away from their trees. I guess 
we’ll have to organize a hunt…

What the Lord of the Red Moon’s commanders did not know was that now, 
without the distraction of the civilians, the Grand Duke was ready to confront his 
enemies inside the walls of Hórkustk Ris with his entire army. The Grand Duke 
ordered most of his men and equipment into Hórkustk Ris the night after the 
civilians had left. Among the supplies entering the city were large wagons full of 
the explosives that would be the focus of the ruler’s plan to defeat the Kingdom of 
the Moon’s hoard of fighters.

The next day, the mayor and the city councilmen noted with increasing alarm how 
their ruler was setting up for the town’s defense. The Duke’s cannon crews 
deployed their weapons in the streets throughout the city. Even many of the 
cannons on the city wall were turned around and faced inwards. The men built 
new firing positions on the platform running along the inside of the city wall, but 
those also faced inwards. The men went into the houses and smashed holes 
through the walls to plant traps and to allow themselves to move about without 
having to go outside and expose themselves to fire. 

Wherever there was open space in the streets, the Duchy’s soldiers dug holes and 
filled them with large pots of loaded with explosives. The men then covered the 
pots with cobblestones, while demolition crews strung fathoms of fuse line to 
connect them. More traps were created by packing explosives into buckets and 
setting them up in residences. Throughout the city, the buildings were marked 
with red or white splashes of paint. Red meant the building contained explosives, 
while white meant the building was sturdier and would be used for protection. It 
was very obvious that the Grand Duke planned to fight his opponents inside the 
city walls, not outside. His strategy became evident: he was not planning a battle 
to save the city, but instead use it to create a trap and a massacre.

The ruler ordered the cavalry units to quietly leave during the second night after 
the Danubian Royal Army had occupied the settlement. The Grand Duke was 
forced to separate his forces in a move that was extremely risky. The cavalry 
would hide in nearby hills and wait for a special signal from the city’s cathedral 
bells. To ensure the signal still could be passed if anything happened to the 
cathedral tower, the Duke ordered two of the church bells brought down and re-
mounted at the castle.

The Grand Duke ordered his men to gather all civilian clothing remaining in the 
houses, especially women’s clothing. His men wondered what on earth he was 
planning. Women’s clothing? Yes indeed, civilian clothes would be part of the 
trap the Duke planned for the Red Moon Army. He explained that no Danubian 
Army uniforms would be worn by anyone defending the city. The soldiers would 
dress to make it appear as though the Duke had completely abandoned the area 
and that the only people left to defend it would be local citizens and city guards. 
To make the deception even more convincing, some of the youngest troops, boys 
still in their teens, would be ordered to shave and put on women’s clothing. To 
finish converting the younger men into “women”, they would be ordered to wrap 
brown cloths around their heads to emulate long braided hair. The soldiers reacted 
with angry murmurs, but the Duke shouted.

“This plan must work and you must obey! I know what I’m doing! As I told you 
before, the only dishonor is allowing those foreigners to take our land and hang us 
on hooks and rape your sisters and wives! Is that what you want? Or do you want 
to listen to me and do what I tell you?”

The men stared silently at their Duke, unsure how to react. The idea of a man 
dressing as a woman, for any reason, completely went against what was 
considered honorable for a Danubian. The Grand Duke knew that, and understood 
that ordering some of his troops to dress up as women would be the hardest part 
of his plan to implement. However, he pushed forward.

“Listen to me, and listen carefully! We will either die here or we will win! There 
is no other option! We cannot retreat and we cannot negotiate our way out of this 
city! And if we lose, I will die along with the rest of you! It’s not just Danubia’s 
fate at stake here, but my own! Do you think I want my life to end here? Do you 
think I want to be captured and hung on a hook? Our fates, whether we win or 
lose, will be shared, mine along with yours! So I want to win! I want us to emerge 
from this city victorious! I want to reclaim our land! I want the enemy to never 
again set foot here! And I want this land to prosper! So, where is the dishonor?”

Once again, the Duke’s cold reasoning convinced his troops to set aside their 
reservations about their leader’s orders. The crisis of the moment passed. The 
ruler would get his way and his men would obey his wishes.

As she stood at the castle window watching him implement his plans and rally his 
troops, Silvítya momentarily admired the Grand Duke. He was a cruel and flawed 
man, but he had other qualities that made him the leader the Danubians needed 
during the crisis. At least he was no coward. By traveling south with his army he 
had placed his own life in jeopardy, demonstrating that he did not value his 
existence any more than he valued the existence of his men. If they died, he 
would die. He knew it had to be that way if he expected them to follow him and 
his increasingly strange orders. 

