Vlad the Impaller Chapter 9

 The Long Campaign.

9.

It was then the battle was to be known as the famous “Long Campaign” under John Hunyadi, which took place in the autumn and winter of 1443–44. The preparations weres tedious, with internal troubles in Hungary and the hostility of the Habsburgs, were mollified with papal help. Venice and the papacy supported Hunyadi’s army financially and diplomatically. Poland and other neighboring countries sent troops, and in Hungary, the king levied an “extraordinary” tax for the Crusade.

Hunyadi himself recruited some ten thousand to twelve thousand well-trained soldiers, including Czech veterans of the Hussite wars. Hunyadi recognized the inefficiency and unreliability of feudal levies and was one of the first European commanders to employ a regular army on a large scale. The whole army, after having penetrated Serbian territories under Turkish occupation, reached a total above thirty thousand strong.

The combined forces crossed the Danube in October and occupied the lands there, and conquered Turkish garrisons. Hunyadi’s troops, advancing the rest of the army, prevented the Turks from unifying their forces and dispersed them in a series of battles.

“At them and shed no mercy!” John Hunyadi called on his men. He took on the border garrisons and destroyed the camps there. He was swift in his campaign, constantly moving ahead without giving the Turks the opportunity to regroup.

“My Sultan, the Hungarians fought like the barbarians from the eastern land. They hold no mercy to our warriors. We are forced to retreat.” The Kolagasis reported to the Sultan.

“Cowards! Have them beheaded!” The Sultan was furious that his army was retreating from the Hungarians. He looked to his Viziers.

“Do tell me! I need to decide.” The Sultan roared to his advisers. “Or face the same fate as them.”

The screams of the Kolagasis could be heard before the executioner silenced them.

“Call for a truce, my Sultan. We need to buy time to regroup. We can then break the truce, and attack them.” One of the viziers voiced out to the dismay of the others.

“My Sultan, you cannot ----” The Grand Vizier cut in but the Sultan had made his mind. A ten years truce was concluded then by the Sultan. It was accepted by the other side who viewed the success of the campaign as unprecedented in the history of Turkish wars in Europe. It also evoked great enthusiasm in the Christian world.

“The Sultan Murad sued for peace. We are the victors.”

That truce was concluded but was broken when it was learned that a Venetian fleet was sailing to the Dardanelles to prevent the Sultan from recrossing into Europe. It was then the Hungarian army went on the offensive to drive the remaining Ottoman forces from Europe. (Extract from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Janos-Hunyadi#ref1231916).

It was also then the Volvode of Wallachia, Lord Vlad II was with mixed feelings. There was the war which the King had waged but Lord Vlad had reluctantly sat out. It was not that he feared the Ottoman but the fate of his sons there.

He was approached by John Hunyadi’s envoy when the war resumed.

“Lord Vlad, your decision is needed. You have declined all my calls for men to fight the Ottoman. Lord Vlad, you were then taken hostage by them, and then you returned to re-claim your rank.” It was the words of one named Pedro Vasque de Saavedra; an envoy of the King. “When you overthrew Basarab II, we did not intervene.”

“You could not. The King then forbade it then.” Lord Vlad looked to the other.

“Now a new King sits there. I am to do battle for the new King. Do I have your army? It has grown in the years under you. Idle Warriors are bad for the land.” The envoy pressed on. “And alliances today will be rewarded.”

“Tell me of the truce that the Sultan was to hold with our side.” Lord Vlad moved to change the mood.

“What truce? Sultan Murad II ask for peace while are winning. We won’t oblige for we have the Venetian fleet sailing to the Dardanelles to prevent the Sultan from recrossing into Europe. The Hungarian army is on the offensive to drive the remaining Ottoman forces from Europe.” The envoy was jubilant with the development. “We will win this war, Lord Vlad. All I asked is if you join us in the march to victory.”

It was a commanding overture from the envoy and Lord Vlad was carried by the flow of events. He then nodded to the request. If only he knew then, the Sultan had agreed in the failed truce to return the children of Hungary who were hostages there.

Vlad’s spies in the Ottoman army told him otherwise. He had recruited the spies to give him advance notice of any invasion. He approached the King with the reports.

“We shall negotiate for peace. Sultan Murad held a huge army even his guards outnumber our columns.” Lord Vlad was still convinced the war could be dragged on.

“Lord Vlad II had left me without his army. Is he doing it once more?” John Hunyadi stood next to the King had mocked the Lord then.

“Lord Vlad II, you will battle for us or against us. Do I have your reply?” The King looked at Lord Vlad II. “The other Lords have consented.”

It was a cornered move on the Lord and he relented.

“Yes, you will have them bur I will ride with them.” Lord Vlad then stated his demand. “My son, Mircea will ride with me too. Wallachian needs to see us in the fore.”

“You will ride under the King’s banner. You will abide by his command, or we will have you ex-communicated.” The King revealed his true self towards Lord Vlad II.

“And under John Hunyadi.” Lord Vlad knew that John had the blessing of the Cardinale and King. He relented then and allowed the army of four thousand from Wallachia to ride with John; a part of them were mercenaries paid from the Wallachian’s coffers.  

What was to transpire was to become the turning point of the war. When the Venetian fleet failed to reach the Dardanelles, however, the new Sultan replacing Sultan Murad II was his son; Mehmed II.

