The other guardians took the woman away from Vlad and escorted her outside. After she was out of sight, her claims could not be heard anymore. Tudor looked as if he were almost offended by the term Vlad had used. The next minutes were spent in a state of uncertainty in regards to what they should do next. This state was interrupted when the guards returned to that room.
'We're coming with you. ' one of the guards who escorted the woman out said.
Vlad did not expect this. The weapons and uniforms were in the room adjacent to the dungeon, and their presence would hinder them, but for the time being, he obeyed this decision.
They headed to the dungeon, and Vlad was trying his best to act as natural as he could, not letting his body language or facial expressions betray his thoughts. He looked at Tudor who seemed to have gotten in character, he was walking with his head up, with a defying look in his eyes, resembling, as Vlad thought, to a real outlaw, but a haughty one, proud of his deeds. His actions would have attracted others' contempt but the respect of those like him. He played his own character. This thought made a smile bloom on Vlad's face, which he tried to conceal, and given the situation, it was not hard to do. He remembered his mission: execute all the traitors, the abominable noblemen who had taken the „magic" from the basni (dreadful business) and who had brought the epidemic upon the city, and had probably killed his brother in the forest. After he will have finished with them, he will sentence the outlaw to prison; the pricolici who had committed all the murders he had been blamed for. Vlad, the second most important man in the city, accused of degrading and monstrous deeds! Oh, and that witch who creates turmoil in people's lives! Hear this: bring the dead back to life! But he will show mercy to these last two if they prove worthy of it.
As they were walking down the narrow hallway, the door to the dungeon was getting closer, becoming more threatening. The torches on the walls turned into lamps with hot, melted wax, ready to drown Vlad in a bottomless pool. His hand went numb on the dagger he was carrying at his waist: „if I am to do this... that is because it was meant to happen!" One could hear someone else's steps from behind them, and that someone joined them. The young man was walking behind Tudor, his „prisoner" and behind them, the two guardians and the stranger followed. Vlad looked behind him: a knight in armor, carrying a sword. His chances of succeeding in a fight were diminishing. Tudor was unable to help him in case of a fight, for his hands were tied.
They entered the dungeon. One of the guardians locked Tudor up in a cell, then they came back to Vlad, looking over his shoulder at the report he was writing. Vlad was facing Tudor. It seemed as though the outlaw wanted to warn him about a potential danger. Vlad heard the metallic sounds of two swords behind him, then of a third. Tudor cried at him to be careful. Before Vlad could grasp the danger, the attackers fell to the ground. Vlad turned around in a heartbeat and raised his eyes to the knight who had accompanied them and who eliminated the guardians.
The knight took off her helmet and spoke to him:
'You're not my brother, she paused. You're not one of them either. ' The woman-guardian from before said while looking at the bodies of the attackers, and then she raised her eyes to him. 'The castle is in quarantine, nobody enters, and nobody exits. Maybe you're spies, you couldn't have possibly gotten past the check point at the entrance.'
'Thank you for everything. ' Vlad replied.
'How did you do this trick? ' she asked.
'What do you mean? '
'You look just like him, but you don't talk like him even though you have the same voice, and you don't act like him. ' She said handing him the blade of the sword. 'Take a look for yourself. ' she extended her arm in which she was carrying the sword.
Vlad leaned in to dead the blade of the sword to take a look. He was terrified: someone else's eyes were looking at him, the face of a stranger was showing him an expression of confusion and shock. He ran his finger though the brown hair, the same color as the woman's braid.
'The stima did this, Tudor clarified the mystery. It's because of the uniform, it makes you look like the last person who wore it, nobody can recognize you as long as you're in this disguise. I've seen this type of mischief before, usually they would only change your face, but you are taller and you've been writing with your left hand. You are right-handed. And you're limping, even though when I would meet you in the city and when we met in the forest your leg was just fine. Was your brother limping?'
'When he left he was, he said he had had an accident while practicing.'
'She knows what she's doing.' Tudor concluded on a serious note.
All this information was puzzling for Vlad and he couldn't believe it, but the discussion was so much more absurd to the woman who had not seen in her entire life manifestations of the supernatural as he had seen in one night.
'What are you here for? ' She asked, visibly confused. 'Are you here for the nobles? ' She spoke while heading towards the door of the cell where Tudor was held, to unlock it. 'I'm here for them too. Come on out, I won't hurt you. ' She laughed at him.
'You, woman, how did you get in the city's guard?' Tudor, who was not used to seeing a female warrior, asked.
'I took whatever job I was offered, I had to get in the castle, it was in the interest of the organization, and I'm telling you this because I see I can trust you...'
'How do you know? ' Tudor, whose hands had just been untied, asked.
'I left my sword next him, ' she turned to Vlad 'and he did not try to attack me. ' She smiled. 'You're not with us, but you are against them. My name is Sorina. ' She said reaching for a handshake.
Tudor shook her hand and thanked her.
'Who are you?' Vlad got up from his seat.
'We're citizens, citizens who have had enough of the taxes, of the prices of marchandise and of their indifference. We're taking care of the ill by ourselves; they don't get involved in the least!' She responded on a solemn tone, her back straight. 'We've had enough of all the conflicts they've dragged us in. We want to eliminate them! Those light-headed princes will follow them. They are two marionettes.'
'And who are you going to put on the throne?' Tudor's question remained unanswered.
