Chapter 26

"Shhh!" Vlad shushed Natasha. "We must be quiet; no one must know that we have entered the city."

"Why?" Natasha asked as she crouched down besides Vlad, who had found himself a dark area to hide in. We arrived at the gates but apparently it seemed like Vlad wanted to sneak into his own city. It was night and the gates were teeming with guards. An idea popped into my mind but I quickly decided against it. Every time I tried to enact my own ideas, they usually turned into a disaster so I decided to stick with Vlad and whatever outrageous plan he had.

"It is rather embarrassing for a king to go waltzing down the streets...like this." Vlad replied in the same hushed tone and pointed to himself. I looked at him; he had dirt all over his face and clothes, along with some blood and some other...substances. The now dirty bandage was still wrapped around his head and his sleeve was torn off. Vlad's muscles bulged as he flexed his arm and I gulped.

No wonder why he could easily pin me down. I thought and I made a mental note to never engage into another fight with him...ever again.

"Even if I don't mind " Vlad continued "I have to be an example for my people." Vlad grabbed my hand. "Come, we must hurry." He whispered and led me away from the gates.

We stopped in front of the gigantic tree-wall. Vlad muttered something and put his free hand on the deadly wall. All of a sudden, a small doorway opened up in front of us.

"It's an emergency exit." Vlad said and turned to me. "Follow my every move and try not to touch anything or make a sound."

He then led the way inside and I followed him watching my every step. Once we were inside the door closed, leaving us in total darkness. Suddenly lights started to spring from the side of the walls and soon the whole tunnel of tree branches was bathed in a warm yellow light. To my surprise I couldn't see any torches anywhere, only small balls of yellow light hovering beside us. At the end of the passageway there was another door. Never in my entire life had I seen such a thing. In front of us was a passage with absolutely nothing that could kill you. The only thing there was a beautifully tiled floor, it was an azure blue with pearl white tiles all lined up in several rows. The white tiles had veins of azure going through them and then they all twisted in the middle to form a spiral. Vlad didn't say anything about it being dangerous or anything of the sort, but then why would he ask me not to talk or touch anything? Maybe its booby trapped like in all those adventure movies. Who knows?

Vlad stepped on the pearl tile and then stepped on another one a small distance away. About halfway through, my slightly clumsy self tripped over my own feet and I was sent spiraling down. In a flash, Vlad had caught my arm, keeping me balanced while one of my feet was on the pearly tile.

"Careful." Vlad half-whispered, his eyes then widened as in shock to what he did. I stared at him, confused as to why would Vlad be shocked if he said a single word? Out of the blue and arrow flew right between our faces barely missing me by an inch.

"RUN!" Vlad shouted and pushed me towards the door on the other side of the tunnel. Just as I started running arrows started shooting at us from nowhere. We ducked and dodged and ran for our lives. I opened the door and ran inside with Vlad behind me. He quickly closed the door and we both leaned against it.

I let out a deep breath and turned to Vlad. "What kind of death trap was that?!"

"You should've listened to me and not tripped." Vlad replied

"It's your fault that you didn't tell me about that?!"

Immediately, after I said that, an axe flew straight between us, barely missing my nose and buried itself into the door behind us.

"Oh..." Vlad said "I forgot about that." He grabbed my hand and pulled me after him as he ran through a large chamber. All sizes of axes and spears were being thrown at us from everywhere. Without warning the ground opened up under us and we both fell down into it and went shooting down a slide. Vlad was far ahead of me, shooting down the slide.

"What is this place?!" I shouted at Vlad.

"A mistake!" Vlad shouted

The ground soon appeared in my sight. I saw Vlad flying into the air and then landing on his back. I braced myself for the incoming impact. At once, I flew into the air and landed on Vlad.

He groaned "If I'm not mistaken, this is most likely the second time something like this happened...just under different circumstances."

I quickly rolled off of him. "Where are we?" I asked, looking around. The hazardous slide had vanished and we were in a large, damp room filled with large barrels of all sizes.

Vlad slowly got up. "In my wine cellar."

"Now tell me...why did we have to go through an area filled with booby traps, that almost killed us several times and ending with us appearing in your...wine cellar?" I asked

"Booby traps! That's what you call my work of art! A booby trap!"

"Your work of art? Don't tell me that you're the one responsible for this!"

"Yes, I am. And I am very proud of it."

"Proud of what? Proud of the fact that it nearly killed us?!"

Vlad turned to me. "Except for that part."

We heard a door slam. "Who's in here?" A gruff voice yelled.

Vlad grabbed my hand and pulled me behind a large barrel of wine. "Be quiet." He whispered "We must get out of here."

