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 Eighteen – Lower Danubia

News of the Duchy’s victory in Hórkustk Ris did not reach the Kingdom of the 
Moon immediately. A few survivors from the Kingdom’s rout did manage to 
sneak past the Grand Duke’s Royal Guards and slip across the border into the 
Kingdom. However, the Kingdom of the Moon survivors, who could not have 
numbered more than a few dozen, had no incentive whatsoever to contact the 
Lord’s advisors with news of the defeat. In the Kingdom of the Moon, the military 
policy was victory or death. Anyone surviving a defeat faced hanging on one of 
the infamous torture hooks. So, rather than warn anyone, the survivors simply 
returned to their homes. Two of the men, an infantryman and a member of the 
elite cavalry, later wrote accounts describing the campaign of Hórkustk Ris from 
the viewpoint of the defeated invaders, of how an inevitable victory turned into an 
epic annihilation. 

----------

The Grand Duke gave his men a week to rest and recover, while he assessed the 
campaign that lay ahead. The most dangerous part of the campaign was over, 
having ended with a spectacular pair of victories and his army still mostly intact. 
The Danubian fighting men now numbered a total of about 8,000. The remaining 
thousand men were either dead or too injured to fight. The mounted unit had 
taken the brunt of the hand-to-hand fighting, so its strength had been reduced by a 
third. However, the Danubian cavalry now boasted hundreds of captured 
Kingdom of the Moon horses and the surviving men had the chance to try out the 
Kingdom’s legendary weapons.

The Grand Duke ordered his infantry and artillery units to start moving south. 
Meanwhile, he would lead the surviving cavalry against various Red Moon 
garrisons still stationed around Hórkustk Ris province. The Danubian horsemen 
would dress up in the uniforms of the Red Moon Army and ride the Lord of the 
Red Moon’s horses up to garrisons that were unaware of the Kingdom’s defeat in 
Hórkustk Ris. The garrisons would be easy prey for the vengeful Danubians. 
Across the southern area of the Duchy, villages and forts were stormed by troops 
the defenders mistook for “Beautiful Savages”. In every fight, the deception 
worked long enough for the Danubians to achieve easy victory.

The non-Danubian inhabitants of Hórkustk Ris province at first did not realize 
what was happening as the Danubian Grand Duke and his disguised cavalry unit 
stormed garrison after garrison. They welcomed the legendary “Beautiful 
Savages”, only to realize, too late, they actually were Danubians. When the 
Kingdom’s garrisons were wiped out, there was panic and confusion. If the Red 
Moon Army had invaded the Duchy and taken Hórkustk Ris, why were these 
disguised raiders taking over so many forts? Why were Danubian infantry and 
artillery units calmly moving into villages cleared by the raiders? Why were 
Danubian raiders riding the Kingdom’s horses and using the Kingdom’s weapons? 
Where was the Red Moon Army? 

The men accompanying their sovereign later recalled that he fought like a 
madman as he led the attacks. He was furious about the invasion and the Lord of 
the Red Moon’s plans for the Duchy. He seemed completely oblivious to his own 
safety as he charged garrison after garrison. His men had to fight equally hard just 
to prevent him from being surrounded and killed. As the campaign progressed, the 
Royal Guards’ respect for the Grand Duke evolved into adoration. Not only was 
he was a brilliant strategist, he was a brave fighter. He was Royalty, but danger 
and hardship meant nothing to him. 

Had the Grand Duke’s concubines been able to see him in action during the 
battles, their sovereign’s behavior would not have surprised them. He was frenetic 
and as fanatical about killing his enemies as he was about having sex. The ruler 
was fixated and driven, to the point of being maniacal and at times psychotic. His 
men, convinced that he was carrying out the will of the Creator by destroying the 
remnants of the Army of the Red Moon in the Duchy, followed him with absolute 
and unquestioning devotion.

----------

During the first week of July, the Danubian Royal Army achieved another 
important victory, second only to the victory in Hórkustk Ris. They passed 
through the narrow range of wooded hills that separated Hórkustk Ris province 
from the former Ottoman lands that now comprised the Kingdom of the Moon. 
On the northern side of the hills was a small town called Iyóshnyakt Krepóckt, 
and on the southern side of the range there was a fort on a hilltop that had served 
as the Danubian border garrison’s command post from 1531 until the previous 
year, when it and the town were overrun by the Lord of the Red Moon. 
Fortunately for the Grand Duke and his men, the fort’s defenders were as 
oblivious about the defeat in Hórkustk Ris as everyone else in the Lord’s army. 
They opened the gates to let in the “Beautiful Savages”, only to realize they had 
just let in hundreds of Danubian soldiers. The fight was over in minutes and the 
fort was once again under the Duchy’s control. 

Because the place was visible to the entire surrounding countryside, the Grand 
Duke ordered the Lord of the Red Moon’s flags to remain flying over the fort. 
The Danubians would now make the border fort their main base of operations to 
consolidate their victory, so the longer they could maintain their deception, the 
better. The ruler sent for reinforcements and decided to order his medical staff, 
including the concubines and military wives, to the new forward-operating 
position on the border.

