章 27: The Prince Story & Flashbacks of past moments
"Hey Zag, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing big. I just remembered one good story that always is stuck in my head, always haunting me down wherever I am. Regardless if I'm sleeping or awake this dream of mine still pops in my head. It reminds me of some sad times from back home."
"Go on tell us, maybe it can help you out if you share it with us." replied Inorra while thinking that Vlad had another masterpiece of a story like the ones about those gods who can control thunder, fire, and other elements.
The stories he would tell them in their passing time when he wasn't training them.
Inorra's response made Vlad chuckle a bit while shaking his head at him.
"Sigh, why are you kids so pure? Even after I taught you all those things and even took you to get yourself a woman to relax you're still the same."
"Tsk, should we take this as a compliment you crazy guy who calls us kids even though he's the youngest?"
"Hah, regardless of what age I am, Inor, you'll be just a little brat in my eyes. You too Kipset."
"See you are crazy. But beating us around kind of makes you the biggest, so not much of complaints about this. But when I finish my training I will beat you and put you in place."
"Sure, sure. That's quite the big goal there Inor, better drop it down, maybe think of a woman or something."
"No! Don't remind me of that. I was barely able to get used to the idea of those prostitutes. You are really weird. I still remember vividly when you told us that a young man of only 14 years has the right age to start a family."
"Yes, and is true. From where I am from, this is happening, well I still think it happens."
"What kind of blasted lands are you coming from that we still can't put our heads together?"
"I don't know the name. I still have to find out how it's called. Ahem, but enough. Did you want to hear that story that haunts my dreams and peace? Then I will share it with you with the condition that it will only be known by you and only you."
"Hmm, but then if this story is really good, how can we share it?" asked Inorra while feeling a bit troubled.
"Simply put. You don't share it, you idiot. This is a special story for only us friends. Right Zagreus?" said Kipset while belittling Inorra a bit.
"That's right Kip. This story is a bit special for me, so I rather only have it known by those close to me and only me."
"Fine. I understand. I can keep my mouth shut when needed. Go on, start your story." replied Inorra to Vlad while looking with expecting eyes.
Similar to Inorra, Kipset also promised Vlad that he will keep quiet about the story.
"Zagreus you know that those things don't enter in conversation. You are our brother, big brother or little brother, to us, it doesn't matter."
"How many things you haven't done for us in order to keep us safe? We know what you had to do in order to keep us safe and that's why we kept training even harder since that incident with that scum Glim. So don't worry, if we share this story you hold dear to anyone else without your acknowledge may we be cursed to die a painful death."
"Stop it little Kip. You don't know what you're doing. Don't bring his name in such pledges."
"If Death exits, I would still say the same pledge."
"Sigh, you two are really such innocent kids."
"You! Can you stop making us kids? Is annoying."
"Ahh, yes. Maybe after you grow some hair down there. Ssshs, don't comment, let me think about where to start with my story."
Taking a seat on the ground, followed by Kipset and Inorra, he took some time to reorganize his past life memories.
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Minutes passed, and only the breeze of the night could be heard and sensed.
"Ok. I think I've remembered now all the story."
"Go on start it already." said Inorra impatiently while Kipset pushed him a bit to shut up.
"This story I hold dear, almost as if it something I experienced is the story of an unfortunate prince and his small kingdom."
"Ohhhh, this will be interesting." commented Inorra before being slapped over the head by Kipset.
"First of all, this young Prince seems to not be from this kingdom we live on. He's totally from a faraway country that is impossible to reach.
The country surroundings were also precarious for the Prince who lived with the sword held by his neck and the fear of constant death. "
"This country the Prince came from is so tiny compared to the neighboring countries. Let's call them A and B for an easier understanding.
Country A and B always wanted to eat the Prince's country and use its rich lands for themselves. However, the Prince's father, by sheer luck and intelligence, managed to keep the Prince's country safe until a certain point.
The Prince's father might seem to be a good father, but he was always cold and ruthless with him. Desiring for him to learn so many unnecessary things ranging from a large variety of weapons, languages, noble etiquette, and so on. This ruthless manner of educating the Prince made the young one feel even more abandoned and conflicted with his choices in life.
Aside from that, around the prince country, wars began ensuing with different countries. You could say that it happened each day.
This made the boy quickly grow up to take on that heavy responsibility on his shoulder, larger than a mountain.
Each day becomes worse and worse for the Prince. He became a hostage of the biggest country A. Not long they tortured the boy from a young age. They tried to brainwash him, turn him into a killing machine after they placed him into a ruthless training champ, to be the future backbone of this country's army.
