House of War

by Victor Foia

  They reached the outskirts of Debar just before nightfall. It was a village of about fifty houses and a church, clustered in a shallow depression on the right bank of the Black Drin. The few people they met were old and hollow-eyed, remnants of a population ravaged by border wars.

  Ameses knew the local priest and obtained his permission for Vlad and his friends to sleep in a loft behind the church.

  “I’m going to gather your food supplies,” Ameses said, “and shall return before midnight.”

  “A village like this,” Gruya said as soon as the Albanian left, “must be rife with widows in need of comfort. And what does this Ameses do? Of all places he could’ve lodged us he chooses a church.”

  “You won’t find a woman under sixty around here,” Vlad said. “If the younger ones haven’t been taken by the Turks, they’ve run away.”

  “More the reason to offer Christian comfort to the ones left behind,” Gruya said. “Besides, the older the chicken, the sweeter the broth.”

  Being so close to the land of the Turks, Vlad decided they should sleep fully dressed and keep watch throughout the night. They drew lots, and the first watch fell to Gruya. At midnight he awoke Vlad for his turn and told him Ameses hadn’t returned.

  “The man’s not as stupid as I thought,” Gruya said. “He abandons us in this holy place so he might carouse all night with his compatriots.”

  There was a diffuse noise outside, as if a large number of people were speaking in low voices and shuffling about.

  “Ah, it’s those misguided folks that flog themselves with ropes,” Gruya said. “They’ve been trickling into the village for about an hour and squatting in front of this church.”

  Ameses didn’t return on Vlad’s watch either. When Vlad estimated that four hours had passed, he awoke Lash.

  “Wait until daybreak,” Vlad said, “then make a round through the village to see if there is a tavern where Ameses might’ve gotten drunk last night and forgotten to return here.”

  Though he was concerned for their guide’s welfare, Vlad had no trouble resuming his interrupted sleep. The escape from Hamza, Skanderbeg’s friendly reception, and the prospect of a safe trip across Albania, had restored his tranquility. For the past three nights, all he had to do was lie down and untroubled sleep would soon carry him away. His dreams were no longer of the kind that left him exhausted with their endless chases, near misses, and a perpetual feeling of danger. Instead, they were dreams that made him hate waking up.

  He was communing with a lady of elastic morals in just such a dream, when Lash shook him awake.

  “The Turks are in the village,” he blurted, with an urgency the Gypsy rarely exercised. “We’ve got to get away immediately.”

  73

  THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER

  December 1443, Albania

  “What about Ameses?” Vlad said. “We can’t abandon him.”

  Lash lifted Vlad by his armpits as if handling a child and dragged him to the opening of the loft.

  “I couldn’t find him,” he said. “Hurry, Master.”

  Vlad skidded down the ladder, holding loosely onto the rails and barely touching the rungs with the tips of his opinci. He’d just landed when Gruya joined him. Lash followed seconds later.

  They found themselves in a kitchen garden enclosed with split-rail fencing.

  “After me,” Lash whispered and took off at a run.

  Vlad and Gruya charged after Lash in silence, now and then slipping and falling on the frost-covered ground.

  After sprinting for about forty yards, Lash jumped over the fence and ran across a plum orchard. Then he dropped to the ground and rolled under a plank fence into the yard of a house facing the main road. Vlad and Gruya, close on his heels, squeezed under the fence in time to see Lash disappear inside a barn at the rear of the yard.

  “I scouted this place on a hunch, before looking for Ameses,” Lash said when Vlad and Gruya caught up with him. “The house is uninhabited and I thought this barn would come in handy if we had to hide while planning our next move.”

  “Where are the Turks?” Vlad said.

  Lash breathed deep a few times, then said, “At both ends of the road passing through the village.”

  “It must be one of those frequent Akinci raids Ameses spoke about,” Gruya said. “They’ll take their plunder and scud before Skanderbeg’s men show up.”

  Vlad shook his head. “This village has been raided too many times to have anything left in it worth taking. I fear someone’s tipped off the Turks that Skanderbeg’s nephew was in the village, and they’ve come for him.”

