edited 10/3/23
I remained with the Speaker caravan for several days as it wound its way through the heart of Wallachia. My time was spent riding in my cart, watching the scenery pass by of roving mountains and deep forests. More often I walked alongside the cart with my staff, taking it all in while keeping an eye out for night creatures. We'd stop every few hours to rest and water the horses, sitting inside a circle of carts as we rested and ate.
At dusk we'd stop traveling and make camp, it was too dangerous to travel at night when the night creatures and vampires were most active. Though I didn't see them, I heard them prowling in the shadows of the woods, their ragged snarls and heavy breaths sent prickled down my skin. "Do not worry." Vivian murmured, huddled under the blanket beside me. "The ward we set up around the caravan will keep them at bay, and if they're stupid enough to test it we have our sentries taking up patrol."
"Have they tried before?" I asked nervous.
"They have." Vivian said casually, but usually they give up and search for an easier meal. Best to stay inside the ring though, they're waiting." I saw their glowing hungry eyes when I stepped out to relieve myself by the side of the cart one night, let's just say that was probably the shortest potty break in history.
"Always waiting." Vivian murmured when I settled back in with her. I tried fall back asleep again but the thought of those things lurking in the shadows right outside our cart didn't ease my nerves. "You are safe here, traveler." Vivian wrapped her arm around my waist and I became relaxed by her presence, looking at the other Speakers nestled together in their sleep. Speakers were a very tight knit community and shared sleeping spaces with each other for comfort and protection. I definitely understood it now.
I noticed the swath of the night creatures' destruction when our caravan passed destroyed villages and burned farmlands. "We should have been able to protect them." Vivian said morosely. "But most of them would rather die than be saved by sorcerers." I thought of the farmers who took me in and shuddered, retreating into the cart like an injured animal and remaining inside for the rest of the day. Only emerging at night to relieve my bladder. (I really should make it a plan to go before before it gets dark.)
"Vivian?" I nudged her frightened. "I think we're being attacked."
She and the rest of the women in the cart sprung up, their hands glimmering with magic. "What where!?"
"I heard moaning coming from the bushes at the edge of the ward. I think those demons attacked one of ours." I looked around and noticed someone was missing. "Wait where's Anya!?"
The Speakers shrugged and returned to their sleep, while a few snickered under their breaths. "Seriously we must help her!" "Relax." Mary reassured. "Anya is perfectly safe, she is within the ward's borders, and so is Caleb."
"Wait Caleb's out there too? Why would they both be out in the middle of the night when there's night creatures looking for a midnight snack? Why was she moaning like that?"
"Why indeed?" Vivian chuckled. "Go back to sleep, my innocent stranger. Don't worry about any of this." She was right not to worry, because the next day Caleb and Anya kept looking at each other strangely, smirking back and forth in a secret language.
Humans are so freaking weird.
Eventually my destination drew near. The Elder summoned me and we spoke privately in his cart. "Castle Dracula approaches, soon we will be skirting the border of its lands and we will have to part ways." I nodded fully understanding. "Thank you for taking me in and letting me hitch a ride. I'll never forget your kindness."
The Elder smiled. "Anything to help a traveler find her way, and you are no ordinary traveler." Something glimmered in his eyes. "Do you know how we Speakers learned magic?"
"No, not really." I shook my head.
"We were taught by a Messenger." He smirked. "Perhaps you will learn more once you reach the castle. Sypha told me the library has centuries of history from Wallachia and across the world."
"Sypha!?" I exclaimed. "You know her?" I scratched my head awkwardly. "Of course you must know her, you're a Speaker too and you folks are always keeping in touch!" I told him how she helped me find my way to the village.
"You were well met." The Elder said warmly. "Sypha is my granddaughter."
"Wow that's crazy!" I gasped. "Small world. Sypha's alive and well, though I wish she traveled with better company than a rude smelly drunk. At least he was nice enough to give me this knife."
"I'm happy to hear that." The Elder responded relieved before handing me a golden medallion with runes. "This will ward off any demons who may cross your path, it'll keep you safe until you reach your destination."