He made decisions and plans based on carefully assessing what resources and 
options were available to him. He didn’t care about tradition or protocol: his only 
interest was doing what he thought was needed to win the upcoming battle. In 
spite of his inward fear, the ruler managed to show himself as completely 
confident in his abilities and his decisions when talking to his troops. Silvítya 
knew his behavior was totally deceptive. His show of public confidence was as 
much a ruse as the trap he was laying for the enemy. He knew how easily his 
entire battle plan could go wrong. He was frightened, both for his own safety and 
for that of the country. If events did not work out exactly the way he anticipated, 
he and everyone with him would be dead in a few days. History would judge him 
harshly, blaming him for the fall of the Duchy.

----------

The army of the Lord of the Red Moon showed up the morning after the 
Danubian cavalry departed the city. They first appeared as a black mass moving 
under a thick cloud of dust on the southern horizon. For what seemed to be an 
eternity, both the dark mass and the dust cloud got bigger and bigger. As they got 
closer, the enemy’s individual companies and platoons could be seen. The 
Danubians watched as a seemingly endless horde of men moved in their direction. 
Hundreds…thousands…tens of thousands of men. Multitudes of siege cannons 
with their crews. Columns of horsemen. The flashing of tens of thousands of 
bayonets. Hundreds of black banners with the infamous red moon. This was not 
an army that was planning to take over a single partially abandoned city. This was 
the army that was going to conquer and exterminate the entire Grand Duchy of 
Upper Danubia.

The city’s defenders watched as several squads of enemy scouts rode close to the 
city, just out of range of the cannons, to see what the defenders looked like. The 
enemy’s observers had told their leaders that most of the Danubians had 
evacuated a few days before, but the city guards and some civilians remained, 
foolishly thinking they would hold the place for more than a few hours. Sure 
enough, as the scouts looked through their spy glasses, they could see the pathetic 
group of defenders they would be facing. It looked like the Danubians were so 
desperate that they actually had women on the walls with crossbows and a 
combination of guards and civilians manning the cannons.

The commander of the Red Moon Army decided not to even bother with 
attempting to negotiate surrender. If those people were stupid enough to stay 
behind while their leader abandoned them, then they deserved to die. And die they 
would. As soon as they broke through the walls, the Red Moon Army would kill 
everyone in the city. Any survivors would be impaled and hung on the walls. 
They would be the first Danubians to die…the first out of an entire country.

Disguised as a city guard commander, the Grand Duke watched the enemy 
surround the city. The enemy artillery crews quickly set up their siege cannons. 
The Danubian ruler ordered the city’s cannons to be fired and anyone on the wall 
with a crossbow to try to hit enemy soldiers. The Duchy’s resistance was 
ineffective, as it was meant to be. As soon as the Red Moon Army had its cannons 
deployed, they began firing simultaneously to clear the walls. Most of the 
Danubians on the ramparts sought cover and the city’s resistance became even 
more pathetic.

----------

Silvítya and Protector Buláshckt stood at the window watching, while the other 
concubines, military wives, and serving wenches cowered and trembled from the 
noise. The guard and the concubine observed one of the towers on the wall come 
crashing down from a cannon blast, then watched as two more cannonballs 
demolished a portion of the cathedral’s roof. Silvítya started to wonder if the 
Duke’s plan really would work. If it didn’t, the passageway to the keep would 
soon be swarming with soldiers of the Kingdom of the Moon. Protector Buláshckt 
looked through all of the windows and noted that no other guards were in sight. 
No, this was not good. Yes, he had his musket, but so what? It fired a single shot 
and took a minute to reload. Against a platoon of enemies it would be about as 
useful as a club. Muttering under his breath, he cursed the Grand Duke and his 
fancy new weapons.

The guard grabbed a ceremonial sword off the wall and handed it to Silvítya. 

“Go down there and get yourself a guard helmet and some boots. Get me a 
crossbow or better yet, two if you can find them. A longbow will work, if there’s 
no crossbow. Also, I want as many arrows as you can bring up.” 

He kicked two of the serving wenches. “Go with her. Take her to wherever your 
master keeps the archery supplies. She’s in charge and you will obey what she 
tells you.”

He turned back to Silvítya. “Remember, if you can’t find a crossbow, get me a 
longbow. And all the arrows you can carry. If you have to steal them, I don’t care. 
And don’t forget the helmet and boots for yourself.”

Holding her sword, Silvítya unbolted the heavy door to the keep. Three frightened 
women slipped out. One of the wenches led her companions along a secret 
passageway that passed the mayor’s office and led directly to the armory. A 
nervous-looking old city guard blocked their entrance. Silvítya was not surprised 
when he denied the women their request.

