by Rue Volley
“Rise,” I said as he stood up and his expression remained emotionless.
“I am Anton, head of the guard of house of Wallachia, protector to its lord and children.”
I nodded to him and pulled my own sword, I held it sideways and lowered it, rising slowly. “I am Dorin, from the house of Bran. Red Dragon and commander to Vlad the Impaler.”
He nodded to me as a murmur rose behind him. I never formally introduced myself to people, but I knew that my reputation preceded me as a brute force and highly skilled killer. I had slain so many at Vlad’s side that my legend was secure as his own.
“Lord Dorin, I seek my lord. He was supposed to return…” I looked at the carriage and back to him. “I regret to inform you that your lord fell ill and died in Castle Bran. I was heading to your homeland to return your Lord to his rightful place so that you could give him a proper burial.”
“What?” he said as he ran to the carriage and jumped into it. He coughed as he smelled the stench of his lord’s body rotting away. He pulled back the red linen and cried out as he saw his face, contorted and sunken in. His cries did not remind me of a loyal guard, but more of that of a lover's and I had my doubts as to Anton’s true relationship with his King. He jumped out and shook his head, his eyes looked glossy and his guard stared on in horror.
“What sickness did he fall too?” he asked me and I stared at him, hoping I would sound convincing.
“It was fever, a terrible fever that ravaged him for days. I wish that I could tell you that he did not suffer, but I am afraid that I cannot.”
Anton stumbled from the carriage and then stopped, he reached down and picked up his sword as I steadied myself and hoped that I had been convincing in my story. He held his sword, glancing at me and then slid it into his sheath. I relaxed a little bit as he returned to his horse and climbed up. He held the reigns tightly in his hands and stared me down.
“I would ask that you relinquish your journey, we can take our lord home and give him a proper burial, there is no need for you and your men to travel any further.”
I stepped forward ready to argue, but he called out to his guard to surround the carriage and I stepped back as he rode up to me. He looked down on me and his facial expression remained somber.
“Are Lady Illona and Lord Stefan in good health?”
I nodded to him. “Yes, both are.”
“Good, send them my blessings.”
I nodded to him as he rode off, his guard taking the carriage of the fallen lord with them. I sighed and looked back at my men.
“We ride back to Bran now, I do not want to linger.”
They all returned to their horses without questioning me. I had no intention of staying there, just in case some twist of fate brought the house of Wallachia back upon us.
***
I returned home to banners flying. As I entered the town, no one was on the streets and the eerie red flags embossed with the dragon flew in the wind. We rode slowly along the cobbled streets until I stopped and looked up at the castle and saw it decked out in banners too. Only they were at half-mast and I panicked. We had only been gone for ten days, but in that time, anything could have happened and I feared that it had. I feared the very worst.
I stopped at the gates and called out, no one had lowered them as we approached. My horse turned as I called out again to the gatekeeper and finally it started to lower, slower than usual, but doing it just the same. My horse was as fidgety as I was and paced back and forth until the gate slammed into place and I was able to ride in. I stopped and jumped down as a boy approached me and took the reins of my horse. I stared down on him and he looked tired.
“Tell me, what is happening here?”
“My lord…the king is ill.”
I looked up at the castle and ran as fast as I could. I did not worry about how it would appeared to anyone, all I could think of was Vlad, and his well-being. I ran through the castle and up to his chamber, when I stepped in, my heart was beating so hard in my chest that I swear it would explode. His bed was empty and all that remained were bowls of water, some with traces of blood in them. I stared at the chamber maid in the room and shook my head.
“Has he fallen?” I asked as she looked at me and her eyes were heavy.
“No, my lord, but he has fallen into a deep sleep of which no one can wake him. Lady Illona has had him taken to the chapel and has now placed his fate into the hands of God.”
I swallowed hard and turned to run as I bumped into Stefan. He stood there, pale and silent. I placed my hands on his shoulders and he looked up at me, a mere shell of the boy he had been. His father had stolen everything within him and I would swear that it included his soul.
“Come,” I said to him as I pulled him along with me until we reached the chapel. He pulled his arm from my hand as I stood at the door.
“I am sure that your sister needs you.”
“She is not my sister any more than he was my father.”
I shook my head as he ran off and I could not pursue him. I slammed the doors open and looked down the long aisle. The same one I had walked Illona down to take Vlad’s hand and give him a gift of true happiness. I could see Vlad on the platform, lying on the stone slab. Dressed in full armor. Illona stood at his side and touched his face as he lay under the large black cross hanging above him. I started to walk towards them as her eyes lifted and locked onto my own. She stepped away from him and started to come down the aisle towards me. She stopped as I looked her over, stomach swollen now and looking as if she could birth her child any day. I sighed as she then slapped me across the face and it rang out in the hall, she hit me once more and then started to slump down as I caught her. She sobbed as she hung onto me. She then looked up at me and screamed out, one blood curdling cry to the heavens as “murderer” left her lips and I stood up and watched her as she sat on her knees on the floor. I held my hand up as she closed her lips. The grin that followed told me everything I needed to know. Guards descended upon us and two of them grabbed my arms. She was helped to her feet and pointed at me.