As she traveled south with her companions, Silvítya tried to suppress a month’s 
worth of memories of war, atrocities, injured men, corpses, and wretched 
prisoners. Undoubtedly her master was about to expose her to yet more war, but 
she consoled herself that at least she would have the chance to see the Duchy’s 
southern border. She already had been north of the Duchy’s borders: now, just 
two years later, she would travel south of the Duchy. She thought about how 
much her life had changed in just four years. Strange to think, a little over four 
years before she had not even seen what was on the other side of the hill that 
overlooked her family’s settlement. Since then, she had seen the entire western 
half of the country. She had seen so much, but what difference did it make? She 
would have been happy to go home and brag about her travels, but no one from 
her former life in Rika Héckt-nemát was still alive to listen or care.

Silvítya and her companions descended the final hill before arriving at the border 
post. The women had to avert their eyes to avoid looking at the rotting enemy 
corpses that had been dumped in a ditch just north of the Grand Duke’s 
encampment. The smell from the bodies was horrific, but all too familiar by now. 
They looked at the region to the south of the fort. It was flat farmland, territory 
that had been the wealthiest part of the Kingdom of Danubia prior to 1502.

The Duchy’s military now occupied all of the land that had been held by the 
Crown since the Ottoman invasion and King Vladik’s evacuation. The Grand 
Duke of Danubia had struck a devastating blow to his enemies, who apparently 
were not yet aware of what had happened in Hórkustk Ris. The Lord of the Red 
Moon still thought that his army of 30,000 men was alive and moving north to 
seize the Danubian capitol, and certainly was not expecting the Danubians to 
show up in the Kingdom of the Moon’s territory. 

As his army assembled in Iyóshnyakt Krepóckt, the Grand Duke pondered what 
he should do next and now had to make a critical decision. He thought about the 
sacrifice made by the Danubians under King Vladik, in which he had to abandon 
half of Danubia to save the other half. Given the amazing victory so far, the ruler 
wondered if it would be possible to reverse that loss and re-capture the region 
formerly known as Lower Danubia. Would it be possible to push south, surprise 
the Lord of the Red Moon, and reclaim the Duchy’s long-lost territories? Would it 
be possible to restore the Danubian Kingdom to its former glory? What if, after 
250 years, the Danubians could once again celebrate religious services in the 
cathedral in Sumy Ris, where the nation’s first Christian mass was held eight 
hundred years before?

The Grand Duke badly wanted to push south, capture Sumy Ris, and see if it 
would be possible to hold the city against the Lord of the Red Moon’s forces. He 
was torn between caution and the lure of a place that was extremely important to 
the Duchy’s history and national identity. He understood attempting to enter the 
Kingdom of the Moon’s territory was extremely risky. However, perhaps the 
Creator was watching over the Danubians after-all and it was the Duchy’s destiny 
to reclaim Lower Danubia. The Grand Duke looked for a sign, an indication 
beyond the information he was receiving from his informants, that he should take 
his troops beyond the Duchy’s current border.

He found the excuse he needed when an informant told him about a large group of 
enslaved Danubians being held in a compound in the southern city. The captives 
had not yet been moved further south because there were not enough Red Moon 
troops available to guard them. Apparently the entire region around Sumy Ris was 
lightly guarded, partly because of the invasion of Danubia, and partly because 
other units were fighting against the Ottomans over a position along the East 
Danube River. The Grand Duke would indeed conquer Sumy Ris: the captives 
and the lack of enemy troops gave him the justifications he needed for the 
operation. He announced his decision to his elated followers. Sumy Ris…the 
Duchy was about to reclaim Sumy Ris!

The mission was foolhardy, but the Grand Duke’s strategy of deception and 
dressing his troops like the Lord of the Red Moon’s soldiers gave the Danubians 
an important initial advantage. The Danubians were very experienced moving at 
night and moving quietly. The Grand Duke’s plan took advantage of the disguises 
and nighttime to move through the hostile territory in platoon-sized units. The 
Danubians would regroup south of Sumy Ris, enter the city under disguise, and 
defeat the Red Moon garrison. The Royal Army would move on the city with its 
entire force, because the goal was to permanently seize the town and annex the 
entire region. And to think…the Grand Duke was planning to do all that with a 
force of 7,000 fighting men.

The Danubians spent three days moving through lightly-guarded enemy territory. 
The villagers certainly did notice the strange movement of troops, but the 
Danubians exercised discipline and kept their conversations to a minimum to 
prevent the locals from hearing them speaking in a foreign tongue. Because they 
were moving in small groups, anyone observing the infiltrators would not have 
realized the platoons actually comprised a much larger force.

The maneuver to take Sumy Ris was flawless. On the third night the Grand 
Duke’s army re-grouped south of the city. At sunrise they marched up from the 
direction of the Kingdom’s capitol, so the city’s garrison did not suspect that 
anything was amiss. The local commander was actually were relieved that the 
Lord of the Red Moon finally had sent a large force to take away the Danubian 
captives and replace the men who were campaigning in the Duchy. He only had 
400 men still protecting the city. The Danubian Royal Army made it as far as the 
town’s center before the Red Moon soldiers realized anything was amiss. As soon 
as the first shots were fired, the Danubians spread out and exterminated the 
garrison. The operation was finished within an hour. 