We ran across the wine cellar to the opposite side, ducking and hiding behind various barrels along the way. He pulled me with him up a flight of stairs and then out of a door. We ran into a large glowing white, courtyard. I only caught a glimpse of the courtyard as we ran across it. The buildings were made of white, all except for the colorful decorations that surrounded the windows and edges in various bright colors.

All of a sudden, Vlad stopped running and I bumped into his back. I peeked over his shoulder, curious as to why he suddenly stopped. In front of us was a large group of vampires, of angry looking vampires. I gulped, knowing that we were in a lot of trouble. Or rather Vlad was. A large man stepped in front of the crowd. He had tattoos all over his arms, he had a large black mustache and he was bald.

"Your Majesty." He said "I see you have finally arrived."

"Gustave!" Vlad laughed "Didn't I tell you to just call me by my name. You are no stranger to me." Vlad paused and looked around. "What is with the gathering?"

Gustave stepped closer to Vlad and said in a very serious tone. "Oh you know, just a small welcoming party."

"Doesn't seem like that to me." Vlad replied "You practically invited everyone."

"You know how it works..." Gustave whispered "I tell one single person and the word spreads, you know I can't stop that...anyway" he said louder "Nobody wants to miss the sight of their king all drenched in blood and mud!" he laughed "Oy! And we want to see your girl as well!"

I blushed when he had said that and stood quietly and embarrassed behind Vlad. Thankfully his height was keeping me well out of sight. His girl! Since when am I HIS girl? I thought.

"My girl?" Vlad asked shocked. "Since when is she my girl..."

Vlad was suddenly interrupted by a man who shouted from the crowd. "Oh, come on your highness! No more playing games, we want to see your soon-to-be-bride!"

"Rumors spread way to fast around here and I can assure you that she is not to be my bride!" Vlad loudly replied back and then whispered so quietly that no one else heard. "...yet."

Gustave looked at Vlad with a mischievous smile on his face and I slowly backed away, trying to still be hidden from sight from the large crowd of people.

"I forgot one thing. Your welcoming present!" Gustave said and sprung towards Vlad. I quickly side-stepped the both of them and watched how they wrestled each other at the same time smiling at their childish play. I suddenly felt as if I had several people staring at me. I slowly turned around only to come face to face with a group of wide-eyed vampires. A man who looked to be slightly older than 35 stepped forward. He was bald, all except for a small ponytail on the middle of his head which was a deep red. He gently took my hand and pressed it to his lips.

"You are more beautiful than I was ever able to imagine. A beauty which is hidden within your soul that not many people see but they shall one day." He mumbled while I slowly pried my hand from his. "You would make a perfect queen!"

"A...A...Queen?!" I stuttered "But you don't know anything about me!"

Another vampire stepped forward and she pulled the man away from me. "Don't mind him; he has an uncanny talent for seeing things that are to come."

"Yes! It's a gift! A wonderful gift!" The man shouted

The woman scowled at him and he fell silent "In other words..." She continued "He is a girthiame, a seer." The woman then turned to the man and said "You know what to do."

Then the man turned and motioned at the crowd gathered around Vlad and Gustave whom were now resting from their little play fight. The men from the crowd jumped on Vlad, pushing Gustave away. They lifted Vlad up in the air and carried him off into a direction while he laughed. All of a sudden, some women grabbed my arms and dragged me in the opposite direction of Vlad. We entered a nearby house and they took me up the stairs into a room. In the middle of the room there was a large bed, on the bed was a dress of deep red.

Robin sat on a log outside of the small house which was hidden in the woods. The meeting with his sister's husband had gone badly and has stirred up some unwanted memories of his past. Dennya had sent him out of the house to do some more "thinking" about his behavior and to calm down. He loved his sister so he complied with her wishes and didn't kill her husband...just yet. Many years ago he had taken an oath, a blood oath, which meant he could not stop until he fulfilled the oath he had made. He was bound by this oath until he either killed the person or if something drastic happened. A blood oath, to the elves, had a very different kind of magic involved, a very powerful type of magic that could result in your own death if you didn't keep it. There were exceptions, but those were as rare as sapphires in the ground. Robin shook his head and looked at the long scar on the palm of his hand.

Xarnoth stood next to the grave of his sister. He stared at the large grey stone that marked her last resting place. The only thing was that her grave was empty; nobody had been able to retrieve Dennya's body. He stared at the stone feeling nothing but anger, hatred and sorrow.

Xarnoth bent down and pulled out his dagger. "I will avenge you, my dear sister." He said and slid the dagger across his palm, creating a small pool of blood in the middle of his hand. He closed his hand and let the blood run through his fingers as he turned his hand and let the rest of the blood fall onto the grave of his sister.

