“The sun hath set”, Ion whispered. “They have been hither three more times. Shouted. Demanded thy father’s surrender.”

   I nodded slowly. It was dark. Darker than ere, even Ion’s candle seemed to have burned out. Carefully I stood up. I shivered slightly and was reluctant to speak but in the end I cleared my throat and spake:

   “Bring me the armour of my sire, Ion. That was his last wish.”

   I could not see the eyes of my subjects but I felt their gaze, their desperation. I am sure some of them doubted me, maybe even despised me; a woman leading them? But I also wist that some looked up to me. Saw me as their last hope. All because of my blood, all because I was the heir of the Basarabs.

   “What are we going to do, milady?” Ion asked as he gave me my father’s breastplate. I stood silent for a while and let him arm me.

   “We will be liberated.”

   “Liberated?”

   I noticed the hint of doubt in his voice but cast it out of my mind.

   “Yea. Liberated. By…”

   Then Hell brake out.

   It was some kind of howl. Or that is the only word I can find. Feral, yet oddly humane. It sent a chill down my spine and I heard frightened moans from a few of the others. Then another fey howl. A hoarse cry.

   “Intruders upon the sacred soil of our ancestors. Murderers. Rapists. None shall live.”

   The voice was terrible in its calmness, horrifying in its soothing pleasantness, and dreadful in its lack of emotion. I recognised the voice of Laurentiu of course, yet it filled me with a dread that I had never known ere. And then, it started.

   Ghastly howls. Shrieks of terror. No time to think. I shot a glance at Ion’s pale face.

   “I have to be there.”

   “Nay!”

   “I will not be found hiding here.”

   “But thou…”

   “…the honour of my ancestors. My blood.”

   Then, I was surprised at how easily the door brake, I was out there. It really was Hell. Laurentiu’s warghouls moved with terrible grace and smote with amazing strength. They overcame the horrified humans like a terrible storm. It was no fight. It was slaughter.  

I even felt a slight pang of ruth as I glimpsed Lanzo’s face, just to see it become nothing but a bloody mass of flesh and bone.  

   Not thinking I throwed myself at the nearest Venetian. He did not seem to have seen me and toppled over as I hit him in the chest. He still managed to drag me with him though and we fell as one mass of sweaty flesh. I roared, clawed at him. Drove his own dagger into his stomach. The blood that spurted all over my body was hot, I almost thought it would burn me. It roused me. Drove me insane. I took his spear. Shrieked out loudly as I dodged another soldier and stuck the cold steel up his throat.  

Then I caught a fleeting glimpse of Armando. A flash of a shining sword. Then a wave of heat. A loud bang. Armando exploded in flames, gore and scorched flesh.  

Then Laurentiu was upon me. Dragged me back and throwed me aside.

   “What art thou doing?” he snarled, eyes flashing in a fiery orange shade.  

   “Fighting for my home”, I retorted violently whilst standing up and trying to regain my composure.

   “He was about to slay thee, fool!”

   “But he did not, did he?”

   Laurentiu hissed savagely and turned away from me. All was still and silent now. Almost two dozen Venetians and Saxons lay maimed and slain. Lanzo’s face a bloody mess, Armando’s corpse nothing but a withered husk. Yet I could feel naught but dread and sorrow as I looked upon Laurentiu and his five warghouls.

   “What hath betid… in the rest of my domains?” I asked weakly. Laurentiu span around and gazed fiercely at me.

   “My domain”, he spat, “is overrun by foreigners. We were lucky to find both leaders here, but that doth not change anything. Thou hast to get out and rouse the villeins and serfs. As long as that accursed Alexander and his Venetian bedfellow lives we are in danger.”

   “But”, I was lost for words and stared stupidly at him for a few moments, “whither is Cecilia?”

   “The Savage? Howling in the woods with her beastly companions I presume. What doth that have to do with anything?”

   “Nothing”, I whispered weakly, “nothing… I shall travel the countryside. Rouse the villages.”

   What could have been a smile formed upon his features. “Good girl. I shall send two ghouls to guard thee.”

   “Nay”, I shouted, “I will take Ion with me.” I cast a glance at the chapel. I could hear hushed whispers but no one would come out.

   “A mortal?” Laurentiu laughed bitterly. “Nay, take my guards. I shall need the cattle.”

   “Cattle?” I shrieked. “CATTLE?! Is that what we are to thee?”

   “As a matter of fact. Yea.”

   “An thou touchest anyone of them I shall…”

   “Thou shalt what?”

   Was that ruth in his eyes? I fell down to my knees and raised my dagger. Pointed it at my throat. Laurentiu stepped back. Suppressed a snarl.

   “We need more warghouls, Rudica”, he whispered in a voice that was much calmer.

   “Nay”, I sobbed, “thou shalt not sacrifice humans.”

   “It is for the greater good”, he tried but I just shrugged my head.

   “Thou shalt have my help, or thou shalt reign alone as a king of fiends and monsters.”

   Finally he nodded slightly. Took a step closer but as he did I pushed the dagger closer to my throat. Tiny drops of blood oozed down my neck.

   “Not another step”, I spat, “fight thy battle. I shall fight mine.”

   He nodded again, and then he bowed, not low, but he bowed. I lowered my dagger and nodded. Then I oped my mouth to speak but an anxious shout from the chapel interrupted me:

   “Milady, there are…”

   Ion could never finish the sentence. His limp body fell down in a pathetic heap with a crossbow bolt sticking out of the eye.

