The winding cracks in the ancient stone blocks cried out for
release. They were beaten, worn and weathered with time and age. The
battlements atop the walls were mere slivers, shadows of the once-mighty
defenses. Towers that had once loomed intimidating against the sky were broken,
as though some giant had swiped the tops off in a great swing of its immense
club. Crevices raced up and down timeworn walls, letting pale moonlight filter
through where mighty siege engines had failed to penetrate.
The drawbridge was down. Worn and rotted now, it was made of
stout oak that was every bit a match for steel in its day. The moat it spanned
had long since dried up. The path leading to the ancient vampire’s castle was
as old and tired as the fortress.
A young knight appeared before the castle. He felt as tall
as the wind astride his night-black stallion, as invincible as stone. His magic
sword and enchanted armor had never failed him thus far, and he was confident
it would once again carry him to victory.
The weight of horse and rider tried the bridge terribly, but
it held as the young knight crossed. The courtyard was overgrown with wild
grass, moss, and black flowers that seemed to grow in the pallor of the
moonlight. Two great wooden doors gave entrance to the forbidding structure.
Long ago these gates might have kept back a powerful army. Tonight they gave
willingly to the push of the young knight.
The brash cavalier struck a torch after leaving his destrier
tied to a broken post, an ancient sliver of wood hollow with rot. The main
foyer fought back his fire as the knight took his first cautious steps within.
He drew his weapon at the dark and stepped forward carefully, casting wary
glances to either side. The dim torchlight revealed worn paintings and rotting
tapestries. Furnishings that must have once been ornate and delicate were now
worn and shattered. There were no mirrors.
Forbidding hallways that should have terrified the young
knight fell easily to his torch and bravado. The confidence of youth brimmed
within, bolstered by his magical armaments. He knew the corridors and turns of
his path well, having been carefully tutored in the layout of the fortress
before making his journey. Down grim passages and up winding stairs his path
led, until he stood before an ornate oaken door that seemed to have resisted
the effects of time far better than the rest of the gloomy castle.
The young knight reached carefully toward the pull-ring, his
hand hovering mere inches away. He let it drop suddenly and brought forth his
leg, giving the door a mighty kick. It held firmly.
Suddenly the door slowly opened, swinging in as if it were
opened by some invisible butler. The young man’s head cocked to one side as the
room within drank the light of his weak flame. He stepped forward carefully,
his eyes scanning every inch he could see. The room was unnaturally cold,
telling him he’d found his destination. He raised his torch, and the room lit
up.
Ornamental lamps suddenly sprang to life, shaming the
pathetic glow of his torch. No flame danced within the ostentatious lanterns
that emerged from the walls. The lamps had somehow caught the moonlight itself,
and the room now bathed in its pallid glory.
The room was small by the standards of an enormous castle.
No elaborate tapestries hung here, no gaudy paintings. A small, round table sat
near a blackened and dead fireplace, flanked by two very ordinary-looking
chairs. In the chair to the young man’s right sat the vampire, looking at him
quizzically.
The young knight’s sword rose instinctively at the foe, who
sat still as a statue. The vampire regarded the young man with cold calculation.
Thousands and thousands of years had this undead creature lived, far too long
to be cowed in the least by an upstart knight and his magic toys.
Waves of gray rushed through the vampire’s black hair. His
mouth was closed, a faint hint of a smile curving his lips. The robes upon his
body must have once been bright and colorful, but time had worked its own magic
upon the fabrics. Now they were dull, faded, plain. His emotionless eyes could
not give away his age, for neither they nor the vampire knew how old he really
was. Countless had been the years, without end, until time itself had lost its
meaning.
The two held, one standing and one sitting, until the
vampire broke the impasse with words he’d thought he might have forgotten, so
long had it been since he’d needed to use language at all.
“Ho, brave knight. What brings you to my hearth this evening
with steel in your hand and murder on your heart?”
The young knight was taken aback.
“Murder? Nay, tis not murder to slay the evil, nor those who
are already dead. Rise, and face your destiny.”
“Indeed?” The vampire raised an indifferent eyebrow to the
young knight’s brashness. “How do you know that I am, in fact, evil? Have you
seen or heard of foul deeds at my hand? Have you a way to know my heart and
mind, so that the truth of my wickedness is truly known to you?”