“Listen to me and listen carefully, old man! I come on the orders of Protector 
Buláshckt, who is a representative of the Grand Duke. In other words, I am acting 
on the Duke’s orders. If you choose to send me away empty-handed, Protector 
Buláshckt will have to come down and deal with you. You don’t want Protector 
Buláshckt coming down here and dealing with you.”

The concubine looked totally different now that she was giving orders and had a 
sword in her hand. The old guard said nothing more, but he opened the door to the 
armory. Silvítya put on a helmet and grabbed a guard tunic and pair of boots. She 
grabbed two crossbows that looked to be in good shape and slung them over her 
shoulder. She grabbed a longbow and loaded her companions down with satchels 
of crossbow bolts and arrows. She tossed aside the ceremonial sword and got a 
real one. 

Lord-Creator, I hope this is enough…

A few minutes later they returned. Protector Buláshckt nodded with approval as 
he took the two crossbows and tested them. Meanwhile, Silvítya pulled off her 
dress and replaced it with a guard’s tunic. She put on the boots and the helmet, 
looking very strange in her new outfit. As the guard studied the course of the 
battle and prepared his weapons, Silvítya ordered the smartest-looking wench to 
serve as a lookout for the other side of the room. Then she took up a position next 
to Protector Buláshckt at the window that overlooked the passageway leading into 
the tower.

“You remember everything I taught you about the crossbow?”

“Most of it, Protector Buláshckt.”

“Good. If that passageway fills up with Red Moons, it will be our part in the war. 
I’ll fire, you’ll assist.” The guard looked at Silvítya. “I’ll be very pleased to have 
you at my side during this fight.”

“Thank you, Protector Buláshckt.”

“It’s our Path in Life, I believe, to face the enemy together. Anyhow, go calm the 
others and get some rest. There won’t be any rest when the Red Moons show up. 
I’ll call you when it’s time.”

Protector Buláshckt took off his civilian disguise and put on his colorful Danubian 
tunic. “I’m not hiding for this. I’m fighting as a Danubian.”

----------

After an hour of being blasted by the Red Moon cannons, the city walls were in 
bad shape. The enemy commander studied the crumbling defenses, trying to 
figure out which spot would be the best place for his troops to force their way into 
the city. Finally, he settled on the city’s east gate, which seemed to be a few 
cannon shots from completely collapsing. It was at that point the Red Moon Army 
made their first serious mistake. To avoid wasting any more cannonballs, the 
attacking commanders ordered the cannon crews firing at other parts of the wall 
to cease and to prepare for the final assault on the city. Meanwhile, all the Red 
Moon cannons on the east side concentrated on the rapidly crumbling east gate as 
the ground troops massed and prepared to charge the opening.

The Danubian Grand Duke was elated. Now he knew exactly where the enemy 
was going to enter. The Danubians desperately rolled cannons into position in the 
plaza to fire at Red Moon cavalry as they stormed through the wall. Every 
window overlooking the east gate and the streets leading up to it was occupied by 
musketeers and archers, and more platoons of musketeers hid along the alleyways.

There was even time to make some final gunpowder traps for the streets. The 
Danubians hurriedly repositioned some of their pot-bombs and made sure the 
fuses would work. When the gate and the two towers overlooking it came 
crashing down, the Danubian Royal Army was ready. 

The Army of the Red Moon sent 20,000 screaming soldiers into the city. There 
were 7,500 Danubian troops opposing them. As soon as they scrambled over the 
wreckage of the east gate, straight into the Grand Duke's trap.

----------

Precisely because the Lord of the Red Moon’s soldiers were so over-confident, 
discipline broke down during the mad dash to get past the walls. The invaders had 
nothing on their minds except slaughtering Danubians. The men in the back of the 
formation worried that the first platoons would do all the killing and not leave any 
of the city’s inhabitants for the men in the rear. Everyone was desperate to get in, 
so the hoard charged swiftly and recklessly. 

The Duke had ordered a few dozen “civilians” and “women” to be near the gate 
when it fell. The moment the leading invading platoons saw them, the decoys 
retreated along the streets to lure the enemy into the city as quickly as possible. 
The elated invaders fired at the fleeing “civilians”, killing most of them. In spite 
of the loss of those troops, the ruse worked to trick the enemy into charging 
recklessly towards the cathedral. 

For several minutes the only noise that could be heard was the victory screams of 
the Red Moon Army. Thousands of Red Moon troops crammed the streets as the 
Danubians stayed hidden and held their fire. The invaders began setting fire to the 
houses closest to the entry point, adding to the chaos and confusion. The Duke 
smiled to his commanders. This couldn’t possibly be any better.

