Chapter 2 - (MC-Intro) My Legacy - 2

---

The year was 1477 when he regained his crown with the help of mercenaries and some of Mathias Corvinus' troops. It was known that he suffered a lot from being hostile against the Turks. Still, only the thought of taking revenge against the Turks and boyars who smeared his name preoccupied him.

Sometimes, he behaved normally, no different from a middle-aged uncle with bad jokes when attending parties.

Still, those moments were rare for him. Most of the time, he acted like the most brutal person you could imagine for simple mistakes that people were making. It was an effect of his losing war campaigns against the Turks, but it was also the fact that he became a bit more irascible in the face of insubordination.

He became what most would fear in themselves, a tyrant. From his early tries at reigning his realm peaceful. To his wishes and dreams of bringing prosperity to his motherland, to now being feared by even his people. This left a big wound on his heart that he masked with arrogance and indifference typical of a ruler.

Then when he came back on the reins of the throne to make his final stay, until his very death, he summoned what was left of his supporting boyars to make a plan for taking back what was left of his country.

After a period of planning, he sent an invitation to the nobles who were on his side.

.

.

Later the following week, on a rainy night inside Poenari Castle, the seat of Vlad Basarab, nine nobles who arrived while traveling on horseback, began walking toward the castle entrance situated on the high mountains of Făgăraș Mountains.

Looking around themselves, they could see the abrupt slopes that even their horses feared a bit to step, along with the forested path toward the castle.

Yet, they entered inside the castle. Entering the castle, the nobles went to the main hall where Vlad was seated on his throne and seemed to have a serene expression on his face.

"Welcome, my good boyars. Come get closer. We have something to talk, that is of high importance to my heart."

The nobles could only nod their heads and move toward Vlad. They thought that maybe their ruler would have a change of heart and stop pursuing his blind revenge or justice as he called and didn't choose to discuss a matter of state.

"My subjects, I'm glad to see that you still hold me in high regard, visible in your choice to attempt this meeting. I've summoned you here to discuss how we should retake our lost territory.

I have managed to rally an army of crusaders and also got some of Mathias's soldiers to assist me. A sizable army of mercenaries and other volunteers, composed of 15.000 strong men.

After managing to bring this army with me, I'm willing to try to reclaim our lost lands, with or without the Lord's help.

"This is a lost cause, Your Highness. We can only surrender to them and pray to God that their punishment is a mild one," said one of his noble advisors, who seemed to be an old man.

"Hah, and did they do that even once? It will be the same story as before. They'll put my brother on the throne as they did last time. Wait, right, that bastard Radu is dead.

Well, they can't coerce me with my blood brother now, however, they might try to auction the seat as they did in Moldavia against my cousin Stefan Mușat." said Vlad with a hint of indifference, while resting his arms and back on the high chair and at the same time observing his boyars settled lower at the halls of Poenari Castle.

"But your highness, even if we go to war and force them to a treaty to lower the tribute we have to pay. I believe the Turks will no longer care since they ended their campaign against the Persians, and their hands are not busy dealing with wars they have plenty of force for what army we managed to rally." added another old noble with a tired expression on his face.

"Your highness, we can only pray to God now. Therefore, I say that we surrender," said a younger noble a bit, hoping for a good result.

"Stop bringing him into all of our conversations. When did he even show up when we needed him the most? His false champions when we allied stayed back with them. WHERE were they? Could it be that when we were bleeding ourselves dry, they were praying to God to bring his justice upon the enemy? All my people suffered the wrath of those damned Turks because of empty PROMISES!"

"Your Highness, please calm yourself." added another boyar when seeing that Vlad's eyes turned a bit red from anger.

Yet this didn't change anything for Vlad. He kept looking at the old noble who added the comment about God and continued with a frigid cold tone.

"I become a monster because of them. Do you know what the people call me in the Empire and Hungarian Court? They call me a blood-sucking strigoi from our Vlachs and Roman stories. Why do I have to receive such a disrespectful reputation? Because I wanted to protect you bunch of sheep from being placed in slavery and dried to your bone marrow?"

