***************Back with another update. Please enjoy. ************
"Woah." Menilos said in awe of the palace before him. "This place is huge." Merina looked up at the pillars. The building was a light grey color.
"Exquisite isn't it?"" Dazius asked.
"Yes, it is. It's beautiful." Merina replied. She pulled the string of her cloak to tighten it around her neck.
"Better than the palace in Phthia?" Patroclus joked. Merina giggled before she replied.
"You want me to answer?' Patroclus laughed. Merina still thought the palaces in Greece were more elaborate. She hadn't stepped foot in the palace of Crobyzes yet but, it seemed a bit dim and gloom. The palaces she had been to in Greece were brighter and seemed livelier. Merina only saw two guards standing in front of the gates of Crobyzes palace. She thought it was odd. Comparing Peleus's palace to the one she was standing on; a lot was off. There were no servants roaming the palace grounds. There were only two palace guards. The gloomy air. Her suspicions had to be right. Merina watched as the flag of Dacia hung from one of the towers of the castle. The front doors to the castle opened letting out a loud screeching noise.
"This way." Dazius said extending his hand. Merina, Patroclus, Menilos and the team of myrmidons that accompanied them to Dacia followed Dazius and his sister into the castle. The castle on the inside was rustic and had a gloomy feeling. There were paintings and the long hallway leading to the kings meeting room was lit with candles. Merina finally saw a few servants. They were dressed in dark grey dresses with ruffled sleeves. Their hair was tied in a high bun. Their eyes looked lifeless. The servants bowed as Dazius led the Egyptian and team of Greeks down the hallway. It wasn't long until everyone was standing in front of a big black door. The crest of Dacia was engraved into the door. Dazius turned around to face Patroclus.
"The king is this way. He's been awaiting your arrival." Dazius placed his arm behind his back. He used his free hand to push the door open. When the door opened, the air grew colder. There stood a big throne. It had silver trimming. There were three steps leading up to the king's seat. There were torches on the wall with flames illuminating the king's seat. There were two large windows to the left and right side of the throne. They were draped heavily, and little sunlight came through. There sat an older man. He looked no older than 55. He had long white hair. He wore a heavy fur cloak and held a staff in his hand. He was pale with eyes that could pierce anyone's soul. His eyes were different. They were scarlet red. Besides him were two servants. The man waived his hand and the door to the room closed by itself.
"What the hell?" Patroclus whispered.
"Father." Dazius said as he bowed to the king. "The Achaeans have arrived." Merina looked at Dazius. His eyes were no longer gold. They were red. Merina looked at Vitanzia. Her eyes were now red. She glanced at the servants besides the king. Their eyes were now red too.
"Achaeans." The man waived his hand. Merina, Patroclus, Menilos and the myrmidons fell to their knees screaming in excruciating pain. "You dare bring yourselves here?" His eyes turned a deeper shade of red causing everyone under his spell to scream louder. Merina mustered enough strength to ignite flames from her hands causing the kings spell to break. She surrounded the king in a circle of fire. It was enough to scare him. He stood up from his throne. Vitanzia's sweet face turned into that of an evil creature. Fangs protruded from her mouth. Her ears grew longer and pointier. Her nails increased in length too. She kicked Merina across the room and pinned her down to the floor. Patroclus stood up unsheathing his sword. He went to swing at Vitanzia but, her brother stood in front of her. Patroclus was in disbelief. He was fast. He ran from one side of the room to the other within seconds. Dazius eyes were now a different shade of red. His ears were pointier than they were before.
"Lower your sword." Dazius demanded.
"You tell your sister to get off of Merina." Patroclus replied. Merina was able to move her hand while being pinned down by Vitanzia. She touched a piece of Vitanzia's coat, and it caught on fire. Vitanzia, frightened, screeched while rolling around on the ground trying to put the flame out. Merina waved her hand and extinguished the flames around the king.
"We didn't come here to fight!" Merina yelled.
"Lies. You Greeks are liars!" The king yelled.
"We really didn't." Menilos chimed in. "We came to warn you about something." The king stood still staring at Merina and Menilos without a blink. He lifted his right hand. Dazius and Vitanzia's eyes turned back to their normal color. Patroclus lowered his sword.
"Brown skinned woman." The king called to Merina. "Are you Achaean?" The king asked. Merina shook her no.
"No sir. I am not. I am from Kemet. Egypt to you sir."
"I see. I shall listen to you." The king said sitting down in his throne chair. He held his staff and looked at Merina. "Proceed." Merina instinctively sat on her knees placing her hands in her lap. Patroclus noticed Merina's actions as well as the king.
