Chapter Two: 1461
Nature Appears
Shyriyh ran as fast as she could towards the Turkish village. She had not forgotten the young count. Had he not given her words to live? Had she not thought of him at least once a day since first laying eyes upon him? And had she not repeated his name to herself nearly every night as she fell asleep? She would never forget.
"Count! Count Dracula!" She wailed as she raced towards the battle scene. There were at least thirty Turkish soldiers surrounding the Count and the human man was fighting them off quite well with a mere sword. He looked towards her before brutally stabbing a man to death. "Stop!" She cried. "Why are you doing this!" Shyriyh sobbed as she ran into the circle of soldiers. "Do not advance! She's an innocent!" The leader of the soldiers commanded. "I am avenging the deaths of my loved ones," the Count said with no tone, but the same deep, accentuated voice Shyriyh remembered and adored. "Do you not remember me, Count? I am Lady Kaernia, Shyriyh the elf. You comforted me on the liberation field so many years ago… do you not remember your words?" She sobbed, praying her love remembered her. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I remember." The remaining six soldiers watched intently, hoping that this mystery woman could calm the bloodthirsty Count. "I shall take him!" She announced. "He must be executed!" One of the soldiers shouted. "No! We must get back to Rumanian land!" Shyriyh cried to the Count. After all these years of waiting she could not bare to lose him again. "Ah!" She screamed as the soldiers advanced on them. The Count held up his bloody sword to defend this forever-young Elven Princess. "No! Do not kill them!" Shyriyh cried. Instead she lifted her arms. A large electrical current blew through the air, knocking the soldiers unconscious. "Come now!" The Princess called to her Count. She grabbed his hand and ran into the Turkish-Rumanian bordering woods. "What are you doing!" He shouted as they ran. "Keeping you from getting killed!" She cried. "I do not care for it is revenge! Revenge for the siege as you must know is very well earned!" He roared at her. "Please!" She cried. They stopped running once they had hit Rumanian soil. "My dearest Count, I have never forgotten that day that you comforted me. I will be traumatized should you be killed. You are a human—a delicate creature. Please… leave nature to avenge your losses. I did," she told him as she squeezed his hands ever tighter in hers. "Count Dracula, it is your name, yes?" She asked. She could swear she saw a slight smile on his face before he answered. "Yes. I am Count Vladislaus Tepes Dracula. And you are Lady Shyriyh Kaern of the Elven Forest, Kaernia. No?" She nodded. "Please, allow me a walk with you to your castle," she inadvertently begged. "I shall allow it," The Count said as he began to walk down the dirt road surrounded by lovely willows that wept in perpetual misery. He led her up a path that opened into a castle, which was right on the edge of a dangerous cliff. It was the creepy, dark castle she could always see from the guest bedroom window. The one that protruded sadistically from the trees. "This is your castle?" She asked in awe. He nodded. She had always wondered who lived there… and what a surprise! Her long, lost love! Why had I never bothered to check? She thought to herself with a quiet snort or laughter. "I suppose I shall take your surprise kindly?" He asked. "Oh indeed!" She assured him. "My palace… there," she pointed across the trees towards a large palace that was made from coral, but looked like ivory. "Ah yes, those are the Kaernian woods after all," he realized with a slight look of confusion of his face. "Would you care to come inside, young lady?" He asked. "Shyriyh!" Before she could answer she saw her uncle running up the hill. "Shyriyh! What are you doing here!" He asked nervously. He was so worried when she ran off… "I was just walking the Count home," she said. Her uncle looked nervously at the dark human man. He was tall and deathly beautiful. His hair had not changed in the long twenty-two year range that Shyriyh had missed him. It was still midnight black and shiny like ebony despite his age of about thirty-nine. "I think the Count is able to walk himself home. He is an adult after all… come Shyriyh. It is bedtime," he said as the Count glared at the Elven Lord. "Good evening then," the Count said with a slight bow before he walked into his castle. "Wait!" Shyriyh called. He turned back around, his tall military boots tapping lightly on the cold stone floor. "Shyriyh!" Her uncle scolded. He was afraid that his delicate niece would get too attached to this older man and begin to… well… you know the possibilities. Not to mention the fact that he was human! An elf and a human? It seemed unspeakable at the time. "Please, come to my palace anytime you wish, Count. In fact," she began. "Shyriyh! It is time to leave!" Her uncle interrupted, his heart beginning to pound heavily. He had prayed to his brother, who was now in the spirit world, that he would watch over Shyriyh as if she were his own child. He could not let her be… well… raped… taken and whatever else have you by this dark, murderous Count. "Come by soon! Please!" She called as her uncle pulled her by the hand back through the woods. "I will see you around, Count!" She called back with a wave before disappearing into the forest. The Count tilted his head with innocent surprise and smiled slightly for the first time in years. "Likewise," he said as he walked again into his castle… this time letting the large font door close behind him.