For the first time in 250 years, Sumy Ris was securely under the control of the 
Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia. The easy seizure of the city and the apparent 
helplessness of the Army of the Red Moon was a tremendous shock to the local 
residents. Like everyone else in the Kingdom of the Moon, the population of 
Sumy Ris had not received any news that the Army of the Red Moon had been 
defeated in Danubia. The residents had assumed their soldiers had taken Hórkustk 
Ris and were besieging Danúbikt Móskt. Instead, the Danubian Grand Duke was 
standing in the city square, Danubian soldiers were raiding houses and pantries, 
and Danubian priests had taken over the old cathedral. Fleeing residents would 
spread the shocking news throughout the Kingdom of the Moon: the Danubians 
had captured Sumy Ris.

The wretched Danubian captives were chained in the city’s main fort and in three 
holding pens in the city market. The prisoners had been badly treated, were 
starving, and most were in poor health. Throughout the rest of the day the 
Duchy’s soldiers retaliated against the city’s residents, killing the leading male of 
each family and seizing all food. The Danubians carried around the Red Moon 
Army’s impalement hooks as justification of what they were doing to the defeated 
population. The Grand Duke announced to the terrified civilians:

“I have taken note of the way you treated my subjects. I will bestow the same 
treatment on you. We will eat, and you will starve. We will enjoy your food, and 
you will have the pleasure of watching us consume it. Anyhow, this is the 
Duchy’s city. This is land the Creator intended for Danubians, not for you. You 
have no right to be here.”

The invaders noticed the local women were much more modest than women in 
the Duchy, and took delight in tearing off the inhabitants’ shawls. The, taunting 
gave the Grand Duke an idea to exert further control over foreigners who, in his 
view, had usurped Danubian territory. Besides killing the head of each family, he 
ordered his troops to confiscate all the local women’s clothing and jewelry, 
including what they were wearing. The troops burnt the clothes and kept the 
jewelry as souvenirs for their wives and fiancés. The entire female population of 
the city would have to remain naked until further notice.

Seeing the dismay, humiliation, and panic of the foreign residents bolstered the 
confidence of the Danubians. It seemed the Kingdom of the Moon was not so 
strong after-all. The soldiers happily speculated about future conquests. Sumy Ris 
was destined to return to being a Danubian City. What about the Duchy’s other 
former territories? How about Sókukt Tók and the lands along the East Danube 
River? No longer would he Danubians need to call their country the Grand Duchy 
of Upper Danubia. Danubia would be united, large, and strong. The world would 
once again know the country as the Kingdom of Danubia.

----------

The Grand Duke ordered the three concubines and the rest of his medical staff to 
travel south with a large supply caravan. Silvítya looked around at the lands lost 
by the Danubians in 1502: all of the fine farms and manors laid out on flat, rich 
soil. The architecture, after 250 years of foreign occupation, was different from 
what she was used to seeing in the Duchy. She was particularly fascinated with 
some of the public buildings and mosques that had been constructed by the 
Ottomans, structures that were totally different from anything she had seen in the 
Duchy. 

Like every other Danubian, Silvítya had heard plenty of history and stories about 
the long-lost city of Sumy Ris. She vaguely expected the place to be truly special 
but, with the exception of the old cathedral, the city was simply a larger version of 
some of the towns she had passed through already. The buildings were a mixture 
of Ottoman and southern European architecture. Very few structures from the 
Danubian period remained: Sumy Ris had been heavily damaged in 1502 during 
the Ottoman capture and the majority of the buildings that survived the siege had 
been replaced over the ensuing two centuries.

The military wives joined the army doctors in administering treatment to the 
liberated Danubians. The three concubines had to report to the local governor’s 
palace, where the Grand Duke had set up his headquarters. On her way in she 
passed groups of miserable local residents who had been ordered by the 
Danubians to carry out and bury dead garrison soldiers and executed civilians. 
The humiliation on the foreigners’ faces, from both the defeat and from having 
the women forced to forego their clothing, went beyond anything that could be 
put into words. Silvítya had an ominous feeling as she looked at the conquered 
populace: if these people ever manage to fight back, they would have every 
reason to treat us viciously.

Silvítya felt extremely uneasy as she entered the governor’s palace. Danubian 
flags flew above its towers and griffins decorated the entrances. The Kingdom of 
the Moon’s flags were used as floor-covers around the entrances. The soldiers 
took delight in wiping their feet on the enemy’s banners. Everywhere, the soldiers 
were happy and optimistic. She had never seen Danubians in such a positive 
mood, which sharply contrasted with the normal somber outlook of the Duchy’s 
society. 

The concubines cleaned up and enjoyed a good dinner, but the Grand Duke did 
not spend the night with them. Instead he had taken the daughters of several 
leading families into the governor’s bed-chamber and was indulging himself with 
the foreign captives. The next morning Silvítya noticed naked palace servants 
taking bed sheets out of the Grand Duke’s quarters. The sheets had blood on them, 
indicating he had forced himself on several virgins. The Duke’s concubine felt 
sick. She pitied the unfortunate girls, but she also understood her master seemed 
to be doing everything possible to alienate the local population. Raping the 
daughters of leading families certainly was not going to win him any support.