At the border of the land, I parted ways with the Speakers. It was a bittersweet goodbye, for I had grown close to this roving band of magicians. Especially Vivian, who cried when she hugged me tight. "You could stay with us." I wish, but I gotta do this." I said. "I have a feeling we'll see each other again one day." "I hope so." She kissed me on the forehead. "Good luck."
Mary was just as emotional, pecking me on the cheeks like an old nanny. "Best of luck young one, may the ancestors watch over you." She gave me a weathered but sharp sword. "It was my husband's before he passed on. The blade is silver, if that vampire gives you a hard time just plunge it into his heart." I thanked her, hoping it didn't come to that.
I bode farewell to the Speakers, setting down the hill in my travelers cloak using my staff with my sword concealed beneath the cape. Following the Elder's directions, I stayed on the abandoned dirt road as it wove through the vampire's country, through bordering forests and the edges of rugged mountainsides. Walking with confidence and excitement, using my staff as a hiking stick with my head held high.
Where the road was withered the signs led the way, marked with skulls and warning. "Castle Ahead." "Turn Back" "Danger and Death Ahead" The good stuff. I ignored the warnings and followed their directions.
I walked well on into dusk and started looking for shelter for the night. I found it at the bottom of a cliff and started a fire. Warming my hands and nibbling at the packed meats the speakers gave me, I gazed at the stars emerging above the treetops. "I sure hope I find what I'm looking for, whatever it may be." I murmured to myself. "And that this Alucard is more welcoming to guests than the rumors say he is." I touched the hilt of my sword. "Can I even stab a vampire with this thing? Maybe I'll get a better shot with my knife. What did Trevor say, stick them with the pointy end?"
A beastly snarl startled me from my wonderings. At the edge of the firelight a horde of glowing red eyes stared at me. "I see you, you shitheads." I warned, standing up and unsheathing my sword. The night creatures snarled from the shadows, but didn't move further. They couldn't hurt me with the amulet ward.
Didn't mean they couldn't chase me.
I sprinted through the the woods as the the hellish beasts snapped literally on my heels, gaining on me with each stride of their claws. All I was aware of was the blood rushing through my ears and the feral snarls of the unholy beasts. I had no direction in mind, no intent on where I was going. Instinct compelled me to run for my life, to where it didn't matter. With the adrenaline pulsing through my body I was able to keep a meager distance away from the monsters' pursuit. Barely escaping the clang of their fangs by a breadth.
I tripped and collapsed face first into the ground, a sharp pain throbbing up and down my right ankle. My head swam as I tried to right myself up again. The throbbing in my foot is overwhelming and I couldn't put enough weight on it to stand quickly enough.
"God no." I whispered terrified. The leader of the beasts leapt straight at me, and with a wall behind me and an acutely injured foot I had nowhere to flee. I'm dead. I thought morbidly, watching my doom drew near. This is it.
A white blur flashed across the beast and it crashed to the ground, blood spurting from its neck. Its packmates yammered in a frenzy, their cackling gurgled into dying murmurs crashing to the ground gaping, their neck vertebrae ripped clean out of them . I nearly retched from the stink of demon blood and death. Mind racing panicked on what the hell just happened when I hear another snarl, not from a night creature, but a living beast.
A wolf emerged from the shadowed carnage, its fur as white as the moonlight and its eyes molten gold. Its muzzle wet with the demons' blood, padding towards me on silent footfalls with a calmness in its face. I scrambled back, reaching for my sword. The wolf stared me straight in the eyes and bared its teeth, its gilded gaze held an intelligence beyond any beast. It didn't attack, instead leaping over me and sprinting into the woods, leaving me gasping and shaking in shock.
I only regained my composure when the rain starting pouring down, lifting myself up with my staff and limping the rest of the way towards the shadow of the great castle rising above the trees. "Welcoming place." I muttered, passing the decaying corpses of night creatures staked on tall spears. "At least I know I'll be safe here...I think." My breath swept out of my lungs setting upon the grand Castle Dracula.
Never had a giant ominous vampire castle looked so welcoming. To call the place imposing would be a ridiculous understatement. It was the largest building I've ever seen and branched out like a tree. My wonder curled into stark terror, at the bottom of the great stairs leading to the door, two decaying corpses were staked at its flank. Flies nested in their sunken eye sockets and bits of their bones exposed from the pecking of carrion. It took a quick look at their skulls to realize the corpses weren't night creatures, they were human.
