Vlad the Impaler Chapter 18

 The alliance with Hungary

18.

Lord Vlad III sat in silence at his chamber when Janus was summoned there. He was in his simple tunic and pants, with his head covered in the headpiece that was favored by the Wallachians. The headpiece was a round wrapped red hat with the white borders of the white pearls, and there was the pendant in the front with five huge pearls and the red ruby piece in the front.

“My Lord, why are you not dressed for the court to be held soon?” Janus was in his chain mail armor and sword that hung by his waist belt. The General as he was given the rank, was always on the alert for any intruders or attempts on his Lord. He traveled with a personal retinue of six guards which then were waiting outside.

“I heard the news that the Sultan was upset with me. He may invade us soon.” Vlad told his friend in his chamber of his. “I feared that ---”

“My Lord, fear should not be in you but your enemies.” Janus cut in. He knew Vlad's display of courage was to keep the boyars aside but in the private chamber, he was the young Vlad once more; a disturbed person who was once a hostage.

“I will ---” Janus was cut off.

“Enough of the rhetoric here. I may be Lord but I also know of the Ottoman’s might and their army. They can march into our lands, and it will be our heads impaled if not our whole body.” Vlad looked to the other. “Our call of being fearless was to drive the Hungarians and others to avoid bloodshed with me but not the Ottomans. They do not fear me. They are the --- demons in my life.”

Janus understood the pain and fear then of Vlad. The Lord of his was once the hostage of the Turks and lived in fear. It was a long period of stay and with each dawn, the fear of being killed was in the mind. Even then, he had woken up from dreams of his captivity.

“My Lord, do you want me to summon the healers?” Janus offered to the Lord.

“What can they do? More potent that will make me sleep but it’s in my sleep I am distressed. I cannot get a good night's sleep without facing my adversaries.”

“I will ----” Janus was cut off by his Lord.

“Who is with me, Janus? My army’s strength as of now?”

“We hold an army of twenty thousand with another ----”

“Those twenty thousand are half in the numbers are mercenaries. They will wage war if their coffers are replenished and the others you mentioned; peasants they are! I don’t like to include them. They are to work the land and cultivate the harvest. How can I ask them to battle for me? I want the real warriors.” Vlad looked at Janus. “John Hunyadi had a bigger army then.”

“John Hunyadi once have the support of the Hungarians. You can ---”

“Appeal? I may as well be their slave.” Vlad strikes out. “I shall not ---”

“A good leader knows how to get allies when he is to go to war. John Hunyadi did that well. I know for I was with him in the wars.” Janus reminded Vlad. “Alliance is not servitude but forging strength.”

“And yet when John Hunyadi asked for the reinforcement, none arrived.” Vlad reminded his friend. “I was one to let him down too, as he had done for me.”

“He loaned you his army to regain the rank.” Janus reminded the Lord. “John was ----"

It was then the manservant called in and told Vlad of the arrival of the emissaries from the Sultan of Ottoman.

“Speak of the demons, and they appeared before you.” Vlad looked to Janus.

“Be fearful, my Lord. Fear drives cowardice to those inflicted. You are Lord Vlad III.” Janus reminded the other. “Lord Dracula.”

“And what has it done to me? My bloody exploits scared the peasants and the inexperienced boyars. It did not put any fear into the Turks. They do not fear me.”

“Do tell the emissaries that the Lord is away. He will see them in a few days. Feed them well. Give them wine that is made by our peasants. Show them our blood and sweat.” Janus looked to his servant who was undecided

“Leave us now and do your part. I have more to say to the Lord.” Janus turned to look at Vlad. “We ride to see Michael Corvinus of Hungary now. We will negotiate for an alliance.”

“Do I have a choice, my friend?” Vlad asked and did as was requested. It was courteous of the King to see the Lord on short notice.

“Good day, King Corvinus, Michael Corvinus, King of Hungary. I come to offer you an alliance.” Vlad stood before the King in the hall of the King’s palace. He felt the eyes of the other leaders there; some were his adversaries and some he knew to fear him.

“Lord Vlad III, I salute you for your gains in Wallachia.” Michael offered his cynical reply. “Do you need an alliance from me? You have the fame that spread across the continent now. Are you here to ---”

“Michael, I am not here to mock your nor am I a man of many words but action. I am still you humble ---- neighbor and most Lords knew their survival is with the alliance. As I did with Stephen, the son of Bogdan II to regain his land in Moldavia, his lands will be allied to you.”

“I did quell the conflicts with the Saxons.” On that mentioned of the Saxons, some of the leaders allied to Saxons murmured but were silenced by the King. “But it was a matter of the past and I am here to make amends.”

“You have the taken the duchies of Amlas and Fagaras.” Michael reminded the other.

“An overseeing eye on there to maintain the peace and also to protect the borders from the Turks.” Vlad was quick to defend his action. “And also, of Hungary.”

“Are you telling me you have ---”

“Disregard the Ottomans? Yes, Michael. I am my own now from the savages and ----looked to be your ally.” Vlad smiled. “My army is small but we are an efficient unit to ---battle the Turks. After all, your enemy is also mine ---- now.”

“I need to confer with my ----advisers>” Michael delayed the decision. The discussion went on for some lengthy time, with the tides favoring the alliance and at times, surfacing the atrocities of the Lord, and then the announcement was made.

“Wallachia is to be our ally. For that, I am proposing that our people be in that land ---- overseen by Lord Vlad III.” That drew murmurings of the ones that were against Vlad.

“I know it’s the needed action to avoid conflicts among us when the reading enemy is the Turks. We either stand united or die fleeing the Turks.”

King Michael however appointed several boyars to settle there, and one was named Michael too, but an official of Vladislav III before. “Let the past be the past, and we move on now.”

“Lord Vlad III, our alliance is formed. Your borders are also mine to maintain.” Michael the King of Hungary attests to the alliance.

During the start of the return journey, Vlad was asked by Janus on allowing the Hungarians to settle in their lands.

“It’s the same as I did at the Ottoman’s care. They are not settlers but hostages. Their lives are at my mercy.”