"King..." Merina didn't know his name.
"Drafius." The king replied.
"King Drafius. Sir Peleus sent you a warning that the people of this town should flee. Agamemnon, King of Mycenae has employed one of the best warriors in Greece to destroy the cities of Crobyzes and Obulenses because of the stop of trade. Peleus received your response and you did not heed warning. Nor did the king of Obulenses. The warrior that Agamemnon has sent is an excellent fighter and very skilled. He doesn't wish to go through with Agamemnon's request. However, Agamemnon will make sure he did." Drafius laughed.
"Is he a fool?" He continued to laugh.
"Sir. If Achilles doesn't complete his task and Agamemnon sees that he didn't, issues can arise in Greece. We are here to ask you to stage the destruction of both cities to prevent future issues."
"Stage it?"
"Yes sir." Merina replied. The next part that Merina wanted to discuss with king Drafius was private. "I do ask. If you and I can have a private conversation." Menilos and Patroclus glanced at Merina in confusion when she made her request.
"Merina." Patroclus began. "What are you doing?" Merina looked at Patroclus.
"Trust me." Merina said with assuring eyes. "I promise to fill you in." Patroclus crossed his arms.
"Fine." Patroclus said slightly irritated. King Drafius nodded his head.
"Very well. Dazius?"
"Yes, father?" Dazius responded bowing his head.
"Take our guest to the guest wing. See to it that they are properly fed. My humblest apologies for everything."
Yes, father. This way please." Dazius said as he extended his hand towards the exit. Patroclus was in disbelief. He had seen mystical creatures and beings with powers before however, he never thought that the creatures before him existed. Merina was right. Menilos, Patroclus and the myrmidons followed Dazius out of the room. Patroclus looked back as the doors closed seeing Merina in the center. She took a final glance at Patroclus before the doors shut.
"I am terribly sorry for earlier. Patroclus, was it?" Vitanzia said holding a candle leading Menilos and Patroclus to their rooms. The hallway was a little brighter due to the numerous windows present.
"It's fine. I suppose." Patroclus still had his guard up.
"Um, Dazius? Vitanzia? Right?" Menilos asked.
"Correct." Dazius replied.
"Not to be rude but, what are you guys? You guys are definitely not human beings." Menilos pointed out. Dazius smiled.
"Well." Dazius turned to face Menilos and Patroclus since he was walking ahead of them. "We're vampires." Menilos stopped walking.
"V-vampires?" Dazius laughed at how Menilos reacted.
"Don't worry. No need to be afraid unless you make us mad. We don't drink human blood."
"Why is that?" Patroclus wondered out loud.
"It destroys our peace treaty we have with the humans of this land and we have always drunk animals' blood." Dazius said as he continued to walk down the hallway.
"Peace treaty?" Patroclus said.
"Yes. Our people are known as the Strigoi. To the people of this land, we are only mythological creatures. Very few people know of our existence. Well, except for you."
"As many times as Agamenon traded resources here, you're telling me he never knew of your true identities?" Patroclus asked.
"No." Dazius replied. "I'll be truthful. I already knew who you were when I first saw you. I am the one who received the letter that Peleus sent here to Crobyzes. This castle is mines and the one in Obulenses is Vitanzia's." Patroclus scratched his hair.
"So, you're a prince and she's a princess?"
"Yes." Dazius replied. He stopped in front of a tall brown door. "Before I escort you to your sleeping corridors, I shall tell you our story." Dazius opened the door leading to a library full of books and scrolls. In the center of the room was a table and five chairs. Dazius led the way into the library signaling for Patroclus and Menilos to take a seat. Vitanzia closed the door after everyone entered the library. She sat next to Patroclus sniffing him. Patroclus couldn't hide his facial expression. He looked slightly petrified,
"Please don't mind my sister." Dazius said pulling Vitanzia closer to him. "She hasn't had much contact with humans so, the smell of them excites her."
"That's not supposed to scare me?" Patroclus shivered. Dazius smiled.