Again the young knight was, for a moment, lost for words.
He’d come prepared to do battle with a malevolent villain, not bandy pointless
wisdom with this weathered grandfather.
“I need not see your mind to know your vile history. Dread
tales of the foul vampire abound hereabouts, and I’ve arrived to end them once
and for all. Now, stand or sit, it is time to die.”
The vampire sat unmoved by the young knight’s audacity.
“Then before you proceed, you must admit you are a killer.”
“I admit nothing, villain.”
A sigh might have escaped the vampire’s lips just then,
though it was widely held the undead never breathed. An emotion crossed the
vampire’s face. Pity, sadness, or perhaps even compassion. It was gone as
quickly as it surfaced. His steely gaze held the knight enraptured.
“Perhaps you know not my mind, but I see yours clearly.
Galhadrious of Vane sees glory in his future if he slays the wicked vampire who
prowls the night in search of blood and maidens.”
The young knight’s face gave away his complete surprise.
“You, you know my name?”
The faintest hint of humor pushed its way onto the vampire’s
countenance.
“Of course. Steel was a glint in your ancestor’s eye when last
an intruder set foot inside this castle without my knowing his name. Or hers.”
The young knight’s eyes widened further at the vampire’s
mention of women attempting to best the undead creature. This amused the
vampire immensely, though he showed no sign to his guest.
“Ah yes, my friend, many a maiden has darkened my door to
avenge her vanity. None succeeded, though most gave far more quarrel than many
men.”
The knight stood dumbfounded, owing as much to his own weak
imagination as to the vampire’s enchantments.
“You are right, of course, though you know it not. I’ve
committed atrocities in my ages of existence. Men have been slain, women have
been taken, and whole villages have left the earth in the face of my wrath. And
what has it brought me? A young brashling who believes himself to be a hero.
Yet, we both know that in your heart you are no more heroic than I.”
This seemed to bring the young man out of his reverie.
“What? You suggest I am as base as you? I have not burned
whole villages to the ground, nor taken young maidens against their will, or
children from their mother’s breast. You who have no honor may not question
mine.”
“Honor is a fleeting fancy upon a young man’s mind. Older
and wiser men know this to be true. And I am older and wiser than all. My long
years have given me an insight you couldn’t hope to comprehend.”
Boldness at last returned to the young knight’s heart.
“Long years are wasted on a creature such as you. Better
they are bestowed upon the good and righteous, that the world might be filled
with noble works. But nay, only sinful creatures such as you receive that
blessing.”
The vampire laughed now. Lungs that hadn’t felt air in
millennia put forth a blood-curling sound that filled the young knight with
ironic dread. Terror pierced his armor of brazen youth and magic steel to freeze
his soul at the sound of the hellish laughter.
“Blessing, you say? Ah, the ignorance and insolence of
youth. Ever does mankind remind me. I say it truthfully now boy, you have no
knowledge of what you speak. Immortality as a blessing? No, immortality is the
curse of God, the ultimate curse, indeed.”
A long moment passed before the young knight found his
courage again, and his words.
“Bah, so says a liar who seeks to keep such secrets to
himself. Immortality would be a rose to mankind, allowing his full
righteousness to flower. Long and forever could good deeds be done with the
gift you spit upon.”
“Would they indeed?” The vampire’s stony expression held
back his derision for this upstart who knew nothing, and less than nothing. “I
know something of the human soul boy, a truth your feeble mind has yet to find.
It tires. Goodness and right are not the nature of the human soul. Virtue
fights a war within to make men decent and noble. Yet the bane of man is the
selfish nature he is born with, and it lays siege to his spirit. Given the time
you so ignobly assert you deserve, the walls of virtue would inevitably fall.
The righteous man who might have left a legacy of honorable works would find
them drowned beneath a tepid pool of sin and apathy. Ever does the flesh cry
for its reward, and given time it will take that reward, spirit willing or no.”
The young knight listened intently, but threw aside the
vampire’s wisdom as the mutterings of one who sees his fate has at last
arrived.
“You speak as though everyone would use the gift as you
have, pursuing hollow and selfish ends. You’ve obviously forgotten that there
are many good and kind people in the world, who would always strive for
decency.”
The vampire shook his head, as though he were scolding a
disobedient child.
“No, boy I haven’t. Nor have I forgotten that there are many
evil, selfish, and depraved human beings, as well as your good. Shall they be
allowed to inflict their wickedness on others for infinite time, or would you
bestow your precious gift on those few, good souls?”
“The good deserve long life and happiness. The evil earn
only death.”
“And who shall mark them as such, boy? You?”
“If I must. Good and evil are not so difficult to discern.”
“Indeed? And what qualifies you to sit in judgment of your
fellow man?”
“The righteousness of my heart and the strength of my blade
gives me that right.”
The vampire could no longer hide his amusement from the
upstart before him. A wicked smile showed the young knight the vampire’s long,
pointed incisors.
“Good and might allow you to arbitrate justice? How naïve
you are! Have you paid no heed to those who have gone before you? Have you not
seen the corruption that power inflicts upon the human soul? Expand that idea a
thousand times, by a thousand years. Would you perpetrate that cruelty upon
your fellow man?”
The young knight opened his mouth to reply, but the words
failed him. The vampire’s sardonic grin grew wider.
“And should my wisdom bear out and your righteousness one
day fall to the siege of your flesh, who then may sit in judgment on you?”
Confusion and anger flew across the young man’s face.
“So everlasting life should remain the province of the
undead?”
“If you wish to retain the integrity of the human soul,
yes.”
“How can you know about
something you have never possessed?”
The vampire, far from offended, was amused by the young
knight’s indignity.
“Never, my son? Nay. Like all undead, I too was once as
human as you.”
“Perhaps, but do you recall? Your own pronouncement gives
you away, and perhaps you’ve truly forgotten what mortality was like? I name
you a liar, villain. Or perhaps a doddering old man who wanders in his own
senility.”
The vampire sensed the young man was trying to provoke him.
A faint smile brought the corners of his dead mouth upward.
“I recall much and more, young man. Far more than your small
mind shall ever know. Remember this, if nothing else. Immortality is the
slowest form of death.”
The young knight remained unmoved.
“Never fear, villain, if you value existence so little, sit
still and I shall relieve you of the burden.” The young knight lifted his sword
again, albeit much slower than before.
“But therein lies a truth of existence, does it not?” The
vampire raised his deep, chilling voice. “Though immortality is no gift, true
death and its unknown nature force us to cling to life, no matter how desperate
our cause to flee. Ages have I lived boy, ages beyond count. Many are the times
I’ve suffered loneliness, hunger, and despair deeper than anything mankind has
ever feared in his darkest dreams. Many are the ways I have tried to face the
ultimate truth, and have suffered defeat each time. Undeath has a common cause
with life boy, and that cause is fear.”
The young knight suddenly realized this foe was not nearly
as terrifying as he’d been led to believe. This creature was just as afraid of
dying as anyone else. Galhadrious let a small chuckle escape his lips as he
considered the irony of a vampire who was afraid to die. His irony grew into a
wide smile. His muscle tensed, and then he dove, his arm and his aim true. But
his sword stuck in the chair, the vampire was no longer sitting in it. Suddenly
the room went dark, and everything changed.
The young knight awoke. The room was dark, yet he could see
through the darkness clearly. He scanned the room, but the vampire was gone. He
wondered how long he’d been lying on the floor, and what the vampire had done
to him to make him lose consciousness. The young knight reached for the door
and emerged into the hallway. Darkness reigned here as well, but the cold stone
walls were clearly visible.
Galhadrious suddenly felt an irresistible urge to climb to
the battlements of the old castle. He knew the way easily, as though he’d
walked these black halls for a thousand years. He emerged soon into the night
air. A full moon was rising, bidding homage to the new master of the ancient
castle. Though the season was cold, the wind felt almost warm against his skin.
The young knight stood on the walls of the forbidding castle, looking out at
his new lands and admiring them. He
reached up and touched the two bite marks on his neck. Far from horrified, he
was suddenly and pleasantly pleased. Now he could show the arrogant undead
creature just how wrong he was.
Far away, too far away for normal human eyes to see was the
small village he’d departed from not so long ago. He saw it clearly, and
suddenly hunger and lust welled up within him.
