The Immortal Knight Chronicles Box Set 2

by Dan Davis

  “It is not God’s forgiveness you need but mine. In order for your ambush to be successful, you require my men and they are of Wallachia.”

  “I do, yes. But if you do not help me then I will use the remaining sluji alone. They will follow me and together we will overcome the Blood Janissaries and kill William. But I very much doubt he will come into Wallachia without those mortal forces in support. And so I would really rather also have the support of your small force out there. Together we will spring the trap. And together we will kill William, who is my enemy, and yours, Vlad, and yours, Radu, whether you accept it or not.”

  Vlad strode away from me and his brother, crossing the small cell in just a few strides. He went to the high, small window and looked up through it.

  He grunted. “You cannot see anything from this useless window, Radu.”

  Radu smiled. “I can see the sky above my homeland. I see clouds and birds and the sun. I see rain and snow falling. A taste of God’s creation is enough to remind me of it all. And that slice of blue sky, no larger than my outstretched hand, is all the kingdom I have needed since I have been here. Never in all my life have I felt contented before being brought here. I may have this chain upon my body but my soul is free.”

  I glanced at the abbot and Theodore who stood smiling proudly at their ward.

  Vlad said nothing for a while before turning to Radu. “Brother, if your words are sincere then it brings me great joy to hear that. Perhaps, if you prove that you are loyal then when the time is right your existence can be declared to our people and you may be welcomed at my court. Or, if you prefer, I will found a monastery and you can be abbot there and live in peace.”

  Radu bowed his head. “Nothing would give me greater joy.”

  “Richard.” Vlad turned his terrible gaze on me. “We will kill William together. But your manipulation of me I shall never forgive.”

  “I understand. Now, let us prepare to leave this place. Tomorrow, we ride to Bucharest.”

  ***

  The monks were incredibly efficient and had their valuables and victual packed and ready well before dawn. Being monks they were used to rising for midnight and matins services but still they worked through the darkness as if they were half-bat and half-soldier.

  Still, with so many men, monks, soldiers, and servants, it was a somewhat chaotic departure from the side of the lake that morning.

  “Where is the ancient one named Theodore?” I shouted at my men, not seeing the blind monk in the crowd.

  Stephen called out from over the sea of heads. “The abbot said the old man is too frail and blind to travel.”

  “Too stubborn, more like. Well, may God damn him, then,” I muttered. I knew if William managed to get by us and reach the monastery, then he would not take pity on the blind man’s frailties. But we would intercept William before he reached Snagov and anyway I had too much on my mind to think of one surly old monk a moment longer. “We must hurry,” I cried out, repeatedly. “If it is not essential, leave it behind.”

  Rob nodded at a group of servants carrying squawking baskets. “Would you say chickens are essential, Richard?”

  “In the name of Christ, sort the daft bastards out, will you?”

  Waving his stump at them and babbling in his appalling Wallachian, Rob scared them into dropping their baskets.

  “Where the bloody hell is Serban?” I asked Walt as I pulled myself into his saddle.

  He shrugged. “If you haven’t noticed, the old bastard’s always off somewhere when there’s hard work to be done.”

  “Will you take some men and take position at the rear of the column, Walt? If there are any stragglers, whip them along. If they won’t keep up then you have to truss them up and bring them forward.”

  Walt rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Can’t we just leave them to it? They’ll come up eventually.”

  “Absolutely not. Not a single one can be left behind. What if one of William’s men scoops him up and questions him about Snagov? Better to kill them than let one risk the entire plan. Our only hope is through springing an ambush and trapping him. Do you understand?”

  “None will fall behind. You can trust me.”

  I did trust him. Him and Rob, as well as Eva and Stephen. They had been with me for so long because they were trustworthy, reliable and competent. My captains in the sluji and all the surviving men had given every indication of similar reliability but I still could not trust them as I could one of my own countrymen.