  “I’ll go scout for an escape route away from the main road,” Gruya said.

  “Find Ameses,” Vlad said to Lash. “We aren’t leaving him here to be captured by the Turks.”

  Gruya returned first, only minutes after leaving the barn. His was face drawn and he spoke through clenched teeth. “The Turks have made a cordon around the village. There are hundreds of them.”

  “When Lash returns with Ameses,” Vlad said, “we’ll cause a diversion on the far side of the village to draw the Turks there.”

  Gruya brightened up. “I’ll break into someone’s kitchen and set it on fire. With houses so close to each other, I’ll have the entire village burning in no time.”

  “Once you do that, we’ll jump the Akincis left on this side and get away with their horses.”

  Full of anguish for Lash, they both peered through gaps in the barn’s siding, hoping to see him return with Ameses any moment. They could see the vacant house with its missing door and shutters, the empty yard, and the double gate yawning wide open, listing on its hinges. On the road, the motley crowd of flagellants was assembling for the start of their procession; their cries and invocations, undaunted by the winter chill, filled the air.

  Vlad wondered why, with such a large Akinci presence in the region, Skanderbeg hadn’t sent him west, away from the border. That was the route indicated on Benedetto’s map. Instead Skanderbeg had him travel north, parallel to the Turkish border.

  When Lash emerged from under the fence and scooted across the yard, Vlad nearly hooted his relief. Then he realized the Gypsy was alone, and a heaviness settled on his chest. “You haven’t found Ameses?”

  With bulging eyes and ragged breath, Lash snarled, “Oh, I found him all right—talking with Hamza in front of the church.”

  “Hamza?” Vlad and Gruya shouted in unison.

  As the meaning of Lash’s discovery sank in, the word betrayal reverberated in Vlad’s ears.

  Gruya swore and kicked the barn’s wall. “Here we are worrying about his safety, and the Albanian leper’s busy selling us to the Turks.”

  “The true Judas is Skanderbeg,” Vlad said. “Ameses is only his errand boy.”

  “I’ve got to start that fire,” Gruya said and headed for the door.

  Lash grabbed his sleeve. “You can’t go out now. The Turks are spreading out through the village to do a house-to-house search.”

  “It won’t take long before they find us then,” Vlad said.

  His mind began to whirl with thoughts weighted down by hatred and disappointment. What could he do? Was there a way out?

  “How many Turks are there?” Gruya said.

  “At least three hundred,” Lash said. “All mounted.”

  Oh, merciful Lord, Vlad thought with bitterness, You’ve loaded the dice against me from the beginning. So much for, “A thousand may fall … but no evil will befall you.” Prophecy, psalms, numbers in the Book of Life—all nonsense. Now thousands of innocent people would be slaughtered on the first day of Ṣafar, because Vlad went north, instead of west. But did I have a choice to pick the right fork in the road? he wanted to scream. If choice means free will, then damn it, let me choose.

  “What are we doing, Vlad?” Gruya said. “If we can’t get away, let’s take a few of the heathen with us to Gehenna.”

  Vlad looked around the barn. The place had been looted of anything th
e owner might’ve left behind. Not a single rusted tool remained to be used for a desperate stand; nor was there a loft in which to hide.

  “We’ll grab some clubs and sneak up on the Turks watching our side of the village,” he said. “We might get lucky and whack a couple of them before they sound the alarm.”

  “I’ll go find us clubs,” Lash said and darted for the door.

  Vlad clutched the back of his cloak. “No. There is something else I want you to do.”

  “Anything, Master,” Lash said.

  “I don’t want all three of us to disappear without a trace,” Vlad said, “so our folks won’t know what happened.”

  Lash dropped to his knees and hugged Vlad’s thighs. “Don’t think of asking me to leave without you, Master.”

  “You’re the only one of us who can hope to pass unchallenged by the Turks,” Vlad said. “Turn your coat inside out and pull your cap over your eyes so Ameses doesn’t spot you. He’ll be looking for two Franciscan friars, not for a Gypsy beggar.”