"I vow." Xarnoth started "I vow that I will kill the man who did this even of I have to spend my last breath in doing so. I will avenge you, my sister."

Xarnoth got up and pulled out a piece of clothing and wrapped it on his hand. The blood soaked into the white cloth, turning its pure white into a dark red color. He put the dagger back into its sheath.

"Xarnoth." Another elf said who looked very similar to Xarnoth, except that his hair was a dark brown instead of blonde like Xarnoth's. This elf had a golden crown on his head.

"My son." He said "A letter has arrived. We have won the war."

Xarnoth suddenly turned around. "But to what cost?!" Xarnoth asked "How many lives were lost in this fruitless war? How many?!"

There was a minute of silence then Xarnoth continued."I don't care about the damn war!" he growled "This war has brought nothing but pain and suffering!"

"No, it hasn't, we have brought great joy to all the kingdoms by defeating those barbarians." His father said "You should be proud of it."

"Those barbarians!" Xarnoth shouted "The reason for this war were not in the interests of the 7 kingdoms! It was meant only for you to benefit from! Have you no idea what pain and suffering you have caused among our people!? The mutilated, bloodied and battered bodies of elves coming back to their families, dead. Half of your people, dead, and the other half in mourning."

"I understand that you are in pain of losing your sister." Xarnoth's father said "But it was for the best."

"The best for whom?" Xarnoth roared catching the attention of several nobles and servants that were in the area. "Yourself?!"

"It is your war that was the cause of so much pain! It is your war that will be the cause of so much hatred! I have my reasons to hate that vampire but you don't! You don't have any reason to hate them, they did nothing to you!"

"Xarnoth." The elf said and stepped forward.

Xarnoth held his hand up. "Don't father." He interrupted "I am leaving; I am going to honor my oath and avenge my sister. You won't be able to do anything about this. That's what you wanted, didn't you?"

"Want what?" Xarnoth's father asked.

"For her to die. For my sister to die or as you call her..." Xarnoth stopped then growled "Half-blood."

Xarnoth then turned from his father and started walking towards the gate.

"Xarnoth!" His father called out. "Please. Please don't do this. Please. I need you here. I need you here to stay and celebrate this well-earned victory with me!"

Xarnoth stopped but didn't turn around. "Goodbye father." He said and stormed out the cemetery.

Robin sat there on the log, in the middle of the forest, thinking about everything that had transpired. How his father started a war against a peaceful people who defended their country so well that earned them the reputation of 'monster' and 'murderer' because of their ferocious way of fighting. His sisters near-death experience which had caused him to feel so much hatred against that peaceful people, forced to fight in order to protect their homes and families. Robin felt as if he had blood on his hands, the blood of innocent people that the elvish army had murdered. During the short years that the war had lasted, it was one of the bloodiest. It had all started when a few elvish families were killed by a so called 'werewolf' who were the vampires allies. That was the excuse that his father had used to invade the neighboring kingdom which was ten times larger than the elvish kingdom. Whole villages were slaughtered, their blood staining the ground, the smell of fire and vast forests and fields turned into a barren wasteland covered in ash and rotting bodies. The smell of it was unbearable. The thought of it was unbearable. The countless people that Robin himself had killed at the order of his father.

Even after a hundred years of living with the hatred towards one vampire, it was hard to let it go. Robin wanted revenge, but now he doubted if he actually wanted to kill the very vampire who had almost killed his sister and then saved her.

Robin heard a twig snap behind him. He jumped up, drawing his sword out at the same time and pointed it at the intruder's neck. The intruder, surprisingly was his sister's husband. Robin rapidly put his sword back before he did anything regretful and said "If you'll excuse me." Robin started walking past the commander towards the small cottage. Suddenly a sword was pointed at his throat. The commander had his sword pointed at Robin's throat. Robin looked at him with annoyance.

"Let's fight." He said "I see you're still quite angry. If we fight you have the opportunity to take out all that anger of yours."

Robin didn't move, he didn't even blink. He stood there as if he was a statue. Robin smirked and pulled out his sword pushing away the commander's sword. He then swung his sword at the commander's head. Dennya's husband ducked and swung his own sword at Robin's legs, but Robin jumped over the sword. They continued like this, fighting with all their strength, ducking parrying, blocking and dodging their swords. After fifteen minutes they both stopped and sat down, covered in sweat and breathing hard.

The vampire asked "Well that was nice wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was surprisingly refreshing." Robin replied surprised that the hatred he had felt towards the vampire next to him had somewhat dissipated. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Toryal Eyntlain"

Sorry for the long update. It seems like my brain decided to take a trip to the bermuda triangle and got lost there! Luckily, i found it! And of course, finally managed (after so long) to post! Hope you enjoy!