“It was he who killed my father…Dorin, the Red Dragon! Then he poisoned my lord because he wants me as his own!”
Her voice felt like shards of glass cutting through me. I opened my mouth only to feel a terrible hit to the back of my head and everything fell to black.
Chapter Seven
Fate
Torture is not a weak mind's game. I was tortured for days. Sun rose and fell and yet I never cried out as much as they beat me, stuck hot rods into my body and tried to pull me apart. I remained silent, as silence was my only solace now. I found comfort in it as no would believe me. No one would take my word over that of a mourning queen, a woman who had charmed a nation as well as my Lord Vlad. I was sure now that she had planned it all. She had weakened his greatest weapon, that of me, by crawling into my bed and deceiving me into thinking that the child she carried was my own. I let her beat me down, I let her into our house and into Vlad’s heart. I had sworn to protect him as fiercely as I loved him and I had failed. I had ruined him as I had ruined myself. Illona was damaged beyond repair by that of her father. She was wicked and wanted but one thing, to rule this land and the Castle Bran. She had no will to allow a man to stand at her side, she wanted nothing to do with men. She hated them as much as I hated her now. I also knew that she was his undoing, she had poisoned him, most likely with some bewitching concoction to weaken his body and mind. I let my head droop as I did my arms. The chains held me in place and I did not care if I died, for death would be a welcoming release. I deserved damnation for what I allowed to occur. I deserved anything brought upon me.
I heard the metal screeching as the door to my cell opened up. I didn’t even look up, I didn’t have too. They came day and night to cart me off and try to break me. I never cried out, I never spoke. I never tried to say that I was not guilty because I felt as if I was. In fact, I was surrendering to the idea of allowing them to kill me. If I fought back it would
be for what? I had lost everything. Vlad, my command, my homeland. It was all but a distant dream now.
I felt a ladle lifted to my lips and the cool water stung my skin. I had not had anything to drink in five days, or so I would guess. I figured that the beating or starvation would kill me eventually. I was not sure which.
“Drink,” I heard a voice say as my eyes fluttered and I recognized him. It was a voice so sweet to my ears. That of Vlad, but when I opened my eyes, it was Vlad as he had been when we were boys. I grinned, my eyes rolling a bit as he tipped the ladle and nodded to me.
“What good is a dragon if it is dead to me?” he asked as I tried to drink. I spit up some of the water as he held it steady. “Dorin, drink,” he said and I took a sip and swallowed this time, only to be followed by gulping. He pulled it back and smiled at me. Placing a hand to my face and staring into my eyes. My eyes filled with tears as Vlad’s face stared back at me as it had many times when were children. He was always kind to me, always acting as if were equals. I knew my place but he never reminded me of it. He wanted company and I was more than happy to provide him with just that. I coughed as he lowered the ladle into a bucket and looked at my chains. I started to focus and his face morphed from Vlad’s to that of Stefan. I started to laugh as I welcomed death to take me. I was hallucinating and I accepted it as I would my last heart beat in my chest.
“Dorin.” He said as he looked into my eyes and smacked my face. “I need you to wake up, I need your help.” He said quietly as I mumbled something he could not understand. “Here.” He said to me as he shoved a small bit of vegetation into my mouth. It tasted bitter to my tongue and filled my mouth with a burning sensation.
“Swallow…it is a spell of Illona’s, it will bring you back to life, swallow it now,” he said to me as he held his hand over my mouth and I swallowed the terrible-tasting thing and it filled my throat. I jerked at my chains as a rush of adrenaline made my heartbeat speed up in my chest and my brain was set on fire with image after image that infuriated me. That of Vlad smiling at me, of handing Illona to him, Illona in my bed and then watching as his still body lay on the slab at the front of the chapel with that witch at his side. Then something new…his funeral, Illona dressed in black and mourning his passing with a child in her arms. I cried out as I pulled at my chains and Stefan covered my mouth again. He reached up and held a key in front of my face. I kept my mouth closed as he reached up and unlocked one shackle then the other. My arms fell, numb and lifeless. I slumped down onto the cold stone floor as he knelt down and looked at me.
“If you do not rise, he will die. She is going to kill him tonight, Dorin, she will kill Vlad and then rule this kingdom.”
I looked up at him and shook my head. “Why? Why do you betray her?”
“She does not love me, she never loved me. She used me to give herself an excuse to kill father, her father…not my own. I read it all, she keeps a journal, something she has tucked away in her chamber. She has recorded all of it as if she is writing a book, her own story. Everything is in it. Everything about father, me, you and her plans for this kingdom. She plans to rule with no man at her side. Including me. She will kill me too, if you don’t help me stop her.”
I sighed and started to stand as whatever he fed to me brought life back into my body. I could feel my strength and resolve returning to me. I straightened my shoulders as Stefan looked up at me.
“I am a hunter now, and I want to hunt her down and kill her for everything she has allowed to happen to me.”
“Then we shall call you Hunter and shed the name given to you by him.”