  “Walk as if you were crippled, and the Turks will ignore you,” Gruya said. “There is no money in selling a lame Gypsy.”

  Vlad handed Lash Skanderbeg’s token. “Give this to Marcus and tell him what happened here. When he becomes king he ought not make the Albanians his allies.”

  Lash began to weep, softly at first, then with loud sobs.

  “Later, find your way to Edirne and look up Tirendaz. Tell him of Hamza and Skanderbeg, so that House Basarab’s honor isn’t besmirched by their betrayals.”

  “Tell my father and grandfather about the fights I’ve been in,” Gruya said. “Skip the part about my spending Nestor’s silver before getting to Bursa.”

  Lash attempted a smile. “I won’t mention the circumcision, either.”

  Vlad pulled Lash to his feet and led him to a corner of the barn. “If it takes you a lifetime find Zahra and tell her—” He stopped, realizing he didn’t know what he wanted to convey to Zahra. She was a scared child who, even now, was probably trying to forget everything that happened to her over the past year. Remind her of his existence, years from now, so she’d relive her ugly memories?

  Lash wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand. “I know what you’d want me to say when I find her.”

  Zahra’s image burst upon Vlad with such an intensity he could see every fleck of gold in her eyes. Instead of easing his pain, the recollection sharpened it.

  “Go now,” he yelled at Lash and shoved him brutally. “Don’t make me say it again.”

  Lash stood immobile, eyes welling with tears, lips aquiver. “I’ll wait for you outside the village. Maybe they won’t find you.” Slowly, slowly, he backed toward the door.

  Gruya rushed forward and squeezed him in a bear hug.

  “We’ll team up again on the other side,” Gruya said, voice husky.

  Lash had barely passed under the fence when three Akincis appeared at the front gate. Two of them entered the house. The third one headed toward the barn.

  When he was five yards away, he drew out his kiliç.

  The End of Book Three

  THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

  “For when they shall say, ‘peace and safety’, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

  1 Thessalonians 5:3 (KJV)

  The days of seeking the thrill of adventure are behind Vlad. And so are his youthful dreams of glory earned at the point of the sword. Called upon to work toward a lasting peace, he discovers the evanescence of kingly honor, the depth of cardinals’ duplicity, and the inexhaustability of evil. His controversial role as an advocate for Sultan Murad makes brothers-in-faith treat him like an enemy, and earstwhile enemies embrace him like a brother. All the while, the world around him changes in ways no one could have predicted. When gruesome tragedy strikes close to home, only one person is capable of bringing him back from the brink of despondency.

  Join the adventure.

  www.draculachronicles.com

  GLOSSARY

  Note on spelling of the word “Allah”: When the word is used in an English-language sentence, no diacritic is employed over the letter “a”; when the word is used in a quotation from the Arabic, it is italicized and presented in two spelling variations using a diacritic over the letter “a”: Allāhu and Allāh.

  Note on Ottoman Turkish: To get a sense of the difference between Turkish and Ottoman Turkish, please refer to Story World of Dracula Chronicles.

  Note on pronunciation: A pronunciation key in square brackets […] is provided for selected words; the syllable stress is indicated by a diacritic or underlining.

  Adhān: Word of Arabic origin representing the Islamic call to prayer recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day

  Agha: Turkish for a title used to designate a high-level civil or military officer

  Akhal-Teke: A horse breed from Turkmenistan

  Akinci: Ottoman Turkish word designating a member of the Ottoman light, irregular cavalry, specializing in raiding enemy territories

  Al-Fātiḥah: Arabic for the first chapter of the Qur’an

  Al-Fattāḥ: Arabic for “The Victory Giver”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Ghaffār: Arabic for “The Repeatedly Forgiving”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Haqq: Arabic for “The Truth”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Ḥasīb: Arabic for “The Bringer of Judgment”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Karīm: Arabic for “The Generous”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Mu’min: Arabic for “The Granter of Security”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Muḥyīy: Arabic for “The Giver of Life”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Mujīb: Arabic for “The one Who Answers”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Mumīt: Arabic for “The Creator of Death”, “The Destroyer”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Muntaqim: Arabic for “The Avenger”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Qahhār: Arabic for “the Subduer”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Wahhāb: Arabic for “the Bestower”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Wājid: Arabic for “The Finder”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Al-Wakil: Arabic for “The Trustee”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Amasya Kaplan: Turkish for “Amasya Tiger”