The young Sultan then was only twelve, called on his father to take command of the invasion but the previous Sultan had declined. The young Sultan in anger wrote to his father whom he succeeded over.

"If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan, I hereby order you to come and lead my armies."  The old Sultan took on the command and crossed over with a large Ottoman army of around sixty thousand men approached Varna from the west. Papal, Venetian, and Burgundian ships had blockaded the Dardanelles as the Hungarian army was to advance on Varna, while a second flotilla comprised six ships of the Burgundian and Byzantine blocked the Bosphorus.

Both failed, and the main Ottoman force from Asia, including the sultan, crossed the Bosphorus.

The battle began then. 

Vlad the Impaller Chapter 8

 The lessons of the princes

8.

Vlad’s life was not all about the military, for he was required to learn with Radu during lessons. He was brought to the chambers of Mehmed II daily for the lessons of the books.

“My father, the Sultan allowed you to study with us.” Vlad was told by the young prince. Vlad was offered a seat in the study chamber next to Radu and before them was Mehmed. He was however asked to bathe and change into fresh clothes before he attends the lessons.

“Infidel! Why are you late?” Vlad was questioned by the tutor then.

“I was in the bath. I had to get clean.” Vlad replied.

“Miscreant! How can you be clean when you still smell like the horse’s manure?” The tutor belittled Vlad. “Did you bathe with it?”

“I am Vlad ---” Vlad was stopped by his brother.

“Tutor, my brother is tired. He will be better in his manners when he had rested.” Radu offered excuses for Vlad.

“If that is so, then let him rest with the books on his head. It will enlighten his mind.” Vlad's hours of the lesson were in the afternoon after his training. Vlad saw Radu from the corner of his eyes was reading from the Holy Book.

“Radu, why are you reading that book? You are ---”

“Silence, infidel. Radu is an exemplary student. He reads and writes well.” The tutor looked from Vlad to Mehmed.

“My Prince, why do we entertain this infidel in the lessons. He held no --- mind to learn.” The tutor looked to the young prince.

“He is --- to learn. He will learn for I said so.” Mehmed had agreed to Vlad in attendance at the request of Radu who had become his food friend and companion. Radu told him that Vlad was a good learner but due to the harsh situation, he was becoming angry.

“Radu, I can’t help him there for the Sultan sent him there but ---- I can make amends by having joined us in the later stages of the lessons. He will then be near you. As he was to attend the lessons, no harm will come to him.”

If there was any harm, it was the doing of Vlad for he was not reckless but brave in his training. He will ride the horse and release the arrows with determination to hit the targets. He was a fine recruit and even earned the respect of his peers. Though Vlad was given every aspect of the training as a Janissary he was not taught how to fire a musket.

“Only a true Janissary can use that weapon. You will respect that.” Vlad was told by his instructors. Without the use of the musket, Vlad trained hard with the swords and bow with the arrows.

“The warrior is not one without his weapons but a poorly wielded weapon is a way to get killed early.” Vlad was told. And horsemanship was essential.

“The horse is your legs and your friend. If you learned to ride well, you will be faster and above all, the horse may save you with its hoofs.” The horsemen spoke many times of their mount which fought off the wolves with their hoofs.

Unlike Vlad, Radu was into the finer aspects of learning. He had the books and tutors to give him knowledge. He studied not only the Holy book but also astronomy and economics.

“Trade is an essential part of the empire to enrich its coffers. Items can be brought from the far reaches of the land to trade at a higher price in other parts. It’s all about demand and supply.”

“The lessons of Athir al-Din al-Mutaddai ibn Umar ibn Ak Mufassal al -Samargandi al-Abhari was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician.” Radu was told and taught to read the works of the above. His first lessons were to learn to pronounce the name correctly.

“A master of his field must be acknowledged in full; right from his name to the words he handed to us.” Radu was reminded many times. He learned and explained the works then.

“Radu, I am impressed with you. You are a stranger to my land and culture and yet you learned so much in that short time.” Mehmed praised the other in front of the Sultan.

“Yes, he has learned a lot. He will be a valued ally to the empire soon.” Sultan Murad smiled. It was all good days for the two Wallachian lads until words arrived from their land.

“My Sultan, the Wallachian is revolting against you. Their leader supports Vladislaus.” The envoy told the Sultan.

“The despot King Wladyslaw. How dares he challenged me?” Sultan Murad was enraged. “We have a treaty.”

There was peace proposed by Ulászló I and signed in Seghedino with Sultan Murad II. The papal envoy Giuliano Cesarini, with an enticing vision of a promise of victory in the crusade against the Muslims, persuaded new young King Władysław to engage his freshly victorious forces for another season of war, thus breaching the ten-year truce with the aggressive and still powerful Ottoman Empire.

“It was the religious papal who desired another crusade against us. He decries our faith as devil worshipping.” The Sultan was told.

“If it's war they want, we shall do battle.:” Sultan Murad II declared war. “I don’t care who. It can be the Saxons, the Romans, and even the Hungarians.”

“My Sultan, what of the Wallachian’s whelps?’ The Sultan was reminded of the two sons of Lord Vlad.

“They are to be ---” The Sultan was to issue the command to behead them when Mehmed intervened.

“Father ---- My apologies. My Sultan, the friends ---” Mehmed was snapped at.

“Friends? They are not your friends. They are hostages as I do deem fit to live or die.” Sultan Murad was upset. “Their father defies me.”

