Hollow Immortal

Prologue - The Rise of the Dragon

Hollow Immortal

All Rights Reserved

©2016Raine Caoilin Chandler

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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"Elisabetha!" Vlad shouted as he burst through the doors at the top of the stairs in the tower.

Caine saw a flurry of movement above him as he hurried after the prince. He could well imagine what he was going through. Hearing of his wife's death on the battle field then returning to find she lived. How he longed to experience such joy. Vlad was all he had, he was like a younger brother to him, and he couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to him.

"Vladimir!" he heard her voice call back but it seemed to fade with each syllable as if she were running away.

Then came the most agonising sound he'd ever had the misfortune of hearing. Vlad screamed as if someone had reached inside his chest and ripped his still-beating heart out of it. He screamed her name. Caine sped up, taking the remaining ten steps two at a time. He burst through the doorway to see Vlad standing on a ledge, about to throw himself off of it. He crossed the room in less than a second and grabbed Vlad's cloak, hauling him backwards. The clash resounded when Vlad's plate armour collided with Caine's breast plate. Both of them fell backwards, Caine landing on his backside and Vlad on top of him.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Caine hissed into his ear, "You have a war to win!"

"Damn the war!" Vlad shouted turning to hit Caine, "And damn you!"

Vlad's punch connected with Caine's mouth and blood sprayed across Vlad's face as his lip split. Caine fell backwards, stunned at the forced he'd been hit with. The young Prince scrambled to his feet in a desperate attempt to get back to the window. Caine lunged forward, grabbing him around the waist. They both clattered to the floor again. Caine quickly filled in the blanks, Elisabetha had received similar news and she had thrown herself to her death with the thought of never seeing her husband again. He felt her soul leaving her as he wrestled Vlad.

"Let me go, damn you!" Vlad shouted.

He tried to hit Caine again but Caine intercepted his fist with his palm. He did the same with Vlad's other wild punch then pinned his wrists to the floor.

"Vladimir!" he barked, "This is what they want! This is what I warned you about!"

"Then let them have it!" Caine saw tears in his eyes.

"Don't be stupid," Caine said, trying to keep his voice down, "fight for your people. Fight for your faith."

Vlad screwed his eyes shut and tears welled up between his lids and spilled down over his temples.

"Elisabetha," he gasped between heart-wrenching sobs.

Caine hauled him to his knees and wrapped him in a tight embrace, the way he sometimes did when Vlad was younger. He kept his hand on Vlad's head, holding him tightly so he didn't try to escape again.

"Have faith, brother," he said, "this is a trial and God does not send tests that are too difficult for us."

Vlad's shoulders stopped shaking and he shoved Caine back. Fury burned in his dark eyes and Caine knew that he was probably about to let his fury influence him into doing something incredibly stupid.