“ Young lord Cosmin are you hurt? “
Do These guys believe me to be their charge?
“ I am fine; no need to worry. I am no..t.. “
“ That is excellent news, sadly, the only good news today. I am ashamed to admit it, but your brother got abducted by the sultans' men, and your father was assassinated while trying to protect you both. “
He interrupted me before I could deny being this Cosmin guy. They think I am Cosmin, So why don't I play along? Since this is probably a simulation, there is no harm in having an adventure. Ok, now let me start gathering some information.
“How did I end up here? “
He gave me a worried look and doubled back a little.
‘That doesn't look good. I should probably know about it, but unfortunately, I am not Cosmin, so I don't have a clue.’
“That was the family heirloom you were gifted on your 15th birthday. Did you forget about it? ”
“Sorry, I am still not feeling well after that incident. I need some rest and time to think.”
‘Hope my terrible lying comes in useful for once. I just have to wait and see what they call each other since I don't know any names. Once I know their names, it should help me blend in for some time, enough time that I can start fitting in. after all, the best strategy now is to let them speak.’’
“My apologies, Young lord. We will set out for the camp and get you some food and rest.”
We began walking, and I realised they arranged themselves in a defensive formation around me, quite well-disciplined and deathly silent. And not very good news for me since I would probably get found out at this pace.
We travelled for a quarter-hour before I couldn't stand the silence and gave in. What I meant by saying I needed time to think was to listen to them to get some information, not complete and total silence. This development exasperated me.
“What happened during the ambush? I am still bewildered regarding it.”
The leader of the men, the guy who gave me the bad news, turned his head my way, then slowed down to stand beside me. The men shifted, allowing us to walk shoulder to shoulder and talk.
“Last night, while we were in the forest, we were ambushed near the monastery by a group of two dozen Suikasti hidden in the thicket. They began by firing a volley of crossbows, falling a few of our men. The Suikasti charged our forces immediately after, not allowing us to put up an adequate front. It was too late when they got to the old Lord. They quickly disposed of your father with a savage slash to the neck. One of them fired a hand cannon at you in an attempt to assassinate you, and the rest secured your younger brother and began fleeing. We attempted to stop them, but the lords' death greatly shook us, and we didn't manage to muster in time to chase and stop them. A few guards chased, but their rear guard hampered them. By the time the men overpowered the rear guard, the Suikasti had ridden away on horseback. It was useless to chase them on foot. Quite a few of the men did with no results. The rest of us began to look for where the heirloom placed you. We finally found you 4 miles away in the god-woods.”
‘While glancing at him, I noticed that the guard said this with an odd sense of detachment. He also shed a tear when he mentioned the old lord's death. He is still probably in shock and just going through the actions. It must be like your world is coming down around you, not a pleasant experience.’
“Why were we travelling during the night? My father didn't see it fit to inform me.”
‘A wild shot, but I need more information. Maybe I give myself away but hopefully not.’
“I am also unaware, young lord, but while we were in the cathedral of Cluj last night we spent there, the old Lord received an urgent message right before he was ready to sleep. After he read the letter, he burned it and seemed quite shaken. He took a few minutes to decide and ordered me to prepare for our urgent departure as soon as possible.”
We kept talking for the next half hour. As we walked, I got the guardsmen's names during the conversation by asking questions at the right time. I also learned that we were part of a small eastern plains kingdom called Moldavia and had a much larger Osuliman Sultanate as a neighbour to the south. It Is belligerent and eager to subjugate us into their sultanate.
After that, he discussed our next steps. I encouraged him to direct us until we got to the Main Aureni holding. I was in no shape to lead a band of men anywhere.
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He also told me that It was the tradition that during transitions of power, the more significant forces in the family fief would meet in a council for the new lord to get accustomed to them and create rapport. So I had a meeting with a group of powerful men ahead that did make me very anxious thinking about it.
That wasn't the best news, and I was slightly panicking as I started to feel significant imposter anxiety and guilt. It was eating me from the inside, and often I would space out and seem distracted. In retrospect, that was a good thing, as it probably looked like an appropriate response to the news I had received.
Once we got to camp, there were three tents. He ushered me into the larger tent, where I was given a formalwear-looking shirt that I dawned on, and then I followed Ion to the middle of the camp.
“Gather up”, Ion shouted in a loud and commanding voice.
The people in camp quickly gathered in a rough formation in front of us. By the look of it, not all of them were as skilled as the group that found me. Well, that isn't surprising. Not everyone is an elite soldier.
“We have found the young lord. And he is alive and well, and We will be setting out to the Dragoş keep, where we will request a stay for the night. Be on high alert for the Suikasti. I don't want a repeat of last night to happen again.”
“Yes, sir,” The group of guards said in unison.
“Dismissed”, Bellowed Ion
The camp erupted into a cacophony as they quickly started to pack up the tents and snuff out the fires. In a quarter-hour, the guards were ready and gathered up in a loose group. After a quick head count, ion informed me that we had 35 guards.