'If you're here to assassinate the nobles,' she said after a pause, 'I will help you, they're responsible for my brother's death. He went to escort a noble out of the city and he never came back. Maybe had learned something terrible, or they learned he was a spy... I don't know what to believe. They say that the outlaws attacked him. I'm telling you, the outlaws were not all that bad, yes,' she spoke on a less formal tone, almost lamenting, trying to convince them of the outlaws' kindness 'they were robbed the carriages which came through the forest, but only those belonging to the nobles.' Tudor smirked and looked at Vlad with pride. 'They kept the money for themselves, but they did not hurt the common people.' She added.
Vlad was looking at Tudor with reproach, and then he came closer to her.
'What if I told you that the nobles are some unnatural creatures? That they don't belong in this world. They are not like me, nor like you, and not even like him. No, don't laugh, I'm not joking. I did not believe this either. I wanted to fight on their side without knowing their true nature and they betrayed me twice: when they wanted to kill me on the spot and when they took over my righteous place. They sacrificed the city in order to gain more power to eliminate the outlaws who had been causing mayhem in and around our home. At night, the outlaws attacked us, they knew what monsters they were facing! After the battle, I saw a lot of nobles dead, the snow had become their grave. The outlaws thought that they had done what they had to, they gave their lives to rid the world of evil, but the strigoi raised stronger. A few days later, the epidemic broke out and they came to my castle and put me under arrest for treason.'
'Your nobles are strigoi,' Tudor intervened, 'They draw their energy from the people with whom they are connected by blood. They don't actually drink that blood, they take their vital energy, it is a lengthy process, the unfortunate victim's health starts degrading, it all ends in death. That's how the epidemic came about, the circle of victims grows larger, if affects those over whom they have authority of any kind and their power grows as well. It's been almost six weeks.'
'Judging by the way they used to treat the people in the city and those outside of it, I would have said they had been feeding on our blood for longer than that!' She exclaimed. 'We are suffering because of the disease and the taxes!'
'You fight for yourselves, not for justice.' Tudor smirked. He did not expect a reaction and he did not receive one, except for the woman's offended look.
'Can we count on you?' Vlad asked, extending his hand and looking reproachfully at Tudor.
He too, received no verbal answer; the woman shook his hand and nodded.
He filled her in on the details as they were walking to the weaponry, and she told him that she could not announce everyone else about the mission, but that she would do her best to be of help in this mission. Vlad dashed to the daggers scattered across the wooden table. Someone had begun polishing them, but that is no matter, we can use them as they are. Tudor was looking for enough uniforms to go around for everyone present. Vlad put two of the silver daggers, the ones from the collection, in the bag: it did not get heavier. He went on putting more and more, the bag felt as light and as empty as ever. That was a useful trick. There was a sword on the table, near the collection of daggers; he thought that there was no way he could get it into the bag, he was proven wrong. Tudor had carefully watched what had happened and he grinned, handing him the pile of uniforms he had gathered. They found their place in the bag along with all the weapons. All they had to do was to go in the hall and finish the mission.
Mira was waiting for them at the door to the Festivity Hall, where they were to meet the nobles. She was dressed as a servant of the castle, the blue and green waves of hair had been gathered in a whirlpool, in a bun. She hurried them to enter a room. A few moments later they came out, all of them fully equipped, and then they took their places in the hall, as guardians. Mira was responsible for bringing the food and drinks, as well as for giving orders to the other servants, and, at the right time, make them exit the room so as to not be hurt in the upcoming battle.
'I will be with you at all times.' she assured them.
'You know what you're doing, I trust you.' Tudor replied.
Mira thanked him by nodding her head. She went on to explain to them that she was going to put a lock on the door, ordinary people will be able to exist, but not enter the hall, whereas they, the basni, Vlad, who had drunk live-water, and the strigoi will not be able to used that door, no matter where they wanted to go, they were to be stuck there until the battle will have finished. It was to be wished that everything would end by 3 o'clock, at that time both the moon and Mira lose their true powers. She went to bring the servants.
'Be nice to her,' Vlad whispered, 'maybe they'll reduce your sentence.'
'I always pay for my mistakes, sometimes I pay for others' mistakes too, like I am doing now. You'll learn to do the same.'
'I will make sure that there will be justice for all of them,' Vlad pointed to the people awakened by Mira, 'and for all the people who have suffered because your actions. If it is true that they changed into strigoi because of you, to fight against your crimes, then you have the epidemic on your consciousness, as it was started in order to provide them with the energy they needed. Their reaction was exaggerated, yes, but it was required by the situation.'
'You should thank us; we took care of all your friends: the nobles and the merchants. We both know you can't stand them. Be respectful towards us, you will need us. At least respect her, she's your godmother, isn't she?'
'You need to prove you deserve it, I am here with you because of the circumstances. You serve your masters; at least I am my own master!'
'You, boy...' Tudor whispered.
'I owe her the fact that she saved me in the forest, that she helped me come back here... That she gave me the water to be able to fight you and the uniform so that we could sneak in here, but don't you forget that you yourself said that they never reveal their true intentions... I appreciate her help, but that's it, she does what's in her interest and they'll reward her for that, I don't fully trust her. If I were you, I'd worry about what's ahead of me, I will be in charge of your trial.'
Tudor stared at him with a reproachful look in his eyes, and then he came back to his senses: maybe Vlad was not ready to reign and maybe his stepbrothers who were also older could reign until he was ready or maybe forever. He didn't tell him anything more, he knew that he always gets out of trouble and now that he was alone he had to remake the pack, it is his duty to the world, there needs to be someone objective to watch over everything.
The nobles came one by one, 40 people took their places, leaving an empty chair at one end of the table. Food was brought to them by the servants responsible to Mira, and the drinks were flowing in rivers, as if they had sprung from unknown sources, into the glasses, but nobody drank. Mira was worried that their plan was to be gave out thus jeopardizing everything.