  We rode out in a long column, with the vanguard far ahead out of sight consisting of Vlad’s cavalry and behind them a core of lightly armoured veteran infantry, mostly survivors of Vlad’s peasant armies and led by his peasant officers. Then Vlad and his bodyguard rode at the head of the rear guard which was formed mostly of his bodyguard and fine troops they were.

  I rode behind with the sluji and at the rear traipsed the monks and the lay brothers and other servants, some pushing hand carts and others leading ponies.

  Radu I kept hooded and chained at the rear of my company, guarded by two trustworthy sluji under orders to keep him safe but above all to stop him riding off. Despite his seeming sincerity and newfound piety, I could never trust a man who had been for so long under William’s thrall.

  If all went well then we would sleep within the safety of Bucharest that night and in the morning could send out scouting parties to watch for the approach of William’s Turks and begin planning our ambushes.

  By the middle of the morning, Vlad rode back along the column and fell in beside me. We rode along a track with trees close by each side, the shadows beneath cold and still.

  “I understand why you did as you have done,” he said without preamble. “Until this morning I had not understood just how well you played your part.”

  “My part?”

  “Your performance as a mortal man. As a crusader and a mercenary captain. Even though I knew what you were, how long you had lived and what you had done, I still believed in your subservience.” He smiled, his moustache lifting, and a brief laugh escaped from beneath. “And yet it was all pretence. You see yourself as a man above kings. You obey what orders you wish and ignore the ones that do not meet your aims. And you manipulate your superiors into doing what you wish. Even the lords and princes that do not really care for you, still they see you as a straight speaking and morally upright man. But all the while you hold our hierarchy in contempt while you stand above it.”

  I rode in silence for a while to collect my thoughts while Vlad rode smiling beside me. We left the close confines of the wood and came out onto a long section of road where the woodland had been cleared. On both sides were wide and long meadows but they were covered in nothing but clumps of low weeds. The rear guard ahead of us filed through the woods where they closed tight by the road again beyond the meadow.

  “I will not disagree with all you say,” I said, finally. “There is truth to much of it. But I do not see myself as above a king. It is impossible for me and my close companions to fit within a mortal nation. We have many times attempted to do so but as you say it is more a dramatic performance than it is truth. We live in a city or pose as a lord but we have no father and mother that we can admit to and so we seem to come from nowhere. We have no brothers and cousins with which to make a family. And we can make no children of our own to raise and any that we might adopt will age while we will not. Not in a natural sense. When we fight as mortal soldiers, we must hide our need for blood from our comrades and so we can never be at peace amongst them. As for kings and princes, I have known so many, both good and bad, that the inherent power of their authority has somewhat lost its ability to cower me. We are not above anyone, as such, but we are outside of them. We are the eternal mercenary, doomed to wander and to never fit within a nation, even our own.”

  “What of my future as a prince?” Vlad asked. “If we as immortals are doomed to live outside of our nation, do you believe it impossible for an immortal to sit on a throne?”

&
nbsp; “Impossible?” I sighed, thinking of Priskos and his claims that Alexander the Great was his grandchild, just as I was. Alexander and Caesar and other kings. All met their brutal ends. “How many kings have—”

  I was cut off by the mighty blasts of coordinated firearms on both sides of our column. Hundreds of hand-gunners discharged their weapons and the men and horses around me, in front and behind were hit. Steel pinged and men cried out in pain and panic.

  Horses fell and men fell with them. Ahead, I watched the cavalry of the rear guard riding one way and another in panic.

  “We must charge the enemy!” Vlad shouted, drawing his sword and pointing across the meadow to the edge of the trees where clouds of smoke drifted from the shadows.

  It would ordinarily be good advice but I knew it had to be William commanding this force. My mind rushed with realisations. William had somehow discovered my own plans and ambushed me instead from a prepared position. There could be stake pits, trenches or other defences that would cut charging Wallachian cavalry down before it reached the Janissaries beyond.