If I remember right, he told me earlier that we started with 57 guards in Cluj. The sacrifice was a startling realisation 22 People died trying to save Their liege and his heirs. Only now did the situation start to settle in.
While spacing out, staring at the formation, I got snapped out of my contemplation by a Loud Awoo. In the distance, it seems that this forest is host to wolfs.
Ion saw my worried expression and reassured me that they would never approach a group of our size since there were too many of us. The wolfs were why we travelled on foot, as the horses often attract the wolves. The horses could be spooked and stampede even when riding in a group as some of the wolves were quite bold and would approach very close to the group during the day, and during the night, it would be a constant struggle to keep the horses safe and prevent a stampede. If people were riding horses, it would be exceedingly dangerous and unnecessary as mountainous roads didn't allow for any significant benefits from riding a horse.
The march began. I was not a good hiker, and this was the first hike I would be going on. The walking did make me slightly anxious as I was worried about my ability or lack of ability to walk for more than a few hours at a time. Still, as time wore on and the march quickly approached 5 hours, I was feeling fine, not just fine; I was feeling excellent and relaxed seeing all this beautiful nature around me.
‘I guess I somehow did become a different person. Who knows’ I knew for a fact I could not walk for more than one to two hours in one go. Flashbacks from the shopping day my girlfriend went on and required me to accompany her. After a few hours of constant walking in the shopping centre, I had gotten too tired to keep going, or maybe I didn't care that much. Greatly annoying my then-girlfriend.
Trees mostly surrounded the trail, but when the thicket grew sparse as we approached some steeper slopes, I saw a breathtaking view of pristine nature as far as the eye could see. There would be some sparse villages that were only visible because of the smoke stacks their bread ovens were releasing.
“Cosmin, take a look over there. That is the Dragoș Keep,” Ion said respectfully, pointing towards a keep on top of an extremely steep hill. The keep loomed over the surrounding like the eye of Sauron. It could be spotted from very far away. The wall was painted in a deep black, very noticeable in the distance as a menacing and sharp fort midnight black on the horizon, almost unnaturally so.
After two more hours of walking, the keep was closer, and the rest of the fortress town was visible now. The city was located further down the steep hill, and all around it, there were plenty of structures outside of the fortress walls as well. Farmland could be seen in every direction, showing a very imposing and awe-inspiring sight.
”Ion, When was this fortress built ?” Ion turned towards me with a curious look.
”I don't think I have ever heard you interested in anything to do with history. But maybe even the young lord realised its importance now that the weight of responsibility has fallen on your shoulders.”
” The Dragoș Keep was built two hundred years ago during the first OIsuliman crusade. The Pope himself ordered it to serve as a solid fortress to retreat to in case of an Osulimani victory. It was tested many times fighting off armies as large as thirty thousand Osulami. It is one of the few fortresses keeping back the Osulimani from acquiring the Vlachian Principality.”
” Are they a crown fortress ?”
”No, the Vlachian crown is far too weak to take control of it. The Draculești house, a close ally of ours, rules it. They are the second strongest faction in Vlachia, just below the Osulimani puppet leading the river forts.”
We kept walking until the looming fortress eclipsed the sun. Once we were in sight distance, we were approached by a rider coming from the defence in Dragoș family colours, Ion told me.
”Showing yourselves on dragoș territory unannounced, how rude. Explain yourselves”
”Mind your words, Guard. You are in the presence of the young lord Cosmin of the Aureni family. Show the way to the Keep and inform your guard captain that We request an audience with lord Vlad Dragoș.”
The guardsman looked irritated that he could not lord his borrowed authority this time and turned around in a huff and began riding towards the city. Once we got there, the guard captain at the gate asked us to show proof of identity. Upon confirmation of our identity, the guard captain began leading the way to the main keep, Ion and I started following. The other members of our party were shown to the barracks in the city.
The Dragoș city was a pictures European city. The buildings were one story tall, with an occasional Tavern and commercial building two to three stories high. The roads were paved the people were clean and well-fed. No one was starving, and no one was walking around dirty. That was quite surprising. I would have imagined a medieval city would be full of poo on the streets and the people would be dirty. In most of the stories I heard, they were described as not much better than savages, but from what I saw, they were ordinary people with regular clothing.
As we got closer to the keep, the people were better dressed, even some with elaborate, almost clownish clothes with a dozen different colours and shiny golden thread. Ion told me that they were Italian merchants from the state of Genoa. They were the black sea's dominant merchants and their allies; the Venice merchants were close behind.
Ion informed me they were in an uneasy truce with the Osulimani sultanate. They had defeated an Osulimani invasion of their Crimean holdings a few months back and secured a ceasefire for now. They were looking for allies in their next match with the Osulimani sultanate.
After half an hour of walking, we reached the top of the hill. The Long duration was mainly because of the long path going in circles up the hill having many chokepoints and gates. There would be no way to enter this place uninvited unless you paid a heavy price in blood.
Soon after, we arrived in front of two imposing wooden doors where we had to wait as the lord would usher us in once he was done with the other guests. During that waiting period, I heard a terrifying scream from the inside, followed by a thud, then deathly silence.