I drove the carriage out through a long and winding road, taking the scenic route. In Transylvania, the exquisiteness of the wilderness, its pure overwhelming splendor, can knock you off-balance if you aren't prepared for it. From the dead silence in the coach behind me, I guessed the junge englishe herren was not prepared for it. All movement had ceased. I smiled. Only the beauty of Romania could render such amazement.
We rounded a hill and the land unfolded like paper below us both, emerald trees glittering with some past dew, the rich blue evening summer sky stretching eternally above it, the small and insignificant path carved out by man. I smiled a little, thinking of the villagers. Their excuse for this was God. My excuse was . . . well, I didn't have one.
All was quiet behind me- perhaps the herr had fallen asleep? "Look- isten szek- God's seat," I said under my breath and crossed myself sarcastically.
We- I- kept forward. My passenger was so quiet there was no possible way he was awake. The man was either sleeping or dead. I much preferred it that way, as I could enjoy the solitude and comfortable quiet. The trees surrounding me on both sides were very calming, even on the precipitous hills where the horses had to slow to a trot. I began to notice wolves weaving subtly alongside the carriage, particularly a respected silvery male. I fought against a smile.
It was on one of the steep hills that a tentative hand tapped me on the shoulder. It took me all of my self-control not to jump out of my skin. It was, of course, Mr. Harker. And I'd been so sure he was asleep. "Would you like me to walk?" he asked. "We always walk on the slopes in England. Spare the horses."
We rode for a long time, and I began to notice the wolves. They had caught onto the fact there was something living and breathing in my carriage. There were wolves on all sides of the carriage, like a flood of fur, and more in the forest along the left and right- I could see their coats gleaming in the moonlight.
, I thought.I let them go on like that for a while- they weren't, after all, hurting anything- until they started to get rowdy. The ones closest to the carriage began to bite it as best as possible and shove it with their shoulders. The wolves up by the horses were the worst- in impatience their lips rolled up and exposed their teeth and tongues, which they showed to the horses freely. The horses, for their part, began to panic and jerk the carriage in different directions.
"That's it," I said under my breath.
I yanked back on the reins as hard as I could- which is pretty hard- and the horses reared onto all fours in an immediate stop. I jumped as soon as the wheels were solitary.
The wolves leapt back and looked at me, eyes bright and tails wagging. They totally thought I was going to leave the horses and my passenger to them.
"Gehen Sie! Jetzt!" (Go! Now!)
Their wagging tails paused and their ears receded somewhat. I stomped my foot in their general direction and they scattered, tails between legs, casting forlorn glances back over their shoulders.
While I was out, I looked around for any other potential dangers, and when I checked closer, I saw it. We had had dry weather for a while before this particular incident, you see, which made Transylvania not only dangerous because of wolves, vampires, and spooky townspeople, but also trees that will spontaneously burst into flame. Not live ones, of course- but when a dead tree falls down on top of another dead tree, friction and some other laws of nature come into play and- whoosh!- the whole thing lights up.
I saw something bright out of the corner of my eye, turned. As I've said, two trees had fallen on each other, and a small fire had erupted. It looked blue through the layers of trees.
"Shit," I hissed under my breath and ran toward it.
It wasn't a terribly big fire, but a hot one. I tried to stomp it out and my pantleg caught on fire- just a little bit- so that was out. In the end I kicked a big rock on it, which seemed to smother it, and ran back for the carriage.
Harker was leaning out of the window. He looked puzzled.
I jumped back into the driver's seat, yelled at the wolves one more time, as they had been creeping forward, and started the horses. Said horses were so hyped up now that when they got the "go" signal, they took off in a fashion as through they had been strapped to rockets.
We went like that for a while. The horses didn't appear to lose any steam at all, not even on the five more miles to the castle.
We reached the castle's front. There was an unused, grassy area the trees hadn't taken over yet that worked quite nicely- I yanked on the reins. The horses planted their feet, leaving long, deep marks in the ground. The carriage itself swung around with the centripetal force and nearly tipped over before coming to blessed halt.
I jumped back out of the seat and half-ripped Harker's door open, still looking down to avoid him seeing me, helped him out. He was a little shaky, I noticed with mild amusement.
I left him there without saying anything and took the horses to a little clearing some while away from the castle.
I plunged out of the driver's seat. The horses were terribly stirred up by now and they practically danced where they were, legs shuffling, heads tossing, tails swishing. They had a common bridle, which I seized and began to drag over to the nearest sturdy tree. The charges were not entirely susceptible to this idea- when I say drag I mean that I was pulling and their planted hooves digging into the soil. I tied their reins securely around the tree.
The circle of wolves still stood around me. They almost radiated solemnity; legs straight, tails slack, and hanging heads, but their golden eyes were keen. The silver one especially. I reached out and firmly held his bottom jaw- the wolf at first braced all four legs and whined, but I leaned in and stared his straight in the eyes.
"Don't," I said. The animal relaxed. I kissed it on the nose and its tail wagged briefly.
The next second I was an inconspicuous owl in the sky and hurtling fast toward Castle Dracula.
I hit the stonewall and climbed up. My castle, which lies very dear to my heart, was run through on every side with chinks and inequalities in its building. A more simple place to climb you could not find. In four seconds I was up and over, and another few I was halfway down the hallway and headed for the door.
Katherina poked her head out of one of the rooms I passed and followed me. Her "sisters" ran in her wake like attendants to a queen. "Master?" Elizabeth piped up. "Is he here?"
" The solicitor." Ava clarified. I waved them both off, but to no avail. They kept following me downstairs.
"Well, is he?"
"Not now!' I mouthed.
I jumped the last three steps and lunged for the door. My three Brides still stood at the staircase, in full view of the door, staring at me in wide-eyed consternation. I made a motion for them to hide or leave or something, but their eyes were blank; Katherina knit her eyebrows.
"Go!" I whisper-yelled. They got the hint then, and a moment later where there had been three beautiful women was fast vanishing white mist. In less than a minute it had filtered away.
I went for the door and began pulling back thick locks and heavy chains. It swung open with a heavy screech and I, for the first time, got a good look at herr Jonathan Harker.