“Ring the bells! Doc-Doc Danube!”

“DOC-DOC DANUBE! DOC-DOC DANUBE!”

The church bells and the bells on the castle roof rang, signaling two orders at once. 
It was the call for the Danubian cavalry to leave its hiding place, and it was a call 
for the troops guarding the streets to fire their muskets and cannons and light the 
fuses for the street bombs.

As soon as the cathedral bells rang, small strange sparkling fires surrounded the 
Red Moon army, and then there was a roar unlike anything Silvítya had ever 
heard before. As the bells continued to clang, dozens of street bombs and cannons 
mixed with the shooting of thousands of muskets. Silvítya watched smoke and 
dust billow in the streets and dismembered bodies and body parts fly over the 
burning rooftops. The first roar of gunpowder died down. The women's hearing 
recovered from the explosion, but the noise of the blast gave way to the agonized 
screaming of thousands of wounded men. For the rest of her life, Silvítya would 
never be able to forget the din of all those dying voices.

“DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!..DOC-
DOC DANUBE!”

The Danubians fired volley after volley at their helpless enemies, most of whom 
were trapped in the narrow streets among the bodies of their fallen comrades. 
Meanwhile, the Danubian cavalry charged the cannon crews still outside the city. 
Assuming their part in the fight was finished, the invader’s cannon crews had 
stood down as soon as the infantry charged the east gate. They were completely 
unprepared to defend themselves against a cavalry attack. The Danubian 
cavalrymen, enraged at the sight of the wrecked city, killed all of them within a 
few minutes.

Surviving Red Moon infantrymen fanned out from the initial kill-zone and fought 
the Danubians house-to-house. The Danubians retreated through the holes in the 
walls, setting fires and laying traps for the invaders. Any soldier from the Red 
Moon Army that got close to the remains of the outer city wall fell to an arrow 
fired from one of the many archers stationed along the platform.

“DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!..DOC-
DOC DANUBE!”

The entire eastern half of Hórkustk Ris was now on fire. The Danubians withdrew 
across the city’s plaza and set up their cannons among the undamaged buildings 
on the west side, with the intention of creating another kill-zone in the open area 
in front of the cathedral. At that point the Danubians made their only mistake that 
day: they did not adequately guard the entrance to the castle. The surviving 
invaders surged into the plaza, desperately exchanging fire with the Grand Duke’s 
army. The Danubians were firing from sheltered positions while the Red Moon 
troops were firing from the open, so within a few minutes the plaza was full of 
dead and dying enemy soldiers. However, about 200 men managed to slip past the 
cathedral and kill a Danubian squad defending the road leading up the castle. 
They realized that if they could get to the castle keep, they’d have an excellent 
spot from which they could defend themselves and command a large portion of 
the city. Protector Buláshckt watched them storm up the hill unopposed.

“Silvítya! The enemy!”

The Red Moon troops tore loose a beam to use as a battering ram and moved it to 
the door of the keep. Protector Buláshckt expertly positioned himself and took 
aim, while Silvítya struggled to arm the second crossbow. As they got ready to 
bash the door, their commander screamed and fell, grabbing at an crossbow bolt 
piercing his shoulder. Protector Buláshckt took the loaded weapon from his 
assistant’s hands and handed her the used one. He took aim as Silvítya loaded a 
second bolt. The men looked around as another bolt pierced a man’s neck. Then 
they saw him…a smartly dressed Danubian soldier shooting at them from a 
narrow window.

The men fired a volley at the tower as Silvítya’s companions screamed in terror. 
He handed her the used crossbow and took the loaded one. She frantically armed 
the empty one while he positioned himself and took aim. Another man fell and 
another volley was fired at the castle keep. Rounds poured through the window, 
tearing up the expensive tapestries and shattering the vases. An oil lamp fell and 
fire spread across the floor. Silvítya screamed at the other women:

“Put that out, you dishonored cowards! Grab a tapestry and put it on the fire, 
now!”

As her companions tried to deal with the fire, Silvítya grabbed the longbow and 
handed it to Protector Buláshckt, to allow herself time to arm both crossbows. 
There was another scream, some shouts, and another volley of lead pouring 
through the windows. The men again tried battering the door, but Protector 
Buláshckt fired yet more arrows and another invader fell, seriously wounded. The 
men returned fire, and again Silvítya’s companions screamed in terror. In quick 
succession Protector Buláshckt grabbed and fired both crossbows. Suddenly there 
was a lot more musket fire and screaming. Silvítya poked her head up to see the 
men savagely fighting against Danubian soldiers. Protector Buláshckt re-aimed 
the long bow and fired again at the invaders. Silvítya had both crossbows ready, 
which allowed the guard to fire two more powerful shots into the compressed and 
panicked hoard at the door. Protector Buláshckt realized that the tower no longer 
was in danger, but he was in an excellent spot to assist the Danubian soldiers 
trying to clear the castle entrance. He screamed:

“Doc-Doc Danube!”