Yet this boy, by all the odds against him managed to survive, but he later found himself in another situation. He began losing his relatives. His oldest brother died on the battlefield, betrayed, and even his father, who had a similar fate to finally slowly losing what he holds most dear, his little brother.
This only brother of his who was with him prisoners of country A was the piece that kept his sanity intact, but that safe reclusion would disappear like snow. His betrayal stung the most this young Prince.
He felt nothing after hearing this news from the king when his father died. His beating heart cooled down with each passing year those people plunged him in deeper madness."
Vlad took a break from the story and lay down on the ground, waiting for his following thoughts to settle and at the same time creating a period for the boys to contemplate and assimilate the story of his life.
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Looking at the two boys, he could see their faces turn serious as if really trying to understand what he just said. After some minutes of silence, he continued with his story.
" The Prince got summoned by the king of country A who wanted to make him a puppet to control his rich lands and later sent him back to reclaim the throne that was sitting now at the hands of traitors. That was what he did, along with tens of thousands of soldiers armored and well prepared, he went to reclaim his throne, and so it happened.
However, slowly other wars began between country A and B, and the soldiers lent to the Prince went to serve their king, leaving the now young ruler alone.
There is this saying back home "A king is no king without an army to defend his right to rule." This saying matches so well with the young Prince, who found himself cornered by the pretender ruler supported by country B and could only flee to save his life.
He went back to his former ally's land, of country A. The Prince exiled from his country began waiting for years to pass until the pretender ruler lost favors with king B, and so the young Prince found himself a new way to reclaim his throne.
Using the soldiers of king B, he entered back inside his rightful lands, and without much bloodshed being spilled when entering, he challenged to a duel the pretender king who now was old. The fool accepted and was killed in battle. In doing so, it displayed the Prince's godlike image for the normal soldiers.
After he killed the pretender king and took the throne back, the Prince started reforming the country. Beginning with the traitorous nobles who killed his older brother and father. Those people found themselves stripped of their power, status, honor and later killed for what they have done to his kin.
This treatment of the nobles that ensued gave him a bad reputation, but that didn't affect his rule. He understood that he couldn't build a strong country if the rats lurking in the shadows would eat at its core.
Still trying to figure a way to make his people prosper, he found himself cornered by country A who wanted money in order to not attack them. These forceful demands bleed the Prince's country of its resources, making his citizens' lives even harder than he could imagine.
He had to do something, and so he acted and rebelled against the tyranny of country A, and gathering all the support he could muster from country B and his own soldiers and mercenaries, he launched an attack even knowing that he was outnumbered.
The fight started well, having much success even reaching the gates of the country, A capital city. But slowly, from this advantage gained by the Prince, country A with their significant number, began outnumbering the Prince.
He did every tactic he knew, from using horrific scenes to traumatize the enemy, poison the sources of water, launch sudden guerilla attacks on the weakened enemy. But all was in vain as if his destiny began dimming like a star.
To add to his losing brightness, the Prince found himself betrayed by his own kin, his own blood brother who using the support of country A began rallying his own people against him.
Despair, fury, madness, helplessness, all kind of emotions overrun the Prince, who found himself walking even closer to the ropes of death. He simply couldn't believe that his own people that he wanted to free from the tyranny of those countries turned their backs on him, even the nobles he thought would be the backbone of his country.
Yet, even though he was washed by those emotions, he managed to find clarity and escape to country B. Thinking that he could get once again their support, he found himself hit ever harder by the dimming fate he was now having.
King B imprisoned him, removing in this manner all the aspirations of the Prince to ever reclaim his rightful throne. The years of his imprisonment kept him confined to a castle dungeon until his hair began to lose its dark shine, with his long hair turning grayish after all these years of being imprisoned.
King B left him imprisoned until the Prince renounced all his aspirations for his throne. He got released when he was in his late thirties. Hah, king B even handed him two of his sisters to the Prince in order to keep him busy and forget about his homeland."
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Vlad, who looked at the boys captured attention, began laughing as if that memory of the past was funny. Remembering vividly that moment even now of a blonde guy who was playing chess with him in his castle.
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(Flashback: Talk being said in Romanian since Mathias was Romanian)
- Brother Vlad, I can offer you all that you desire. Just don't do something stupid and go back to Wallachia. Listen, it's a lost cause to fight Mehmed and the Ottomans. They managed to stabilize their borders and keep in check the Beyliks states together with pacifying the Greeks, Albanians, and Bulgars.
- Matei, why don't you want to give me one regiment of those Black ones? With only one of those, I can swiftly take back my throne. Come Matei, I calmed myself down, I learned my lesson, and I will not slam myself at those fucking Turks at the smallest weakness I see in their army.
- Haha, brother, you think I'm stupid to give you my Black Army? Even one regiment is not worth your entire fortune.
