Chapter Thirty: Of the Unexpected
You are not certain that you will wake at dawn, but surprisingly you do. Gabriel is already up and buckling on his leather garments. He smiles in the soft glow of the sun's rays that shine through the windows of the hall and into the tent.
"Good morning, Mira," he says, belting his sword at his waist.
"Morning," you mutter tiredly. But you force yourself out of the cot. There is little you can do for your appearance, and you fear you may look like a zombie. You shrug, not really caring at this point. You do not feel like impressing anyone; it has caused too many problems already. You simply strap on your sword, sheath your boot daggers, and adjust your boots.
You hear the sound of Carl's voice approaching. They must be returning from the weapons room. He is explaining some absurd scientific process to Vladimir. Vladimir must be getting annoyed, you think. You exit the tent before Van Helsing. You like this fortress much better in daylight. It seems almost friendly.
"Is everything ready down there?" You ask Carl, as he approaches.
"Yes, Mira. Time to inform the people… or, the early risers at least," replies Carl.
"I don't think anyone slept last night," you say, shaking your head as you walk out of the hall into the sunlight. You stroll across the courtyard to the opposite halls. When you enter, you notice that the halls are packed and the people look gloomy. Their morale must be very low. The food merchants are dusting off some shelves and setting up items so that they can give everyone an equal amount of nourishment. What little conversation you could hear, dies down and everyone looks at you. "Good morning," you greet, with a nod, "I… I fear I have a bad announcement. But do not be too alarmed. We have it all figured out." The whispers begin again and the nervousness builds quickly within the room. You silence them with your hand. "Dracula's forces from Budapest are likely going to attack this evening," you state. There is a general uproar. You talk over it. "Now listen to me! After breakfast, you are to head over to the main hall, and we will direct you to the weapons room. There we will outfit you with appropriate devices and give you a brief lesson on killing vampires." The people start talking loudly now, amongst themselves. You sigh and leave the room. They do not need any more information than that at the moment. It is not nice news to wake up to, after all.
You cross the courtyard again and enter the main hall, where Van Helsing is cooking something over a fire in the fireplace. "Did you tell them?" He asks. You nod, taking a seat next to him at the fire. "And?"
"Oh, there was an uproar," you say, nodding again. You are joined, momentarily, by Father Delavego, Carl, and Vladimir. Van Helsing serves breakfast and then turns to you.
"I want to coat the swords now," he says. You raise a brow.
"…Ok," you say. He takes out the vials of werewolf venom, and a piece of cloth.
"You have to coat it quick because it dries fast," states Van Helsing. You take out your blades and lay them out. He hands you the cloth and opens the vial, pouring some venom onto the cloth. Quickly, you rub it all over your sword. He gives you some more, and you coat your daggers as well. Then he takes it and coats his weapons. That uses one of the three vials. You suddenly notice the horrid stench and nearly keel over when you smell it.
"Ack!" You grimace, sheathing your weapons and standing up, "I need some air!" Van Helsing laughs slightly as you walk out the door and out to the archway. You look over the snow-covered valley and see your horse-tracks from your night escapade. The mountains are very beautiful in their snow-covered vastness. Today the sky is crystal clear. The night blizzard was merely an intense squall, apparently.
Suddenly, you hear the sound of hoof beats, and look up just in time to see a rider coming towards you. You are about to say something when you are swept up onto the horse. You scream (rather belatedly) as the rider charges down the valley in the direction of the town. You struggle against him but find that he is far too strong for you to escape. This must be a nightmare; it just has to be a nightmare…
But the Courts of Andume are fast vanishing behind you, and the town is coming into view. Within a few hours, it grows from a dot to a life-size town. You ride captive through the gates and they shut behind you with a menacing finality. Looking around, you see Dracula's troops have arrived and have made themselves at home… or so you guess. You cannot see any of them, but their wagons and horses are all over the place. The rider is taking you straight to your castle…or rather, Dracula's castle. It is afternoon now, and you are dead exhausted. The rider, without a word, removes your rather limp form from the horse, and takes you to one of the lower rooms of the castle. This one is better furnished, and seems to have more nooks and crannies to it. He places you on the bed, and leaves, shutting the door. You hear it lock.