“It may be ---- My Sultan but I knew them well. Radu and Vlad are with us. We received yearly the recruits of the allies and occupied lands. Do we execute them when their King revolted? Or do we have them fight for us?”

“They are the enemies. They will stab us in the back.” Sultan Murad replied.

“They are the enemies if we had not taken care of them as our own, but if they are grateful to us, they won’t revolt. They will fight for us. Or stay as hostages. We can use that as leverage. Their father won’t battle us if they are here. Such is the reasoning for the hostages.”

“You have good reasoning, my prince. I will hear you for now. I have a war to fight. Tell your friends to know their loyalty and if they forget, my Janissaries will remind them well.” With that, the lives of Vlad and Radu were spared.

It was not so the thoughts of Lord Vlad.

“The new war against the Ottoman will be disastrous to us. My sons ---” Lord Vlad sighed. “I have no news on them. Are they dead or carrying arms against me?”

Lord Vlad had seen the ones who have converted into Muslims and fought against the Crusaders.

“My Lord, I am not to give you false hopes but the ----boys could be dead now.” The old adviser spoke to the Lord of Wallachia. “You have lived with the Ottomans. Mercy is not in their care when it comes to hostages.”

Lord Vlad nodded his head and then went to the family chapel to offer prayers. His lover had refused to see him for some months then, and his son Mircea was silent most times. He took solace in that he was still alive.

It was also the approach of young Janus when he prayed next to Jan in the army chapel. The words have reached the mercenaries that they were to ride for the borders.

“The Turks are at our border once more.” The call went out. Janus had then retrieved his armor but was taken by Jan to the chapel.

“We ride tomorrow to fight the Ottoman. In war, we are to die or live to die another day. So, say your prayer to God for his redemption.” Janus was told. He nodded to the request and knelt by the seat provided there. He clasped his hands together in prayer while he looked at Jan. He knew the other was nervous at that time. Jan once told him that before every battle, he will speak to God for guidance. It was not so for Janus.

“I will fight tomorrow and the day after it. I will not die.” Janus told himself. Then he raised a query to Jan. “Will there be others like us fighting for the Ottoman? I heard of their recruits maybe our people.”

“Janus, in the Black Army, we are not all Hungarians. We have Germans and others with us. We fight under the banner we served. It may be for the Ottoman army. I know the Janissaries held a diverse type of recruits. They be of different birth but they are like us; they serve under the banner. If so, they are our enemy. Whoever you meet in battle is your enemy, even he is Hungarian by birth, will be killed.”

Dante Book III Canto XXX Scene I

 Canto XXX

The Eighth Circle: Fraud

Bolgia 10: Falsifiers II

Scene I

 

Dante came on another argument between the souls there, that when words failed to reason, the fists were raised. He rushed forth to calm the two souls on their argument.

“I am Master Adam, no last name but my name revelled by many for I was able to make florins from alloyed gold.” The florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. The fiorino d'oro of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities since the seventh century to play a significant commercial role. As many Florentine banks were international supercompanies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large-scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark (a weight unit equal to eight troy ounces). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florin).

“A counterfeiter you were.” The other accused Master Adam. “You manifested the trade that others will soon follow on with the charade. I, Sinon the Greek will stand witness to that.”

“You are not Sinon but Simon Magus, once denounced by St Peter for you tried to bribe him to give you divine influence. You are a ---” Master Adam was interrupted by Virgil.

“A simonist indeed.”

“Who declare me of that? I am banished here for that. A single coin I offered and banished here.” Simon roared out.

“What was yours when I counterfeited thousands? I brought down the finance circle.” Master Adam roared his achievement.

“A bigot you are.” Simon lashed back at Adam. “Where is my accuser here?”

The one named Simon Magus turned to look at Virgil but his opponent was to be side lined on the fight. Adam swung a left fist at Simon and the fight resumed on. Dante decided than that it was better to ignore the two souls in the fist fight and moved on.

“I thought he was a Simonist?” Virgil raced up to Dante.

“He may had been there. And then he left for here, but he had many other sins. He may never leave Hell.”

“I think they are many more of them here.” Dante said to Virgil. “God created the world for the living and it was desecrated by the Fallen. He found the beings he created was foul by the Fallen, and he figured out that those sins needed to be cleansed although not all will be for repentance was out of their reach of the ardent sinners.”

“You speak as you knew of God’s works. We are not out of Hell yet.” Virgil looked at Dante. “What made you said those things? Have you hardened in your beliefs since we embarked on the journey?”

“I don’t know. I am not you or them. I am still living inside me. I am still breathing. I have come find myself with changing emotions inside me. I have felt sympathy and anger, and at times relieved that the sinner was punished here. I can’t change my emotional feels, nor can I change the punishment here. Its beyond me. God made me see all of this, but if I survive this journey, I may do the difference out there.”

“If we make it out, but to do so, I need you to have firm hold on your emotions. Or madness will prevail in you.” Virgil advised the other. “Remember this, Dante. They are sinners. They are many here and some of them held the ability to affect your senses; the living souls, showing what they are damned here to their new lifetime.”

“I can sense their filth, thirst, disease, stench, darkness, horrible shrieking, physical pain.” Dante declared out his pain. “I feel those too and only their pain. That what makes it ---”

“Insane?” Virgil smiled. “Welcome to the real disease here. We can feel it. You know it’s insane to do those sins when they are told not to. Don’t you get it? Madness prevailed here and also when they were breathing.”