“DOC-DOC DANUBE!”

So…the last of the hunters became the hunted. Protector Buláshckt fired several 
more times at men who appeared not to be wounded, as the soldiers below 
finished them with musket shots, and then bayonets.

When the Danubian troops opened the door and let out the Royal Guard and the 
women, Silvítya had a chance to see her companion’s grisly handiwork. Twenty 
eight of the dead enemy infantrymen had arrows or crossbow bolts sticking out of 
their corpses. She tried not to look at the faces of the dead men as the Duke’s 
soldiers cheered Protector Buláshckt’ bravery and marksmanship.

----------

The sun was low in the horizon and the battle was mostly over. Half of the city 
was burning, but the other half, so far, had been spared. The Danubians did not 
have any time to rest, however. The Grand Duke emphasized that no enemy who 
had entered the city could be allowed to escape, because the next part of his war 
plan entailed yet more deception. So, throughout the night the Duke’s troops 
searched through the fallen Army of the Red Moon troops and bayoneted the 
injured survivors. At sunset the city echoed with the moans of thousands of 
wounded Red Moon troops: by sunrise the city was totally silent. It was a night of 
brutality, the result of orders that no prisoners were to be taken. 

The men were exhausted, but the following day their frenetic leader kept them 
busy. They were ordered to collect as many weapons as possible and haul all of 
the dead enemy soldiers that had not been burnt, nearly 15,000 corpses in all, to 
the city’s main plaza. The sight of so many corpses, most of them horribly 
mutilated, was a sight that sickened almost everyone present and would haunt 
dreams for many years to come. The Grand Duke, seemingly unmoved by the 
sight of so much death, spent the day shouting orders and listening to reports 
coming in from his scouts.

----------

It turned out that the siege and massacre was only the first half of what would be a 
two-part battle. There was another large contingent of Red Moon Army troops 
that had crossed the border and was only about a day’s journey away. There were 
about 4,000, but they were elite cavalry, the best troops of the House of Moon. 
Even though the cavalry unit was much smaller than the invasion force the 
Danubians had just defeated, the Grand Duke did not think his men could win 
against them in a pitched battle. So…he would attempt to repeat the trap within 
the walls of Hórkustk Ris, and once again turn the entire city into a kill-zone. To 
accomplish that, the Danubians would have to lure the cavalry unit, or at least a 
large part of it, into the ruins of Hórkustk Ris.

The Grand Duke ordered the enemy’s flags raised around the city. He ordered his 
men to strip the dead invaders of any Red Moon uniforms that were salvageable 
and to put them on. He ordered hundreds of the enemy dead to be dressed in 
Danubian uniforms and for his men to shave the corpses’ heads to make them 
look more like the Duchy's soldiers. Once the bodies were ready, the Danubian 
ruler ordered half of the disguised corpses to be taken outside and scattered 
around the gates, and for the other half to be hauled up the remains of the city 
walls.

Among the items retrieved from the corpses lying in the burnt section of the city 
were large hooks. The devices were a trademark of the House of Moon: their 
commanders usually ordered captured opponents to be impaled on the hooks and 
left to die an agonizing death. The Grand Duke examined one of the hooks, which, 
had the Danubians lost the fight, would have been used to hang a Danubian 
soldier or officer. Instead, they would become an important part of the deception 
during the next battle. For the rest of the day the Danubians struggled to hoist 
corpses dressed in Danubian tunics and hang them from the city wall. 

By sunset, the ruse was completed. Anyone from the outside would have guessed 
that Hórkustk Ris had been taken by the Red Moon Army and that the Danubians 
had suffered a devastating defeat. The walls were lined with hanging corpses 
dressed in Danubian clothing, the ground outside the city was littered with yet 
more corpses in Danubian tunics, and everyone still alive was dressed in uniforms 
of the invaders. Red Moon flags and banners decorated the entrances and walls.