"Your highness, what's in the past should remain in the past." said a middle-aged boyar to Vlad while looking at his cold expression.

"You are right, Cruțiu, yet my memories still haunt me. I remember those hypocrites as they said they will help me fight back the Turks from approaching more into Europe.

"This order, called Order of the Dragon, was made by the late emperor Sigismund to protect the safety of Christians in the world, yet it went down to hell. Sigismund died like a pathetic old man without even leaving a male successor to take over his great inheritance. He failed so many wars against the Turks that it makes me want to question him in his death."

"I managed to win against the Turks with an insignificant army compared to his vast army of 130.000 crusaders to a mere 60.000 Turks. Stomping on Murad's head or Mehmed's wouldn't even be a dream."

"My lord, Emperor Sigismund wasn't the only commander to lead the Crusade of Nicopolis. Even your grandfather Voivod Mircea was one of Sigismund retainers to lead the Crusade."

Vlad looked at this old man who said that and tapped his chair as if thinking in his mind, and then still heard the old man add to him.

"Your Highness, you should always believe in God's guidance. This is all in the plans of God." said an old noble with a hint of being offended.

This comment made Vlad laugh heartily until he recovered his calm saying to the old man.

"Sure, old Ian, when you personally manage to meet him, you should put on the exact speech. Maybe he might take pity on your poor soul." said Vlad jokingly and continued saying it with a cold tone and an emotionless face.

After he said that, Vlad turned to look coldly at all of the nobles, and while rising from his throne, he asked them.

"So, at the end, who's willing to join in this maybe last journey?"

This question was left unanswered. After who knows how much time, there was only silence in the castle halls.

Later on, Vlad's voice was heard again, laughing, he said.

"No one brave enough to defend the name of the Lord, that will not cut it, when the leader is willing why the servants shouldn't be the same?

"Tell me, guys, should I handle you the same as I did with the traitors of my first reign or the one from my second? Of course, I would prefer the second one. I really got to enjoy seeing that, and believe it or not, it is simple and efficient."

The tension in the room was so great that you could compare it to an abyss. All the emotions could be seen in a fight in the castle hall, from the old nobles' anger to the happiness of the Prince's loyal servants and finally to the minor nobles' fear.

It was unknown how long this stare-down and mash of emotions lasted, but it was broken by an old noble.

"Your highness, you are indeed the rightful ruler of this country. However, you don't have the right to decide our futures or our later generations because you couldn't handle your injustice against the Turks."

Ended the old noble with a hint of fear in his eyes, not knowing what would happen to him after this meeting.

After hearing this, Vlad was staring into the old noble's eye that commented on his rights, making the noble shake a little, not knowing what the mad king would do with him.

"So you're saying that I shouldn't fight back against the Turk's aggression on our nation, that I should just be a good boy like I was taught and comply with what they demanded. And later to simply destroy my nation with my own hands? Not even knowing about it?"

After saying this, Vlad looked around the room, seeing all the people's faces and expressions continuing.

"Listen here, you bunch of scum."

With a frigid cold expression, he continued while staring at the nobles.

"Since I was little and on the enemy side, I learned that it would be all in vain to fight back regardless of who would rule our country. They would be puppets and extort their people.

I knew that our country's destiny was set in stone from the moment the Turks' unsated ambition was focused on us.

All I could do was bide my time and look for opportunities to strike back when they weren't prepared or had their hands full of other problems. That opportunity finally arose to me like a god's blessing to get the justice we deserved. Sigh, when I look back at that time, it was so stupid of me to believe in the promises of the Christian countries and take note of the Pope's promises.

Since the moment I took the crown of this country, all I did was defend my people, but it seems that God has other plans for me.

You guys might not like me that much since my prestige comes from killing people like you, noble traitors who did nothing to deserve that prestigious grace. I'll give you a chance to rise, I know that you planned a scheme to have me killed, but I'll instead go with a fight rather than being disposed of so lowly."

After exposing the nobles, their faked emotions instantly did a switch to anger and fury. They rose from their seats, unsheathing their sword, and began reading for a strike.