He nodded to me as I started to walk. I stopped at the entrance to my cell and turned back to him. “You must understand that she will beg for mercy, she will call out to you for forgiveness.” He nodded to me. “You must be strong, do you understand? What we are about to do is not the work of children, but the work of warriors and men.”
I ran out as he followed me and we headed towards the chapel. I opened the doors as I stepped inside and the entire room was draped in black banners. Those of mourning and I saw her standing next to Vlad with a knife in her hand. She looked up at both Hunter and I as we entered the room. I drew a sword and held it out in front of me.
“Illona, you will step aside and atone for your sins.”
She grinned at me and then looked at Hunter.
“Stefan, come,” she said as he held her hand out towards him. “Come to me, my love.”
He shook his head and stared her down, “My name is not Stefan. It is now Hunter, and I am not your love.”
I glanced at him as he stood tall and strong at my side. She started to lower her hand as her eyes went to mine. I stood my ground, incapable of caring for her. She tilted her head. “You have poisoned him against, he has shed his name and love for me?” she asked as she stepped down from the platform and stood in the aisle, her stomach swollen and ready to pop beneath the black material. I sighed, knowing that the child she carried would most likely perish with her.
“I know you plan to kill me, as you did your father, and as you will anyone around you, anyone who gets close to you Illona,” Hunter said as I remained silent and allowed him to confront her treachery on his own. My only concern was for that of Vlad, whose foot moved a little bit on the slab behind her. I stepped forward as she glanced behind her and saw him moving around a little bit. Her laughter echoed out in the room as his legs twitched and I ran forward. She suddenly rushed to his side and held a blade up over his heart. She put the tip of it to his breast bone and gripped it tightly.
“Fools, both of you, fools. I have no intention of letting Vlad die, not a death you would understand. His soul is escaping him as we speak. His body will remain and his still heart will belong to me. I never intended to allow the king to perish, I am simply turning him into something that will rule forever. I have found the secret to eternal life and I will allow him to give me that gift. Together, we will rule these lands for eternity because I do love him, I need his strength and his reputation to endure. His legacy will be the child that I bear to him, but a child who will also live forever. I am securing our future, and it does not include the two of you!”
She cried out as Vlad’s eyes opened, black as night, and pressed the blade through his heart. It was laced with a poison she had devised on her own from years of practiced sorcery. She jerked the blade out to see the blood on the blade was black. I screamed as I ran towards her, sword drawn and ready to strike her down, but just as I climbed the steps, Vlad sat up and grabbed her, tearing into her neck and ripping flesh. She screamed as he drank of her blood and it ran down his chin and onto his armor. I stopped in horror as he retracted his now long fangs from her flesh and they dripped with her blood. I held my sword up to him as his eyes darted to mine and, for a moment, they changed from black to blue. His expression soft, but it only lasted a second as he let her go and she dropped to the stone floor. She writhed in pain as the blood spewed from her neck and then I saw the material of her dress move, her stomach rolled as Vlad stood up and stared down upon her. She was going into labor and unable to speak as she bled out on the floor. Hunter ran to her and dropped to his knees. He pushed her dress and and spread her legs, as he could see a head coming. He looked back at me in horror as Vlad jumped down from the stone slab and looked me over. His mouth stained in blood and his eyes black. I gripped my sword.
“Help the baby come!” I yelled to Hunter as he nodded and turned back to Illona who cried out on the floor in front of him. She held onto her neck as tightly as she could, but the blood ran over her hand and between her fingers. Her screaming slowed and her eyes glossed over as Hunter reached down and pulled up a child, silent and barely moving. Suddenly the baby cried out as Hunter started to cry and whispered to her.
“Vanessa,” he said as he held her to his chest and stood up. He turned back and saw Vlad standing before me.
“Go…take the baby and go, now,” I yelled to him as he ran and I stepped over and
blocked Vlad as he started to walk towards them. Hunter reached the doors and stopped for a moment.
“Leave and protect her…she is yours to keep now.”
He nodded to me and disappeared from my sight as I turned back to Vlad who stood before me. Suddenly, his eyes shifted from black to blue and he stumbled, almost falling to the ground. I lowered my sword as he went to one knee. Then he whispered.
“Dorin, please help me.”
I ran to him and helped him to his feet as he turned and bit into my neck, only this time, he was careful to not rip flesh. He only drank of me as I struggled to break free, but his strength was unlike any I had ever known.
***
Romania mourned the passing of Illona as the slow procession took her through the town. Her hair braided in long pieces and flowers all around her. Her stomach was large, Vlad decided to allow them to think that the baby perished as she had…from the same illness her father had known. I was his prisoner at this point. Kept in the castle as he fed upon me. He never offered me the immortality he was given by Illona. He simply fed on my blood and made me suffer. His charm was enough and my body’s weakness from the feedings would not allow me to escape. Even if I did, who would believe me? Who would believe that Illona was a witch who had turned Vlad into a beast. A beast who had no beating heart and had to feed on blood? His lust for it became legend as he continued to conquer land after land, but rumors spread and as they did, Wallachia did the unthinkable and dug up their king only to find that he had a gaping wound in his chest. That of the hole Illona had inflicted upon him with the blade.
