Elixir of Flesh

by Joseph Kranak

  Chapter 7

  From the Grip of the Convent

  Madalina waited until she knew her roommates were asleep before she renewed her efforts to escape, but, even as she pushed as hard as she could with her arms, it was to no avail. She wanted to bang her head against the wall in frustration. Her body could barely move, and when she exerted herself to the full extent of her strength, she accomplished nothing. She let out a few sobs before she took a deep breath and resolved to keep trying.

  When she pushed with her legs she was more successful. After some attempts pushing outwards, she heard that sound of ripping fabric. She pushed even harder, but was only able to make a partial rip at the edge.

  She decided to quietly turn her whole body so that her feet were hanging over the bed. She sat up and wriggled downwards until her feet touched the ground, permitting her to stand.

  She contemplated hopping out of the room and trying to find someone who could free her, but decided against it. She was on her own. She looked around the room for something to snag herself onto, thinking that maybe if she could snag the cloth onto some sharp hook, she could thereby use it to rip the fabric. But she didn’t see anything and gave up.

  Instead, she tried to bend down and reach the pins with her teeth. This was not as easy as she expected. Her spine was simply not flexible enough to touch her mouth to her belly button, and certainly not flexible enough to reach any of the pins above it. She wanted to stomp her feet in frustration, but held back and simply lowered her head for one sob before she continued.

  With effort, she was able to reach one of the pins, one affixed just above her knee. By bending her legs and curling her back and neck downward, she could just take the pin in her teeth and carefully pull it out, spitting it onto the floor.

  She was disappointed in how little additional freedom this gave her, beyond giving her legs a bit more room to move. Her hands, though, had more freedom. Her arms were still pinned to her side, but she could freely move her wrists and fingers. She decided that with her fingers she would pick up and collect into her hands the entire blanket below her waist. After a minute or so of gathering up the blanket, she was finally holding the lower part of the blanket, bunched up in her hands. From here she was able to bend her wrists and touch the exterior of the blanket. She couldn’t reach anything right away, but one of the needles was just beyond her grasp. With a little bit of squirming and pushing with her arms, the needle was just reachable. With two fingers, she pulled the pin that was affixed below her navel and dropped it to the ground.

  The blanket loosened more, and with the additional freedom of movement this afforded, the last steps were relatively easy. She could just reach the other six pins and pull them out. She shimmied until the blanket unfurled around her and fell to the floor at her feet.

  To celebrate, she crouched down to her knees and, placing her face in her hands, she firmly clenched her teeth and silently screamed.

  She didn’t want to think yet about how difficult the next step would be. She would have to bundle up and drag one of these ponderous wenches out of the novitiate, through the gates, and far out into the forest.

  As she contemplated which one to take, she quietly ripped away a strip of cloth with which to gag the unfortunate victim. She spent a few moments assessing the situation, planning out how she would do everything and in what order. She feared that the only way to make this work would be to do everything properly, without a single stumble or hesitation.

  Madalina’s first step was to open the door out of the room. Then she quietly approached her chosen victim, Nicoleta the tattletale, with gag in hand. Everything that could be done noiselessly she would do first, and she would perform those tasks slowly and carefully. Madalina slid the long strip of cloth she held around Nicoleta’s head. Even as she slipped it under her head, Nicoleta lazily dreamed away, with the side of her face buried in her pillow. Then Madalina slowly wrapped Nicoleta’s sheets around her, borrowing this idea from the girls. She pinned the sheets shut. It was nowhere near as tight as Madalina’s wrap, but it would probably hold long enough.

  She knew of no way to perform any of the remaining tasks noiselessly. Thus, she would have to perform these tasks quickly and smoothly. First, Madalina abruptly tightened the gag, jolting Nicoleta awake. Madalina muffled Nicoleta’s mouth with her hand, just as she started to shout. Her stifled shouts were not enough to wake the other girls, but she still flailed and struggled against the sheets.

  Madalina bent down and lifted the small girl on her shoulder. Her legs almost crumpled under the weight, but she was able to walk through the door. What she was less successful at doing was in keeping Nicoleta quiet at this point. Nicoleta screamed against the gag in her mouth, a cry that made more than enough noise to rouse the other girls.

  Mirela and Dorina blinked and sat up, not quite sure what sound it was they’d heard. Madalina was already out the door but heard the sounds of movement coming from her room.

