The Vorbing (22 page)

              Vlad had seen hundreds of sunsets in his time. When he set eyes on what could be his last one, it took on endless dimensions of beauty. The dusk bathed everything in a portentous sepia tint. He saw a cross on a distant hill, silhouetted against the sky, the emblem cast in half-shadow by the dying sun. It reminded Vlad of the crosses on the Hill of Calvary when a righteous man faced his inevitable fate. Vlad was no messiah, but wished he could be as brave. He prayed to his creator to give him the same strength. For one ounce of his father’s bravery, he would give everything he had. Vlad was about to face the Antichrist himself, and, if he lost his life in the ensuing battle, he would be in Heaven meeting his opposite number the following morning. A few weeks before, none of this would have seemed possible. Neither would the death of his mother. It was incredible how everything had changed in Vlad’s life in such a short time, a life possibly entering its last phase. Everything around him felt hyper-real at that moment.

              “Vlad,” a voice whispered. 

              Startled from his thoughts, Vlad looked up and listened. He thought it was his father’s voice, but Vlad was beginning to forget what his father sounded like and doubted what he heard. Only the low keening of the wind greeted his straining ears. “Adam Ingisbohr,” Vlad said.

He whispered in case the men heard him and thought him mad.

“Speak, Father,” Vlad said. “I need your help.”

              The wind gave the only reply. The young man sighed and held his head in his hands. Vlad’s troops paced up and down, nervously sharpening their swords, digging in the dirt with the points of their arrows, and wishing each other good luck. Yet, again, the vampires did not attack.  Vlad wondered what was happening. Were millions of vampires up in the mountains waiting to attack? Were they dividing up the multitudes into battalions? Vlad decided that they had waited long enough. It was time to bring the battle to the vampires. He leapt up on a cart and silence fell over his nervous army.

“Let us begin with a prayer to protect us against the forces of darkness,” Vlad said, and bowed his head and joined his hands in prayer.

              Everyone mirrored Vlad’s actions.

              “Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle,” Vlad began, “be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do Thou O Prince of the Heavenly Host by the power of God cast into Hell, Satan-”

A flash of lighting at the peak of Vampire Mountain interrupted Vlad’s prayer. An ominous rumble of thunder followed and reverberated around the Heavens for some time. It made everyone restless.

“…and all evil spirits,” Vlad said, “who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

              “Amen,” the men said.

Vlad looked out at his army and they looked up at him in anticipation as their standards fluttered in the breeze. It still amazed Vlad that they believed in him enough to risk their lives in battle. Some of them would be dead before sunrise. Those that lived would face a fate worse than death if the vampires triumphed again. Yet still, they awaited his command.             

              “We are all dead men,” Vlad began.

              The shocked men muttered to themselves, believing a madman was leading them to the slaughter.

“Me…you…everyone who can hear my voice,” Vlad continued. “Why?  The dead feel no fear, and fearless men are dangerous because they have already won half the battle. As we climb this mountain, we face two enemies: the vampires and the enemy we don't see.”

The men murmured again and shifted with agitation, afraid there was some hidden danger awaiting them on Vampire Mountain. Vlad was playing a dangerous game. The men might turn on him if the speech kept going in that manner but he knew what he was doing. He said a silent prayer anyway.

“The enemy we don't see is fear,” Vlad continued. “We feel it in our heads, in our hearts, and in our souls. It cripples us and helps the vampires to beat us before we even fight them. We must make that disappear from our bodies without a trace. We must fight for our lives by fighting with the fearlessness of the dead!”

              Vlad’s men struck their shields with swords and spears as applause.

“The vampires are counting on us being intimidated by their reputation before setting foot on the field of battle,” Vlad said. “That ends here. We must make nothing easy for them. We must not give ground. If we lose, we fight to the last man…to the last man! Tonight, our fear stops and their fear begins!”

Fire burned in the eyes and hearts of the men of Nocturne. Seeing that reflected back at him fired Vlad up, too. He let out an involuntary roar and struck his chest with his fist. It was a side of Vlad no one ever had seen before. The transformation stunned his army and even Vlad himself. Vlad’s newfound ferocity impressed would have impressed Pierre had he been present. The knight would have seen Vlad as a gifted orator and leader that men would follow into battle and give their lives for. It was a priceless gift that few possessed.

“We are fighting the contagion of vampirism,” Vlad said, “but we have a contagion that is stronger.”

Vlad’s men listened as they longed to see where his words were taking them.

“We have the contagion of courage,” Vlad said. “When one man feels it, another does, and so on and so on. Where there is courage, there is hope, and where there is hope, there can be victory. Courage and hope are the wind in the sails of every man and every army. Without them, nothing is possible. They are leaps of faith, and we are fighting the nemesis of our faith, Satan himself. We can be confident that God is on our side today. All of you could have avoided this, but you are here because you want to be free men again through our righteous cause. I don’t believe we can win this, I KNOW we can! I feel the winds of courage and hope pushing us towards our destiny of freedom. It is inevitable now.”

The group of Nocturnians roared their support in unison. Vlad had their rapt attention. Their eyes took in everything and their heads nodded in agreement.

“Brothers, victory and freedom are within our grasp,” Vlad said. “Many of you have lost members of your family in the Battle of McLintock’s Spit.  I lost my father in that battle.  I want you to remember your loved ones when we once again fight these beasts tonight. Their blood lives on in the bodies of the vampires. When you kill one, you free that blood and free their souls. I want you to know that your kin fight with you, by your side.  They cry out for you to avenge their deaths.”

The men roared their approval. Vlad jumped down from the cart to their level.

“This battle is about blood,” Vlad said.

He paced at the head of the crowd with confidence.

