Clandestine Prequel Volume 2: The Silver Fang

Chapter 10: Thawing Ice

              The day rolled into night and then back to day, Vlad groaned, his eyes fluttered as he tried to focus. He could see a figure looming over him, but he was so disoriented that he could not make it out.

                 "You're awake, good."
   
    'Wait, that voice, is it?...'
   
    "Stop gazing!" The fierceness of the voice shocked him back to his senses causing him to jump up but a pain in his back made him bite his lip, dropping right back down.

"You really are incapable of anything, aren't you?"

    There  was no doubt in his mind, that was the voice of Alma.

    "Do you truly hold so much malice for me?" He asked.

"I despise you because you do nothing with the power you were given! This God forsaken war. It should have ceased years ago!" She hissed.

             Vlad slammed his hand down on the bed he way lying in. "I did not start this war!" He sighed as he rolled to the side. "Do you not believe that I want an end to it as well, my own son was murdered!"

"Then do something about it!!!" She snapped.

"I have tried!"

"Meanwhile Sivore has!"

             At that moment, Vlad rolled to the side grabbing her by the shoulders pulling himself up, and her forward. He could feel himself losing control as his hand moved around her neck. She could see a flaring swirl in his eyes...

"V...la...d!" Her airway was cut for half a second as she grabbed his wrists. There was something strange, her grip was locked tight, he could feel it. He let go hearing her gasp out as her pale purple eyes turned a dark shade for a moment before returning.

                 "That, is the darkness harbored in your heart, and that is why you were spit out." She said coldly.

               Vlad's whole body was trembling as she spoke. Why did he attack like that? He wanted to imagine, he did not know the answer. Yet, he knew that he understood.

"Come with me, now." She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

"Wait! ... I!" But, before he could get anything out she was dragging him by his arm out of the room.

                "Where are you taking me!?" He demanded.

"Be quiet and follow!" She snapped back.

            Since he started his reign, no one had ever spoken to him in that manner, he was feeling a bit irate but also, he felt something else he could not describe.

                 As she led them out of the house he noticed that they were headed back towards the front of the house where they had first met. The makeshift table was still overturned.

               "There is something you need to understand. Sivore knows the severity of the illusion that caused his act of solecism and he has been doing all that is in his power to correct it." She walked over to a smaller table under an overlap, probably used for smithing due to its proximity to the furnace and retrieved a small scroll and handed it to him.

               "This arrived by Merlin yesterday, you must see." She said in an imploring tone.

    For some reason there was a trembling feeling that overtook him, down to his very core as his fingers wrapped around the small parchment.
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Sub conducerea noului voievod Vlad III și Sivore din Țara Românească trebuie să fie deținute și ucise pentru presupusa trădare de către persoane eretice