Two days passed while Silvítya and her companions stood in the palace courtyard 
watching Royal Guards bring in loot from the city and surrounding manors. There 
was a well-stocked armory, but the Danubians became truly excited when they 
discovered a large cache of gold and silver. It turned out Sumy Ris was a regional 
center for collecting taxes for the Lord of the Red Moon. The Kingdom’s ruler 
had been distracted with the military campaigns and did not have enough men to 
spare to move the tax money to the Kingdom’s capitol. Now, all that treasure was 
under the control of his enemy, the Grand Duke of Upper Danubia.

The governor’s palace had a high tower that had been built by the Ottomans, from 
which the countryside would be observed from a very long distance in every 
direction. Silvítya wanted to climb up to the top, but knew she couldn’t go there 
unescorted. Fortunately, she saw Protector Buláshckt in the courtyard, examining 
some of the captured muskets. She approached the Royal Guard, requesting an 
escort so she could have a look at the region surrounding Sumy Ris. He surprised 
her by obliging. She noticed that he had a strange look in his eyes, as though he 
was worried.

The trip up a series of stairs and ladders left the two Danubians winded, but from 
the top they could see a large portion of the former Lower Danubia. In the 
distance to the west the guard and the concubine could see part of the East 
Danube River. Apart from the river, the landscape had no natural features at all. 
Flat farmland extended in every direction. How hard it must have been for the 
Danubians to give up all this land two centuries ago. Well, King Vladik had no 
choice, because there was no way the territory could be defended. 

No way it could be defended. 

Now, the Danubians had returned, with a small army, to a city that could not be 
defended. They had taken Sumy Ris with ease, simply because they had superior 
numbers. When the Lord of the Red Moon learned of his army’s defeat and that 
his nemesis was indulging himself in this city, he would attack with everything at 
his disposal, and Sumy Ris would again fall, along with the entire Danubian 
Royal Army. She looked down at the cathedral and the old seminary. It was in the 
seminary the bishop of Sumy Ris ordered the city’s defenders to make their last 
stand. And that ruined gate over there…that’s where the Ottomans hung his body. 
She expressed her thoughts out loud:

“This city…it’s not our Path in Life to be here at all. Sumy Ris is a trap. The 
Duchy cannot hold it. King Vladik understood that. That’s why Danubia survived; 
King Vladik didn’t try to hold onto what we couldn’t keep. We can’t stay here. 
The Royal Army must leave…and we must leave immediately. Already the Lord 
of the Red Moon is gathering his army. He will kill us all if we don’t get out.”

“I’ve thought the same thing, Servant Silvítya. I don’t know how to reach His 
Majesty with my advice. It seems this city put a curse on him, made him lose all 
concept of reality, made him mad, really. This place is indeed a trap.”

The two Danubians remained silent for a long time, staring out at the flat terrain. 
Neither knew what else to say about their predicament. Finally, Silvítya glanced 
at the cathedral.

“Can you take me to the church, Protector Buláshckt? I’d like to see it…and try 
praying there.”

A few minutes later Silvítya knelt in the church. Her mind filled with visions…of 
the battle in 1502 and the dead bishop. Her vision went dark and she saw the 
Grand Duke’s corpse hanging on a Red Moon impalement hook…above the 
bodies of the entire Royal Army. The entire Duchy was burning…with all its 
inhabitants lying dead and the banners of the Kingdom of the Moon flying 
everywhere. The Lord of the Red Moon was riding triumphantly through his 
newly conquered territory. Yes, that defeat in Hórkustk Ris had been devastating, 
but how much greater was the glorious victory in Sumy Ris…where the Danubian 
Duke and his entire army set themselves up to be annihilated. How sweet that 
moment and how complete the revenge on the Danubian vermin.

The vision of the Duchy’s destruction vanished, to be replaced by Alchemist 
Fítoreckt. He seemed to have returned to the Realm of the Living; re-invigorated, 
much younger, and healthier than she had ever seen him in real life.

“Be patient and continue learning. Perhaps you will find yourself in a position to 
temper and influence the actions and decisions of our nation’s leader. How many 
of us can make such a claim?”

As quickly as Alchemist Fítoreckt appeared, he vanished. Silvítya abruptly stood 
up.

“Protector Buláshckt, I must speak with His Majesty immediately. I don’t care 
what happens to me after I’m done. He can put me on the pillory or fill me with 
arrows if he wishes…I don’t care. But I must speak with him.”

“Very well, Servant Silvítya. I will take you to His Majesty and I will insist you 
have an audience with him. I will share your fate, whatever fate that might be.”

Protector Buláshckt led the concubine back into the palace. He demanded that his 
fellow Royal Guards step aside so he could take the concubine before the Grand 
Duke. The sovereign was in his quarters, indulging himself with two young 
foreign women. Protector Buláshckt opened the chamber door and Silvítya burst 
into the room. She did not kneel.

“Servant Silvítya! What is the meaning of this? Have you lost your mind?”

“No, Your Majesty, I have not! I’m here to warn you, and to save the Grand 
Duchy of Upper Danubia! You must leave this city immediately! Every one of 
your subjects must leave immediately! Anyone who stays will share the fate of 
the Bishop, the one who defied King Vladik in 1502! There’s a reason King 
Vladik abandoned this city! It’s the same reason you must leave! You cannot hold 
Sumy Ris against the Lord of the Red Moon’s men! You simply cannot hold it! 
Go up into the tower and take a good look at the land…everything is flat! The 
enemy can come at you from any direction! Sumy Ris is cursed! This city will be 
the death of all of us if you don’t take us out...now…today...”

