“I wonder what paths brought thee hither, young childe.”

   She looked wild and fae, with an eerie aura about those fair features. Two heavenly blue eyes gazed at me from behind a fiery orange fringe.  

   “Revenge”, I whispered dreamily. She giggled slightly and caressed my cheek.

   “Thou shalt not let thee be consumed by wrath, childe”, she whispered in my ear, “behold! the stars are shining down upon us. The night air is cool and fresh. What is it that recks thee?”

   Shaking off the last of my dizziness I glanced beyond her face and saw the night sky above.

   “Whither am I?”

   “Lost in the woods it appears.”

   “Who art thou?”

   I tried to sit up properly and leaned against a tree behind me. The fae woman laughed merrily and stepped back. She was dressed in nought but a leather armour and a cloak of bearskin or something similar, and judging from her bodily shape she seemed to be strong as an oxen.  

   “I am Cecilia, Champion of Veles.”

   “Who is Veles?”

   “The God of the Hunt.”

   By then I saw how absurd the situation was and I could not help but burst out laughing. But to my annoyance she just tilted her head to the side and eyed me curiously.

   “A remarkable fate indeed.”

   I fell silent. “What?”

   “Reckest not thy head with that. Thou wouldst not understand.”

   “Insulted by a heathen”, I muttered under my breath as I stood up. My muscles felt like lead but I think the sleep had done me well, at least I could stand without having the world spin around me. “I thank thee”, I said, “for waking me up…”

   The last words stuck in my throat as I met her adamant gaze. For a moment I thought I spied a hint of the feral glance of Alexander in her eyes but I shrugged my head and put the thought out of my mind. She is just a poor savage, I told myself.

   “The heathen shall take thee home”, she said.

   “Wha…”

   “Thou art Rudica Basarab, art thou not?”

   “I… why… how?”

   “I know all the paths of this forest. No more talk.”

   With those words she strode away with fast, fleeting steps through the thick vegetation. Cursing and panting I followed clumsily, getting caught up in every bush and branch.

   “Curse thee”, I panted, “why art thou doing this?”

   “Rallying the troops”, she replied without looking back.

   “In the name of the Lord, stop!” I cried, and to my great surprise she actually did. Tilting her head curiously to the side again she glanced amusedly at me and I sate down on a stump and glared at her.

   “Yea?”

   “Explain!”

   “Oh well”, she smiled to herself, “curiosity is a virtue...”

   “’Tis not.”

   “Oh?” She giggled and sate down in front of me. “Matters of faith aside; I am – as I quoth earlier – a Champion of Veles, a Guardian of these lands. I disdain the Saxons as much as thee.”

   “And thou expectest us to fight together?”

   “True. Wouldst thou fight together with followers of the Old Faith?”

   “Nay... not an I could help it.”

   “I am afraid thou can not”, she snapped, “now follow. Time is running away.”

I wot not the history of Daşria, but I think it was some kind of refuge once upon a time; maybe for the Dacians when the Romans arrived, maybe for the first Christians among the heathens. It was hid away in a cleft, umbraged by two high pinnacles. The chapel was built upon the ruins of an old fortification in the deepest end and climbing upwards along the pinnacles were some dozen houses. Walking through the thick forest there thou wouldst literally have to stumble upon Daşria to actually notice it. And during the night it would be nigh impossible, but no one knew the forests of Sighişoara like Cecilia did.

   “Oh, it seems he hath or yet arrived”, Cecilia murmured to herself.

   “Who?” I asked as I stopped behind her. We were standing in the graveyard and she crouched down slightly behind a tombstone as she turned to me.

   “Thy master.”

   “Master?”

   I stared dumbstricken at her and she nodded gravely.

   “Thou knowest not?”

   “Know what?”

   “Of thy blood.”

   “What meanest thou?” I snorted but she silenced me with a feral hiss.

   “Not so loud...”

   She nodded at the chapel and I crept up behind her and looked. Vaguely I spotted two shapes by the door; they were armoured and had great dragons upon their helms; in their hands they held tall shields and twistedly curved blades. But the worst part were their faces; sickly pale, almost with a yellow hue, scarred and twisted beyond human features; and their eyes shone with a red glow.  

   “What are they?” I asked in an unsteady voice.

   “Warghouls. Twisted and warped to serve thy master”, Cecilia whispered disdainfully.

   “Who is it that thou art talking about? I am the subject of my father, the true ruler of Sighişoara.”

   “Among mortals yea, but what about the aristocracy of the night?”

   I felt a chill down my spine and took a step back from her. I had seen that feral glint in her eyes a few times but not until now did I see the resemblance her unnaturally smooth and pale skin had with Alexander.

   “Thou art one of them”, I hissed, “fiend! She-devil!”

   “I could have drained thee when I found thee, or I could have led thee astray in the forest”, she answered calmly. I stepped back a little further but wist that there was nothing I could do. I swallowed and tried to keep my voice steady.

   “Who is he then? The nocturnal aristocrat?”

   “Laurentiu Basarab is an ancestor of thine. He hath been the ruler of these lands for centuries. Thy sire, and all ere him, have tasted his blood. Ye art bound to him, ye art his brood.”

   “Liar, she-devil”, I cried without thinking. The ghouls by the door looked up. Cecilia shot a glance at them and sighed deeply.

   “No more time to talk”, she hissed as they started walking towards us, “but how wouldst thou otherwise have survived the night ere?”

   “How did thou know?”

   “I read it in thy mind, and guessed the rest.” Then she span around and faced the ghouls who were just a dozen steps away.

   “Hail to you, servants of the Dragon, I am Cecilia cel Veles, escorting Princess Rudica Basarab who hath come hither to see her sire.”

   The two ghouls stopped. For a seemingly endless moment they gazed at Rudica with their shining red eyes, but at last one of them nodded slowly.

   “Follow.”