   “…more of them”, Laurentiu whispered, as much to himself as to me. “Get inside, Rudica.”

   As I looked up and saw Alexander’s cruel features I was happy to oblige. He sate upon a white steed and wore a silvern armour that he had no doubt got as a gift from the Venetians.  

He was surrounded by Venetian mercenaries.

   “Get thee gone from hither an thou listest to live”, Laurentiu roared at Alexander. I turned away and made for the chapel but was tripped by a hand that grasped my foot. Panting loudly I turned to look, only to find myself gazing upon the oddly restless eyes of one of my defeated foes. I shrugged violently and crawled backwards. But it would not let go. It crawled closer. Grasped my other leg as well. I tried to shout but panic stuck my words in my throat.

   “What a fateful choice of battleground”, a chilly voice sounded across the village. “As you may have heard, Rudica”, shaking in terror I turned slowly and laid my eyes upon the sinister shape that I wist was Luciano, even though he was covered in sable and silvern armour whither he sate on a horse beside Alexander, “we do not fear death.”  

   In the corner of my eye I saw Laurentiu and his remaining ghouls as they charged, wailing and howling towards Alexander and Luciano. Myself, I span around and shook off the restless Venetian. Then, praying under my breath for absolution I drove a spear into his face.

   But already as I saw blood gush out from his wound I wist that there was no hope. I heard terrible moans and frantic scratching all around me. Two other Venetians lunged at me but I jumped aside and dodged them. There is no hope, Mistress Sorrow’s words echoed in my mind. I made for my mother’s tombstone in hope of some cover but then the horrid truth behind Luciano’s words smote me. The frantic scratching had stopped and out of the grave rose a terrible skeletal shape.

   Wailing and shrieking I fell down to the ground. I felt numerous cold hands on by body. Sharp skeletal fingers. By then I thought all was over. Hoped all was over. Prayed for deliverance for the nightmare that my life was:

   ”Páter èmôn o én toîs oúranoís:

Ágiasthéto tò hònomá sou…”

And deliverance came.

A firm grip on my wrist. Cracking of breaking bones, bashing of falling bodies.

   And we were off. I kept my eyes closed. Afraid to break the glamour. It felt as I were flying. Caught safely in a cool embrace. Silken skin. Nesh touch. All sorrows and hardships left behind. I was free.

I do not remember falling asleep. But I had the same dreams, ever the same dreams… my angel… my angel with the fiery hair…

   I awoke in a bent upon a low hillside. There was a smell of moisture in the air and the crimson rays of the setting sun bathed the world in scarlet. I shuddered slightly and sat up. Pondered the night before, tried to remember…

   “Angel…” I whispered silently. “Angel… where art thou…?”

   The loud screech of a falcon brought me back to my senses. Two eerily sentient eyes gazed down at me from a high branch. I shrugged slowly and looked down at the muddy ground. At that moment the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the far away mountains. I looked up again at the falcon that was still gazing curiously at me. Curiously?

   “Good eve, Rudica.”

   I jumped and span around. And there stood Cecilia, with her head slightly tilted to the side, smiling faintly. The last shine of the sunset seemed to set her orange hair on fire.

   “I… what happened?”

   “I do not know”, she answered slowly and carefully, as if frightened I would lash out at her. Rightly perhaps as I retorted more violently than I had wished:

   “Wouldst thou not fight for thy home?”

   “It seemeth I changed my mind, doth it not?”

   I just contemplated her in silence for several long moments before she continued:

   “I watched from afar. I saw Laurentiu and his fiendish ghouls. I saw Luciano and his restless dead. I saw Alexander and his hordes of human thralls. Would it matter who was victorious?”

   “Thou art just the same”, I snarled, but the next moment I regretted it.

   “I am?”

   “Thou…”

   “…feed on human blood.”

   “Yea…”

   “And what about thee? Cravest thou not the flesh of the living?”

   “Yea, but…”

   Cecilia whistled lowly and the falcon flyed from its branch and landed on her shoulder.

   “…thy holy book tells thee animals are less worth?”

   I oped my mouth to speak but closed it again and shrugged slowly.

   “What is the point, I asked myself, in giving up my life for this soil? Knowest thou how big our world is, Rudica?”

   Once again I shrugged, keeping my eyes at the ground. I heard her slowly coming closer.

   “I thought… I could find myself a new place… a new place to call home.”

   I felt oddly empty. Void of emotions, of thoughts. A single tear trickled down my cheek as I closed my eyes. She came closer.

   “Wouldst thou accompany me, Rudica?”

   Three nesh fingers caressed my cheek. I nodded.

   “I never really liked the sun anyway”, I whispered. I felt something different inside. Something unwitten was growing. Happiness?

   Cecilia giggled. I felt two cool lips on my cheek. A tender hand slowly caressing my neck.

   “Doth it hurt?”

   “Trust me…”

   I kissed her cool lips. Felt her strong body, her silken skin.

   “Of course I will trust… my angel…”

   A prickling sensation on my neck. Her lips were moving downwards.

   “Angel…? I thought I were a devil”, she giggled.

   “Nay… wouldst thou be my angel?”

   “I could try…”

   She kissed my neck. Sharp fangs tore at my skin. I swallowed a yell of agony. My blood started streaming. I felt Cecilia’s heart coming to life against my chest. Then the bliss, we were one. Our hearts beating together, my blood forging our eternal bond.

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