"Where should I begin." He wondered. "Hundreds of years ago, the Strigoi, our clan was involved in a great war between the people of this land. The Dacians. Our people originated from a smaller country north from here. The Strigoi migrated to Dacia. There was a princess. Princess Vilontanitza. She was human and was said to be the most beautiful woman in all the land. She was loved dearly by her people and family. Princess Vilontanitza was betrothed to marry a prince. Prince Ignornav. Princess Vilontanitza didn't love him. She loved another. His name was Renor. The difference between him and Ignornav was that Renor wasn't human. He was a Strigoi. The one rule of our people is to never fall in love with humans and reproduce. It is forbidden. Renor and Vilontanitza fell deeply in love. This made Ignornav mad with jealousy. Ignornav staged Vilontanitza's death to make it seem that Renor, a Strigoi, killed her. What Ignornav didn't know was that Vilontanitza's hand maiden saw him kill her. He locked the hand maiden in the dungeon. Pretending to be grief stricken, Ignornav blamed Renor for her death. He exposed the affair he had with Vilontanitza. When the king saw the bite marks on his daughters' neck, he believed Ignornav words. The king found Renor and burned him to the stake. That is the only way to kill the Strigoi. Miluzen, the father of Renor heard of his son's death. It wasn't long until war broke out between the Dacians and the Strigoi. Ignornav transported the hand maiden to the north to snow country. A young Strigoi man who was said to be Renor's brother saw Ignornav transporting the maiden secretly in the night. He followed Ignornav for seven days to see where he was going. Within a matter of days, many were killed. Mainly humans. Ignornav locked the hand maiden in an underground chamber. He placed a lock on the door that only he had the key to. He left the hand maiden there to die. The young Strigoi man who had followed Ignornav waited for him to leave. When Ignornav took his leave, the young Strigoi man called out to the hand maiden. He asked what she had done to be locked away. She replied in tears saying, 'she did nothing wrong.' The Strigoi man didn't understand. The hand maiden eventually told the Strigoi man about what Ignornav had done. Shocked and enraged, the Strigoi man told the hand maiden to wait patiently while he went after Ignornav to get the key. The Strigoi man tried everything to break the lock but, nothing worked. The lock had a magical seal around it that prevented any element from breaking the lock. The Strigoi man eventually caught up to Ignornav. The two battled. Ignornav was killed. The Strigoi man made his way back to the cellar where the hand maiden was locked away. He spread his wings and flew back to the palace with the hand maiden to tell the king about what really happened to his daughter. Saddened and in disbelief, the king stopped the war. Ashamed of his brash actions, the king handed the throne over to Miluzen, who was the father of Renor. A peace treaty was also formed to prevent the Strigoi and humans from hurting each other. Since then, the Strigoi have been the head of Dacian royalty. The Strigoi protect the people of Dacia because of the treaty that was formed long ago. The Dacian people and surrounding countries think we have multiple kings like in Greece. We make people think that to avoid people from finding out about who we are."
"Why so?" Patroclus interrupted. "We live in an age where mythical beasts and sorcery is at its peak."
"Yes. We do. However, humans fear what they don't understand. If the world knew who we truly were, people would come after us." Dazius said as he crossed his legs. "We are very peaceful beings. We could easily annihilate a whole country if we wanted to."
"Don't the Dacian people know who you are? I'm confused." Menilos chimed in.
"They don't. We were able to hide our identity for centuries. My father, Drafius has ruled over this land for over 700 years. His offspring which is me, Vitanzia and a few others carry out our father's orders in the different cities of Dacia."
"Which is why you each have your own castle I presume?" Patroclus asked.
"Precisely." Dazius responded. "It's complicated but, that's why other countries don't really know who our king is. They think there are multiple kings when there is really one and has always been one."
"Any chance your father, King Drafius is related to the Miluzen guy?" Patroclus asked.
"You catch on yes. Miluzen is our great-great grandfather."
"So where is Miluzen now? Since you guys are immortal, right?" Patroclus asked. Dazius chuckled
"He's asleep underground." Patroclus raised an eyebrow.
"Like dead?"
"No. Every 1000 years after a Strigoi is born, they go to sleep for about 800 years." Dazius answered cheerfully.
"What the hell?" Patroclus said in disbelief.
"It's like our hibernation." Dazius laughed as he placed his hand behind his head. "So in about another 300 years, I'll meet my great-great grandfather."
"As long as you guys don't go sucking my blood, I guess we can be pals." Patroclus said closing one eye.
"I'm still confused." Menilos said scratching his head. Dazius laughed.
"Ok. I'll explain everything once more."
"So that's why you don't like Greeks." Merina said with sad eyes.
"Yes." King Drafius said folding his hands on his lap. "The only reason why I've kept trade between Dacia and Greece is to uphold the happiness of the Dacian people. Other than that, I would've cut trade with Greece since then."
"With all do respect sir, all Greeks are not the same. I am so sorry that happened to you and your family. But as promised sir, we will not cause any harm to this land or the people. I will take full responsibility for the damage to come to Crobyzes and Obulenses. On my honor." Merina said bowing her head.
********************************There are a few corrections I must make but, I hope you enjoyed. Still in finals so bear with me. These upcoming three weeks when break starts will have more frequent uploads*********************