----------

Silvítya and her companions did not have time to contemplate what was going on 
in the city plaza and along the walls. Instead, they were forced to assist the 
Danubian medics, who had set up a field hospital in the ruins of the cathedral. 
More than a hundred wounded Danubian soldiers lay in that church, resting in 
beds that had been pilfered from the remaining houses. Although there was not 
much she could do for head wounds and abdominal injuries, Silvítya was able to 
assist anyone who had a broken limb. She also knew how to sew up some open 
wounds. However, Silvítya knew that the majority of the men in the room were 
going to die. She concentrated on the ones she felt she could save and tried to 
ignore the desperate pleas of the injured she would not be assisting. 

She spent two days working non-stop, shouting at her fellow concubines and 
military wives to hold down patients while she operated and to keep her supplied 
with vodka to calm the injured and to sterilize her instruments and open cuts. The 
other women were in awe of her. She seemed totally in control. The military 
medics left the concubine and her assistants alone as soon as they realized the 
woman knew what she was doing.

----------

Because the eastern side of the city was nothing more than smoldering ruins, the 
Duke planned to shift the next battle to the city’s western district. The trick would 
be to lure the cavalry unit in and then massacre them. The Duke’s men set up the 
same gunpowder traps that had worked so well two days before, plus a series of 
traps specifically designed for horses. The cannon arsenal was considerably 
enhanced when some of the siege cannons were brought into the city and 
deployed. However, as part of the ruse, the majority of the cannons were left 
outside the city and set up to appear that they were ready to be moved to the next 
phase of the Red Moon Army’s campaign.

The next part of the Grand Duke’s plan involved actually convincing the enemy 
cavalry unit to come into the city through the west gate and cross into the new kill 
zone. The Duke would leave the city with a squad of his own cavalrymen and 
contact the enemy group. The men were dressed in Red Moon uniforms, but they 
still had to cover their shaved heads. The Duke was ready; among the items he 
had transported to Hórkustk Ris were several boxes of wigs. With their new long 
hair, the Danubian horsemen looked totally different. The Duke turned the unit’s 
leadership over to a man who was fluent in the language used by the House of 
Moon’s subjects.

----------

Silvítya did not see the Grand Duke leave, because she was still working with the 
wounded in the cathedral. While most of the Danubians were still setting up for 
the second battle, the wagon handlers entered the church to move the injured to a 
safer location in the castle. They only moved the men who had been operated on. 
There was no point in trying to move the ones who were dying. 

As night fell and the last of the salvageable men had been evacuated, Silvítya 
looked around at the broken windows and smashed roof of what was once a very 
nice church. She sadly contemplated the horror of all those dying men who 
remained. Outside, the city was burning and stank of thousands of rotting enemy 
corpses. If the Duke’s plan worked, there would be another several thousand 
corpses added, and if the plan did not work, the Danubians would all die.

Silvítya was beyond exhausted. She had seen plenty of death and misery before, 
but the worst of her past experiences were nothing compared to this. She took a 
drink from a blood-covered bottle of vodka. She looked up at a hole in the church 
roof. Sure enough, the owl, that owl, was there. The bright yellows eyes glared at 
her through the dimly lit ruins.

“Profane One, why? Why are you following me? I’m not worth it! I’m really not 
worth following! I’m nobody! Why can’t you follow someone more important?”

“I follow you because it is my pleasure. Pity yourself, if you wish, because there 
is nothing you can do about it.”

Silvítya’s consciousness returned to the Realm of the Living. She was trembling 
and gasping for breath. Her companions were staring at her. She said nothing. The 
matter was between her and the Destroyer. She took another drink, passed the 
bottle to one of the military wives, and ordered the women to follow her to the 
castle.

----------

The Grand Duke, the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia, rode 
inconspicuously among his horsemen, having turned over the leadership to a man 
with more cavalry experience, and more importantly, one who could speak the 
enemy’s language without an accent. His heart pounded and sweat formed under 
his wig as the squad of Danubians approached the much larger column of Red 
Moon cavalry. The Grand Duke had good reason to be worried, because his tiny 
group was approaching some of the best-trained and best equipped cavalry in all 
of central Europe. The men were the elite of the Kingdom of the Moon, attacking 
and killing under the nickname “The Beautiful Savages”. They had never suffered 
a significant defeat.

Without any hesitation, the Duke’s appointed leader rode up to the Red Moon 
cavalry: “HAIL! HAIL! Wonderful news, Your Excellency! We’ve taken 
Hórkustk Ris!”

The enemy troops started cheering, even though they had no doubt the Danubian 
city would fall the moment it was attacked. The disguised squad leader handed 
over several Danubian flags and a city banner as proof the place really was under 
the control of the Red Moon Army.

“Come celebrate with us! The city’s castle is full of wine! And vodka! And we’ve 
taken a lot of the women! Then we’ll go to Danubia and hunt!”