“You are not making sense?” Dante was confused.

“Some sins are punished with insanity but some sins are from insanity.” Virgil told Dante. “It may not be here but during the living lifetime. I will tell you of two names. Sinners they were assumed and their penance was done in their lifetime.”

“King Athamas and Hecuba of Greek was the names you may had heard.” Virgil said to Dante. “Athamas was driven mad by Juno, he mistook his son Learchus and wife for a lion cub and lioness. After seeing Athamas kill Learchus, other lover of his, Ino leaped into the sea with her other son.”

“Hecuba, Queen of Troy. She suffered much misfortune. She saw the great Greek warrior Achilles kill her son Hector, the main defender of Troy. During the fall of Troy, she saw Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus, kill her husband, Priam, at the altar of Jupiter. After Troy fell, Hector’s son, Astyanax, was thrown from the high walls of Troy and killed. Hecuba and the other women and children of Troy were made slaves.”

“One of her daughters, Polyxena, was sacrificed on the grave of Achilles, and one of her sons, Polydorus, who had been sent away from Troy to Thrace so that the royal bloodline would continue even if Troy were to fall, was murdered for the treasure he had. Hecuba saw the unburied corpse of this son in Thrace. Because the corpse was unburied, her son’s soul could not enter the Land of the Dead. To be unable to enter the Land of the Dead is a horrible fate for a soul.”

“Anyone who saw all of that was destined to get insane. She did and what was her sins? She took her own life. They were all made sinners by the events.”

“So, was Myrrha. She had wanted her father’s love.” Virgil added that name. “Gianni wanted to wealth. Greed or lust, you can name it but what was it that made them towards it? The truth was insanity and thus they hold it here. The soul is restless for it had not achieve its desire. In plain words, they are punished by the corrupt state of their minds and bodies. Their corrupt sense of values is symbolized by the corrupt state of their minds and bodies. (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/the-divine-comedy-inferno/summary-and-analysis/cantos-xxixxxx)

“Those desires are insane.” Dante snapped back at Virgil.

“Then why were we given those desires if it was sinful? I am a Man of Science. I don’t accept what is given unless I know its worth. Should not God make us without flaws?”

“God gave us a heart to care and a mind to think. We were to improve on our own. We did it or rather some of us transgressed and Hell is the place we are told was we to end if we transgress.” Dante looked at Virgil. “Shall we move on for maybe we will find the answer to our madness elsewhere. Or remain in this madness here with them.”

Dante Book III Canto XXIX Scene II

 Scene II

 

“If it was Heaven, why are there the screams of souls in pain there?” Dante asked when he heard the wails and weeping. He stepped up past the sign and saw the souls there doing as what he heard. The noise was so loud that he had to cover his ears. He turned to Virgil who shook his head.

“I am deaf and dumb for I am dead.” Virgil said with a smile.

“You are dumb and dumber by the looks of it.” Dante cursed back. “Why do they wail so loud? And what is that stench?”

“I ---” Virgil was to say but when he saw the pained expression on Dante’s expression, he suppressed his wise cracks. “It believed to be ammonia from the smell but I could be wrong. It may be brimstones mixed with flatulence, perhaps of demonic nature. I did fare badly in my chemistry tests.”

“I had that smell once when I carried a wounded to the Infirmary and it was hellish.” Dante recalled the battle where they were outnumbered and had to retreat. He had carried one of the wounded on his back to the rear for treatment.

Dante saw the wailing souls were in pain and some were hurting themselves by hitting their head onto the ground. If more pain may numb the other pain, it was not working for the souls there. He saw two of the souls were busy piking at the scabs on the other frame, and with each pick of the scab, the soul will calling out in the language he could understand.

“Dear sirs, may I know your name and how may I assist you?” Dante asked. “I am no healer but I will try.”

“Crush my head to stop the pain.” One of the souls called out. “The pain came from within and it hurts.”

“I cannot do that for it will ---- increase your agony. Pray tell me what did you do to deserve this?”

“Who are you to ask while we suffered in pain?” The soul Dante was questioning replied.

“I am Dante Al—” The other soul heard the name and cut in.

“Dante, its me, Capocchio. I was in the Academy with you.” The who claims to be Capocchio was unrecognized by Dante. His soul was darkened and burnt at most areas, and with the open wounds from the removed scabs, he was to be seen than even the boiling Ciampolo of the pits.

“Capocchio? You died in the lab explosion.” Dante looked at his old Academy mate. “I remember it was a huge explosion and you brought down the whole building block.”

“Yes, I did and all of you had no chemistry lessons for one full Academy year.” The darkened soul laughed and then cringed in pain. “Tell me why are you here. You are an ardent purveyor of alchemy.”

“I am not. I joined philosophy that year. I was not into making concoctions like you did. Did you make gold from lead? It’s still a mystery to the learned ones.” Dante said.

“Stop them, or rather you are too late. I am here because of my sin in alchemy. I wanted to be God-like to pro-create what was not there.” Capocchio sighed. “A lifetime passion but it ended too abruptly for myself. Here is my friend but he was a foolish one. He was the impression that Man can fly without wings. He thought himself was lie Icarus but the former did fly to a certain height. My friend here, Arezzo fell to a greater depth.”

“I was not foolish. I was defying gravity.”: Arezzo cut in. “Newton Law has to be proven otherwise. I am sure my good pal, Albert had a good laugh. I heard he is here but with our pains, we hardly move around to socialise.”