  Ana al-Haqq: Arabic for “I am the Truth”

  Ar-Rahmān: Arabic for “The Exceedingly Compassionate”; one of Allah’s 99 names

  Arak: Arabic for a type of plant often used to make toothpicks, miswak

  As-salamu alaykum: Arabic for “peace be upon you”; customary greeting among Muslims

  Asper: Ottoman silver coin

  Asr: Arabic for “afternoon”

  Aşure: Noah’s pudding, wheat pudding with dried nuts and fruits

  Ata janë spiunë turq: Albanian for “They are Turkish spies”

  Ayah: Arabic for the smallest unit of the Qur’an, usually called a verse

  Ayat: Arabic for the plural of “ayah”

  Ayran: Frothy Turkish beverage made of yogurt mixed with cold water and salt

  Ayyaş: Turkish for “dissipated”, “intemperate”, “sottish”

  Azap: Ottoman Turkish word designating a member of the Ottoman light infantry

  Baba: Turkish for “father”; head of a Bektashi lodge

  Baraka: Continuity of spiritual presence and revelation that begins with Allah and flows through those closest to Allah

  Bayram: Turkish for festival or holiday

  Bedestan: Turkish for the central building of the commercial part of a town; a covered market

  Beg: Same as bey; perhaps a Persian variant of bey

  Beglerbeg: Ottoman Turkish for bey of beys, commander of commanders; a beglerbeg was second in rank only to the Grand Vizier; the Ottoman Empire in the time of Dracula had two beglerbegs, one governing Anatolia, another Rumelia (see Who is Who and What is What for Anatolia and Rumelia)

  Bektas
hi: A member of a Sufi order founded by Hajj Bektash in the 13th century AD

  Beylik: Turkish for a small principality ruled by a bey

  Bin: Arabic for “son of”

  Boyar: Romanian for a person of noble rank in Wallachia and Moldova; Romanian spelling: “boier”

  Ca’: Venetian abbreviation for “casa (house)”; customarily applied to a palace

  Caftan: Also known as “kaftan”; a front-buttoned coat or overdress with long sleeves, usually reaching to the ankles

  Caravanserai: Fortified roadside inn encountered throughout the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim territories in Asia Minor

  Casus belli: Latin expression meaning an act used to justify war

  Catalano: Catalan; inhabitant of Catalonia

  Çavuş: Ottoman Turkish for messenger, or emissary; also title of an officer at the Ottoman court carrying out the duty of usher, sergeant, executioner, or ambassador to foreign princes and states

  Clous: French for nails; word designating cloves

  Cui bono: Latin for “To whose benefit?”

  Çullama: Meat dish in creamy, white sauce cooked in a covered vessel

  Dar al-Harb: Arabic for “House of War”; the name for the regions where Islam does not dominate, and where submission to Allah is not observed

  Dar al-Sulh: Arabic for “House of Treaty”; name for a non-Muslim region benefitting from a truce or a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire

  Dar-al-Islam: Arabic for “House of Islam”; the name for the region where Islam dominates, and where submission to Allah is observed

  Darüşşifa: Ottoman Turkish for “House of Healing”

  Dede: Turkish for “grandfather”; title of one of the 12 senior Bektashi leaders

  Dervish: Word of Persian origin designating a Muslim believer belonging to a mystic brotherhood and usually following an ascetic path

  Dhu al-Hijjah: Arabic word designating he twelfth month of the Islamic calendar; the Hajj (pilgrimage) takes place in this month

  Dhu al-Qi’dah: Arabic word designating the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar

  Dhuhr: Arabic for “noon”

  Divan: Imperial council