  “Ride back for the sluji!” I shouted at Vlad and took my own advice, wheeling my horse and urging him back towards my immortal company.

  Another blast ripped through the air and then another., far mightier than hand-guns.

  They were cannons, firing from the head of the column behind me. Whether it truly was William or Basarab or Turks, they had planned their ambush well.

  “Where is Radu?” I shouted at Eva.

  “Who cares?” Stephen cried out. “We must flee!”

  “William will be after him, you fool. Perhaps coming for him in person. Where is Radu now?”

  “Rear,” Eva said, pointing. “Put your amour on, first, Richard, please.”

  “There is no time,” I replied.

  “A helm at least,” Eva said, fighting to control her horse.

  “I will go get Radu,” Rob said. “Bring him here.”

  “Very well. While you are there, tell the damned monks to flee into the woods if they have not already.”

  He nodded and wheeled his horse around. I called to my captains.

  “Put on what armour you can, quickly. We must act decisively but not foolishly. And listen, we must use the sluji to kill William. Zaganos Pasha is here and here is where he will die. Your enemies the Blood Janissaries have come to kill Prince Vlad Dracula but we will kill them. Arm yourselves, now. We will ride around this flank. Bring up the hand-gunners, we will advance behind them.”

  Two of the sluji came galloping up from the rear. “My lord,” one cried. “Master Robert sends word. Please forgive us, my lord, we did not know.”

  “Know what?” I shouted. “What is the message?”

  “He said you had sent him for the chained monk and we released him to him. But then Rob came and asked for the same thing. He has chased after him and the monk. Heading due east, into the woods.”

  “Can you understand what these fools are saying?” I asked Eva. “Who did you release the chained monk to? Who is Rob chasing?”

  “It was Serban, my lord. Please, forgive me.”

  My mind raced. Serban had freed Radu and led him away? What it meant, I did not know, other than one thing.

  “We are betrayed,” I said to Eva. “Serban has betrayed us.”

  “Let him go,” Eva said. “Rob will catch him.”

  “One handed? No, I will go and I will bring Radu back here.”

  “He is not important!” Eva cried.

  “He is our bait,” I snapped. “William will take him and run. I will not lose him again.”

  “Let someone else do it.”

  I ignored her. “Vlad!” I rode quickly to where he was shouting a stream of orders. “Radu has been taken from the rear. Taken to William. I will bring him back.”

  “Why?” he said.

  “William wants him. He is my bait. You command the sluji and attack one flank of the enemy, there. Break through the men there and join the rest of your army. If we are separated, I will see you at Bucharest.”

  I turned and rode toward the rear, past my immortal soldiers. It seemed wrong to abandon them but I knew Vlad would lead them well enough and I would return to them soon. Worse would be abandoning Rob and losing my one chance at snaring my brother.

  Walt, Eva and Stephen fell in behind me and a handful of squires came with us. The group of monks were standing together at the rear with the lay brothers in the centre, the abbot at the forefront. He waved his hand to beckon me to him.

  “You should flee, you fools,” I shouted, “you will be killed.”

  “We shall stay,” the abbot said, firmly. “None shall kill us.”

  “The bloody Turks will,” I cried. “Where is Radu?”

  “Gone. There.” He pointed through the woods. “You should flee also, Richard. Do not pursue him. Let Serban go, he is nothing but trouble.”

  I left them to their impending deaths and rode in the direction he had indicated. We had not gone far into the cold dark of the woodland before I found three bodies upon the ground.

  Throwing myself from the saddle I found Rob on his back with a sword thrust up through his neck and out of the top of his skull. His eyes were open and unseeing and he lay soaked in blood.

  “God, no,” I cried. “Rob!”

  A few steps away, Radu lay on his back in his monk’s robe, alive for the moment but clutching at his throat where it had been cut. Blood gushed through his fingers, soaking his robe, and when his eyes met mine they were wild. He knew he was about to die.

