Preys and Predators 3 Love Binds, Family Destroy Chapter 70

 

70.

 

A melee it was then.

Confusion reigns then.

The Janissaries clashed with the prince and his mercenaries. Abram Tov was in the fight against Vlad Tepes. Lord Dante Montague held his guards back. So was the magistrate who held back his officers.

“We will not get involved.” Lord Dante Montague told them. “It’s not our fight.”

Lord Gencio Capulet was undecided, but he held back his own men. He was watching the fight and towards Lord Dante Montague.

“My lord, do we fight?” One of the guards of Lord Gencio Capulet asked. The lord did not reply.

“Stand back, friar.” Abram Tov cautioned the other when he stood next to the Wallachian. “He is a beast and does not need protection.”

“I am to do so, for I am still the Janissary.” Friar Lawrence said, holding the dagger in his right hand. He was adept at it and had his earlier kill on the mercenary hired by the prince. He avoided the sword swung at him and stabbed the dagger at the mercenary’s left ribs. It was a cold, calculated kill move of his from experience.

“Aye, then you will die with him.” Abram Tov lunged at the friar but was deflected by the Wallachian’s sword.

“Not today, Genoa warrior. The …… friar is my friend now.” Vlad Tepes pushed against the other’s sword and took out a swing at the left side of the warrior. Abram stepped back to avoid the swing.

“Let us pair up, friar.” Vlad Tepes said. “God may be on your side.”

“You are Godless, Wallachian.” The friar voiced out. “Neither am I today, for I wore the face of the Janissary. Your God may not look to me kindly.”

“Then let us be the sinners that God has forsaken.” Vlad laughed when he thrust his sword at Abram. The latter turned his body and took on the swing of his knot, not at the Wallachian but at the friar. The friar was distracted then by the fight next to him and was cut on the left arm by Abram.

“Arghh…” The friar reeled back in pain while holding his left arm. He had dropped his dagger and was unarmed.

“I will kill you.” Abram followed on with the charge at the friar. He was stopped by the Wallachian when the sword held by the other sliced Abram at the left shoulder. Abram staggered to the right and was then knocked into a mercenary fighting another Janissary.

“Watch it…” The mercenary shouted out, but it was too late for the mercenary who was slashed across the chest by the Janissary. Abram staggered on his feet and faced the attacking Janissary.

“I will…” Abram stopped short and stared at his chest. The dagger was embedded in his heart. He looked to the one who threw. It was the friar who retrieved the dagger after he fell and tossed it at Abram.

“I am sorry, Abram. I ……” The friar muttered. Abram fell on his knees without averting his stare at the friar.

“You are ……. No more my family.” Abram fell facedown.

“Retreat!” The call by the prince resonated in the basilica. The fighting sides are retreating to their own corners. The prince was down to himself and two mercenaries. The Janissaries stood with two also, and their leader made the fourth member. Ali was one of the two, wounded in the chest but standing. There were the Wallachian and the injured friar.

“Magistrate Javier, I am disappointed in you. Why do you not join the fight? You are a traitor to the King.” Prince Escalus cursed at the other.

“I am to uphold justice. I do not serve Hungary but Genoa.” Magistrate Javier. “I will choose my fight when I am… ready.”

“Your true character, Javier. Where it may serve you, then you will act. I had known that when you were with me. I am not seeking your help anymore.” Prince Escalus then looked at the other two lords. “Lord Gencio Capulet! Lord Dante Montague! Choose your side. Today we will end the conflict.”

Prince Escalus looked to the two groups facing each other across the battle area. “Today, I will win or die.”

“My lord, do we fight?” One of Lord Gencio Capulet's men looked to his lord. “I came to fight.”

“Silence! I will decide.” Lord Gencio Capulet replied. He then looked across at the other lord.

“Dante, we …… I do not see my son, nor your daughter.”

“Aye, they are not here.” Lor Dante Montague said. “I see before us a fight that does not concern us.”

“Lord Gencio Capulet, I thank you for providing me shelter and also for my family.” Vlad Tepes looked to his benefactor. “And to you, Lord Dante Montague. A friendship and guardian of my… care.”

“What is he talking about?” Prince Escalus called out. The prince was then joined by the group of four mercenaries sent by Count Paris.

“We got lost in the paths.” The leader of the newly arrived told the prince.

“Tell me, Lord Dante Montague. What did you guard for him? The jewels?”

“I……” Lord Dante Montague looked at the Wallachian.