"You've monologued enough, Impaler. It's time you take your leave for good." added one of the younger nobles while staring at Vlad with a hateful expression.

"Sigh, I was expecting something like that when I came back from Hungary to reclaim my throne, but for this to happen so fast is a sad moment.

Because of scums like you, our country has to suffer more than the enemy's plunder, so I will fight with this rusty body of mine as I did for all of my people."

"Hmph, you think too highly of your abilities, Impaler."

Vlad looked at this young noble and the rest, and with a slight smile, he said to him.

"You think so, young pup? But are you willing to try fighting me one on one? I might look like your father, but believe me, I'm far sharper than what he could ever be."

With this comment, Vlad made the young noble face turn furious, and brandishing his sword at Vlad, he seemed to try to jump on him but was stopped by the other nobles.

'Tsk, I thought he would jump on me. I could have had him dead pretty fast.' thought Vlad while holding his hand on a sword with a dragon hilt and a long blade.

.

Meanwhile, the outcome of this meeting was an unexpected result for the nobles. They expected their mad ruler to flip the tables and summon his guards but seeing him at first glance.

He was calm, too calm for this kind of situation. It felt like he was possessed or something.

After the nobles stared at Vlad and later at each other, one of the younger nobles broke the silence instead of the usually older ones.

"You are asking for a duel, you a mad ruler? You don't deserve such privilege after what you have done to your people, even if you did it with a good heart.

You don't even have to summon your guards. They were all dealt with by our alliance, so you'll soon understand that you are all alone here and can't hope for a chance of survival." said one of the younger nobles with a sneer

"Also, you don't have to worry about your mercenary army. They will understand the current situation and not throw their life for a lost cause. With that said, you can die in peace, your highness." added another young noble with a smile on his face.

For Vlad, this news and situation sounded more grimily, but he didn't show it on his face. He knew that masking his real emotions would give him some advantage, just like it did when he was younger and faced a situation similar to this one. It was one of the good traits that he obtained in life to mask his emotions.

He was indeed an experienced warrior and didn't make a whole lot of mistakes. He was a great strategist, but without the ability to fight back or ensure his safety, even with God by his side to guide him, it would be a lost cause.

"So, young wolf, you say that I don't have any chance of survival? We shall see it for ourselves." said Vlad before unsheathing his longsword that from a distance looked to hold a unique story behind.

The sword handle was ornated, looking like a silver dragon, the craftsmanship was exceptionally precise.

There were nine nobles in the room, all of them taking part in this conspiracy, but not all wanted to be the first to draw out the blood of their former Prince.

In this fight, only the youngest nobles desired to go straight to slay Vlad, not even knowing what he was capable of.

The hatred burning in their eyes was crystal clear. While the youngsters were doing their thing, the rest of the nobles in the room stared with sharp eyes.  The oldest of them, the three major nobles of his realm, had so much influence over the lands that they didn't need to do much to regain their power.

.

.

And so, the fight started. Vlad was an experienced warrior. Trained since young by his father servants in the swordfight's art and more specifically in the art of war and later on, gaining a higher view from training in the sultan army's janissary corps.

That training was more or less mental torture where one would need to slaughter thousands of people on the battlefield to make himself immune to different attacks.

When it comes to fights, he was as clearheaded as possible. It was like someone was there to assist him. Still, not knowing how to explain this feeling since it started, he didn't bother knowing more about this phenomenon.

With a sneer, Vlad started defending blows with a steady hand. He defended and parried most of the two young nobles who seemed to know the art of sword fighting. Those two managed to keep hanging around in the wake of Vlad's killing intent.

To make his life a little easier and also take care of his aging body, his only strategy at hand for the moment was to parry the strikes incoming.

He was switching stances from high guard to wrath guard. Sometimes he even went employing the Fools Guard to disturb the inexperienced fighter's mental state.

After some minutes of successive clashes, he still looked the same, but with a colder expression on his face. A little bit of annoyance was showing on that cold face of his.