Silvítya took a deep breath. Her knees were shaking badly.

“Your Majesty…I saw what will happen to you…I’ve seen it! I have visions…the 
Ancients have cursed me with visions and sometimes I know what will happen! I 
saw the Bishop…and your Path in Life will end in the exact same place as his, 
and in the exact same manner! And without you, the entire Duchy will die…all of 
us! I saw it!”

The Grand Duke didn’t know how to respond. His concubine’s face was white, 
her eyes wide with horror, and her body was shaking badly. She was obviously 
terrified, but not of him. She cared nothing for herself or her own safety at that 
moment. She was thinking of the Duchy.

In a flash the Grand Duke’s illusions and hubris vanished. He fully understood the 
perilous situation in which he had placed his army and his country. No, it was not 
the Duchy’s Path in Life to reclaim Sumy Ris. The city was a trap, as much in 
1754 as it had been in 1502.

The Duke calmly stood up. He looked and felt as though he had just woken up 
from a strange dream.

“Servant Silvítya, you will take responsibility for preparing your companions to 
travel. Tell them to pack and to report to the palace courtyard.”

Still trembling, Silvítya managed to respond:

“To hear is to obey, Your Majesty.”

He put on a robe and called the Royal Guard into the room.

“Protector Buláshckt, you will ensure Servant Silvítya and her companions are 
properly escorted.”

“To hear is to obey, Your Majesty.”

Silvítya would have been happy to pack, but she was still badly shaking when she 
returned to her companions with the news they were about to depart. The others 
had to gather her things while she stood at a balcony trying to get her breath back 
and stop trembling. She couldn’t believe the Grand Duke had actually listened to 
her and would heed her warning.

Minutes later the Grand Duke was dressed and had summoned his commanders. 
He asked them for honest assessments about their ability to defend Sumy Ris 
against a sustained attack from a larger army. The commanders were forced to 
admit the city could not be defended.

“That is the conclusion I have reached as well. I have decided it would be foolish 
for us to stay here, after having looked around and assessing what happened in 
1502. Therefore, commanders, it is my decision that our raiding expedition 
against this city has concluded and we should return to the Duchy. Prepare your 
soldiers for immediate departure.”

“To hear is to obey, Your Majesty.”

----------

The Danubians left Sumy Ris as quickly as they entered, taking with them 
hundreds of new muskets, cannons, ammunition, gold and silver, loot from the 
residences, extra horses and wagons, and the 900 rescued captives. The soldiers 
did not destroy anything or kill anyone else on their way out: they simply let the 
local population run off. The city’s women scrambled around, trying to find cloth 
and leather to cover themselves with makeshift clothing as the Royal Army’s men 
marched northward.

The Danubians returned to their southern fortress four days after abandoning 
Sumy Ris. The men had to move slowly with all of the wagons and cannons they 
were transporting. If what the Danubians had just completed truly was nothing 
more than a raiding mission and a rescue of captives, then it was a hugely 
successful one. If it had been the beginning of the re-conquest of Lower Danubia, 
the operation was a failure. The commanders understood the Grand Duke had 
made a prudent decision, but the soldiers grumbled about their leader’s cowardice. 
Just five days before, their ruler had been talking about retaking all of Lower 
Danubia, but now the entire army was returning to the Duchy’s territory like a 
bunch of common raiders. Yes, the loot was nice, but…

----------

The Lord of the Red Moon arrived in Sumy Ris with 15,000 soldiers on the same 
day the Danubians crossed back into the Duchy’s territory. He personally 
commanded the troops, unable to accept the news that the Danubians had just 
raided the city. Sure enough, the story was completely accurate: the Danubian 
Grand Duke had led the raid and stayed just long enough to empty out the city and 
humiliate the local population. The Lord of the Red Moon couldn’t believe what 
he was seeing. The armory: empty. The treasury: empty. The food stores and 
granaries: empty. The stables: empty. This was a personal insult from the ruler of 
Upper Danubia, who obviously had defeated the 30,000 troops sent to conquer the 
Duchy. But…how could that have happened? How could the Kingdom’s best 
invasion force have been defeated? How could the “Beautiful Savages” have been 
defeated by…Danubians?

The Lord of the Red Moon had never suffered a defeat, so he really did not know 
how to handle such a loss. Any prudent leader would have accepted the defeat for 
what it was and taken measures to minimize its impact on his rule. After-all, the 
Kingdom of the Moon was still a formidable nation, even with the loss of an 
invasion campaign and 30,000 troops. Yes, the Danubians had raided Sumy Ris, 
but they didn’t have the forces to hold it and were smart enough to know that. The 
Duchy’s border was back to where it was in 1752.

The Lord of the Red Moon did not see the situation in that way. The Danubians 
were inferior and had to be eliminated. The raid on Sumy Ris and the Danubians’ 
refusal to stand up and be killed in a proper battle was proof of that. No, the 
defeat was unacceptable and it was up to the Lord of the Red Moon to correct the 
problem. He would take his force north and lead them personally, which was what 
he should have done in the first place.

