Memoirs of an Immortal Life (7 page)

2 July 1448

Poenari Castle

Word came this day from Vladimir. God be praised, he is well. Elisabeta is much relieved, as am I. His strategy, I have faith, will drive them from our country. The detail shared by Loki I found concerning. He told tales of Vladimir creating a forest of the undead, those he had impaled while still alive. Days upon days they lingered. Loki explained the reasoning behind what Vladimir had done. Though the strategy I find ingenious, the logic I do not. He treads a fine line between darkness and light. I now wish he would have considered my offer to allow me to accompany him. My words may have been spoken, and it was as though they were silent, but at least the objection would have been made. I am certain none amongst Vladimir’s company dared to question him. That has proven a dangerous path to walk upon. Yet I find with me he is more reasonable. I do not wish for him to fall prey to the darkness and the devil’s hand.

Elisabeta believes she is with child
. I pray for this to be true. She has tempered Vladimir with her pious and gentle nature. A child would give Vladimir the ability to show the love he was not given as a child and perhaps heal him. I pray now for his safe return so that he may rejoice in the blessed news.

Chapter Eight

Vladimir’s Journal

2 August 1448

The Black Sea

Mehmed sent an emissary to speak of a possible truce between our nations after finding 5000 of his brethren impaled. He finds me to be barbaric. I laughed as his slave announced the intentions of the Sultan.

“You say you have come to make peace, yet I say there can be no peace between us. The offer before me is preposterous. You say the sultan will allow me to remain as Viovode so long as I make concessions to him
. I tell you, it is my God given right as Baserab to rule as Viovode. He did not grant me the origins of my birth, nor did he show mercy to me as a royal prisoner. Tell Mehmed the scars upon my back bear witness to his generosity and his mercy. No concessions shall be offered and none shall be made. Not so long as the House of Baserab rules, not so long as the Order lives,” I said.

He protested on the behalf of the sultan, stating the request was not an unreasonable one, which I should accept such a generous offer as a second one would not be extended.

“I will pay tax to no man who does not bear kinship to this family, nor will I bow to a man who is not my ruler. Tell him, I too, have a responsibility to my people and have rules by which we must all abide. One such a law is: no man shall stand before the Viovode without removing his hat, which you have failed to remove after two requests. Since your turban you love so greatly, I shall ensure it is never lost.”

The message sent to Mehmed will be quite clear when his emissary returns to him with his turban nailed to his head. I, Vladimir Dracul, the Viovode of Wallachia and Soldier of God, bow to no man nor will I sacrifice my people by doing so.

6 August 1448

Eustav, near the Black Sea

We fight with only ten thousand men, greatly depleted from our original numbers. Still, the soldiers’ spirits are high; wages have been paid, and I have given my word after the defeat of Mehmed’s men here, we shall return home. God has blessed us with few deaths against the many we face.

The battle was great, long, and fierce. Those we captured were impaled in the open field outside Eustav in designs, which pleased me- a maze, if one would consider it so, of the dead. Perhaps they will learn that the true Viovode of Wallachia will not grant them deliverance from death, but will instead prolong it with great detail. In the silence of what is unspoken, an uprising comes. Rumors abound that the Danesti lays claim as Viovode to the Wallachian throne. I fear the peace we committed through prayer to God will be short lived. Elisabeta must be kept from harm. Word has been sent by Matthias to his court to make ready for her arrival. I dispatched a courier only this morn to Ahbrim that he too should make ready to leave, not to the House of Matthias, but to the House of Bathory in Moldavia where my Bogdan resides and where our allegiances have remained strong. I am not certain that Matthias is not behind the rumors and the uprising we are about to face. His lack of enthusiasm for the methods employed in war is evident.

My trust is placed in no one’s hands but God’s. There it shall remain. Hunyadi was the first to learn of this treachery. I bid him to pray for the soul of young Matthias, for should I discover it was he who would lay this plot against me, it will be he who rots on a stake before my dinner table.

24 August 1448

Elisabeta is secured within the confines of the Bathory estate without Ahbrim at her side to provide her solace and comfort in our separation. He soon shall travel to the house of Matthias now that his mission to Moldavia is complete. She is with child, our child, a blessing I could not have prayed for even in my darkest hour.

To keep appearances, I and many others of the court along with the Royal Guards have remained behind. Skirmishes have been contained and kept to a minimum. The rebuilding at Targoviste will continue, even in my absence, as will the rebuilding determined by Ahbrim and myself during our first meeting. The villagers had been well paid in advance and know the fate they await should they defy me.

I have learned through the confessions of a man not known to me that it is not Matthias who conspires against me, but John Hunyadi. He has taken the Turks to his bed and made them his bride. He desires to take from me that which is rightfully mine. He will invade Wallachia and attempt to usurp the throne. My beloved wife dispatched the man to me, upon learning of the treachery planned. A friend of the Baserab long has the Hunyadi family been. His treachery must be confronted and the methods in this deception revealed.

12 November 1448

It was nearly evening tide as we arrived, those of us who escaped the clutches of Hunyadi and his men. He put a Danesti on the throne; Vladislav II, as the army fled from Poenari through the secret passages constructed by Nicolai and Velascon. Praise God they travel with me.

Bogdan welcomed our arrival, but none was as welcoming as my beloved, her face wet with tears at the fear I had not escaped. My beautiful beloved, how I missed her and now that I have her in my
arms, I wish never to let her go. She is ill, stricken with fever from her journey from the House of Bathory to Moldavia. Bogdan has called to her the best physicians. While she rests, here we shall plot our vengeance and reclaim the Wallachian throne.

14 November 1448

Our child now rests in the hands of God. So great my sorrow, it is difficult to comfort my beloved. In my heart, I know no blame lies upon her, for it was the journey, which caused her sickness. Hunyadi and his grievance with the Baserab must end. Though it is he I hold responsible for what befell my beloved Elisabeta, I know now it is not with the Turks he sleeps, but with the people of his own land. His reasons for taking the throne will be based only upon what history will write of it; my father before me had been a traitor and made his alliance with the Turks. His logic was - so goes the father, so follows the son. I will pray to God to grant me the strength needed to forgive him, and pray Hunyadi will see the error of his ways, for in his heart he must realize the son of the traitor does not walk in the same footsteps as his father.