“They want our blood, and they want to keep theirs,” Vlad said, “and

our task is to prevent that. We must starve them of the energy they get from our blood and drain the supply they have. We shall use the trebuchet, the mangonel, and archers to bring the vampires to earth. This curtain of fire will thin out their numbers and start the bloodletting. When they get down lower, we shall use the heavier, armour-piercing bodkin arrows to inflict more damage. This will force them to attack us. When they come in for the kill, they will be like eagles, with their wings splayed back and their talons outstretched. That way they can stun or kill us from the impact. That’s when we use the lance. If we prop that up against the ground, they will impale themselves on it with their own body weight. Their soft underbellies will be one vulnerable point where we can attack. Their mouths also will be open to bite us as they land. If you can get an arrow or lance in there, then that is another vulnerable point for us to consider. If they avoid all that, then we shall then drive them with our fire into death traps made of hundreds of pell stakes. There, they shall impale and injure themselves and hopefully expire. Use longbows when they are in the air, and crossbows when they are on the ground for close-quarter fighting.”

“Use broadhead arrows in all cases to inflict maximum damage on the enemy,” Vlad added. “We want to blunt their attack as fast as possible to give ourselves a chance. That is our plan, if we stick to it, we have a good chance of success.”

The men cheered, and a smile appeared on Vlad’s lips. It was a marked difference from the hostility they experienced from the same people not long before.

              “We fight the Devil himself,” Vlad said, sending a chill through the group of silent men. He saw an opportunity for levity. “The Devil once appeared to a man relieving himself in a field,” Vlad said to smiles all around. “The man told Satan he was as putrid as the filth coming out of his arse, and that he should join his shite and leave him, too. As the man grabbed a handful of leaves to wipe his backside, Satan disappeared in a rage. That put the bastard in his place!”

The men burst into laughter.

“We shall do the same today, and cleanse this land of impurities,” Vlad said.

The men roared their approval.

“We have laughed at the vampires to relieve ourselves of our fear,” Vlad said, “but do not underestimate them. They are wicked and cunning opponents. We must fight hard to beat them. The vampires will try to divide and conquer us, so be aware of your comrades, and don’t drift apart. If we help each other as the vampires do, we have a fighting chance.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

“Pierre has been to Kristos City and met the Holy Father,” Vlad said. “He has touched the cross our Lord Jesus Christ died upon. When he shook my hand, some of that divine protective power transferred to me and now I want to transfer it to you.”

He removed his gauntlet and stretched out his right hand. The gathered Nocturnians stared in awe and excitement.

“All of you place your hands on mine, quickly,” Vlad said.

The men complied, slapping their hands down on Vlad’s. Vlad sensed a growing confidence in the group. They looked to him and he stared back with absolute conviction.

“Feel the Lord’s power,” Vlad said, looking around at the sea of expectant faces. “He works through us today, and he will not forsake us.”

“Amen,” they all said.

“Now our hands have touched the cross of Christ,” Vlad said. “We put those sanctified hands on our weapons and fight as soldiers of God this night. Do you hear me? Soldiers of God! The Holy Spirit surrounds and protects all of us so we can be victorious when the sun rises over this land tomorrow.  I swear it! May God send fire from the sky to strike me dead if that’s not true.”

              Vlad waited to be struck by a bolt of lightning, but none came.

“You see?” Vlad said. “Do you see?  There is the sign, brothers!  No fear! No fear! The vermin that have ruled our lives for so long will be no more after this night; I pledge it on my father’s soul. Their time on this earth is coming to an end, and they know it. It’s time to stop running and hiding and time to fight back against the pain these demons have inflicted upon us as a people. We shall not return from this mountain until we have cleared every one of their stinking carcasses from the face of the earth.  Will we fight together as brothers?” 

“Aye!” his men said. 

“Will we win together as brothers?” Vlad asked.

Again, the crowd bellowed in a positive manner.

“And afterwards, will we live together in peace as brothers?” Vlad said.

It was another rhetorical question, but one that had to be asked and approved of to bind them all together. The crowd shouted their final volley of approval in reply.

“Then come, brothers, let’s win our liberty!” Vlad said. “It’s long overdue!”

Vlad stormed up the hill, followed by his jubilant warriors.  They marched in a wedge formation up the ever-increasing incline for five minutes, but still the vampires did not appear.  Vlad leapt over a wide trench, to shouts of encouragement from his men. Each man who leapt across was also greeted with cheers of approval. Vlad urged them to be quiet, lest they give away their position. When every man had crossed the ditch, Vlad continued his advance. His men now adopted a tortoise shell formation with their shields over their heads in case of an aerial attack.

They had gone twenty feet past the ditch when Gatov stopped and pointed at the sky. “Look,” Gatov said, his eyes widening with fear.

An eclipse was underway, and the sun’s light dimmed little by little. The Nocturnians relied on superstition for an explanation.

“The vampires have taken away the sun!” Gatov cried with terror in his voice. “It’s an omen of death!”

There was a muffled sound in the distance.

“Quiet,” Vlad said, and motioned for the men to crouch down. 

The keening gale mocked Vlad’s team of men, whipping their faces with its cold tongue. They all fixated on the dense fog that curled around the summit. Being men of the land, all present knew that the strong wind should have dispersed the fog. However, the ghostly haze that cloaked Vampire Mountain did not budge in the blustery conditions. Every man now was wishing he was home, but it was too late. The giant beasts they all feared were coming. Soon, the life-or-death struggle for Nocturne and the eternal souls of her people would be underway.

Mighty Deadulus sat on a throne made of the skulls and bones of humans and animals, his enormous wings draped over the back of the macabre seat of power. The lesser vampires shuffled, hooted, and clapped from nerves before him. Deadulus just had to raise a clawed finger for silence to descend. All listened with great anticipation to what their NightLord would say, and Deadulus milked the moment for all the dramatic tension it was worth.