Heart Torn Asunder Chapter 20
The time has come now.
Mehmed and his grand army of Turks have come. What splendid timing they had, too. Dawn is hours away its arrival would herald the expulsion of Dinah's powers and become fully human again once more.
Dinah must finish the battle before then or else all would be lost.
Dinah and Vlad were alone in their chamber. Ingeras was with his Governess somewhere else in a safe place. Both of his parents wanted him out of sight and out of mind so that the risk of him being discovered by the enemy should they somehow break inside would be minimal.
At present Dinah stood on the balcony outside facing the direction of which their sources were certain the Turkish forces were amassing from.
With her enhanced night vision Dinah was able to see the Turk army marching ever closer to the Monastery. They would be here within the hour.
"They're almost here," she whispered, somber. Dinah deactivated the vision of bats and scanned the sky in dread. "Dawn will be breaking soon. And with it the loss of my powers. If I have not won this war for you by then-."
"Then we will simply keep fighting until death," said Vlad, bluntly, stoic.
Clutching his hand in both of hers, Dinah said "If I lost you…Your death would end my fight. And Ingeras. He would be alone on the receiving end of horrors no one should ever imagine for their child. We would've failed him. I would've failed him."
Cupping her face in his hands, compassionately, Vlad said "We have done the duty of any good parent. Protected our child. Protected all the children of the kingdom as we set out to do. But perhaps our destiny was not to rule in this life."
"Don't talk like that. I can hear it from everyone else, but not you. Never you," said Dinah. "Do you remember our wedding vow?"
Vlad turned his head to look at her.
" 'Why think separately of this life and the next…'," started Dinah.
" 'When one is born from the last'," finished Vlad, smiling in fondness and love.
Shaking her head empathetically, Dinah said "Time is always too short for those who need it. But for those who love, it lasts forever."
Vlad wrapped Dinah in his arms kissing her forehead. Over her shoulder he stared out into the dark sky silently praying for a miracle.
Down below the Turk's were finally within view of the Monastery.
All men capable to wield a sword or to bear arms are at the Monastery Gates and on the wall wearing full armor for the battle they knew was coming.
As Dinah and Vlad walked through the men parted for the royal pair, more specifically her. What occurred earlier still weighed heavily on their minds, but none of them could think about any of that now.
Too much is at stake to commit such treason again.
Ingeras is safe. Dimitru has been commanded to remain with the boy and the Governess during the entire ordeal.
Cazan was waiting for them. He stepped to the side for them to get a better view.
Not only could the people could see the Turk's now, but hear them too. The heavy footsteps of the Turks echoed in the air.
That wasn't the only thing.
A screeching noise caused Dinah to snap her head up. A bat flew in front of them. Following it's trail Dinah located many more in the tallest tower where an entire school of them was roosting.
This gave Dinah an idea.
Kissing Vlad, Dinah murmured "No matter what happens remember that I love you."
"Never," said Vlad.
Dinah then left Vlad to man the defenses while she went to find those bats. Her suspicions were correct. There's an entire colony of bats up there.
Dinah immediately opened herself up as she let her power flood out into the bats causing them to react quite loudly at the sensation releasing loud and earsplitting screeches. In their minds she read the knowledge that there are thousands of more bats in the area that could be used on her command. Through this link she summoned them all to her. Within minutes thousands of bats arrived from miles flying over the Turks in order to reach her.
The people in the Monastery observed in a strange mixture of awe and fear as hordes and hordes of bats answered her summons to war. Even the Turks currently trying to sneak into the Monastery resorted to stop and stare at the spectacle.
Even if Transylvania arose victorious from this Dinah had no idea whether she would come out of this alive.
Dinah's heart felt like it was being torn in two directions. At first relentlessly pulled one way and then another equaling as ruthless.
Her lover and brother, Dinah loves them both.
Doubt is a disease. It infects the mind, creating a mistrust of people's motives and of one's own perceptions. Doubt has the ability to call into question everything you've ever believed about someone and reinforce the darkest suspicions of our inner circles.
A conflicted heart feeds on doubt and confusion. It will make you question your path, your tactics, your motives. When you stare ahead and darkness is all you see, only reason and determination can pull you back from the abyss.
Women are referred to as the fairer gender. But in the wild, the female species can be far more ferocious than their male counterparts. Defending the nest is both our oldest and strongest instinct. And sometimes it can also be the most gratifying.
Will Dinah be strong enough to prevail in defending it?
Authors Note:
Hope you all like this one!
We are at last getting to a point that I know the majority of you have been dying to read. Here it will finally be decided, something I have been debating about for a very long time for this piece of work.