“Yes, he’s alive.” Isabella’s grandfather stood erect and examined the ground surrounding the boy. He was looking for something and he soon found it. A small distance from them he could see two other people, a man and a woman, also lying on the forest floor. These two bodies had a more gaunt and deathlike appearance. Not wanting to alert the children to these other two, he said to them, “You wait here. I will go and see what I can find.”
Isabella’s grandfather walked over to the man and woman. Both were dead. They lay clutching each other. It looked as if they had just fallen asleep in each other’s arms, never to wake up. Isabella’s grandfather sighed in disgust. This had happened before. He returned quickly to the girls.
“Come on, I will carry him home.”
“Did you find anyone?” Isabella asked.
“No…no one. Come on now, it’s getting dark.” Isabella’s grandfather leaned down and checked the boy’s neck. He sighed with relief this time. There were no marks on him. This boy had escaped the fate that had befallen his parents.
When they got back to the cottage Isabella’s grandfather put the foundling down on his bed.
Isabella was watching her grandfather and asked, “Will he be all right?”
“Yes, I think so. You girls can stay here tonight and look after him. I am going out for a while but I will be back soon.”
“Wait a minute, who will look after us?” Katya asked hopefully.
“I’ll send Dragen into look after you.” Katya smiled in approval and Isabella’s grandfather left the house.
Dragen was chopping wood. He was only fifteen but he already helped his father and mother a great deal.
“Where’s your father?” Isabella’s grandfather called over to Dragen, who stopped what he was doing and approached the older man.
“He’s in the house, Alexei,” said Dragen.
“All right, I want to talk to him. Could you go and look after the girls for a while? I don’t like leaving them alone for too long.” Dragen smiled, nodded and walked towards Alexei’s home.
Alexei knocked on the door of their house. Dragen’s mother opened it. Alexei went in and shut the door behind him. He glanced around the room to check that Dragen’s father and mother were the only two there.
“There’s no one else here, is there?” Alexei inquired, just to make sure.
“The children are asleep in the other room,” answered Sorin, Dragen’s father.
“It’s happened again,” Alexei continued.
“God help us,” whispered Dragen’s mother, Dacia, under her breath.
“Is it any one from the village?” Sorin asked.
“No, two Gypsies, but this time there is a survivor.”
“A survivor?”
“Yes, a small boy.”
“Does he know anything? What did he say happened to him!” asked Sorin in desperation.
“Isabella found him. He has been knocked unconscious. He has not said anything yet.”
“Did Isabella see anything?” Dacia asked, worried that the little girl might be robbed of her innocence too soon.
“No…we’ll see if the boy knows anything when he wakes up.” Alexei gestured towards Sorin. “Come on, we have to go and bury them.”
Dacia lighted a pair of torches and gave them to the two men. Sorin picked up two shovels and both he and Alexei started to walk towards the woods.
“What do you think is doing this, Alexei?” Sorin asked. “How many bodies have we found this year?”
“This will make ten.”
“Why do we bury them?”
“Do you think the murders will stop if we don’t bury them? This has been happening for nearly forty years?”
“But we are helping whoever it is to cover their tracks,” Alexei sighed.
“We bury the bodies so that the children are not robbed of their childhood. They will learn soon enough about death and despair. Why should they start now?”
“They say it’s Vlad,” Sorin continued.
“They say it’s a lot of things,” Alexei answered. “I don’t believe it is. How could it be? If he’s alive he must be in his seventies by now. Besides, if he lives anywhere I doubt he lives there.” Alexei pointed towards the castle. “I have not seen a lighted candle shining down from that place in forty years.”
“Then what is it…wolves?”
“If it were wolves there would be signs of a struggle, claw marks, teeth marks, something. I really don’t know what it is, but when I was younger and in the army I met many well-travelled men, some from as far away as India and China. They had seen many strange things. Some told me about large birds that would swoop down at night and drink the blood of animals while they slept. Sometimes they even attacked men. Maybe that’s the explanation.”
The two men soon found the bodies. They buried them and left a small cross and garland of roses to mark the grave. They returned home and would not talk about what they had just done until they had to do it again.
When Alexei entered his home all was quiet. Dragen, Katya and Isabella had fallen asleep waiting for his return. Katya was sleeping on Isabella’s bed. Isabella had fallen asleep watching over the little boy she had found. She was curled up in a chair beside her grandfather’s bed.
Isabella’s grandfather sat down on the bed beside the boy. This movement caused the boy to stir and open his eyes.
“Ah, so you’re awake,” Alexei whispered. The boy lay frozen, still, as if he was afraid to move. He lay there motionless just staring up at Alexei. “Do you understand what I am saying?” The boy opened his mouth and tried to speak but he could not make any sound. “Do you remember what happened?” The child shook his head in response. “Do you remember anything from your life before this?” The boy again shook his head and tears welled up in his eyes.
