(Father of the Dragons)
-a little transition chapter before starting our first big arc for Order of the Dragons
“Neither of us could remember but it was an important day when Timur conquered the world. Not just Iran but Syria, Iraq, Tartary, Turkey, India and almost all of China. The Lame killed Bayezid I bringing great instability to the Rumli Turks. And after that, the redheaded Sigismund felt strong enough to start a coalition against the Ottomans…”
In Hunyad Castle, Prince Vlad was wrapped in not just his cape but also several blankets and yet even under an entire mattress. Yet, Hermann Celje, an old but strong man could track the chattering of his teeth from across the castle. Hermann lifted the mattress off Vlad and joked, “you look like a guest of the house rather than the resident. It’s never this cold in this region.”
“It’s not the ttttttemperature. I ssssshivered in the bbbbbbbeating sun. My…I don’t feel gggggood after that dragon scale…” he responded, shivering very obviously.
“Oh I see. That’s why Stibor lambasted your name in the main room. He was saying you had no energy at sparring today.”
“No, I feel likekekekeke I shouldn’t move. It hurt ttotototo practice.”
“Hmm. Maybe you shouldn’t have had the dragon scale in your minority. The rest of us adults are all fine. You haven’t even grown pubic hairs yet.”
“Sir!”
“Sigismund keeps us updated. He cares for you, you know. But don’t worry, I should know a guy who can fix this ailment.”
So firstly they went to Stefan Lazarevic. The dark haired Serb stood at similar height of Hermann with a thinner build. “A simple solution. Kapsei”. Stefan had lit Vlad on fire.
Vlad raised his arms in protest and prepared to scream but stopped. Then he gave a dead glare at Stefan. Stefan looked in disdain while Hermann nervously chuckled. Hermann asked, “uh boy, do you feel okay?”
“Still shivering.”
“But surely you feel the heat of the fire. Your skin is burning, we can smell.”
“Well I guess I am a bit numb as well,” Vlad responded. “Why did you think just burning me would work, Despot?”
Stefan splashed him with water. “You were cold so you needed to be hot. Here’s a solution. Go south. Arabia is awfully warm this time of year.”
“I don’t think its just being cold anymore,” Vlad said.
“This might be a trick of the mind,” Hermann suggested, “and hold on, Arabia is hot the whole year. But the human body is not just made up of flesh and spirit. Follow me to Nitra, I know a guy.”
So Hermann and Vlad journeyed to a palace in Nitra, in the north of Sigismund’s country. The city overlooks a river of the same name. There they met witches who experimented some of their untapped torture techniques to trick his body that it was not cold. For the first few days, Hermann watched in growing disgust and so he cut the game short. The witches diagnosed that it might not be a mental trick but something physical.
“Don’t worry, I know a guy, and they aren’t going to hurt you.”
They headed over to the city of Gorz which is in the land ruled by Duke Ernst “the Iron ” Habsburg. Ernst was an incredibly tough guy despite his seemingly chubby build. He had wavy blond hair descending his shoulders. Vlad waited for them outside on the gravely ground. They stepped heavily as Hermann argued, “I didn’t know nor ask if you were at war right now. This is an emergency and you totally owe me. Why are you fighting your own brother? The inheritance was divided properly.”
“Says you!”
“I knew the guy that divided it!”
“Look at the boy, he’s still breathing. This is not an emergency.”
“Oh so you’re a necromancer! Amazing! Right right, so I’ll call to you when he’s dead. Thank you brethren.”
Ernst raised an eyebrow. He asked, “was that sarcasm?” Vlad sighed.
Hermann hit the side of his head, “Dumbass! Listen, the boy shivers uncontrollably and is practically numb. His spirit and mind are of good status. So I come to you, the physically most durable man I know.”
“So he is a lame, do I look like Tammerlane? I couldn’t help a blind man to see as I have been able to my whole life.”
“Just make his body like yours!”
“Fine. Only to return to my battle quicker.”
Ernst grabbed Vlad by his cloak and then made a mad dash for the cliff. Hermann was surprised but just watched. Ernst jumped off the mountain and then threw Vlad smashing him against another mountain. Ernst then grabbed him and started throwing him against all the mountains across the Alps. Vlad decided to fight back, physically, and would jump at him but Ernst was basically untouchable and just hit him against the mountains again and again. “This is how I became like IRON!”
Eventually, Hermann caught up and used “Marteau” to knock out Ernst. Then he gave Vlad a few vitality potions to boost his healing. Later on, Vlad was a bit surprised as he realized, “you were able to hit that impenetrable man in such a way to actually hurt him.”
“That is the strength of a Dragonists….” Hermann said, patting his own back. “You didn’t try your special spell but its probably stronger as well you know. That’s what eating the dragon was for.”
“I see.” Vlad had never cut through a rock before due to their density. He fired Taia at the mountain and the peak split clean apart. He invented this spell which is why it is in his native Romani. “Cool. Well, I’m still shivering.”
“Then there’s one last man that can help you.”
So the two traveled to Tirgostive, the capital of the land ruled by Vlad’s father; Mircea. A fairly old man, he was Voivode of Wallachia and grandson of its founder Basarab. Wallachia was currently at peace and currently under Sigismund’s Empire. Mircea was surprised Vlad had any illness at all as Vlachs have incredibly blessed bodies. “Because it was not so long ago that we were on the Steppe,” Mircea explained. Hermann, a Styrian, shrugged. Mircea told his advisors to find the Roma people which had recently been roaming through Wallachia the past few decades.
They found some mystics among the tribe who built a silver pot and filled it with water and herbs. They heated it up to get it boiling and had Vlad take baths in it. It did not hurt him like the other ‘solutions’. Everyday he got slightly better so these Roma were invited to the Hunyad castle until he got better. Hermann once told him, “remember the process of life. Every generation, people get stronger so your offspring may truly be dragons if you surpass this ailment.”
“Well thank you anyways, Hermann, for all your help and connections.”
“Ah yes, well a benefactor has to have good connections. Money doesn’t come from trees.”
And so Vlad would spend a little while recuperating…
tdwriter 