I balked, considering for a split second of retreating back to where I came from before shaking my head. "No." I lowered my head. "I'm here for a reason, and even if it turns out for the worst, I'd rather be drained and staked by a vampire than rent apart and left to die by beasts in the wilderness." I hobbled up the steps, knocking on the immense vaulted door. I waited for a reply before pushing it open and slamming it shut behind me hearing the cry of night creatures in the forest.
The front atrium seemed like a gaping tunnel leading into the abyss, illuminated only by the rows of torchlight on the walls. I took a torch in my left hand, holding my staff in my right, limping forward as my footsteps clattered through the silence.
"Hello?" I called out nervous. "Is anyone here?" Only my echoing voice answered me. "I came here seeking shelter from the rain and creatures of the night." I continued. "I was attacked by demons and I hurt my foot. Please help me, I have nowhere else to go."
A gust bellowed from the depths of the castle, snuffing out every torch except the one in my trembling hand. "Why I should help an intruder in my home?" A low masculine voice warned. I darted my eyes, trying to find the source but could only find the shadow of my torchlight. "You ignore my warnings and barge into my castle, demanding sanctuary and reprieve as if you deserve it."
"There's night creatures prowling out there!" I exclaimed. "You wouldn't turn me out to the wolves would you?"
Movement whirred along the walls and I heard footsteps coming close to me. "The wolves and wicked beasts pale in comparison to the danger standing before you in the shadows." The voice said ominously. "Do you know who I am, fearless one?"
"I do." I stood as bravely as I could, trying not to show weakness despite the painful protest in my ankle. "You're Alucard Tepes, the son of Dracula and the master of this castle. A vampire."
The shadow whirred again and the voice drew closer. "And do you know what vampires do to uninvited guests? Surely you've seen the unfortunate visitors displayed at my doorstep." I fought the urge to wave my torch, he was right next to me and I could make out his shape at the outline of my fire.
"I'm not a threat, I didn't come here to hurt you." I gripped the hilt of my blade when I heard footsteps draw close.
"If I believed you were a threat." The voice creeped behind me. "I would have ripped your throat out the moment you walked through the door." The shadow circled me like a prowling wolf. "But I have nothing to fear from a shivering little puppy bearing its teeth."
The shadow drew closer and I drew my sword. "Back off!" I warned hearing the click of fangs in in my ear. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will defend myself."
"As if you could, little one." The voice scoffed. "You've never held a sword in your life. You couldn't as much stab a fly as much as stab me, and you are injured." I jolted when a foot touched mine and a great shadow loomed before me. "Who are you?"
"I wish I knew ." I drooped my head, sheathing my sword. "I lost my memory and I don't remember where I came from, but something inside me told I had to come here, maybe there are answers waiting in these castle walls."
"There is nothing inside these castle walls but darkness and despair." The voice said low. "If you come looking for things that don't exist, I cannot help you. Now get out, I don't accept guests anymore, and though you appear harmless (you probably are), experience has taught me never to let my guard down." A clawed hand reached from the shadows and I hobbled back, almost falling over.
"Please Adrian!" I begged, gripping my staff. "I swear I'm not here to hurt you. I've lost everything, who I am, whatever home and family I might have had. I have nothing and the only key, the only purpose I can remember is going to this castle." Tears hit the floor. "Please.....I don't know what else to do."
Alucard breathed softly. "You know my name."
"Yes." I said, regaining confidence. "That's your real name isn't it?"
"It was..." He said longingly. "Given to me by a woman with a kind heart. Not many people know my true name. How did you?"
"A voice told it to me in a dream." I said honest. "She didn't say it was your name, but I figured it out. The voice told me to find you."
Alucard remained silent a few moments before he stepped into the torchlight, revealing himself to me.
I gasped. I wasn't expecting a vampire to look so beautiful.
"Come along then." Alucard took my torch. "You're cold, wet, injured, and you smell like a rotting demon. The least I can do is tend to your wounds and give you a fresh bath. The rest I'll figure out in the morning." "Thank you." I sighed in relief, following the mysterious vampire lord into the belly of his castle.