  When she came to the door of the novitiate, she almost screamed with shock when she saw Sister Oana sitting in a chair in front of the entrance. It was dark enough that Madalina couldn’t tell that her eyes were closed, but she could hear the soft snoring. Nicoleta tried to make noise, and Madalina had to muffle her mouth. Nicoleta carefully tiptoed by, while holding onto Nicoleta’s mouth.

  She slipped through the door of the novitiate and across the courtyard without hesitation, and without checking if the sentries were out of sight. Mirela and Dorina saw the open door, saw the empty beds of Nicoleta and Madalina, and leaped out of their beds in pursuit.

  Madalina struggled to push Nicoleta through the hole she’d squeezed herself through those many times before. She was having trouble because Nicoleta wouldn’t stop squirming and because Nicoleta wasn’t quite as small as Madalina. But as she stuffed the girl through with her foot, she could hear the sound of a sentry as he called, “Hey! You! What are you doing?” She heard the shuffle of stamping feet as he circled around the wall to approach her.

  Madalina didn’t look back, now shoving herself through the hole and unlocking the outer door. She pushed the door beams aside as she heard the stir of commotion. Her two other roommates were in the courtyard by now. They’d roused Sister Oana who stood beside them. They, with their shouts, added to the noise that was being made by Cezar, the sentry, who called out, “Sisters! One of your girls is out here! She’s going to the forest. Hurry!”

  “Where did she go?” Sister Oana asked, looking around. Mirela and Dorina both pointed to the door, which was now slightly open. Madalina was pushing Nicoleta through the gap with all her energy. Her body was sweating from exertion and she was pale with fright.

  “Madalina, No!” Sister Oana roared. When Madalina heard the sound, she turned back and looked at Sister Oana with terror just as she squeezed herself through the door.

  Sister Oana approached the gate and pulled the lever to raise the portcullis. The machinery stirred, the counterweights dropped and the portcullis slowly rattled upwards as more of the nuns emerged from their quarters.

  Once the portcullis was open, Sister Oana pulled open the outer doors, and continued her pursuit out beyond the walls into the darkness of the forest. The rest of the group looked out at the dark forest, to which they were now naked and exposed, and shivered with dread. A few nuns reluctantly stepped forward to the threshold of the gate and peaked out into the night, afraid to go any further and uncertain what to do.

  Atop the wall, the sentries silently watched the distant figures disappearing beneath the trees, Madalina struggling to run with a great weight squirming on her shoulder and Sister Oana behind her and gaining ground.

  Sister Oana could see Madalina just ahead of her carrying Nicoleta. The little girl tried to run as fast as she could but Sister Oana, larger and unencumbered, was far faster than her.

  As she was just about to reach the little girl, she heard a sound in the trees, and traded her anger for fright: the sound of the sighing of the tree tru
nks and the rattling of leaves as the trees bent and swayed under the weight of vampires that leaped from one tree to another.

  The sentries saw the movement of the trees from the wall, and, though they could distinguish no shapes between the leaves, they knew that it was not the wind.

  Cezar shouted at the top of his voice, “Vampires! They’re coming! Close the gates!”

  This roused everyone into motion. The nuns closed the outer door, locked it with the two beams and lowered the portcullis behind it. The two sentries ran around the wall towards their canon.

  They used this canon to fire a signal high into the air, which those who saw it would understand as a sign that vampires were near. A hollow cannonball that was doused in oil and lit produced the signal. Due to the fire, these cannonballs were particularly difficult to handle. The cannon would be charged with gunpowder and pointed upwards towards the forest. Then a rod would be placed at the mouth of the cannon to prevent the cannonball from falling in. The cannonball, first doused in oil, was set atop the opening and lit. As the flames circled around the circumference of the cannonball everyone stood back and covered their ears. Then the rod was removed. The flaming ball would ignite the gunpowder as soon as it touched it, launching it high into the air. An arc of flame streaked across the sky. If all went well, the flame would snuff itself out part way through its descent and crash harmlessly onto the forest floor.

  Approximately a league away, Vasile and Anton sat high within another tree, waiting and in anticipation of vampires that evening. They heard the sound of the cannon as a faint pop in the distance. It drew their attention to the sky where they saw the flaming ball rise and sink.

  “Vampires,” Vasile said, “In Terem. We have to get there as fast as we can.”

  Vasile dropped from the tree, with Anton close behind him, and they both began to run in the direction of Terem.

  Madalina heard the sound of the cannon and saw the beautiful dot of light float above her. The light of the cannonball faintly lit up the trees as it soared above them. Madalina didn’t know what the flaming cannonball signified, so long had it been since Terem had faced a direct assault from the vampires.