Alexei squeezed the boy’s hand to reassure him. “Well you can stay here with me.” The boy looked over at the little girl sleeping in the chair beside him. “That’s my granddaughter. Do you think she is pretty?” The orphan nodded. “Let me give you some advice, don’t ever tell her—she knows it already. Her name is Isabella. You can call her Bella. I think she would like that.” Alexei leaned over and pushed the hair out of the boy’s eyes so he could look at him. “We shall have to give you a name until you start to remember.” Alexei paused for thought. “A long time ago a man taught me to read and his name was Nicolae. I think that is as good a name as any. Now, get some sleep for it will be morning soon.”
Alexei waited for the boy to go back to sleep. He then picked up Isabella and placed her on the bed beside Nicolae. Isabella rolled over in her sleep and rested her arm gently on Nicolae’s shoulder and then nestled her head into his back. Alexei smiled and sat down in the chair, soon to fall asleep himself.
The next morning Alexei was not the first to awaken. Nicolae and Isabella were already both awake and he could hear his granddaughter chattering away. Alexei kept his eyes shut and remained still, wanting to hear what Isabella was saying but not wanting to let her know he was listening just yet.
“Do you remember how you came to be in the woods?” Isabella asked. Nicolae shook his head. “Never mind, my grandfather said that might happen. He says that sometimes when people get bumps on the head, they forget things. My grandfather knows everything like that; he is very clever. He has taught Katya and me how to read. We can teach you how to read. Would you like that?”
Nicolae made no response to this question. Isabella was talking so quickly that it was taking the boy’s entire concentration just to keep up with what she was saying.
“Anyway,” Isabella continued babbling, “my grandfather fought in the Crusades. He tells wonderful stories about them, of great battles and mighty warriors and far off places. My favourite stories are about Prince Vlad Dracula—he lives up in that castle at the top of the forest. But we’re not allowed to go up there.”
At this remark Alexei finally interrupted. “Stop pestering the boy, Isabella,” he scolded.
Isabella glanced briefly at her grandfather. Outraged by his remark, she turned
back towards Nicolae defiantly.
“Am I pestering you?” Isabella asked and Nicolae shook his head in response. Isabella looked triumphantly back at her grandfather and said, “See!”
The weeks passed and gradually Nicolae’s voice returned to him, but his memory did not. Summer changed to autumn and autumn darkened into winter. The days shortened and the nights grew longer. There had been no more murders since those of Nicolae’s parents. But the people of the village waited with uneasy anticipation. They had heard rumours about killings all over the Carpathians but they had chosen to ignore them, putting these rumours in the back of their minds and going about their everyday lives hoping that the most recent murder would be the last, but secretly dreading the unrelenting darkness of the winter months.
No one understood the murders. Wild boars and wolves would occasionally carry people off, but this was different. The only signs of violence were two tiny puncture marks and, sometimes, a few drops of blood.
People surmised that the deaths were caused by the loss of blood, but how the victims were losing this blood and who or what was taking it, no one knew.
Everyone had a theory. Some said it was snakes, others thought wolves but the most prevalent theory was that it was Vlad. People had seen him return to the castle after learning of his wife’s death, but they had never seen him leave. There had been rumours that the Hungarian King, Mathias Corvinus, had imprisoned him. There were also stories that he was in the castle when his wife had committed suicide and left the castle with his son after she died, but Alexei knew this not true. Vlad had become a legend during his lifetime and people wanted to believe that even after death he had remained living, killing as he did during his life. Alexei could only believe that the man he had met only once was worthy of the title of nobleman. Alexei would defend Vlad’s memory until there was no breath left in his body.
Alexei had returned to his village a month after Vlad heard of his wife’s death. He had brought his friend Nicolae with him. They had met once again soon after Alexei’s encounter with Vlad. Nicolae soon realised that Alexei was a good man and the two had become close friends.
When Vlad’s army had disbanded, Nicolae had planned to join another army but Alexei and Nicolae both knew that Nicolae would become remorseless, cold-blooded, beyond redemption if he joined another army. So Alexei insisted that he come home with him. Nicolae eventually agreed.
Alexei made Nicolae welcome in his home and in exchange for this Nicolae taught Alexei to read. All the books that Isabella had learned from were originally Nicolae’s.
The murders had started infrequently at first. One here, one there, but the victims had all been Gypsies. People presumed that they had frozen to death or died of old age. They took little notice of the tiny puncture marks on the necks of the dead bodies.
The sporadic murders of the Gypsies continued for the next two years. The people of the villages paid no attention to them. They did not really care if a gypsy lived or died. Unfortunately for the villagers, they soon paid for their complacency.
A child disappeared from the village, a young, healthy little girl. The people of the village searched night and day in the woods. During their search some of the villagers went missing themselves. After some time passed they found all the bodies, one by one.
The first body they found was that of the child. She was found face down in the ground. When they examined her they found a few drops of blood leading to two tiny lacerations on the child’s neck. One of the villagers remarked that he had seen a wound like this on one of the dead Gypsies but had thought nothing of it.