- Sigh, and you wish to let that nobody suck on the Turks cock, and have your borders compromised, Brasov, your hometown Napoca, is also close by. If the ottomans want to fuck you, they will fuck you up. So having me guard your butt is much better than not having someone there.
- Hmm, you make sense, brother. But this isn't that big of a problem since I made a truce with Mehmed to piss off from trying to approach Europe. He should be now busy planning his campaign against the Mamluks Sultanate. Also, I have other plans.
- Ohh, mind sharing them?
- Meh, why not? You know that Bohemia is in a weakened state since King Sigismund died and left a mess of that country. Hussites and other bullcrap. Moravia is easily up to my grabs. Silesia, Lausitz is up for grabs. That's why I don't wish to give you my Black Army. That's my trump card.
- Matei, you're getting greedy. You should focus on those Turks. They are more dangerous than those bohemians.
- No, brother, you are wrong. Bohemia has gold mines. If I take those mines, my chances of winning against the Turks would be greater. There are also those stupid Habsburgs who seem to have struck a deal with the Duke of Burgundy. Maximilian, that pissed pants actually managed to hit such a nice marriage with those french. Ahh, so much I would wish I fucked that Mary. Imagine me Matei Corvin King of Hungary, Bohemian, Moravians, Croats, Voivod of Transylvania, and Duke of Burgundy. "
- Sure, sure. It sounds all nice, but you don't have borders with those. Also, those germans or french wouldn't even let you dream of fucking that little bitch.
- And to add salt to your injury. I'm not interested in your love life. There's a lot of Magyar noblewoman around your court, always showing something new to see. Screw them.
- Fuck, do you know how unlucky I was with my wives? The first one, Elizabeth died before I could even fuck her, then my second one Catherine she, unfortunately, died in childbirth, and not even my son survived. After that, I felt like I was going to the markets to look for some goods. I went to Frederick(Emperor of HRE) to take some Brandenburg(Early state that created Prussia) slut, there was none. I went to Casimir of Poland, he also didn't want to marry his daughter to me.
- My God, you sure tried a lot, Matei.
- I'm still trying to strike a good marriage deal while I still can, so I can't just marry those bitches from my court. I want power most of all things. If the marriage isn't to my taste, I would just not bother.
- Sigh, you should also try settling down for real. If I give you my two sisters, would you stay in your place until I finish my campaigns with the Bohemians and Moravians?
- Hmm, Justina and Alina? Aren't you too generous with me, after all our history? If that's how it is. You know what, after listening to your rant, fine. I will settle down here in Buda.
- Good, that's excellent news. Just a reminder, if they annoy you, keep your calm. Aside from this, good luck with the marriage.
- No problem, you'll be the one seeing me more often than those girls. Let's go another round of chess, brother.
- Hah, let's do it. This one is for 1000 gold florins. I'll leave you butt naked after this night of plays.
(End of Flashback)
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Vlad still laughed wildly when remembering the blonde guy who looked to be around his late twenties. Looking at Kipset and Inorra, he recovered his normal state and continued his story.
"The Prince really got distracted by all that was happening around him. However, in his late years, when finally king B offered his support, he retook the throne.
However, taking back the throne, he also wanted to reclaim the lost land pieces that the puppets that controlled the land in his absence gave it to king A. He prepared his soldiers for a small campaign that was only meant to reclaim the lost lands, but as if someone was manipulating things from the shadows, he couldn't escape the haunting rats that betrayed him.
They schemed against the Prince and had him captured sent to king A, who could only kill him even though they grew together. It a sad end, but there are many things to learn from the Prince's story.
And with that, I end this story of mine that keeps haunting me as if I was the one experiencing it.
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A/N: An improved story using my new style of writing. Along with some nice flashbacks between Mathias Corvinus and Vlad Dracula.
Wonder if the kids will pick up his identity or not? Good story?
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To clear out some abbreviations: Country A (Ottoman Empire) / King A -> Sultan Murad II followed by the ascension of his son Mehmed the Conqueror
Country B (Kingdom of Hungary) / King B - ( John Hunyadi - regent to Ladislaus the Posthumous (He's from Habsburg House - Duke of Austria) - slightly inbred (to maybe a lot)
Afer that Mathias Corvinus took over the crown of Hungary (yes from the flashback as you could see, he's romanian - born in curent city of Cluj
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If you liked the story make sure to give it a follow and some encouraging reviews or pointing out my mistakes with comments so I can fix them and grow as a writer.
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I am looking for editors/proofreaders to help me out with my story/stories. If you are interested and want to help me out join my discord and say something.
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Join my discord for talks and discussions. https://discord.gg/CMsHqJVDVD
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