  Sister Oana did know what it signified. She had been alive at a time, decades ago, when the vampire raids were a persistent, terrifying threat and she froze in her tracks.

  “Madalina stop! There are vampires near,” she shouted with panic, just before a net dropped around her. Sister Oana stumbled to the ground, shouting “Run Madalina! Run! Save yourself! Get out of here!”

  She scrambled to her feet to try and free herself, but two vampires were already there beside her. They pulled at a rope to bring the net closed, sweeping Sister Oana off her feet as the net whisked under her.

  Another flaming cannonball was launched into the air and they all watched it fly above them and again begin to sink and disappear.

  Vad landed right in front of Madalina and told her to hand him the body. Once Madalina handed over Nicoleta, Vad looked at her and said, “This one’s good.” He wrapped Nicoleta in a net and handed it off to Fane.

  Sister Oana, entrapped and lying on the ground, turned her head to look at Madalina. She saw Madalina handing over Nicoleta and the vampire talking to her, unmolested, and asked in a voice of utter disappointment, “You’re helping the vampires? Why?”

  Intoning with her question that everything she’d ever tried to do to help Madalina become a virtuous girl was all in vain, she asked again, “Why?”

  Madalina glanced in Sister Oana’s direction when she heard these questions, but she merely turned away.

  The first volley of arrows landed near them, dangerously close. Vad looked at his three companions and said, “We can’t wait. Go now!”

  Vad bent down and told Madalina, “Get on my back.”

  She leapt onto his back, gripping him around the neck and putting her legs around his hips. “Hold tight,” he said, and he began to run.

  From their vantage point, the sentries saw imperfectly the action taking place within the forest. The vampires gathered beneath the canopy of the trees, and the sentries could just see movement through the leaves. They launched several arrows in the direction of the vampires with blind hope, but no apparent success.

  A moment later the vampires were gone; the attack was over; all three persons were lost.

  Cezar related to the nuns, with disappointment, “They’re all gone. Vampires have taken them all. I’m sorry.”

  Quiet weeping crossed the eyes of several nuns as they bowed their heads. Whispered prayers were heard and several made the sign of the cross in petition for the souls of all those lost. With a slow and solemn step, they retired to their quarters, many wiping away the tears that dripped on their cheeks.

  Sister Elisabeta led Dorina and Mirela back to their room. As they passed down the hall of the novitiate, doors were being pounded from the inside, with voices asking, “What’s happened? What’s going on?” Every novice in the building was awake and wanted to know what they’d missed, but they were not permitted to leave their rooms.

  Sister Elisabeta helped the two girls into bed and said, to console them, “The fate of Madalina and Nicoleta is in the hands of God now. And God is a benevolent being. We will pray for them, all of us. Please try to sleep. It’ll be alright.”

  After Sister Elisabeta left the room and locked the door, Mirela hopped out of bed and opened the window. She leaned out over the windowsill and called out to the novices in the neighboring rooms in a whisper, “Psst, Camelia, Andrea. You there?”

  Several windows opened on either side of her with various young faces poking out of the window to look towards Mirela. The narrow gap between the outer wall and the novitiate was dark, with no moonlight reaching down into it, so that the faces only looked like vague silhouettes of the various girls.

  “I’m here. What happened?” Camelia asked, the first to speak up.

  “Madalina, Nicoleta and Sister Oana are all gone—taken by the vampires. It looks like Madalina kidnapped Nicoleta, and Sister Oana chased her down. Then they were all captured by vampires in the woods,” Mirela whispered in Camelia’s direction.

  “What!” Camelia responded in a surprised whisper, “All three? Why did Madalina kidnap Nicoleta?”

  “That’s all I know,” Mirela responded, “Pass it on.” Mirela retracted into her room and closed the window, as further whispers relayed the message to others.

  Dorina sat on her bed clasping her knees in her arms and looked up at Mirela with eyes on the verge of tears. When Mirela leaned in to hug her, she began to bawl onto Mirela’s shoulder.

  “Oh it’s so horrible,” Dorina sobbed, “Horrible. Why Nicoleta? She never did anything? Madalina was asking for it, but Nicoleta.… She was nice; she always prayed; she always followed the rules.”

  “I know” Mirela comforted, “It’s just not fair. I’m going to miss her so much.”

