The Speakers traveled in a small caravan pulled by Vanner horses and flanked by riders. The Elder Speaker took me to his encampment, and after a few awkward introductions, set me up in the car with five others , all women. They didn't treat me poorly beside the guarded looks and eventually warmed up to me when they realized I had no ulterior motives. They told me they were keepers of story and tradition of all Wallachia, and they could wield elemental magic.
I looked out from my cart, watching the hills and trees pass by feeling the rumble of the wheels beneath my bare feet until I was tired enough to lay down. I didn't sleep much, the movement of the cart kept me awake, but at least I felt safe and could close my eyes, listening the birds in the trees and the stirring breaths of the women sleeping huddled around me. There is truth about safety in numbers, I felt protected here, shielded from the night creatures prowling the night by a caravan of magic wielders and a sacred ward that kept them at bay.
That night I dreamt of the castle again, shrouded in the darkened shadows of thunderclouds. A voice cries out, urging me to hurry on and get to the castle as fast as I can. I run as my bare feet crunch beneath the earth, pulled towards the castle by a deep instinct and the voice's cry. Find him! Find Adrian!
I woke up grumbling and rubbing the scars on my back which started to sting.
"Welcome to the land of the living." An accented voice remarked, a Speaker named Vivian. "I've never seen anyone sleep so troubled."
"Sorry." I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. "I was dreaming."
"That's apparent." Vivian laughed goodhearted. "Come, there is food and good drink." I sat with the rest of the Speakers as they rested outside for the morning before hitting the road. I felt in normal circumstances, they'd converse freely and openly among themselves, but with a stranger in their midst, their conversation was subdued.
"If you are nomads, that means you don't have a home?" I asked, wanting to start an innocent conversation.
The Speakers murmured to one another but it was Vivian who answered, gently putting her hand on my shoulder. "Our home is with each other. We travel the world learning and sharing knowledge, passing down our stories and traditions to the next generation."
"I guess that makes you family then." I said.
"Yes." The Elder smiled. "You could very well say that indeed."
"I wish I had a family." I sighed wistfully. "Maybe I do and I don't remember who they are."
"Perhaps you are destined to find one in this world." The Elder said optimistically.
"I hope so, wouldn't that be nice." I had to ask it. "Have you ever lost family members?"
"Yes." The Elder answered in a melancholy tone. "Many to disease and injury. In the more recent month, most of our brothers and sisters have fallen to Night Creature attacks. Unfortunately those who we sacrifice ourselves to protect curse us and turn their backs when we are in need. Most think were are the Devil's servants and enemies of God. I certainly believe the latter. I fear for our very survival."
"I sadly understand that." I sympathized. "Humans are jerks." I looked around at the Speakers. "But luckily there are good ones out there." I caught a few smiles among them. "I've lost people too, but that's not what I meant." I looked him in the eye. "Did you ever actually lose someone of your clan, not that someone died, but actually got lost or separated?"
"No." He answered softly. "That we haven't. At least not in this train."
"That gives me hope." I murmured. "This is going to sound weird, but being among you Speakers feels familiar....Like I've been with you before." My head hurt trying to push through the fog.
"There is a possibility." Vivian murmured. "We would have to contact other trains. Though we travel apart, we Speakers have ways of contacting one another from vast distances, and we keep closely in touch. I believe we would've heard something if one of our own were lost."
"Do you remember anything before you woke up in that field?" The Elder asked.
"No." I shook my head. "Just the sensation of falling." I wanted to tell him of the castle, but I wasn't comfortable talking about it among the Speakers. They were starting to trust me, especially Vivian, and I wanted to cultivate that trust, not burn it to the ground.
"You said you think yourselves as the enemies of God, because you wield magic and help people, but you're not. The exact opposite actually." It came onto me as instinct, just as the word "Speaker" jumped off my tongue. "You weren't supposed to learn magic, but you did, because you had the potential to do a lot of good in the world. That why they let-." It slipped away from me as quickly as it came on. "What am I talking about?" I clenched my throbbing head. "Why do I know this!?"
The Speakers murmured among themselves and the Elder stared intently at me. "I believe we may have found you for a reason."
.....
"The Elder wants to speak with you." Vivian informed later on in the day, while I was walking along the Caravan to stretch my feet, holding my staff. I nodded, about to jog and go meet him. "Not looking like a ruffian you won't. While we stop the horses we're going to give you more comfortable clothes." I didn't argue with her.
She changed me inside the women's cart, not before scrubbing me down with frigid lake water she magicked from its source. While Evelyn and Mary washed my hair. "You are beautiful." Mary, the old woman said brushing my hair while it dried. "Thank you." I said. I think that's the first compliment I can remember. She gasped when she lifted my hair up to brush the underside, exposing my back. "Dear lord."
My stomach shuddered, I knew what she saw. "It doesn't hurt." I reassured her. "It stings every now again, but it quickly goes away." Evelyn and Vivian stared at the scars in a mixture of shock and disbelief. "Get the Elder." Vivian told Evelyn severely. I kept quiet as they draped a blanket over me, leaving my back exposed.
I cringed, looking away shamefully when the Elder came in. "Evelyn tells me you have peculiar scars." He said friendly. " I only want to look." I nodded, holding Vivian's hand while the Elder looked over my back. "Oh my." He then told Vivian to get me dressed so he could speak with me in private. Vivian nodded, and dressed me in a comfortable traveler's cloak and blue dress.
"Not to worry my child." The Elder reassured me when I was alone. "None here will judge you by the scars you bear. Many of us have some ourselves."
"You wouldn't have wanted to speak with me alone if you didn't think it they were a big deal." I tugged at my cloak nervously. "Why is everyone so freaked out by them? The farmers who took me in had the same reaction. Are they bad? Does it mean I'm bad?"
"Not at all." The Elder says. "It confirms what I've been theorizing."
"And what's that?" My eyes widened.
"That you are here for a purpose." I gazed at the Elder both reassured and confused. "Tell me child, you do not recall anything before you awoke in that field?" I hesitated. "It's all right. I promise you no judgment. You can trust me."
I sighed and revealed everything. "I only remember the sensation of falling, and the feeling my entire back was on fire. It hurt like nasty before I opened my eyes." I touched my scars. "Right here."
"Interesting indeed." The Elder mused.
"There is something else." I added, and confidently told him about the castle in my visions and dreams. "Castle Dracula." He sighed. "A place of Darkness."
"I've been told that before."
"And you wish to go there, Child?"
"Not wish it." I tapped my staff. "I have to go there. Something is telling me it's where I need to be . Like the force telling birds to migrate south, or a bear to store up food and hibernate. It's compulsion, pure instinct. Maybe there's something to do with my past at the castle , I hope so, but whatever destiny I have, it starts there. I must go."
"That castle isn't deserted." The Elder warned. "A vampire rules over it. The son of Dracula and the one who slew him. I've heard many rumors in our travels, they all have the same in common; He is not privy to strangers."
"I won't be a stranger." I said confidentially. "Not if I convince him I'm not an enemy. I think I'm supposed to help him."
"I believe so too." The Elder said clearly. "It is a long journey to Castle Dracula, far too long for you to reach in time. Our caravan travels close to its borders. Stay with us until then and we will help you prepare."