A week after the Danubians had evacuated Sumy Ris, their lookouts spotted a 
large black mass of soldiers and cavalry approaching the border. Yet another 
invasion force was approaching the Duchy. However, the fort was surrounded by 
forested hills, precisely the terrain that favored the Danubians and the way they 
were used to fighting their battles. The Royal Army was rested and had the 
opportunity to set up their newly-captured cannons. When the Lord of the Red 
Moon’s men charged recklessly up the wooded road, the Danubians were ready 
for them. 

The battle became a grueling three-day nightmare for the Red Moon Army. The 
Danubians retreated into the trees, elated to be using their traditional crossbows as 
they silently picked off their opponents. Throughout the second day of the 
fighting, a heavy rainstorm soaked the invaders’ clothing and gunpowder, making 
movement and firing almost impossible. Discipline on both sides broke down as 
squad-sized units attacked each other in hand-to-hand fighting in the mud. On the 
third day, the Lord of the Red Moon’s soldiers did something they had never done 
before: they retreated. As his men scrambled down the hill and away from the 
border fort, the Lord of the Red Moon could hear the distant taunting of his 
intended victims:

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

The Danubian flag flew defiantly over the fortress, in full view of the hostile 
territory to the south, where it has flown ever since.

----------

The Duchy did not have time to celebrate the retreat of the Lord of the Red 
Moon’s soldiers. Although the battle at the border had been fought in a location 
where the Danubians felt at ease using their traditional tactics, the victory had 
been the most costly of the campaign for the Royal Army in terms of casualties. 
More than 2,000 Royal Guards lay around the forested hills, either killed or 
seriously wounded. The Grand Duke’s men spent a week searching for the injured 
and the dead, and the rest of August attending the wounded and setting up a 
formal cemetery, in which 1,400 Danubians eventually were buried. Thousands of 
corpses from the Lord of the Red Moon’s army were simply left to rot.

Silvítya and her companions spent a grueling month at the fort attending all the 
wounded. The first days were the worst, when the medical staff had to determine 
which troops could be saved from their injuries and which men were destined to 
have their souls separate from their bodies. The first injury she had to deal with 
was the Grand Duke, who took a musket shot to his right shoulder and broke his 
left arm falling off his horse. The injuries were not particularly serious, but the 
ruler insisted that his concubine be the one to treat them.

Silvítya did her best to make sure her master fully recovered. She hated him more 
than ever, but resisted the temptation to give him an overdose of opium or 
anesthesia. She was a doctor and proud of what she had been able to accomplish 
with her piece-meal training, so she was able to separate her personal feelings 
towards her patient from the tasks she had to perform. Also, she remained a 
subject of the Grand Duke and a Danubian citizen. As odious a man as he was, the 
country needed him. Whether it was his cunning, his intelligence, his 
extraordinary luck, his reckless courage, or Divine Intervention, it was only 
because of its ruler the Grand Duchy of Upper Danubia had survived the threat 
from the Kingdom of the Moon. So, not only did Silvítya do everything she could 
to ensure a successful operation; she also converted some of her precious blue 
powder into special regenerative medicine to ensure he recovered as quickly as 
possible. With the additional treatment, the Grand Duke’s shoulder was 
completely healed in just a week, and his left arm repaired itself at a miraculous 
pace as well.

----------

The final phase of the Grand Duke’s military campaign took place during the last 
week of August and most of September. The western sector of Hórkustk Ris 
province had been completely secured by the Duchy’s men, but many isolated 
villages in the eastern part of the province remained occupied by subjects loyal to 
the Kingdom of the Moon. Upon recovering and becoming convinced that no 
further invasion from the Kingdom was imminent, the Grand Duke ordered his 
men to reassert the Duchy’s control over the rest of the re-captured region. As 
Danubian Royal Guards occupied more villages and the story of what happened to 
the Army of the Red Moon got out, the non-Danubian population of Danubia’s 
southernmost province began to panic and flee, abandoning their homes. The 
Grand Duke ordered several massacres to terrorize the foreigners and speed up 
their departure. The war against the House of the Red Moon degenerated into a 
war against all non-Danubians living in the area. The panic was augmented by the 
fact the foreigners still did not know the details of what had happened during the 
battle of Hórkustk Ris and the raid against Sumy Ris. The Lord of the Red 
Moon’s army had simply vanished and now the Danubian Grand Duke and his 
men seemed to be everywhere.

As he led his cavalry around the southern region of the Duchy, the ruler sent 
messengers north to order all of the Danubian refugees from Hórkustk Ris to 
return home. There was no way they could go back into the city, but the 
surrounding villages were empty and there were plenty of houses and free land 
available for any takers. The Grand Duke dispatched some Royal Guards to order 
the refugees surrounding the capitol to return south as well. Hórkustk Ris 
province now was secure and they had no reason to remain camped near Danúbikt 
Móskt. As the Grand Duke and most of his army finally finished their campaign 
and trekked north, they passed a long column of refugees heading in the opposite 
direction, to reclaim their homes or occupy houses abandoned by the foreigners. 
The refugee camps along the Rika Chorna river were emptied by the time the 
Royal Army made its triumphant return to the capitol.