Desperately, you leap up out of the bed and go to the door, jerking the handle. You sigh, finally, leaning against the door.
"Please don't come for me, Gabriel…" You whisper. Yet part of you wishes he would. You can only hope that everything will still work out in the end.
After sitting for an hour or two on the bed, you hear the sound of horses at the gate, and a great thud. You jump up and run to the window. Looking out past the gate, you can see that the entire town is trying to break it down and get in. The few mortal guards on duty are running around the walls, looking quite flabbergasted. They are bracing the door from the inside with all available equipment. But it only holds up so long against three thousand angry townspeople. It breaks, much to the discombobulated guards' dismays. Gabriel charges in, basically killing any guard he sees. Then he looks around wildly. You fling open the windows.
"I'm up here, Gabriel!" You scream. He looks up.
"Mira! I'm coming!" He yells back. He dismounts his horse and runs through the general chaos of the town, disappearing beneath you. The door of your room swings wide open and the rider from earlier stands there.
"Come, now," the rider demands, walking towards you. With a screech, you run around the bed, able to steer clear of him. He still gets you cornered somehow. You brace yourself for the worst (not even able to think about drawing your own sword). Suddenly, you hear a clang and the rider falls away dead. Van Helsing pulls his sword out of the guard and looks at you.
"I think we've all learned a lesson from that," he says, exasperated. He grasps you with his free arm and you sprint out of the room. By the time you reach the street, the townspeople have assembled at the square and await you. They cheer when you approach with Van Helsing. "Now that we have our leader back," states Van Helsing, "What do you want to do?" The people fall silent. Vladimir, Carl, and Father Delavego are right in front of you.
"Kill vampires!" One of them shouts. Everyone cheers in accordance. Van Helsing looks at you.
"Well?" He asks, raising a brow.
"Nightfall is not for a few hours," you say. Van Helsing nods, thinking about this.
"I should like to see that gold plate in the tower!" Finally says Carl.
"And I!" Adds Father Delavego.
"Then let's go!" Says Carl. He and Father Delavego walk off to the castle. You shake your head.
"Well, there will be no vampires to kill until nightfall, so what say you to a lunch break?" Van Helsing suggests to the crowd. They cheer once again and settle out.
"How did you restore their morale so well?" You ask aside, looking at him.
"I did nothing," Van Helsing states, "I simply led them in the quest to retrieve you. They picked up weapons as soon as you were kidnapped and once I announced you had been kidnapped, they all decided unanimously that they wanted to go and save you from the clutches of evil. So, here we are." You blink and shake your head. "Your people love you, Mira. They would do almost anything for you."
"I feel unworthy," you mutter, sitting down and looking around the town. "What are we going to do, Van Helsing? Dracula is going to be enraged when he awakes."
"That is be expected," consoles Van Helsing, "But we will send him back to the fiery depths of hell." You are both looking at Dracula's ring, which remains unmoved from your finger. After the moment of silence, you follow his eyes and see that he is still looking at the ring.
"You want it back?" You ask. Van Helsing looks you in the eyes.
"No, I do not want it back. It represents all I do not know and all I hate. I could think of no one better to bear the burden for me than you, Mira. For you do not know how much it pained me to wear it…" Explains Van Helsing.
"Pain?" You inquire, "But you were left with it, were you not?" He regards you intently. "It was your trophy."
"It was the trophy of an angry heart," he says dryly, "It is worthless to me, and worth everything at the same time…it is best that I do not carry it at this moment. When this is over, I will take my burden back from you." You nod, looking out over the people.
"Amazing…" You state, "Simply amazing."
"What's amazing?" Asks Van Helsing.
"How long this can go on with bare effects on Dracula," you say, looking far off.
"He is a hollow form," says Van Helsing, "Little affects him…he only knows thirst, desire, lust, hunger, and anguish…all these are the traits of a wild beast that hunts. That is all he is, Mira. He has no soul anymore. Yet his ability to imitate it is astounding." You nod.
"Well the clock is ticking…someone who holds significance to me is going to die tonight," you state. Van Helsing just stares at you rather incredulously.
"Mira…you do not love a wild beast…do you?"
A/N: Would you believe it? I think I am finally about to wind down on this story...maybe. :: mysterious smile ::