The young nobles seemed to rush for the kill, but in doing so, they let their guard a little bit lower, and Vlad managed to destabilize 2 out of the young nobles who were more trained on the art of the sword. But the last one seemed to be out of focus.

Vlad went straight for him. He instantly switched to the wrath guard and unleashed all his force on a diagonal strike from the young noble's left side.

The noble was prepared to receive it, but in the end, the experience and fate were not on his side. He watched as his sword didn't manage to block or even parry Vlad's sword. The cut was so deep that the young one limply went down. While falling down, a blood fountain ensued on the castle's hall.

As Vlad was securing kills for himself and enjoying the young one's death, the white of his eyes seemed to turn much redder from all the adrenaline flowing in him.

The sight was chilling. The monster was slowly starting to awaken inside. Even if this monster was a rusted one, the sword skill obtained from killing all this time was still there, ingrained in his bones.

The old nobles were watching as this assault was continuing on Vlad's side. Even after he managed to kill one of them, they didn't care so much. For them, it was a situation where one less competitor would compete for the land's resources. Some of them began reading for finishing Vlad after seeing his savage kill.

"Look at that, isn't that so considerate for our ruler to fight with all this bravery? Whenever I've seen him turn like this, I feel like he's a different person.

Maybe we should join too and end-all of his suffering," said Ian, one of the most powerful nobles of the realm, while touching his white beard.

"I totally agree, but I still would want to let those two idiots draw some energy out of that monster body so as not to be taken by surprise like that stupid Georg. He looked so pathetic being done by that strike, it was so obvious that his highness would do that," said one of the middle-aged noble called Val

"I agree on joining after those two pigs die. Also, if you die like the first one, it would be a shame to your family crest that fought against the Turks. Oh, who also conspired against the ruling family for all these years." said another middle-aged noble.

After the nobles agreed on joining after having the two young nobles killed while discussing another conspiracy, the situation seemed to turn in Vlad's favor.

Vlad conserved most of the energy he had by using minimalistic movements. He would be dodging strikes by the hair length or guessing their next strike from the signs of their muscles or position of feet. His attacks would usually be cutting their hands or deflecting their strikes.

These moves that looked simple at first glance enraged the young nobles even more. In the end, with an excess of rage, they went striking with more spirit behind.

This reaction of them started giving Vlad's eyes a more savage look. He used another technique he learned from killing all his life. Exchanging a clash of swords with one of the young nobles and deflecting his strike in another direction while preparing to strike using his leg the enemy's lower knee. After the noble received the leg strike, he went tumbling down from his leg nerve being cut down.

Vlad wanted to follow with a head cut, but the other noble joined to save the other's ass. Still, it was sufficient for him to have one down.

It gave him the chance to fight alone for a period, so he followed more aggressively with a strike that was parried. However, he continued with a strike more powerful, blowing the young noble stance slightly. At this change, Vlad followed with a sword thrust and went straight for the open heart, as he never missed such opportunities while they were right on the plate.

He didn't take much of his time to go and kill the last young noble, who barely managed to stand on his feet and take a guard stance. Vlad rushed at him, clashing his sword while putting more power into his swing. Noticing the weak guard, he pressed and attacked once more. The noble was still hanging there, gritting his teeth. He looked over to the older nobles but only noticed a cold look of indifference. He knew that he was done for and could only pray to God that he would have a place in his Heaven.

All he could see was the castle's dark ceiling. He was falling because Vlad managed to put his foot behind him, and he stumbled because of that obstacle. After he went on the cold floor, all he saw was a sword closing to his throat.

His head went straight to Heaven's just like he hoped to happen. He died fighting his Prince but was dealt by like a little peasant kid that had his first sword handed. The funny part was that he was one of the best his country had to offer. Being a noble, he had all the possibilities to learn from the best, yet he died like a lowly commoner.

After finishing the last young noble in the hall, Vlad looked with cold eyes at the watching nobles and only added to them.

"What are you waiting for, you bunch of conspiring traitors? Just come and fight before I drop dead from exhaustion."

......