  Serban crawled away on his belly through the pine needles, though he glanced over his shoulder and sighed, rolling onto his back. I strode over to him and saw his loins were drenched with blood. His guts were spilling from the wound and he stank of his innards. He should not have been alive but he was and I knew then that he was an immortal.

  “He should not have tried to stop me,” Serban said, snarling. “I warned him but he would not—”

  I reached down and wrapped two hands around his throat and pulled him up, lifting him off his feet and throttled him. His eyes bulged.

  After a moment, I threw him against a tree trunk and released my grip enough for him to breathe.

  “Why?” I growled through clenched teeth. “Why betray me? Why kill Rob?”

  He coughed. “Never betrayed you. Was never yours.”

  A chill seized my heart. “You are William’s?”

  He smiled. “Not his either. Our people have been here since before the Christ was born.”

  “Your people? What people? Immortals?”

  “Tried to make you see. Understand. But you want only to kill us all.”

  I leaned down. “Did you tell William we were coming? Where to ambush us?” I saw in his eyes that it was true. “You must have, you have been gone since we reached the monastery.”

  He coughed blood and clutched at his slippery guts. “I wish it did not have to be so.”

  “Why take Radu? Why kill Rob?”

  “You have lost. William will control Wallachia. Radu was… a gift.”

  I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. “Where are the other immortals? Who are the other vampirs in Wallachia?”

  He smiled again and winced. In the distance, the guns fired and men shouted. Hooves drummed on the earth. Steel rang out on steel. I had already tarried too long.

  I drew my dagger and sawed through Serban’s neck until his head was cut from it. I threw it down, disgusted with him and with myself.

  Walt cradled Rob in his lap after having drawn the sword from his skull. Eva knelt beside him and had one arm around Walt’s shoulder and her other stroked Rob’s blood-soaked hair. Walt wept freely but I was numb. From beside Radu, Stephen shook his head. Radu Dracula was dead also.

  “We will return for Rob’s body,” I said to Walt. “And bury him properly. But now we still have work to do.”

  Walt cuffed his cheeks and when he looked at me I saw white rage and black despair
.

  We rode back through the wood directly toward the sounds of battle to find hundreds of bodies lying in the meadow. The sluji had dismounted and were fighting in a ragged line against the Blood Janissaries. So many had fallen on both sides and more were being killed every moment. With horror I realised that the Janissaries had the upper hand. There were more of them alive and the sluji were dying quicker.

  I looked for Vlad as I advanced and saw him hammering his sword against the breastplate of a fallen figure in elaborate Turkish armour.

  William.

  My brother fought against Vlad, one against the other. Dracula in his magnificent plate and William on his back, his face twisted in hatred as Vlad whipped his sword down on him. William held his blade up to defend himself, holding it with two hands, one on the blade itself.

  The men around them fought their own desperate battles to the death, bodyguards fighting bodyguards, and immortals against immortals. My sluji were almost wiped out. My captains had all fallen.

  And yet Vlad had almost achieved victory. He had William down, almost at his mercy.

  I aimed my horse for their fight, drew my sword, and charged at them.

  Vlad’s sword blade broke and he fell upon William with a dagger in hand and they grappled. Vlad worked his arm down and his blade under William’s helm, cutting and stabbing into him.

  By God, I thought with a thrill as I came closer. He has done it.

  Just then, four Janissaries rushed forward, raised their hand-guns and fired them as one into Vlad from a yard away.

  The shots ripped through Vlad’s armour and through his flesh, deep into his body. He jerked and fell back from William and the Janissaries pulled their fallen master away.

  “No!” I roared, almost upon them.

  Vlad lay as if he was dead and I was running out of time before William’s men got him away from me. My horse was nervous of the noise and the stink of smoke and the mass of men I was forcing him towards but I had to force my way through the line to reach William. Vlad had wounded William severely and there would never be a better chance to finish him once and for all.