“Yes, when you are here, beware of the Evil Impersonators. They will ---” Capacchio words drowned out into more pain when Dante saw the soul was snatched before him but a winged soul that resembled the demonic ones he had encountered earlier.

“Capacchio!” Dante called out and then saw his friend was dropped when another winged soul fought with the one who took his friend.

“Wow! A catfight.” Virgil roared out. “Who is she? Look at the claws she holds. I am telling you that my bet is on her.”

“That’s Myrrha. She was banished here as the Evil Impersonator. She lain with her own father when he was unaware. She was caught and escaped but she sued alchemy to hide herself as a tree before it was cut down by the ones who pursued her. To forest. She had committed the sin not of sin but the greater sin of deceit.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrrha#:~:text=Myrrha%20appears%20in%20the%20Divine,dreadful%20diseases%2C%20Myrrha's%20being%20madness.).

“She was a student of metamorphosis. She read everything on Ovid and Homer hence her act of escape was to metamorphosise. That was seen by the pursues as a form of witchcraft at that time.”

“Myrrha fought with Gianni, who had impersonated a dead man to benefit from the family wealth. He was a deceitful man to take on the identity of another named Buoso Donati. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianni_Schicchi#:~:text=Gianni%20Schicchi%20de'%20Cavalcanti%20was,in%20the%20Inferno%2C%20Canto%20XXX.&text=Dante%20had%20several%20reasons%20for,was%20of%20pure%20Florentine%20descent.).

“I thought I had seen all of the sinners but it looked like we will never see how far a person will do even though they know its sinful.” Dante sighed. He bid farewell to his darkened friend who was probably lying on the ground ahead in more pain, but his role was never to judge.

“I am the narrator here.” Dante moved on with Virgil.

“Hey, I have a bet on the battle. Can we wait for a while?” Dante ignored Virgil’s request while he moved ahead.

“Betting is a sin. Have you heard of the tale about the Sienese who were a part of the Spendthrifts Brigade. One member of the Spendthrifts’ Brigade was Niccolo de’ Salimbeni. At the time, cloves were very expensive. He introduced the use of this spice to Siena, and he used to set a bed of cloves on fire and roast pheasants over them.

 

Dante Book III Canto XXIX Scene I

 Canto XXIX

The Eighth Circle: Fraud

Bolgia 10: Falsifiers & Alchemy

Scene I

 

“Does it matter, Virgil?” Dante asked of the other soon after they had left the last bolgia. They had arrived at a flowing stream and the water was clear there. They decided to rest and Dante wanted to clean his body.

“Are you still upset?” Dante made the gesture towards Virgil. “You told me yourself don’t be emotional here.”

“I --- Of course, it matters. I am dead and you are not; not yet anyway. I had my list of demands at Limbo. Do you know what it meant when one was without an objective? Its like a lost soul here.”

“Like those in Limbo?” Dante asked.

“Yes--- and No. Not all us limbo in Limbo were in limbo?”

“A tongue twister. Had not heard of one for a long time. Have you heard of this? Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?”

“Bah, if my discussion with you ever get heard, it would had sounded like a tongue twister.: Virgil snapped at Dante. “I am talking logic here. Do you when a child was born, it cried out loud? Did you hear it well? I am not saying the bawling noise. Did you hear the child cried for its missing list? It arrived without it. It cried for it and how many years before it could even scribble the lettering to state its demand? It took years --- and years.” Virgil argued his view. “And when I did, I was in Limbo.”

“You could had recorded it. We so advanced now that we even record heart rhythms for our diagnostics or ---”

“Recording? All I was told then was to utter ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’. It’s a fallacy that we won’t know them if we did not.” Virgil rant on.

“Hold on, my companion. If you are telling me this, it meant that you believed in reincarnation.” Dante hinted to Virgil.

“I don’t--- I did mentioned reincarnation does not qualify by scientific terms. We had seen it here; the souls moved on to his forsaken place, well some of them for I have not seen an overpopulation here yet. Perhaps this place is infinite.” Virgil mocked Dante with his gesture of looking above and beyond. “I doubt it, and hopefully not or it will a ‘soul long ‘journey.”

“You win, Virgil. I shall not induce in your rhetoric’s of life and death.” Dante laughed. “I shall do my washing at the side of the stream as not to collude with yours.”

It was there, Dante heard the voices. He knew that among those he was to hear could only be sinners. He ignored them for he was past the mood to past on messages for them but the ascent of the voices intrigued him. He stepped back towards Virgil

“I think a soul of my own blood is among the damned.”

“I saw them just now when we crossed the bridge there. There was one who held its finger threateningly at you but your back was turned.” Virgil told Dante.

“You could had told me earlier. That one may be my relative and I do want to meet any of them who are here.” Dante said to Virgil.

“For what do you want to see them? They are dead and you want to cry in tears to recall that for them? If I had seen my ex-wives here, I will not even greet them.”

 “Probably not. They could had married another better man and have many children.” Dante snapped back. “You are a miserable twerp there.”

“I am not and go back to the bridge. I will wait here. I am --- hopeless at family reunion anyway.”

Dante ignored the other and proceeded to the bridge. He saw the one who was of his blood line but not one he wanted to meet there.

“Dante Alighieri, so they finally sent you to Hell? You bloody deserve it.” Dante heard the remark and there was one saying that goes, you can select your friends but not your relatives. He knew the one who spoke.

“Geri del Bello. How do you fare?” Geri was his mother’s nephew by the second or was it third wife of the brother. He was a scoundrel in his living years and deserved to die by the foul means of being murdered.

“I am here ain’t I? My scars on the back unseen by me remained the same. Did you get killed like myself? Or was it a “I am dying’ death on the sick bed. For the former of mine’s death, I was told that none of you avenged my death despite me asking for it in my last breaths.” Geri was a trouble maker and above all, he was a falsifier by trade. He will falsify anything from paintings to inventions and if he could he would falsify his entire life and he did that which resulted in his death.

“I am going to clone myself and the clone will hold all my good qualities.” Geri once boasted and when cloning was banned, he falsified to others that he was one. He was caught and one of them in anger murdered him.

“Geri,” Dante looked to the sinner. “Vengeance brings revenge and it will never end if we do that. And no, I did not die yet.”

“The Alighieri are cowards. Even in Hell, you denied that you are dead. If it was my mother’s side of true bloodline, they would had killed all those who did me. If only I had known, who was it, I will hunt the murderer here too.” Geri had not known his murderer. He had mumbled some names as assumed before he died but none it matters at all. The authorities had closed the investigation on the pretext of ‘no conclusive lead’.

“Geri, we tried but there was no evidence.” Dante explained. “And I am not dead.”

“Falsify them then. I would had done it for you.” Geri hit back. “But you have no enemies. And for God’s sake, don’t tell you made a false death to be here. I am not a child, Dante Alighieri. You are dead and came to Hell. Faced it like a real man. Don’t be a coward.”

Dante decided that returning to see his relative was a mistake. There was no way he can talked to that man. He accepted nothing but the false impressions that he believed in. if God will appear to him, he will deny and said that was a fake. Dante then made an excuse to leave and left to re-join Virgil.

“The next time, I said I wanted to meet a relative, give me a false pretence so I won’t do it.” Dante told Virgil while he rushed the other.

“False pretence? I cannot lie for you here. I am already in Hell. To lie is a sin.” Virgil replied with a sarcasm tone. “I forgotten that I am here. Okay, I will lie for you? Was that your cousin there which you did ---- I recalled now. You are still a virgin. So, we can eliminate that consequences.”

“Imbecille!’ Dante cursed in his native language. “Don’t you ever accuse me of that in front of Beatrice.”

“I won’t. In front of the Empress, I won’t even falsify that you are alive when you are truly dead.” Virgil laughed. He then stopped and spoke to Dante.

“I think we reached the next bolgia. The sign says “Heaven awaits us”. That’s a false sign in Hell.”

 

 

Dante Book III Canto XXV111 Scene II

 Scene II

 

Dante was to be led past the others and none had he spoken. He reached the end and the cherub told him that he can leave. The cherub turned to leave but Virgil stopped him with a question.

“Why did you lead us there? And why ---”

“Why was I there at the entrance? The bolgia is here unlike any you may had seen or experienced. Here, you saw sinners but the mode of punishment looks most extreme. It’s alike a killing in the living soul; the forceful removal of the soul from the body except here, the action is repeatedly experienced.”

“You are a man of science and may had heard of the concept of Mortality salience; it’s the awareness by individuals that their death is inevitable. It was speculated that when faced imminent death, the mind registered its last seconds of life before it died. That scene can be replayed numerous times in the mind, and yet each time they can’t recalled of it.” The cherub spoke to Virgil. “It was called life review experience.”

“It was never proven.” Virgil snapped back.

“Admittedly true, because no living soul returned from death. Maybe not, but we can leave out Lazarus. He was ---an exceptional.” The cherub spoke. ““We all feared death. No one wants to die. The fear of death was compounded by the learnings that we will end up in Hell or Heaven. You had seen what Hell have to offer and it was not pleasant but ‘necessario per disciplinare la mente e l'anima’ (Italian translated needed to discipline the mind and soul.). You heard that from your mother who told you when you were at the age of five.”

“I did too.” Dante cut in. “It was my first advice given by her.”

“I knew there were similar points in both of you, and that was it.” The cherub laughed. “But I have not answered your question. I was there because your companion, Dante; did not reach here in his last visit. He had not seen the bolgia and how could he be the guide when he had not been guided in. We, the cherubs decided to give you the guide. I was chosen.”

“Please tell me, cherub. Are we are coming to the end of the journey in Hell?” Dante asked.

“Yes, you are. Your journey will end soon but not here.” The cherub replied. “Your learning has not really started yet. It will soon.”

“I ---- Never mind that. Tell me one answer. Does the sinners wanted to be remembered on the living world?”

“Yes, we believed they do. The soul does not want to be forgotten and left to wander forever. To where they always asked. Is my stay here in Hell forever? It may be but where there is a beginning there is the end. We all have the belief that one time to come, we may get repented for our sins. God is just in the punishment and nothing remains the same unless it’s will the sinner.”

“Are you telling me the dead will be revived like in a reincarnation?” Virgil asked. “Even upon my death, the concept of reincarnation is still in dispute. If I was to be, I will have my list of wants and don’t so that my next lifetime will great.”

“Perhaps then you can be reincarnated as a forlorn statue of stone that no one will lay hands on you and you will stay there forever except the pigeons will shat on your head.”

“Funny, cherub but I doubt God will sanction your wish upon me.” Virgil stepped away in anger.

“Don’t despair, my companion. The cherub was teasing you.” Dante consoled his companion. He then turned to the cherub.

“My journey here not ended but had been fulfilling. I may have to thank Beatrice for my task for she gave me the opportunity to see and learn of the misgiving of Man. There will always be sinners but due respect had to be given to them for their ---- abilities, and yet they deserved to be punished here. God is just in judgment.”

“Before you move on, allow me to speak of these words to you.” The cherub said to Dante. “Narrate your findings into a tale, Dante. I stand to quote you from Victor Hugo too. As long as Laws shall exist which read Hells in the midst of Civilisation. So as Men are degraded. Women ruined and Children afraid, So long as they shall be Ignorance, Poverty and Wretchedness on this Earth, Stories such as this one must be told.” (Les Miserables (1978) the Movie presented by Lew Grade, a production of Norman Rosemont.).” The cherub voiced out. “Adieu, voyageur. Vitesse de Dieu.” (From French ‘Farewell, traveller. God speed.)

 

“We move on, my companion. Time waits for no one.” Dante told Virgil.

“I am dead, so what is time to me.” Virgil still in his emotional state of anger followed Dante.

“I had a list done ---” Virgil mumbled there in his walk.

Story Write Compilations Volume 2 Story 42

 If trees could talk.....

 

Authors Note: This is a short tale on the title

 

Contests rules:

 

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I move as fast as I could, but there is little I could do. The scene that unfolds before me, tells the tragedy that befalls us. They are mostly dead or dying waiting for death to take their souls. But my main concern is not of them, if I may be selfish; but I seek her among the dead. There are none which bear her name, so I am relieved. The weak voice called out and I ran to her. I hugged her and let them cry onto my chest.

 

"Peter, I thought I would never see you again. You have been gone for so long and we almost lost hope. They did and died." She points to the number of markers that showed the dead. "But I held on for you. I knew you would never disappoint me. So did you get it?"

 

I shook my head and she cried even louder. I have failed in my mission to save my kind.

 

"Our family, our children all dead while waiting for you. Do you know young Amy cried out to me to take the last nutrient so that I would live? Our youngest and she gave me her last nutrient so I may live to see you." She cried bitterly this time as I held her.

 

It was two weeks ago when we were a happy family of plants which lived in this valley. We were free of any intruders into our life and there was no hardship as the sun shone brightly on us. We have the water stream which flows near us giving us the needed water for us to feed the roots and the sunlight to bask in. Then came the Man who see the valley as land for them to occupy. Their first work was to clear the valley for us, with their poison which flowed deep into our roots. It slowly spread towards us and we held a conference to ask for help.

 

"Send a representative to the Wizard. He would tell us what needed to be done." The eldest and wisest spoke and we have a ballot to select the one to go. My love did a lot of convincing and also persuasion to her friends and families to get me elected. So I was and I left the valley with a heavy heart. I traveled the land and avoided the forest as I may get entwined in their roots. I used the path laid by the Man on the side of the forest and moved stealthily mostly at night. It was tiring as my body needs sunlight to energize and yet I cannot move during the day. The Man could see me then and I would be chopped by them. Soon I made it to the Wizard's place and find him sitting under the old oak tree. All around him is laid bare of the dense forest that used to camouflage his home.

 

"Wizard, what ails you?"

 

"I have been relocated by Man who needs my land. I am not seeking shelter under the Oak as it is preserved to showcase the once beautiful forest. That is Man's ironic way of saying we were here. But I am going too, maybe to another forest or to die on the journey. I care not as Man does not care for us, then there is nothing left for us to care soon enough." The wizard got up to walk on his journey.

 

"Wait, I need your help. My valley needs your help. We are been invaded by Man like here. Give me a cure that we can live." I fell on my roots to plea for help. The wizard looked at me and then reached into his bark under the trunk.

 

"This may help but you become like them. I would have taken it myself, but I cannot bear to leave the forest. So do you want it?" The wizard hands me the potion to solve my problem. "But I made only enough for two so be warned on it."

 

I took the potion and I ran for my valley.

 

"Mary, I can save you. I am a Man now as you can see as I have taken the potion, But the balance is for you." I hand her the potion and she looked at it.

 

"You mean if I take that, I would be no longer a plant-like I am now. I would be like you who stands before me." I nodded to her. But she slapped me with her branch.

 

"Peter, have you lost your feelings? Your kind is dying and you become one like them. Did we send you for help or was it to help only yourself? Do you see your family lying dead there? Or do you see only dead dried-up plants? Well, I prefer to die with them than to live another daylight with you." She did and I end up kneeling at her dead roots. I buried the potion next to her dead roots.

 

"Peter, I see you have made your choice. Now you must learn to live with it." I turned to see the Wizard as he stood there. "The next time you cut down one of us, asked of yourself do we breathe and die like you. If you do not think so, then cut us down like the trees here. But if you think we do, then think of alternative ways to save us when you take our land. We are like you; able to relocate and grow from there. But if you killed all of us, there would be none of us soon enough to tell you."

 

I watched as the wizard move on to find any place he can lay his roots in. I doubt so as the land where we used to roam is getting smaller. But what of me? I looked around and saw a young sapling. I picked it up by its roots and placed it on my shoulder.

 

"Where are you taking me?" The sapling asked.

 

"To a place where you can grow and be safe," I answered it.

 

"Where would that be?" The young sapling had to ask.

 

"I don't know but I would try to find it for you." Both of us took the journey together.

 

 

 

 

Story Write Compilations Volume 2 Story 41

 Jon the 13th.

 

Authors Note: This is a short tale on the title on Friday the 13^th and Jonathan Blake.

 

Contests rules:

 

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"Jonathan Blake, time to move out." God, I hate it when I am wakened from my dream with the Baywatch team. We were doing fine with the rescue and now I need rescue. My alarm probably did not work and I must have overslept. I crawl out of my bed and dragged myself to the bathroom. I don't why but I felt that I had to sit down to pee and then I noticed I did not drag my bottoms down.

 

Then I noticed I am missing something.

 

I looked up from the seat and into the window.

 

It can't be. That is not me. I mean it's my face but that is not my hairstyle. It's too long and it's braided with beads. No, don't do this to me. I must be dreaming. I got up and then I noticed something else. I have boobs and it's large like melons. Oh no! It can't be. I am already missing something there and now I have new attachments to my chest.

 

"Aargh!" I screamed in a loud shriek sound. I ran out of the bathroom and was to exit by the door when I bumped into my mother.

 

"Mum, I....." But she closed the door behind her.

 

"You should be ashamed of yourself. How can you walk around like that when your dad and brother are around. Girl, cover yourself and get dressed."

 

How can it be? I am not a girl. I am a guy and I have other parts on my body.

 

"Jenny Blake, get changed and be proper. Today is Friday the 13th and I won't have you ruining my day with your superstition. Now, git or I would wrap the sack around you to go to school."

 

Friday the 13th. I am cursed.

 

Well, if you think the home was bad; you see me in school.

 

"Here comes the Ogre. She walks like a Man and I wondered if she is packed like one." That was the girl who is giving me the welcome greeting upon my arrival. I am dressed like all other girls; short flared skirt and tight lycra blouse beneath my pink jacket. But instead of sandals, I took my jungle boots to wear today. The reason I am wearing this is that I cannot stand sandals, and the trainers I saw did not fit my size 8 feet.

 

The class was okay on that day but I had to fight Ryan's roaming hands during lessons. In the end, I did the best I could think of; I swatted his finger with my jungle boots in my hand. That took out his pesky touches as he ran to the Infirmary and I was made to wait outside the Principal Office.

 

"And how would you explain your action, my dear lady?" I looked at the bespectacled man who is eyeing me at my thighs which is exposed by the short skirt. I moved my bag over my legs and answered him.

 

"He was nasty to say I have spiders on my legs and he would remove them. So I told him to removed spiders, he swatted them hard. How was I know his hand was there?" I looked at him with my innocent look.

 

"But you could had used softer books. Why did you use the Year Book which is two inches thick and weighs four pounds?" He glared at me. \

 

"Better it dead than to come crawling half dead up my legs again." I guess he bought my argument and let me go back to my class. Then I got the jeers from the girls and the boys keep on ranting; "spank me please."

 

Well, I did and then I was back in the Principal's Office.

 

"Karate chops and low kicks are not allowed in this school. So how would you answer me now?" I glared at the man who is still trying to stare at my legs.

 

"Karate is what I learned on weekends and if I don't get to use it then why would I be learning it for?" He was taken aback by my remark and sat back on his chair.

 

"Lady, one more time in this office and I am calling your mother." He is threatening me and I would show him how 'threaten I am'. I stood up and turned to walk to the door. Then I looked back at the Principal who is still glaring at me. I flipped up the back of my skirt and said to him; " Call my mother to tell her I am wearing Calvin Klein. Then see who gest reported for sexual harassment later today."

 

I slammed the door shut to avoid listening to his braying of the conduct of a good girl. I went back to my class and this time nobody jeer or cheered me anymore. They all kept their silence and soon it was time to walked home. Or so I thought.

 

"Jenny Blake, you hold it there. We have unfinished business." I turned to see Spiderman aka Ryan standing there pointing at me with his finger wrapped in bandages. I took to my heels and ran towards him to released my flying kick on him on the chest causing him to fall. I then crouched down with one knee on his right shoulder and my hands holding his head up.

 

"Like what you can see, Ryan. And next time you see me, call me Nikita the Killer. Do you understand?"

 

He nodded and I got up to walk home. When I reached home. I was greeted by my Mother with the instruction to take my bath. I went up and did as I was told. When I stepped out of the shower, I tripped and fell on my knees.

 

"Damned flooring", I shook and close my eyes to the pain.

 

I opened it and find something different. I am back to my usual self; I do not need to sit down to pee.

 

"Yahoo!" I left the bathroom and bumped into my Mother.

 

"You should be ashamed of yourself. How can you walk around like that when your mother and sister are around. Boy, cover yourself and get dressed."

 

I am a guy again. I asked my mother what day its.

 

"Jonathan Blake, get changed and be proper. Today is Friday the 13th and I won't have you ruining my day with your superstition. Now, git or I would wrap the sack around you to go to school." So it was a dream and maybe it would come true today as I walked through this fateful day with confidence.

 

Hours later, I was greeted by my Mother.

 

"What did happened to you today?"

 

"Nothing you can dream about. I was beaten by Ryan for calling him Spiderman and reprimanded by the Principal for displaying my Calvin Klein underwear to Sheila and above all, I have bandages around my fingers because some idiot closed the door on me. So don't wake me on the next Friday the 13th."