The enemy commander thought about the invitation. He wished his men had not 
heard the part about the wine, vodka, and captive Danubian women. They’d want 
to celebrate, drink, and enjoy the female prisoners, which would entail a wasted 
day. Still, the cavalry commander was curious to see the fallen Danubian city and 
what condition the victorious Red Moon Army was in. It seemed that Hórkustk 
Ris had been an easy affair. While Danúbikt Móskt would certainly be a more 
difficult target, it would make sense to put it under siege as quickly as possible, 
while the Danubians were still trying to recover from their most recent defeat.

The commander decided to send the captured flags south to his Lord with the 
message that Hórkustk Ris had fallen and the road to Danúbikt Móskt was clear. 
Meanwhile, he would take his force to the conquered city to see for himself what 
actually happened. Then he would spend the next few days clearing the 
countryside while waiting for the final order to proceed northward.

As they rode towards their deaths, the Red Moon elite cavalry looked totally 
impressive. They were a proud and feared force of vicious fighting men, riding 
powerful specially-bred black horses and carrying an array of specialized muskets 
and lances. Throughout its existence the unit had killed tens of thousands of 
infantrymen and annihilated the cavalry units of several other nations. The unit’s 
reputation was as important as its fighting skill: half the each battle already was 
won when the opposing men trembled at the sight of the infamous black horses 
and banners. 

The Grand Duke and his men nervously rode with the huge contingent of enemies 
following close behind. Yes, he was scared, but he also was eagerly anticipating 
the upcoming ruse and impending battle. If his men could vanquish and break this 
unit, the devastating news of its defeat undoubtedly would break the spirit of the 
House of the Red Moon and hopefully force an end to their plans to usurp 
Danubian territory.

When the Red Moon commander saw the condition of the city, he was surprised 
at the extent of the damage to the walls and what he could see of the destruction 
inside. It appeared the city had been harder to conquer than the Lord of Red Moon 
had anticipated. Still, there was no doubt it had fallen. Danubian corpses littered 
the ground and dead Duchy soldiers decorated the walls. The black banners and 
uniformed men standing at the gate offered assurance of a warm welcome.

On a moment’s inspiration, the Duke’s appointed leader shouted:

“My Lord! We are honored to have you among us! We would be honored to see 
you come in with a gallop!”

“You heard him, men! Let’s charge this city! Let’s show those land-walkers how 
real fighters bring the Lord’s greetings!”

The Duke’s unit charged the open gate, cheering with their leader as he yelled: 
“Hail-Hail! The Lord’s cavalry is entering!”

As the disguised Danubians along the wall cheered them on, the Duke’s squad 
galloped as fast as they could through the gate and through the main street leading 
to the central plaza. They had to clear the kill zone before the mines, cannons, and 
muskets opened up on the enemy. The Duke’s men sped past a battery of cannons, 
just as the crews were lighting the fuses. Too late, the Red Moon cavalrymen in 
the vanguard realized what was about to happen.

“DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!...DOC-DOC DANUBE!..DOC-
DOC DANUBE!”

The avenue between the western gate and the city plaza exploded with noise. 
Danubian sharpshooters fired volley after volley at the enclosed horsemen. The 
horses panicked and screamed, throwing many of their riders. Many of the Red 
Moon horsemen tried to escape along the side streets, only to run into the squads 
of musketeers and traps the Danubians had set up for their horses. The only Red 
Moon troops to survive the initial assault were the ones who dismounted and 
fought the Danubians hand to hand.

About a third of the Red Moon cavalrymen were still outside the city when the 
bombs and muskets that wiped out their comrades went off. Danubian archers and 
musketeers positioned on the walls and in the gatehouses fired viciously at the 
startled enemy, while the Danubian cavalry emerged from its hiding place and 
charged them from the outside. Outside the city there was a real battle between 
two sides that were evenly matched. However, the Danubians had the advantage 
of receiving cover fire from the walls. After taking heavy initial casualties, the 
Duke’s horsemen gained the upper hand. For the first time in its existence, the 
elite Red Moon cavalry unit was about to suffer a devastating defeat.

In the previous battle the Red Moon soldiers had set the city’s houses on fire, but 
during the second battle, it was the Duke’s soldiers who started the blazes. The 
surviving Red Moon cavalrymen and their horses found themselves surrounded 
by fire. They were unable to push forward because of the pile of corpses left 
created by the Danubian cannon crews blocking their path. They couldn’t go out 
the gate, because the Danubian cavalry was blocking that exit. They couldn’t 
escape along the side streets because squads of musketeers and archers blocked 
those routes. When several burning houses fell into the packed avenue, all hope of 
escape ended and the ambush turned into another massacre.