----------

The Grand Duke celebrated his victory with the jubilant citizens of Danúbikt 
Móskt. The surviving veterans of the Royal Army happily displayed the souvenirs 
captured from their enemies: the muskets, uniforms, flags, and impalement hooks 
taken from dead invaders. 

When the war was over, the Grand Duke turned out to be as cunning with his own 
people as he was against the Lord of the Red Moon. During his victory speech he 
spent hours thanking his commanders and numerous soldiers who had 
distinguished themselves during the fighting. He thanked the town councilmen 
who had assisted in recruiting and had sent him men, money, and supplies. He 
praised the Duchy’s people and the Creator for watching over the nation. He did 
not say anything to bring glory to himself, knowing that his admirers would do 
that for him. Following the victory celebrations and speeches, he passed out a 
portion of the captured gold to the soldiers who had fought for the Royal Army 
and ordered more gold to be given to the widows of the men who had died during 
the campaign. The rest of the money seized in Sumy Ris would be used to retire 
part of the Duchy’s debt with the Vienna arms dealers. The sovereign didn’t keep 
any of the captured gold for the Royal Household and made sure his citizens were 
aware of that.

The Grand Duke’s public display of gratitude towards the people who had helped 
the Duchy achieve its amazing victories against the Kingdom of the Moon 
omitted his most important source of information and advice: his concubine 
Silvítya. She was the one who had given him the knowledge of the explosives he 
needed for the victory in Hórkustk Ris, she was the one whose advice narrowly 
averted a disastrous defeat in Sumy Ris, she was the one who operated on him 
when he was injured, and throughout the summer she also had operated on 
countless other wounded Royal Guards. More than any other person serving the 
Grand Duke, the humble concubine should have received credit for giving him the 
advice and knowledge he needed to win the war. However, because the public did 
not know who she was, the ruler felt there was no need to mention her. Instead, he 
would take credit for everything she had contributed. Her reward would be to 
simply go back to her old life as a naked sex slave, locked up in the Royal 
Residence with her “sisters”.

So, while celebrations took place in the city’s central plaza, Silvítya returned to 
the castle and her duties as a Royal concubine. The matrons ordered her to strip, 
unbraided her hair, shaved her armpits, cleaned her up, and sent her back to the 
concubines’ quarters along with her two companions. The Grand Duke expected 
her to resume her old life as though none of the events she had endured over the 
past four months had happened. There was absolutely no reward for her efforts 
and service, nothing except being confined with her ten naked companions and 
waiting for the bell to ring.

Her only consolation was having Antonia in her arms again. Silvítya’s lover was 
desperately glad to see her, embrace her, and run her hands all over her body. 
However, it seemed even that small pleasure in Silvítya’s life was ruined. She was 
happy to relax and allow her companion to massage her weary body but, after 
everything she had just been through and witnessed, she couldn’t find peace or 
enjoy the relationship. She had to pretend to be elated to see Antonia, just as she 
had to pretend to tolerate the Grand Duke. 

----------

The Duchy returned to its life of peace and isolation. Danubian flags and 
Danubian uniformed guards appeared along the entire border with the rival nation, 
as constant reminders the Kingdom’s efforts to invade the Duchy had failed 
completely. 

The Lord of the Red Moon found himself in serious trouble after the loss of 
40,000 of his best troops. It was hard to believe that the “Beautiful Savages”, the 
terrifying and invincible elite cavalry that had been the Lord’s most important 
source of power, no longer existed. The resurgence of the Duchy, coupled with 
the humiliation of Sumy Ris and the disastrous defeat at the fort, weakened the 
Kingdom’s support for the House of the Red Moon, while strengthening the 
position of the rival House of the Blue Moon. 

When the Lord of the Blue Moon sent some of his troops into the region around 
Sumy Ris, the local leaders changed loyalties and declared themselves in rebellion 
against the leader who had failed them. The Lord of the Red Moon, who by that 
time had partially reconstituted his defeated army, sent a detachment of soldiers to 
retake Sumy Ris. In late October there were two bloody and inconclusive battles 
near the city. Both sides raised additional men over the winter and prepared to 
launch a major war in the spring of 1755.

It seemed that, since the Destroyer’s plans to obliterate the Duchy and annihilate 
its people had been thwarted, the Destroyer instead decided to pay a visit to the 
Kingdom of the Moon. The Grand Duke’s scouts brought back the welcome news 
of a civil war being waged between two cousins whose forces were evenly 
matched. The rival heirs had no chance to worry about Danubia because they 
were too busy fighting each other. 

----------

Today, there is very little evidence the Kingdom of the Moon ever existed at all. 
The country was  completely destroyed over the ensuing decade by a bloody 
stalemate between the Lord of the Red Moon and the Lord of the Blue Moon. In 
1764 the Ottoman Empire’s army re-occupied the devastated region and the 
Duchy’s once-formidable enemy became nothing more than a footnote in history.
 

