Hallo all!

Thanks for the reviews: flynalien, Irena, Lord Makura, lilith bathory and ladykirie (I am Finnish, btw).

Disclaimers: see previous chapters.

CHAPTER 4: UNCLE AND COUSIN

Suceava, Moldavia 1448

It was the early days of January when Bogdan II, Prince of Moldavia, was surprised to hear his nephew Vlad was in the country. Bogdan had heard that Vlad, along with his younger brother Radu, were both sent as hostages to the Turks. This had crushed his sister, their mother lady Cneajna, and caused her premature passing from this world. Bogdan had hated the man she had married, Vlad Dracul, to whom Cneajna had been too good. He had secretly been glad to hear about Dracul's death few weeks earlier, but worried what would happen to Vlad and Radu now. Their older brother Mircea had also been killed and a man from rival family had taken the throne. And no Danesti would ever pay for Sultan to keep Vlad Dracul's sons alive.

Bogdan pulled a huge fur around him and ventured outside of the castle. It was early in the morning and the town of Suceava was covered in snow. Vlad Dracula stood in the yard of Bogdan's castle, holding a horse beside him. Bogdan immediately strode to stand in front of his nephew and put both of his hands to his shoulders.

"Vlad, I am pleased to see you alive and well" he said kindly.

"Forgive me, sir, for arriving without announcement" Vlad bowed his head.

"Nonsense, boy. I suspect you had your reasons to keep low profile. Truth to be told, I had given up hope I'd ever see either you or Radu alive ever again" older man said.

A dark look passed Vlad's face. "Sir, I think it would be better for you to start to consider Radu dead. He has become Sultan's pet and has abounded any ties he had for his old family and home".

The Prince was quiet for a moment and then told one of his men to take Vlad's horse to the stables. "Come inside with me, Vlad. You are obviously tired and hungry and have lots to tell me about" he said while gently guiding the younger man inside.

"Yes, sir, but before that I need to ask a favour" Vlad said.

"What is it?"

Vlad threw his cape aside and lifted his hand. Bogdan saw that Vlad's hand was tied to a chain. In the other head of the chain he saw a rotting hand.

"Could you summon a locksmith who could separate me from my companion?"

--

Vlad really tried to behave later, when the chain had finally been removed from his hand and he was sitting by a table filled with food. For his uncle's sake he tried to act civilised and behave himself. But it was heard, for days he had not had a decent meal, only eating what he could at the time. Still, his uncle didn't seem to mind that Vlad forgot himself and filled his mouth with food.

And was speaking at the same time.

"…since Danesti's have more power now than ever, I reasoned that I wouldn't be safe anywhere near Wallachia now. And even if I somehow had managed to get power, I would have continued as the Sultan's servant. So I headed here" Vlad explained while chewing chicken, bread and cheese at the same time.

"To have a sanctuary, I presume" Bogdan said, with a hint of displease in his voice.

Vlad stopped eating, a new piece of food in mid-air to his mouth, swallowed and bowed his head again. "Yes, sir. I request a sanctuary from you against Danestis and the Turks" he said.

Bogdan was quiet for a time but then smiled. "Of course, I shall grant it to you. You know, Vlad, in all of my late sister's letters she always spoke most fondly of you".

Vlad blinked. "No, sir, I was not aware". Vlad had spent last six years in living hell where his younger brother Radu had enjoyed privileges while he had suffered. The thought that someone had once thought most fondly of him, especially when that someone had been their mother, was affecting. For a short moment Vlad returned to the days of his childhood, when he was still allowed to play and what his mother's smile had looked like.

Quickly though he came back to reality and hid any emotions he felt behind a stone mask.

At the moment a door opened and a young man walked in. He seemed to be the same age as Vlad, with a brown hair and equally brown eyes. He was little shorter than Vlad, but considerably more muscular.

Prince Bogdan smiled. "Ah, come here, Stefan. This is your cousin Vlad, the son of my late sister Cneajna. Vlad, this is my son, Stefan" he said loudly.

The two young men stood before each others, measuring one another. Slowly, they slightly bowed their heads to each others.

"Stefan, you are about to go training soon, I trust. If Vlad does not feel too tired, maybe he could join you" Bogdan said merrily.

Stefan looked at Vlad and said flatly "It is fine by me".

Vlad felt a bit irritated. "Show me the way".

The two young nobles walked to a huge hall that was obviously mean to as a training facility. Stefan walked to a wall that had a line of swords on the view.

"How about a little sparring, cousin?" Stefan asked, choosing a weapon to use.

Truthfully, Vlad was indeed tired by the journey he had taken, but he chose to be damned before showing weakness to the other man. Head held high he walked to the wall and chose his own sword.

The two took a stand and started. They moved according to their training and driven by their instincts. They moved differently, for Stefan had been trained by his father's men, while Vlad had been trained by the Turks.

Stefan noticed the patterns Vlad was making. "You fight like a Turk" he commented.

Something exploded in Vlad's head. Though his body was tired, he found sudden energy that drove him on and disarmed Stefan. Vlad held his sword's tip close to his cousin's throat and spoke.

"I am not a Turk" he said darkly.

Stefan swallowed but looked Vlad straight in the eyes. "I never said you are. And trust me; I have no more fond feeling for the Turks than you have. I just needed to see for myself that you have not become their lapdog".

Vlad was dead silent, keeping the sword still up. "Satisfied?" he asked.

"Yes, though those obviously Turkish movements are kind of alarming".

He lowered the sword. "Then you'd better refresh my memory of how it is supposed to be done".

When half an hour later the two were still sparring with swords, Vlad's body was literally ready to collapse to the floor. Yet, he couldn't complain. The sparring hadn't been serious, done with hate or because either one needed teaching. It had been done because they enjoyed it. And Vlad had not enjoyed anything so much in years.

--

During the following years that Vlad spend in Moldavia, a bond of friendship was formed between him and Stefan, who was only a couple of years younger than Vlad. The two cousins became almost inseparable as Vlad had no friends and Stefan was glad to finally have someone around who shared his passion for life and hating the Turks.

Stefan also needed the encouragement that Vlad was able to give. At the time his father's rule in Moldavia was uncertain, as Bogdan's half-brother Petru Aron was growing his influence amongst the nobles, and did not hid his desire to become Prince of Moldavia soon. Vlad could understand such a situation between blood relatives that hungered for power. After all, his family and Danestis had once been one and a same family.

The years from 1448 to 1451 were the most carefree time Vlad had after escaping from the Turks. Though the desire to reclaim the throne of Wallachia and drive the Turks out of their borders was constantly in the back of his mind, he was also able to relax and enjoy life. Vlad and Stefan formed a team that caused more worry to Moldavians and more grey hairs to Bogdan than all the Turks together. There had been incidents with lots of partying, fighting and chasing village girls, which usually led to at least three different challenges to duel next morning.

But at the time neither of the young men could care. And when Vlad later looked back in his life of those couple of years in Moldavia he always smiled.

This lasted till the summer of 1451 when Vlad quite accidentally caught himself in a middle of a situation that would change his life forever.

To be continued…

Historical changes: there was very little I could find of Bogdan II, except that he was Prince of Moldavia from the year 1449 to 1451. I don't know what his statue was before that, so in my story he became Prince few years earlier.

Also I'm not sure if Vlad and Radu shared the same mother, but for my story they did. So I chose an easy rode, sue me. It is also unknown what Vlad exactly did in Moldavia during his stay there, so the friendship years I made are completely my own creation.

Till next time and remember to review! ;)