----------

The Grand Duke had the foresight to order his men to evacuate the ruins of 
Hórkustk Ris as soon as the battle was over. The place already stunk horribly 
from the corpses of the first round of fighting, and now the west side of the city 
had not only 4,000 additional human bodies, but an equal number of dead horses. 
There was no way to remove all that rotting flesh from the city, even had the 
Duke’s army been at full strength, which they were not. There were more injuries 
to attend to and the men were totally exhausted from having gone three days with 
almost no sleep. They needed to get away from Hórkustk Ris, rest and re-group, 
and above all eat, before the Grand Duke could make his next move against the 
enemy.

Still, the Grand Duke and his troops were in very high spirits. They had not just 
defeated, but exterminated a much larger and better equipped force. After 
listening to additional reports from his scouts, the Danubian Duke understood that 
the Red Moon Army had no other significant contingent of soldiers north of the 
border. However, there were numerous enemy garrisons that still had to be dealt 
with. There would be more fighting, and it would be best to finish off the 
garrisons quickly, before news of the massacre in Hórkustk Ris got out.

The Danubian Army set up a new headquarters in a large village after chasing out 
the inhabitants. The injured were moved and the Duke’s medics set up a new field 
hospital. Silvítya and her companions were forced to attend to a new group of 
wounded, but at least now the infernal stench of rotting corpses was not a concern.

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke’s commanders rounded up several hundred foreign 
villagers and herded them back to Hórkustk Ris. The wrecked city was still full of 
weapons and supplies that had to be taken out. The Duke was worried about 
cholera and other diseases affecting his soldiers and Danubian civilians, but the 
villagers were expendable. Gagging and trying to cover their faces against the 
horrific stench of the corpses, the wretched prisoners searched the ruins for 
weapons and anything else the Danubians could use to continue their campaign. 
They hauled out the cannons that the Danubians had used to kill the Red Moon 
cavalry and brought out hundreds of muskets, saddles, horseshoes, and travel 
packs. They also took down the Red Moon Army’s impalement hooks, which the 
Danubians carried around to justify the treatment of their captives. 

The clean-up of Hórkustk Ris started with the simple removal of useable items, 
but then the Grand Duke decided to force his captives to haul out and bury the 
rotting enemy corpses. The conditions among the ruins were horrible and most of 
the prisoners did not last long. Silvítya watched with dismay as the Duke’s men 
herded group after group of enslaved villagers towards the ruins of Hórkustk Ris. 
Perhaps those people were foreigners who had usurped the Duchy’s land and 
destroyed its southern forest, but they also were people very much like Silvítya’s 
own family. She couldn’t see them as the enemy; she could only see them as 
fellow peasants.

All nations have selective memories. The Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia is no 
exception. The nation celebrated the Grand Duke’s risky campaign and hard 
fought victory at Hórkustk Ris, but chose to forget what happened afterwards. The 
Duke’s soldiers also chose to forget. In the years following the war they would 
spend hours describing, in gory detail, the valiant fighting in the streets against a 
much larger army to their children and grandchildren. However there would be no 
mention of shooting a captive cholera-stricken foreign villager struggling to obey 
an order to drag a rotting corpse out of some ruins three weeks later.


----------


Note: Looking at the former site of Hórkustk Ris today, it is hard to imagine that 
the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia’s fourth largest city was once located there. 
Apart from the cathedral’s walls, very little remains of the city’s ruins. Even most 
of the foundations of the city wall are missing. The castle survived the battle 
intact, as did some houses located in the district between the castle and the 
partially ruined church. However, the stench of corpses and the unsanitary 
conditions within the walls made re-settlement impossible between 1754 and 1756. 
During that two-year period the remaining buildings fell into disrepair. By 1756 
Hórkustk Ris had become a rock quarry for nearby villages. Danubian civilians 
forced to re-settle in the area visited the ruins to collect stones and bricks. The 
Grand Duke sent in Royal Guards, not to protect the city, but to make sure that no 
man or armed group would try to charge villagers for taking out building supplies. 
Most of the houses had been completely dismantled by 1770. The final structures 
were the remains of the cathedral, the castle, and the city wall. The Grand Duke 
considered re-building the castle to house a garrison, but decided the location 
was too far north to be useful for guarding the border. To prevent the castle from 
being used by anyone else, he allowed settlers to tear down the structure on the 
condition they hauled away the stones. Most of the larger blocks remaining from 
the city wall were carted off to build two bridges during the 1780s. The 
cathedral’s ruins were never looted, so the church site remains as a silent 
reminder of Hórkustk Ris and its unhappy fate .

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -