As I drew near him, I saw that my father’s shoulders were rounded in a heavy droop. His hand was slowly rubbing the top of his head as he stared downward.
Then I saw what had him so overwhelmed.
A great chasm had opened up and split the road apart. A deep gorge now cut through the mountain pass and there was simply no way around it. I could not believe my eyes. We had just traveled this road two days before and for this to happen was inconceivable.
“How? How?” My father’s voice a mere whisper. A terrified whisper.
“We were at the castle of a wicked man, Lord Edric,” Ovidiu said. “A wicked, evil man! He has great powers! He promised us safety when we were his guests, but now that we have left him, he will not spare us!”
“What nonsense! Ovidiu, there has to be a way off this damned mountain. We will go back and find it.”
Ovidiu turned and spoke swiftly to the driver in their native tongue. The dark, haggard driver kept shaking his head, clasping his hand over his crucifix.
“We think that we should perhaps try to go on foot or on the horses and leave the carriage,” Ovidiu said, his voice shaking.
“Nonsense! We have the women to consider and the storm is nearly upon us. We will go back and this time keep track of the roads. There is a way off this damned mountain and we will find it. Come, Glynis!”
I rushed after my very upset Father and stumbled a little as I did. When we reached the carriage, he lifted me up then followed me in.
“What is happening, Edric?” My mother looked pale and frightened as she tried to soothe my moaning sister.
“The way down has been cut off. A landslide perhaps. We have to try and find another way down.” Though his face was quite stern and his eyes anxious, he forced a smile and kissed Mother gently on the forehead. “It is nonsense to think this is something other than a natural phenomenon.”
I gazed at my father sadly. I knew he was a man who was skeptical of all things supernatural. He attended all sorts of lectures about enlightenment and the rational mind. I had not seen him enter a church since we were small children, and I had the impression he endured Mother’s fervent Catholicism. He was, by nature, a skeptical man. But I had seen his face at the gorge. Despite his words, I knew, in that moment, staring into the chasm, he had believed that somehow the Prince had reached out with his power and destroyed our way to the village.
May burst into tears and buried her face in Mother’s shoulder. My mother held her tightly, looking toward me. I reached out to her and we clasped hands for a tender moment.
“Do not be frightened, my darlings. All will be well. There, there,” Father said soothingly. He had quite recovered himself at this point and looked his normal calm self. He put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close.
The storm bellowed overhead and erupted with such fury the entire carriage began to shudder. The horses whinnied with terror as the carriage lurched into motion. It had not traveled far when the storm began to beat down on us with such savagery the driver was forced to seek shelter in a thicket of trees. The hiding place only spared us a little from the brutality of the wind and the rain. ligtning flashed brilliantly all around us.
For several hours, we huddled inside the carriage, cold and wet, fearing the ferocity of the storm. I sat close to Father, trying to seek both warmth and assurance. Deep within me was a horrible fear that we were never going to be free of this place. Oh, how I wished I had behaved myself when my family had been in Italy and France. Perhaps if I had been more agreeable we would not be in such a horrible predicament. Guilt raged within me as fiercely as the storm. My mother sat across from me, her eyes clenched tightly while her fingers slid over the beads of her rosary as she prayed. Ever faithful May sat beside her, following her in her prayers. They did not deserve this. Perhaps I did, but they certainly did not.
Whimpering slightly, I pressed myself more deeply into the embrace of my father and felt his gentle hand patting my back.
I thought of my nightmare of Prince Vlad and those horrible women with the sharp teeth. What if had not been a dream? What if all of this was a manifestation of his evil? Of his power? Then, surely, we would never escape.
I felt warm tears fall down my cheeks and covered my face with my hand.
After a while, we became hungry and ate a bit of the food the gypsy women had given us. I still remembered their dark eyes as they had handed us the basket. I suspected it was pity I had seen dwelling in their gaze. I ate slowly, feeling a tight pinch in my throat and a nervous flutter in my stomach. May was too upset to eat, but I ate the piece of chicken and the fruit Mother gave me. Even though my stomach was churning, I was famished. I had felt listless since awakening in the morning and the burning emptiness inside of me did not lessen with the food. Yet, the food tasted divine. As I chewed on the succulent flesh of a ripe apple, it never occurred to me that I was eating my last meal.
The day slipped by quickly for it was mid-afternoon when the carriage finally rolled past the castle. We said not a word as we watched it slip past the window. May whimpered a bit so I reached out and took her hand to calm her.
For what seemed like an eternity, the carriage kept turning down narrow roads as the driver tried to find his way down into the valley below. But every road that initially turned downward would soon lead right back up the mountain. No matter which way the carriage turned, we could not escape the presence of Prince Vlad’s castle looming over us.
The storm clouds disappeared into the horizon and the sun appeared hovering low over the valley. The evening was approaching.
“Father, the sun is beginning to set,” I whispered.
“I know, dear, but we will not turn back. We can travel at night if we need to.”
“I cannot believe the day has already passed us by,” Mother said. “I just cannot believe how horrible all of this has been.”
“There, there, Antoinetta. We must not worry the children.”
“Too late, Father. I am very worried and very frightened,” I said.
“As am I!” May clutched her rosary tightly. “Oh, I just wish we were far away from this horrible place.”
“Ovidiu will find a way down and soon we shall be in a cozy inn,” Father said firmly.
“Oh, God, Edric, let it be true.”
I watched as the bright orange sun descended to its resting place beyond the mountains. Long, black shadows filled the lush valley below and to my absolute delight, I saw the flicker of lights in the distance.
“Father, the village!”
“Thank God! It is there, Edric!”
“Ovidiu, Ovidiu!” Father leaned out of the carriage window.
I threw my arms around May and kissed her on both cheeks affectionately. “You see, May! All will be well!”
“They see the road that leads downward. It very clearly cuts down toward the valley,” Father announced with a jovial laugh.
I cheered and hugged him. We all embraced each other as Mother clasped her rosary tight and thanked all the Saints, the Virgin, and the Holy Trinity. Father just smiled at her, slightly shaking his head as he sat back in his seat and finally relaxed.
My eyes settled on the quickly setting sun while I settled back in my place. Night moved swiftly to embrace the earth, and I felt a chill rush through my veins. An overwhelming terror filled me as the sun fell below the jagged, majestic lines of the mountain range. The night fell swiftly and the carriage rolled to a stop so the lanterns could be lit.
“We must hurry!” I tried to urge the men to work faster. My pulse began to throb in my neck and wrists. Despair spread through my soul as the fear that we would never escape rose up and filled me. The night was a tangible, sinister force surrounding the carriage, pressing in around us, trying to slow us down, and trying to stop us. I knew, instinctively, that we were in great danger. I could not explain my own emotions, but deep within me, I knew we were now being pursued.
Fearfully, I glanced back toward the distant black silhouette of the castle.
“Do not worry, Glynis. We will be in the village soon,” Father declared.
Ovidiu finished lighting the lanterns and climbed back up on the driver’s seat. We lurched onward, descending.
“Finally! I cannot wait to sink into a comfortable bed! This has certainly been the most tiring of days, Edric. This whole episode has been quite taxing on all of us.”
“Well, it is almost over, dear,” Father assured Mother.
“It will be such a comfort to finally be on our way to London. I have had quite enough of these foreign lands.” Mother was beginning to return to her regular prickly self, which, to my surprise, was an enormous relief. It meant that Mother was no longer afraid.
We fell into silence as May dozed off in our mother’s arms while Father watched the lights of the village growing stronger in the distance. The soft creaking and moaning of the carriage interlaced with the sighing of the night wind began to lull me to sleep despite my worries. I was still very frightened, but as the carriage found its way down toward the village and the castle drifted farther and farther away over the sea of the treetops, I began to finally relax.
The howling of wolves broke the quiet of the night. I bolted upright in my seat and peered out of the windows. I was not surprised to see three wolves race past the carriage, their eyes glowing as they caught the light from the lanterns. The beasts were without a doubt the same three wolves I had seen before. Two were dark, the third was white.
With amazing speed they darted in front of the carriage, disappearing into the darkness before us. I leaned so far out of the window the branches of the trees reaching over the pass caught my bonnet and wrenched it from my head.
“Father, those same three wolves just ran past us!”
Before my father could answer me, blue fire erupted into the darkness before the carriage. The horses screamed in horror and the carriage nearly toppled as the horses wrenched about to avoid the dancing blue flames. I was thrown back as it rolled about, seemingly out of control.
“What is happening?” Mother screamed.
The horses dragged the carriage completely about and began to race in absolute terror back up to the road. I managed to pull myself from the floor and to the window. A brilliant blue fire was pursuing the carriage. Its strange blue flames twisted in the wind as it rolled after us.
“Father, look!”
He leaned about beside me and I saw his face pale. “It cannot be! What is it?”
We could hear Ovidiu screaming that the horses were out of control and that the driver had lost the reins.
“We are going back,” I whispered, falling back into my seat in despair.
The carriage lurched upwards and around a dangerous curve, tossing us all onto the floor. We lay there in a heap, trying to hold on the best we could as the carriage bounced back up into the mountains.
May was screaming hysterically while Mother clutched her rosary tightly.
“Dear God in heaven, when will this end?” she cried out.
It ended in the courtyard of the castle of Prince Vlad Dracula. After a long, terrifying ride, the horses led the carriage straight up to the front door and finally came to a stop.
The carriage rocked gently as the horses anxiously neighed and pawed at the ground. An eerie silence filled the night, broken only by the harsh orders barked out by the terrified driver. The horses just tossed their heads, their eyes large with terror and did not move.
The blue fire that had pursued us up the mountain now rolled and swayed at the mouth of the courtyard. Its beautiful iridescent flames appeared to enshroud three figures.
“Ovidiu, move this carriage now!” Father shouted.
May cowered in Mother’s embrace as huge tears spilled down her pale cheeks. Mother looked furious, yet very frightened. Her long fingers were tightly grasping her rosary. I stared with fascination mixed with horror at the blue flames dancing so prettily in the night. I could not believe that we were at the castle and could not bear to even look at its ruined countenance.