----------


Note: The Grand Duke’s two victories in Hórkustk Ris, combined with the raid on 
Sumy Ris and follow-up campaign that wiped out the Red Moon garrisons 
stationed throughout southwestern Danubia, is considered one of the greatest 
military upsets in history. No one could have expected that an ill-equipped army 
of 9,000 fighting men would annihilate over 40,000 professional combatants who 
were considered among the best soldiers in Europe during the mid-1700s. As 
much as popular Danubian historians like to credit the brilliance of the Grand 
Duke, and as much as the Danubian Church would like to claim it was due to 
Divine Intervention, the reality was that over-confidence, lack of accurate 
intelligence reporting, and two critical decisions by two different Red Moon Army 
commanders were what led to the Duchy’s victory in the 1754 Hórkustk Ris 
campaign.

The Danubian defeat of the Army of the Red Moon had very important 
implications for the history of south-eastern Europe. In the decades leading up to 
1754, the Kingdom of the Moon had established itself as a powerful and respected 
state through its superb military training and discipline, which created one of the 
most versatile, mobile, and feared fighting forces on the continent. There was 
general consensus among European leaders that the Kingdom of the Moon would 
continue to expand into Ottoman territory. Many contemporary writers expressed 
hope that the Kingdom of the Moon might even become strong enough to threaten 
the Turks’ hold on Constantinople.

After the summer of 1754, conditions in the Kingdom of the Moon changed 
dramatically. The Lord of the Red Moon had suffered much more than a simple 
defeat: he had lost half of his entire army. His cousin immediately challenged him 
for the throne, the aristocracy split into warring factions, and the country endured 
a civil war from 1755 to 1764 during which neither Lord was able to establish 
superiority. Finally, some of the local barons asked the Ottoman Sultan to re-
establish order, with the result that Turkey invaded and re-annexed the territory 
in 1764.

Although no treaty was ever signed, the Grand Duke of Danubia and the Ottoman 
Sultan maintained an informal agreement to leave each other’s territories alone. 
The Sultan was under the impression that the Grand Duke’s army was much 
stronger than it really was, without knowing the details of the fighting over 
Hórkustk Ris. As part of the informal agreement, the Danubian settlers who had 
set up residence in strips of former Danubian territory immediately to the south of 
the recognized border were allowed to stay by the Ottomans, as a buffer between 
the two countries. (The status of the border territories was not formally resolved 
until the early 21st Century, when the Treaty of Sumy Ris granted the majority of 
the disputed settlements to the Duchy, in exchange for abandoning all other 
territorial claims.)

News of the sudden and devastating defeat of the Lord of the Red Moon’s army by, 
of all people, the Grand Duke of Danubia, shocked and dismayed leaders and 
political writers throughout western Europe. European sympathy clearly sided 
with the Lord of the Red Moon in his effort to annex the Duchy. The Kingdom of 
the Moon enjoyed good relations with Russia and Austria, and the hope was that 
the three countries would form a common and continuous front against the 
Ottoman Empire. Had that hope become reality, Turkish control of the entire 
Balkan Peninsula would have been threatened.

Foreign historians during the nineteenth century referred to the destruction of the 
Kingdom of the Moon and the respite it provided the Ottoman Empire as 
“Europe’s lost opportunity”. After 1754 the idea of a common European front 
against Turkey became considerably less practical, because the Danubian Grand 
Duke had no incentive to enter into an alliance with either Russia or Austria. 
Later events, such as the partitioning of Poland during the second half of his 
reign, validated his aloof attitude concerning involvement in European politics 
and the Duchy’s diplomatic isolation.

Many historians, myself included, have indulged in counter-factual “what if” 
speculation concerning events in the Balkan Peninsula between 1754 and 1914. 
What would have happened had the Grand Duke’s army been defeated and 
Danubia annexed by the Kingdom of the Moon? I am convinced the Kingdom of 
the Moon’s aristocracy would have remained unified, because the Lord of the 
Blue Moon would not have been in a position to challenge his cousin for the 
throne, having neither the troops nor adequate support from dissident lords. The 
civil war that destroyed the Kingdom would not have taken place, and the 
Ottoman Empire would not have had the opportunity re-annex the region in 1764.

Following a victory in Danubia, the Lord of the Red Moon would have turned his 
attention to building up the alliance with Austria and Russia, as well as with Serb 
and Greek rebels, with the likely result of a joint military assault on the Ottomans. 
Given the military situation at the time, most Daunibian historians believe it is 
very likely Ottoman forces would have been routed and forced to retreat from 
some or all of their European holdings in the late eighteen century. (Counter-
factual speculation aside, the Ottomans were not forced out of the Balkan region 
until over a century later, a process that started in the 1870s and culminated 
shortly before the First World War.)

The events surrounding “Europe’s lost opportunity” and Danubia’s subsequent 
neutrality towards the Ottoman Empire during the late eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries explains much of the underlying hostility other Europeans have held 
towards the Duchy. However, that hostility is in no way justified. The Grand Duke 
did what was necessary to secure the future of his country and protect his people. 
The vicious treatment of captured civilians by both the Lord of the Red Moon and 
his rival the Lord of the Blue Moon during the civil war clearly demonstrated 
what the Danubians could have expected had the Grand Duke been defeated. The 
destruction of the Kingdom of the Moon and “Europe’s lost opportunity” cannot 
be blamed on the Duchy. As a nation, the only thing we were doing was fighting 
for our own survival.

- Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna -