-detailing the dramatized history of Vlad and Mehmed before the nighttime battle between prince and sultan
-For non-historical nerds; terms such as Despot and Voivode refer to a ruler of a principality or lesser state. The only two important states here are the Kingdom Hungary and the Sublime Ottoman State. (Bans>Counts) and (Beys< Pashas) are regional governors within those countries.
-this is very long but I got it in time for Halloween (in some timezones)
“I remember the day your father visited the city and how horribly he felt…”
The Draculesti were, at this point, fairly relevant in the world of Romana. Everyone noted them for their pointed capes that they even wore into battle when most other nobles fought in a coat. People spread rumors that their Vlach blood must stop them from freezing or that they were even inhuman. These same people would freeze in their presence as they were much too afraid to lose a limb for insulting them. They had fairly pale skin and dark short hair, except for the youngest son. They also each had oval shaped yellow eyes like dragons that added to their cold stares.
The father, Vlad the Dragon (in Romanian it is Vlad Dracul) was the favored apprentice of “Red Fox” Sigismund Luxembourg next to the much younger Janos Hunyadi. Vlad ruled over the Voivodeship of Wallachia which includes forested land in-between the Carpathian mountains and Danubian River. His first son was Mircea the Younger, named after his grandfather. He was taller than even his father and a gentleman. Right now, Mircea is actually acting as regent in Wallachia. His second son was Vlad who looked most similar to himself. Thirdly was the 4 year old toddler, Radu. He had sandy hair but the same eyes and pale skin. In Romanian, the language of Wallachia, the three kids were known as ‘Dracula’ or ‘Sons of Dracul’.
In the Turko-Greek city of Erdine, in the Second Palace of Osman, the Draculesti stepped in petrifying the servants and passersby. They stepped slowly with an air of nervousness. Their overlord could potentially kill them right now where they walk and yet that is the reason they must come anyway. They walked in between two lines of janissaries–Greek soldiers in Turkish clothing–sure to not cause a fright for them. Radu was carried on Vlad’s back and Dracul stood in front. Finally they arrived in front of the throne and Dracul prostrated to his new master after Sigismund passed away.
As fearsome as the Draculesti may be, the Osman were even worse. They have certainly killed more people including themselves. The current head was Sultan “Ghazi” Murad II Osman, ruler of Rum and Rumelia. Rum stretches from the city of Sivas north of the Taurus Mountains to Ankara in the center and to the Aegean coastline. It is a land of Rumli Turks and Rumi Greeks. Rumelia is in Europe spanning from Erdine, Gelibolu, across the regions of Bulgaria, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, and Thessaly. But as overlord, Murad also ruled over Wallachia and Albania. Currently his only rival was the well funded domain of Wladyslaw II Jagiellon who ruled over Hungary, Poland, and Lithuania. Between them lay the buffer states of Moldavia, Wallachia, Serbia, and Albania with which they would play around with all without truly hurting one another.
The two children by the side of Murad were the tall Aladdin Ali and short Mehmed. Mehmed was just three years younger than Vlad. They locked eyes for a moment but then were distracted by the discussion of their fathers. There was a giant gray wolf sleeping behind Murad and each child had wolf puppies.
Murad said, “and why do you think I have summoned you, Ulah?”
Dracul smiled innocently, “why I wouldn’t know. If you don’t remember, I’ll just leave.”
And he started to turn around but Murad used his telekinesis to turn him back around. Some of the advisors standing by the sultan giggled. Dracul shrugged. Murad said, “this is the most serious of diplomacy, do not play around. To be quick with it, my spies have informed me that you were in conversation with Janos Hunyadi, ‘the White Knight’. Is this true?”
“Which spy? Let me know and I’ll have them hanged for such a false accusation. Many know I don’t even like Hunyadi.”
“Can this be true? From what I hear of Hunyadi’s hype, is that only he inherited all of the magic Sigismund invented meaning he is of great power. Knowledge and power with trustworthiness from the Hungarian lords along with his own strange vitality. When at war, I can’t trust one of my beys to deal with him because he matches me in attack power. And he will faithfully defend a Christian Europe till his last breath. You don’t want any of this at your side?”
“He is a simple voivode just like me. And he is not the only one to inherit Sigismund’s techniques. I simply do not wish to share a presence with the dead king.”
“You say that but nobody praises your name.”
“Strength in secret, my sultan.” Dracul held back some vomit. “Secondly, his vitality is like mine, his father and I are both Vlachs. And you would rather wish Wallachia be on your side than against the Turks.”
“Great to hear. Well, to not stupidly sacrifice more Ottoman lives in invading your tiny fief, I must insure your vassalship. I’m sure you’ve heard what happened with the Serbs,” and Murad gestured over to his Serb wife Mara Brankovic. She was lying on the couch a bit sleepy and dressed lightly.
“…hostage,” Dracul said quietly.
“Exactly. That’s why I invited your two children here. If you love them dearly, you will continue to be my underling. And they will remain here. The only other tribute I demand from you is 500 Ulah to make into janissaries.”
“Enslave 502 people and you will ensure safety for thousands more Wallachians.”
“Of course. If you are at peace, then so am I. I am only a ghazi when Allah calls for it but he is the God of peace and love.”
“Crazy to say, I have always been at peace,” Dracul said to a janissary in order to make him laugh. The janissary shook his head. Then Dracul said to Murad, “treat them with as much security as your own children or they will die too.”
The room shook in shock but Murad responded with deadpan, “Nuh uh.”
“I remember that by the time he left…Hunyadi had defeated the Beylerbey of Rumelia, Sehabeddin…he was powerful but Hunyadi was the stronger…the rival clan was placed in Wallachia…”
Upon receiving the news from some loyal boyars (Wallachian nobles), Dracule asked for Murad to cover his side of the deal. “On two conditions. You will lead the army and tell the generals of all the fortifications in your country while we also build a garrison at Giurgiu.” Begrudgingly, Dracul had to agree and left with about 5000 Ghazi Turks.
The Danesti family was perhaps the more legitimate claimant to the throne of Wallachia. And the majority of boyars agreed as they were used to the ebb and flow of Danesti members to the throne. They weren’t necessarily weaker or worse than Dracul and his father Mircea. Earlier, Mircea Draculesti was surprised when Hunyadi crashed into the Princely Palace. Hunyadi was riding the dragon Sigismund tamed 34 years ago. The dragon had guided Sigismund’s Order which Dracul used to be apart of. This was the last Carpathian dragon in existence. Riding with Hunyadi was his usual partner, Miklos Ujlaki, and Basarab Danesti. Hunyadi wore bright white armor but held no weapons. He had brown hair and a tanned face. Miklos wore a more stylish bronze armor with lots of patterns engraved in. He also had a mouth piece on his helmet that was a conch shell. The two are Voivodes of Transylvannia. Basarab had bright brown hair and wore regal clothes as if he was already a decided ruler. His hands were held behind his back.
Mircea looked up at them while unsheathing his sword, “Hunyadi! Ujlaki! What are you doing here with that idiot?”
“Have you even met him before? Anyways, your family has already betrayed Hungry. You know what this means by now,” Hunyadi said. “Whoever controls Moldavia, Wallachia, Serbia, and Albania will succeed in becoming the hegemon of the region. And that hegemon must be Christian.”
“I know a stinky Danesti when I smell one. Follow me,” Mircea commanded although his royal court had already dispersed.
“If they ran away, why lose your life fighting us?” Basarab asked.
Mircea ran over to a chest and brought out a rocket shaped object. Lighting it with the spell “Bruler”, the rocket shot into the air and exploded with red smoke flooding the sky. The dragon flew around this now circling the castle. “He means to summon the Turks,” Hunyadi muttered.
“That’s fine with me,” Basarab said, jumping off the dragon. He descended to the main street where many people were already gathering. Tirgostive is a city of merchants so there are people all over the region but the natives were Vlach, Saxon, or Roma. Mircea spread his arm ready to speech.
Ujlaki jumped off the dragon in a backflip, “I’ll take care of him.” He covered his mouth with the conch shell, which is enchanted, and blew into it. Blowing into it lessened the weight of the armor allowing him to float, fall like a feather, and move with maximum agility. He descended into the palace and immediately lost an arm. Mircea had fired the family’s unique “raia” spell. Expecting this, Ujlaki immediately used “reparer” the second the arm split so it could mend. If it got too far away, he’d not heal from this. Then he landed into a roll and sprung into the air. Mircea was a bit confused, never fighting this Croat before, and defensively stepped back.
Basarab spoke, “good morning people of Wallachia, my people. I am here today with my Christian patron, the great Janos Hunyadi. I am here because I am an enemy of the Turks and do not wish to see Wallachians enslaved by those who pray to a cube. We pray to the cross!”
Ujlaki curved in the air dodging the air slashes Mircea threw with his sword. Ujlaki then closed in, zigzagging in such a way that Mircea dropped his sword in bewilderment. Ujlaki then accelerated and punched Mircea dead center of the face. Mircea’s body flew but barely any blood flew out. Ujlaki kept floating around as he thought his skin is way more dense than any other human I’ve punched. Mircea jumped back at him with a downward slash that Ujlaki easily dodged. The slash spawned from the sword kept flying through the walls and over the heads of everyone gathered outside.
Basarab noticed but kept yapping, “what’s worse is not their betrayal to Christ but they’re betrayal of blood. I hear from a good source amongst Sigismund’s order that Dracul had eaten so much of the dragon that he indeed became one. He then became a father to these three dragon-human hybrids that serve the Turk. Those Draculas are not even human anymore!”
“Orbi” Mircea fired at his mirror. Ujlaki was able to just barely dodge the spell but then it reflected off the mirror and hit him from behind. Ujlaki suddenly couldn’t see shit. It’s…it’s just dark. That’s not a regular Christian spell. Another Dracula spell. I’m blind.
Mircea pointed two finger guns at the floating Ujlaki and then unloaded rapid “Strapunge” spells which stabbed Ujlaki even through his armor. He was hit a few dozen times before needing to exhale and thus falling to the ground. Then Ujlaki took a deep breath.
The boyars came tumbling and rumbling out of the palace. They spotted Basarab and started cheering “Danesti! Danesti! Voivode, voidvode!”
He clapped as they surrounded and hugged him. “Hahaha, well take the crown off Mircea’s head.
Hunyadi flew to the plains south of Tirgostive. Surely enough there were already 1000 Turk racing for the capital. Their horses moved with great swiftness and at the head was the recognizable Sehabeddin. He was a large and bulky man with short blonde hair. Spotting Hunyadi’s dragon, Sehabeddin pointed his finger. The Georgian is about to use one of his native spells, Hunyadi anticipated, he never learned anything being a Turk. Sehabeddin fired “Datsema” at the dragon causing it to fall instantly. But actually, Hunyadi was right behind Sehabeddin. “Envoyer” is a teleportation spell which is rare to find and hard to master. Hunyadi’s fist raged with white aura and smashed into the back of Sehabeddin’s head. Sehabeddin and his horse rolled for a couple of feet and crashed against a rock. The rest of the army was then suddenly under assault from Hunyadi’s fists barrage as he enlarged them with “Grandir”. Bodies went flying and ghazi turks collapsed in waves. A ghazi is an islamic horseman who raids/attacks on kafir (non-believers) that was in the service of God. With Hunyadi, there was no ghazi to be had.
Sehabeddin raced to Hunyadi who tagged him with “Envoyer” so that they switched places. Sehabeddin was stunned while Hunyadi knocked him with a white aura punch, his speciality. Sehabeddin fell to the ground and Hunyadi climbed on him in order to beat his face all bloody.
Mircea raised his sword to execute Uljaki. Mircea said to him, “you could’ve asked us for clarification instead of just attacking.”
“You can’t play both sides. Your father already joined the Turks. If we ask you to betray your dad, the Turks will replace you sooner and force him to kill his own son.”
Mircea wavered. Uljaki aimed this blind, “Sisati”, his own unique spell. It hit the wall across the room and forced Mircea to be sucked into the wall. Remembering where his spell fired, Uljaki followed up with a high speed drop kick! Mircea’s body flew well across town before crashing to the ground.
An hour later, Hunyadi and Uljaki gave a thumbs up to Basarb and the civilians. “Wallachia is Hungarian once again,” they cheered. For the next year, Wallachia would remain subservient to the lords of Transylvania which was of course subservient to the Hungarian King that ruled from Poland. King Wladyslaw III Jagiellon also had suzerainty over the Musat family in Moldavia and the Brankovics of Serbia. Only Albania remained to the Ottoman. 3 to 1.
So Vlad Dracul traveled quickly on his horse, leading the 5000 ghazis. He showed them the necessary forts in route to Tirgostive but left it at that as they approached the capital. “I’ll show you the rest later but we won’t have much surprise if we wait more.” He let the ghazi infiltrate the city disguised as Christian monks. They made their way to the palace with Vlad acting like he was ‘sent by the Pope’ to ‘heal the schism’. Once there, the troops quickly replaced the palace guards. Dracul then traveled in silence all of the way to the main court room. He was able to sneak behind Voivode Basarab II who seemed to be writing into his diary. With “Bruler”, Dracul burned the diary. Basarab looked abc in great surprise, “the Dragon!”
Then the chest exploded with Mircea rising out of it. “Make that two!”
“Wha-what!? How did you?”
“I was hiding here the whole time, Danesti.”
Then Mircea threw his father a mallet. He brandished his own mallet. Dracul yelled“Oh yeah!”
“Let’s a go,” Mircea added.
And they just started bashing on Basarab’s body in rapid fashion. They beat Basarab out of the room and chased him into the mountains with continuous beatdowns. The next morning, they appeared among the civilians as if nothing had happened. The father and son would be co-voivodes of Wallachia which was again Ottoman. Basarab returned to Hunyadi at the Hunyad castle (in Transylvania) all bruised. Hunyadi said, “if you couldn’t even defend yourself, its better we find another Danesti.” The Danesti and Draculesti are both descended from Basarab the Founder who created the first independent Vlach state.
The Enderun School was a school system that served the Ottoman family, Turkish nobility, and Chrisitan janissaries. The janissaries are slave soldiers (it is wrong to enslave a muslim) usually kidnapped in their youth like Radu Draculesti. They were trained in a few schools but the most important was the one in Erdine, the capital. Next to the Ottoman palace was the Palace School where Vlad and Mehmed were standing with Murad. They were in a hallway on the third floor as they were about to head to class.
“Excellent work, Vlad Drakula, you passed the competency exam so well that you will be in the gifted program with my son Mehmed. But you are in no means in his league. I want you to read the books and learn the lesson as accurately as possible while serving and protecting Mehmed. There will be no room for you to slack in your work. You are only further kept alive by your father’s fidelity so you should follow in kind.”
Vlad bowed, rolling his eyes when his head lowered, and then responded with, “don’t be upset if I begin following him from in front.”
Marud was not affected by this comeback at all and just left them. “Be ready,” Mehmed said, opening the door to the next classroom. The school’s uniform was a white coat and pants with a badge showing which rank the student was at. They were both at rank 1 (the highest) which was certainly high for Mehmed’s age of ten years old. The usual child would be here at age 14 as this should be their last year before graduating, if they don’t fail. Vlad is 13 years old.
There were also not as many kids at the Palace ranks anyway. From age 5 to 8, a child would be indoctrinated into Turkish culture (in order to be a decent citizen) and then trained in warfare to become a janissary/ghazi. That is where Radu went to now, while cared for by Sultana Mara Brankovic. Then age 8 to 15, they would be ascending the Palace ranks at least once a year.
Now in school, the everyday cycle of waking up around 9, going to the six classes, and then following Mehmed around the city bothered Vlad. The six classes were mathematics, alchemy, Turkish and also Persian language, government, and scimitar dueling. In school, students read from one book from the teacher, copying what notes they could, and then sometimes performed their knowledge on the subject. There was just one ‘classroom’ for the gifted kids as the teachers passed in and out. It was practically a club room with the furniture the boys stuffed in there and how they acted in between classes or meal time. And the coolest kid there was of course, the young Şehzade (or prince) Mehmed.
He rarely copied notes but memorized the lessons so well that he taught the dumber boys after classes as well. If a teacher forgot something, he immediately corrected them and was well appreciated for this. Despite performing well on the first exam, Vlad faltered afterwards as Mehmed’s continued showing-off made it less worth it to compete. And writing in Persian was “Stupid, I can’t believe they make this word look like that. A child’s scribbles”. The teachers would routinely inspect notes for accuracy but Vlad’s were always written in Cyrillic so then he’d be forced to rewrite it in front of them. Vlad also didn’t have the brain for the high level algebra while Mehmed basically slept in those classes. Alchemy was a bit more fair as the Turks used the same symbols as Greeks for equations to potions and enchantments. But even there, as much as Vlad competed against him, Mehmed was just too much of a Him-med.
The school invited no disgusting horrible women to learn as that would be counter-intuitive to them being good wives. So after school, 5 pm, the rank 1 boys followed Mehmed into the suburbs of Erdine. There the unmatured Muslims at least tried to flirt with young Muslim or Christian girls but there were problems. Firstly the Muslim girls were hidden inside the house and if they left their father would instantly call upon the local police and the student would be arrested for a short bit. The Christian girls were even further protected, because they’re Greek, and you know how Greeks feel about Turks. So sometimes they had luck and sometimes they didn’t. After school though, Vlad equipped his Draculesti cape and thus didn’t look Turkish anymore. He had much more luck than his peers here until the girl’s father found them…so for about twenty minutes.
Mehmed seldom got arrested as getting talked to by the prince was the least worrisome thing. If he married a Turkish girl, the family could join the elite Ottoman status and perhaps even live in the palace. If he married a Greek girl, the family would receive the same benefits added onto the fact they’ll probably join a high position in Ottoman government. But the boy is ten and only cares to recite Greek or Persian literature. He is also short and ignorable in stature.
So then we have his tall Albanian wingman Zaganos. He had dark curly hair and a muscular build. He knew Greek slang and could flirt effortlessly. All of this was used to hype up Mehmed to a girl before bringing her over to him. He’d sit at a bench swinging his legs while across the seat Zaganos creepily tried to intice a ten year old girl (Zaganos is even older than Vlad) to go meet Mehmed. Mehmed was taught that if he was gonna be nerdy to at least act nonchalantly so it interested the girl. But even while he cooked, Vlad would appear from the shadows saying, “hey little bro, didn’t you store your boogers under your teeth today?” And the girls would run home screeching. Mehmed never reacted to that but the rest of the gang would try to attack Vlad for this elite tactic but they could never really break his skin. Of course, the Muslim boys could never go further than flirting or winning a kiss from a girl and soon their own parents would come chasing them down for dinner.
‘Protecting’ Mehmed seemed such a ridiculous suggestion from Murad as time passed on. Not only did every in town respect the kid but they really like him too. There was a few times at first that Vlad would be following Mehmed as they walked through town alone. Then the passersby would stop Vlad, thinking he was out to murder the prince. Vlad learned to walk from a distance. Other times, an occasional hoodlum would try to assassinate the prince. Before Vlad could rush in to save him, dozens of civilians would step in line between the assassin and the prince. Vlad didn’t even need to save him from scammers, as Mehmed out tricked them, or superpower bullies as Mehmed knew spells stronger than them. This was all to not even mention the two puppy wolves that followed around Mehmed, seemingly obeying his every mental command.
In the palace, there were many rooms scattered across two floors. Vlad, Radu, and Mehmed mostly were cared for by Mara Brankovic. Mara was forced to marry Murad just under a decade ago in order to save Serbia from invasion. Her father was Durad, the Despot of Serbia, but the man still acts on Hunyadi’s side. Luckily, Mara is diplomatic enough to convince Murad of mercy. She had long light brown hair, big breasts, and pasty skin. She always wore a loose dress as if to lure Murad. As sultan, the man had multiple wives who each took care of their own children in their own corner of the palace. Mara spoke Greek to her three ‘adopted’ kids in her corner which she kept very neat. “Don’t touch anything!” She was also fairly strict with the Draculesti kids while pampering Mehmed. “Don’t ever wonder what Vlad says to you, he is just envious that his father is not a great warrior.” She was around 26 years old.
With other members of the royal court, Murad spoke in Persian which did not interest Vlad at all. With family, Murad spoke in Turkish which Vlad tried to learn secretly while acting oblivious about the conversations. At dinner time, the family gathered at a table in the center of the second floor. There was much food from across the Mediterranean and Middle East served here. The servants came quickly and the chefs were always accurate with what Vlad wanted. Eventually, the dinner conversations taught Radu enough Turkish to conversate with everyone except for Vlad who kept acting oblivious. Mehmed’s older brother, Aladdin, remained a mystery to Vlad as he did not care at all and never listened to his convos. He was Murad’s favorite son despite all of Mehmed’s talents.
The scimitar is a sword crafted throughout the Arabic world. It is a bit curved and made light. Around noon, the swordmaster took the rank 1 boys to the rooftop where there was a fenced area for dueling. Vlad was previously trained with a pike so transition from stabbing to swinging took a bit. More quickly, he learned how to predict Mehmed’s movements in sparring and eventually he held an undefeated streak against him. Even the other students went winless against Vlad. They gossiped that he was inhuman, too brutal, and too bloodthirsty.
During the second semester, the magic class changed from alchemy to Extreme Curses in which they actually learned how to break such forbidden magic. The language class also changed to reading Arabic, in literature and theological sources. They also practiced the Arabic script which Vlad thought was even stupider so he wrote in Persian.
Finally came the final exam which would decide the career of all the rank 1 kids, gifted or not. Each student would sit down with the teacher 1 on 1 and recite answers verbally. There was a judge that watched each student. He judged them not only on accuracy but also personality. The questions ranged from all sorts of things and especially battle strategies or problem solving. For Mehmed, he passed with flying colors and the judge expected him to be a great governor/general since Aladdin was to be the true heir of Murad. For Vlad, he was reported as insane for some of his answers and recommended to be a general of a janissary army.
But Murad congratulated Mehmed, “you’re doing great, my boy. We’ll have a big party. And if you want any of your school friends to administer the realm with you, just ask me. You’ll be a great bey for your big brother…”
And so after graduating, Mehmed was sent to Amaysa, a city in the far east of their country. It is where his grandfather Mehmed the Restorer started his kingdom of Rum. Mehmed was well received by the people there. He would serve as the city’s governor and have lots of autonomy on his own. He was just 11. As for Vlad……much to his chagrin, he was sent to shadow Mehmed and be his personal general. The two were in charge of 2,500 janissaries and 2,500 ghazis. The soldiers in the east came from Circassia and Georgia, kidnapped in the occasional slave raids and then made loyal to the Ottomans. Out here, Mehmed and Vlad were closest to other Turkish states like Candar, the Karaman Beylik (the Ottoman’s rival), Dulkadir (friendly), and the White Sheep Tribe.
But Vlad learned a lot in his school years away from Wallachia. He learned Turkish, he learned their culture and history, and the truth about the wolves. After the Great Flood, Noah had three kids; Sam, Ham, and Jafes. Sam gave birth to Semitic peoples while Jafes gave birth to eight people; Khazar, Saqlub, Rus, Ming, Chin, Kemari, Tarikh, and Turk. Then Turk gave birth to three more; Qara, Tartar, and Mongol. Then Qara gave birth to Oghuz who grew up quickly and united the Steppe. Oghuz wanted to be ruler of the 4 world (Rome, Iran, India, China) and went to Rome first to defeat them. Then a great grey wolf came to his support and they defeated the Romans at Volga. Oghuz eventually had 22 children including Kayi who the Ottomans descend from. Osman, the founder of the dynasty, had gained an alliance with Asena, a wolf deity that used to protect Turks in ancient times. He also learned about the Sunni succession of the Islamic Caliphate which lies in the current caliph in Egypt. Then there was lots of Persian folklore, literature, and culture along with Greek mythology and philosophy.
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