“Dante, do you have it? The Empress Jewels? How was ……” Lord Gencio Capulet. “He gave it to you. Who was it? Radu or him?”

“Does it matter, Gencio?” Lord Dante Montague snapped out. “Does it matter anymore? The jewels had been our … … feeding our feud. From the day I lost it to you, then from there, my love for Juliette, and now my daughter.”

“You loved Juliette? I was … too. When she got wedded, I was distraught and …… wedded another in a rush, unknown to me to have a child that …….”

“Yes, you joined the army, and… Gencio, you never change in your ways. You cheated while in the army. You traded in low-value wares for the coins. You were no better than the Turks.”

“Enough of the history, Genoa. I want my Empress Jewels.” Prince Escalus cut in. “Give me the jewels.”

“Give it to him, Lord Dante Montague.” Vlad Tepes looked at the lord. “It does not matter to me anymore. Where is it?”

“I have it here.” Lord Dante Montague took the small case out from his tunic. It was the same case that was given to him.

“I came here with it to exchange it for my daughter.” Lord Dante Montague held out the case. “She is not here.”

“Lord Dante Montague, Juliet is at the cottage by the outskirts of the city. It belonged to Lorenzo.” The friar then looked at the other lord. “Romeo is there too.”

“Take it back, Vlad.” Lord Dante Montague tossed the case to the Wallachian. “I am to find my daughter.”

“I know of the cottage. I can find it.” Lord Gencio Capulet said. He was more concerned about his son. Vlad looked at the case held in his hands. He saw the departure of the Montague and was followed by the Capulet.

The friar followed on with his hands over his wound.

“The jewels, Prince Escalus.” Vlad looked at the prince. “You can have it now.”

Vlad Tepes opened the cover and upturned the case.

Nothing fell out.

Vlad dropped the case onto the ground.

“Where are the jewels?” Prince Escalus called out.

“It should be there. I have not seen it then.” Vlad Tepes then looked at the Chorbaji. “Tell me, Chorbaji. Was it inside?”

Chorbaji Tarmuk stepped forth and picked up the case.

“This is the Empress Jewels.” Chorbaji Tarmuk held the case in his hands. “All of you had not seen the Empress Jewels before. I did when I was with the Sultan. The two lords did and were not surprised that it was the case here. What did you expect then? A set of jewels in the case?”

“It was fabled that the so-named jewels were handed down by the generations. What was not told was that it was a case, but it held another name once before; it was given many names by others and designs to symbols. The ancient Greeks knew it as the Pandora Box, and yet it was depicted as an urn. If you knew the fables well, the so-named box had its content released, and evil persisted then on the lands.”

“Many versions of the tale could be found. The apple in Adam and Eve was one. The serpent was the custodian and, in anger or dissatisfaction, made Eve bite the apple. Like the Pandora Box, it unleashes the shame in creations.”

“The Empress Jewels was only one name that was whispered now.” Chorbaji Tarmuk looked from the prince to the Wallachian. “My family has been entrusted to watch over it. We were the first family entrusted to keep its secret. It is the symbol that it carried, metaphorically whispered by those who believe in it, for whatever good or evil it was unleashed.”

“Kings and emperors believed it would bring them power, and even to some, immortality, but we all die in this journey, and only the myth survived. My generation preserved the myth and served the kings and emperors. Every king or emperor during their reign held a queen or an empress, the prime one counts, and always held power over all the other ladies or concubines.

“The so-named jewels were to be kept by the throne holder’s companion, for the king or emperor was the symbol of greatness, and they wield power over evil. That symbol of evil was held enclosed by the one that the king or emperor holds command. As man still commands over women, and fathers over mothers.”

“It was claimed to be lost for some time, but it was hidden then. My family guarded over it, yet we are denied the possession of it. It was discovered by the trader, who then exchanged it for Lord Dante Montague, but swindled by the other, he lost it. The case finds its own mistress to hold. Both lords lacked the structure to hold it; they hold no queen to possess it.” 

“It reached the Ottoman’s throne, and the Sultan was to have it as a keepsake. In due time, he denies it in his understanding and has it then given away to his love.”

“Radu treasured it, but he was not to be influenced by it. Upon his death, he bestowed it to his brother, looking for the restoration of the name. Vlad Tepes was past his prime to be the conqueror then, and he handed it back to one person he trusted to hold it.”

“The Empress Jewels beckon for a mistress and a master to hold its influence. It drove others to seek it, believing it will bring them power.”

“It needed a king or emperor to quell its ambition.” Chorbaji Tarmuk looked at the gathered. “None of you are its master.”