  “Did we do wrong?” Dorina asked, “Should we have told Sister Oana Madalina got out? If we’d told her, we would’ve been punished, but it would’ve prevented Madalina from leaving. What’s any punishment compared to getting Nicoleta back? If only we could just do it now, and have her back. I’d scrub every corner of that church. I’d live inside the crypt for the rest of my life, if only it’d bring her back. Will we be forgiven?”

  “God will forgive us,” Mirela assured, “Though we erred and acted from ignorance, God will forgive us. If it’s any comfort, remember that every event that happens is part of God’s divine plan.”

  “How?” Dorina leaned back and looked at Mirela with a skeptical frown.

  “I don’t know,” Mirela said, “But that’s what they tell us, anyway. And I believe it.”

  While the young novices talked in this way, Anton and Vasile ran. They raced through the forest toward Terem in pursuit of the vampires that the signal had led them to expect. They weren’t sure if they would ultimately reach Terem still under siege from the vampires or if they would, if fortune wer
e on their side, encounter the vampires somewhere in the forest. Ignorant of what was going on, they plowed forward in the hope that they might be of help, and that they might bag a vampire or two in the process.

  Fortune did smile on them that evening. Right in the middle of their run, Vasile suddenly grabbed Anton by his cloak from behind and yanked him downwards, pulling him towards the nearest bush. As he did this he whispered with the profoundest urgency, “Down! Now!”

  After they collapsed to the ground and the previous sounds of the two men subsided into silence, the faint sound of approaching vampires could just be heard.

  The sound of vampires in full run was distinctive. It was somewhat like the sound of a galloping horse, but without the punctuated four-hoof cadence. It was a continuous, light thumping of feet on ground in a quick, staccato beat.

  It was apparent just from the sound that there was more than one vampire. In fact, it sounded like several, and Vasile was prepared to wait it out and let them pass. But as he peaked through the shrubs that him and Anton hid behind, he saw that they bore three captured humans.

  Sister Oana had been secured, using the net, to a long, wooden sled, with two runners underneath. The sled was designed to make it easier to drag victims, and one of the vampires dragged this sled behind him. Nicoleta was wrapped in her net and simply was being hung between two of the vampires, like a pot suspended over a fire. Lastly, Vasile noticed what appeared to be a little girl clinging to the shoulders of one of the vampires, causing him to say to himself, “That’s unusual. Why isn’t she tied up?”

  He shook off that thought, realizing there was no time to contemplate it now. He turned to Anton, leaning close into his ear and said as quietly as possible, “They have victims. Three of them. We have to attack.”

  Anton was undeterred by numbers and nodded. He raised his long bow with an arrow, eager for his first kill, whispering to Vasile, “It’s about time I get to show you my skill.”

  As desirous as Vasile was to try to save all three persons, Vasile and Anton alone couldn’t take on four vampires. Their only chance was to attack one of the vampires, saving one person, and hope the rest continued running. Vasile decided that the vampire with the sled was the most vulnerable and he said quietly to Anton, “Aim for the one with the sled. Keep firing until it’s dead.” He then added with special emphasis, “Don’t miss.”

  Vasile raised his crossbow just above the top of the shrubbery, took quick but careful aim and fired. Anton’s arrow was hard on the tail of Vasile’s and both of them lodged into the body of the vampire in quick succession, Vasile’s landing in the back of its thigh just below the buttocks and Anton’s piercing the side from behind and exiting out the front, through his stomach.

  The vampire stumbled with a cry of pain as its blood splashed from out its wounds. The rest of the party turned to look at their fallen brother, but Vasile gave them no opportunity to recover, raising his second crossbow and placing a bolt with surgical precision in the neck just below the jaw. Anton was quick to unload another arrow, putting it through the stomach of the vampire now prostrate on the ground.

  Fane, who was holding Nicoleta, dropped her and lunged for their brother, but Vad screeched, “Leave him! He’s dead! Just the sled.”

  Fane grabbed the sled before Anton or Vasile could get a good shot, though Anton threw one wild, hasty shot that flew wide of its mark. Vasile told him, “Save your arrows.”

  Vasile’s head fell under the weight of disappointment. The three remaining vampires continued on their way rapidly while Vasile and Anton watched them disappear.

  Anton couldn’t contain his anger and frustration and he pounded his fists against the nearest tree, finally letting out a few tears of frustration once he stopped. He sat down despondently. Vasile looked at him with concern as he reloaded both his crossbows.

  Vasile admitted despondently, “We failed. But we still have a vampire we have to take care of.”