The villagers became angry. They wanted explanations, and they wanted retribution. They needed someone to blame for the tragedy and they chose Vlad. They had heard rumours that he had gone mad, for not only had he lost his wife, he had lost his child as well. Stories flourished about him becoming a recluse, skulking around in the darkened hallways of his castle, completely alone. By the end of a few weeks nearly everyone blamed him for the murders.
Alexei protested this, but Nicolae was not so sure. For Nicolae knew what losing your family could do to a person. He and a few villagers decided to go up to the castle to see for themselves whether Vlad was still there.
They waited for darkness and then started the short trek up to the castle. Their families watched from below. As they got closer to the castle all that the families could see were flickering flames from the torches their husbands and sons carried. The forms of the men were obscured by the darkness and by the dense forest. When the exploration party got within a hundred yards of the castle entrance, a few torches seemed to be suddenly snuffed out and the light from the others darted about as if the carriers were running away from something. Within a few minutes all the torches were out. The families could see and hear nothing of the men who had walked up to the castle, but they feared the worst.
Weeks passed as they slowly recovered the bodies of the men. Nicolae was the last to be found and like all the others his face showed panic and terror. The villagers had no idea what had happened, but the expressions on the faces of the dead convinced them that they did not want to know.
The anger of the people now turned into fear and they refused to talk about what had happened. Forty years drifted past in silence. The murders still continued and the fear remained as strong.
Alexei had been grief-stricken by the death of his friend and had always said if he ever had a son that he would call him Nicolae.
Unfortunately, he had never been blessed with a son. His wife, like his daughter, had died in childbirth. However, unlike his son-in-law, he had loved his own child and enjoyed watching her grow up into a beautiful girl. Isabella was growing more like her mother every day, although even Alexei could see at an early stage that his daughter’s beauty would have paled in comparison.
The years went by quickly after the day Isabella found Nicolae in the woods. Isabella and Nicolae became inseparable and more often than not, Katya and Dragen accompanied them.
Isabella’s pretty girlish looks had now matured into beautiful, delicate, fine features. Although her outward appearance was without flaw, her behaviour was quite different. She had grown into a hot-tempered, mischievous teenager with a strong influence over her group of friends. Her influence was not as strong with Nicolae. He would always be the one to chastise her, the one to tell her she’d gone too far, although, sometimes, even Nicolae could not resist her charms. He, like the others, would often placate Isabella and would also agree to do her bidding.
Whenever the group got into trouble it was always Isabella’s fault and she would usually take all the blame. But then again, any time the group got out of trouble it was always due to Nicolae’s exertions.
This leads us to another summer’s day. This day would change the course of Isabella’s life, or should it be said that it would change the course of her death, but she would not realise it at the time.
Katya and Isabella were then both sixteen, walking together along the path that bordered the forest leading to Alexei’s house. On this day Isabella was unusually quiet and thoughtful; she could not stop looking up at the wooded hill which led up to Vlad‘s castle. Isabella’s laconic attitude was making Katya nervous.
“What are you thinking about?” Katya asked.
“Do you ever wonder, Katya…if he’s still alive?”
“Who?”
Isabella pointed up towards the castle and smiled. “Vlad Dracula,” she said. “My grandfather tells us about when he was in the Crusades but he never tells us about what happened afterwards. Do you not wonder about him sometimes?”
“No, absolutely not, and neither should you!” Katya scolded, fearing what Isabella was leading up to.
“Well, I was thinking since we are surprising my grandfather and Nicolae today, they are not expecting us.”
Katya looked at Isabella suspiciously.
I
sabella smiled. “Why don’t we go up and see for ourselves?” she said.
“No, Isabella! We have always been warned never to go near the castle! We’re not even supposed to go into the woods on our own!”
“Oh, where’s your sense of adventure. We can be back in a few hours and no one will be any the wiser.”
Katya knew it was useless to say no to Isabella. She always got her way in the end. “Well, at least let’s go and get Nicolae.”
“No, Katya! You know he is too good; he would never allow us to go up there and he would probably tell my grandfather what I was thinking of doing. Then I would never get to go! Now, come on!” Isabella had already left the path and was running towards the woods. Katya took a long, drawn-out breath and reluctantly trailed after her.
When Isabella reached the castle she stopped to catch her breath and waited for Katya, who had never quite kept up with her. Sometimes Isabella would forget about Katya’s crippled leg and expect her to run just as fast as she could. Katya did not mind this. She liked people to forget about her leg and treat her as if she was just the same as anyone else, but it seemed Isabella was the only one who really did forget. Isabella sat on a large, loose stone that had fallen from one of the broken walls and waited for her friend to catch up. She glanced around the castle that time had ruined.
She was sitting in the middle of a large courtyard. On either side of her were two large, tall brick walls, each with hollow archways that led to what appeared to be passageways. The ground was paved with cobblestones that like the walls were weather-beaten and broken. In front of her was a third large wall with a wooden door in the centre and around the door was a line of smooth stone. Carved on these stones there seemed to be some ancient religious symbols.
When Katya eventually arrived she let out a stifled scream.
“What is it?” asked Isabella who had been startled by the noise. Katya pointed to one of the decaying battlements.
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