Preys and Predators 3 Love Binds, Family Destroy Chapter 15

 

15. 

 

Much was to be said of relationships; Dante had courted Angeline for two seasons before he popped the question to her. She was unsure, being young, and the man was twice or more her age.

“Let me…… Wait, were you not in love with Juliette before she got married?” Angeline looked at the man. “Why me?”

“I love you now… more. Juliette was my interest then, but we drifted.” Dante sighed. “I was sure of some love, but your sister was... unsure.”

“Juliette was …….” Angeline bit her lips. She knew her sister was not content with one lover but held many on the side. She knew that Juliette was also with Lord Gencio Capulet, which was why she rejected him then. She was new to the city, but she had her keen observation of who was around. Somehow, she felt that Gencio was more sincere in his approach.

“Love?” Angeline smiled to herself.

“This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Come to thy heart as that within my breast. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” (Romeo and Juliet).

“Pardon me……” Lord Dante Montague uttered. “Was it…….”

“No, it was a passing thought of mine.” Angeline looked at the man. Was she his second offering then, when Juliette had absconded to England? She then told him her decision.

“Talk to Mother. Let her decide.” Lord Dante Montague was told. He felt let down by that. His previous attempts were denied, but with Angeline, he felt he could do better. He approached the lady’s mother later that day.

“I take it that your gifts are ……. The hand of my other daughter.” The mother looked at the cases of jewels and coins. “What of Juliette?”

“I …….” Lord Dante Montague stammered and moved the subject. “I came alone, for my parents are dead. I am the head of my household. I do not intend to …….”

“The matter is decided. Angeline will wed you this season. It is about time for her to find a partner. Her sister, Juliette, is engaged to a lord in England. I am too old to watch over her, too.” The lady said. “When I married the father, he was twice my age, too.”

Lord Dante Montague got his reply; that was amazingly fast and without much fuss. He wedded the young bride within the month and left out many friends from the reception. He does not want some drunkard fool to talk of his past exploits.

The young couple took their honeymoon to Venice, where the young wife introduced him to her friends. 

On that same day of Lord Dante Montague’s wedding, Shylock approached Leah’s father. The older man was taller than him and thinner than him, but his expression was close to resembling the vulture perched on the low branch. Leah was not present then, for it was customary for the men to talk without them, especially in such matters.

“Leah told me about you. You have been sneaking to see her behind my back.” The older man looked at Shylock. “You are Jewish?”

Shylock nodded.

“Do you know the tradition of ours?” The older man looked at Shylock. “If her mother were around, there would be shidduch (matchmaking) talks, but she is not with us now.” Orthodox Jews often participate in a matchmaking system (shidduch) to find partners within their community, starting around the age of 18. 

“I am here.” Shylock’s mother appeared at the doorway. “I can discuss shidduch with you. Shalom Aleikhem ("Peace to you,"). The older man invited the lady in. “It is not ……”

“Isiah Toreh, my mother was your family's appointee to talk to your wife’s family. You had no mother to do the shidduch then.” Shylock’s mother knew the family well, being of distant blood relations. “His father is unwell and unable to move. Death awaits him soon, and his wish is to see his son get wedded before he takes on the new journey.”

“I ……” Leah’s father was at a loss for words.

“We are the elders now. We can discuss and agree.” The elderly lady pressed on. The discussion was short, for the lady was direct with her demands, and then the agreed date was set.

At the ceremony, the young couple underwent the ritual required: the ketubah (marriage contract) that is signed by two witnesses, a chuppah or huppah (wedding canopy) was set up, and a ring owned by the groom that is given to the bride under the canopy, symbolizing the new home being built by the couple when they become husband and wife. And the breaking of a glass; the groom breaks a glass, crushing it with his right foot.

The guests were few, but the majority were moneylenders. They all applauded the knitted relationship between the two families.

The young couple then took their home at Shylock’s house.

Lord Gencio Capulet had brought Wendy into his home. As he was without a wife, he had her named as the mistress of the house. She was to supervise the household staff, including the butlers. Lorenzo was given a chamber of his own and accorded the title "young master.”

The mistress shall be addressed as Lady Sofia. That will be her name from now on.” Gencio told the household. He then turned to his mistress.

“Sofia, take care of my home. I am to battle the Turks.” Lord Gencio Capulet told the mistress. She tried to stop him, but he was insistent. She then asked him a favour.

“Lay with me. Give me your seed once more. If we are blessed, you will have a child when you return.” Lord Gencio Capulet looked to his new lover. He was without an heir. He nodded to the request.

All was not well for Vlad. He had new conflicts with the Ottoman Empire when he defied the Sultan then.

“Your brother had delayed his jizya to me.” Mehmet II shouted at Radu. “Who does he think he is dealing with? We …….”

“He is not my brother anymore. We cut ties when he went back to Wallachia.” Radu declared. “Give me my command, and I will bring back his head.”

“No, I will wait my time.” Mehmed sent envoys to Vlad to urge him to pay the delayed jizya.

Vlad Țepeș provoked Mehmed by having the envoys killed. In a letter addressed to the Transylvanian Saxons of Kronstadt (today: Brașov), he warned them of Mehmed's invasion plans and asked for their support.

“Be with me. I had not paid the annual jizya of ten thousand ducats for some years. The Sultan demands a thousand boys from me who are to be trained as janissaries; in turn, they will fight you. I had refused the demand.”

In retaliation, the Turks crossed the Danube and started to do their own recruiting, to which Vlad reacted by capturing the Turks and impaling them.

“The Turks invaded me, and I punished them.” The conflict continued until Mehmed asked the prince to come to Constantinople and negotiate with him. Vlad Țepeș wrote that he could not afford to pay the jizya, as his war against the Saxons of Transylvania had emptied his resources; ‘they had rebelled against me.’

“Does he take me for a fool?” Mehmet II roared out. “Vlad holds an alliance with Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. I will confront him soon.

The bey of Nicopolis, Hamza Pasha, was sent to stage a diplomatic meeting with Vlad at Giurgiu, but with orders to ambush him there and thereafter take him to Constantinople. Vlad was forewarned about the ambush and planned to set an ambush of his own. Hamza brought with him a thousand cavalry, and when passing through a narrow pass north of Giurgiu, Vlad launched a surprise attack.

“Take no prisoners.” Lord Gencio Capulet, in command of Genoa’s finest, was in command then. He had volunteered for the front line; despite his age, he was given the command. The Genoese army was armed with the new gunpowder weapon. The hand cannon consists of a barrel, a handle, and sometimes a socket to insert a wooden stock. Extant samples show that some hand cannons also featured a metal extension as a handle. The hand cannon could be placed on a rest and held by one hand, while the gunner applied the means of ignition himself.

The Wallachian army had the Turks surrounded and fired with their hand guns until the entire expeditionary force was killed.

“The battle is half won. We need to regain the fortress taken by the Turks. I want volunteers for the raid.” Lord Gencio Capulet was one to join in. “It will be how Troy was taken.”

In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war.

“We will ride into the fortress on horses,” Vlad told the raiders. “Its gates will be opened for us.”

Vlad and the other raiders, disguised as Turks and advanced with his cavalry towards the fortress, where Vlad, riding in front, called out in Turkish and commanded the guards to open the gates. Once the gates were opened, the cavalry charged in and slaughtered the guards there. The main army, hidden from sight, charged in, and the battle to regain the fortress was underway.

Lord Gencio Capulet was, during the battle, taking down the Turks in his path. He was a different man then. He fought with strength and without mercy. The battle was won, but Vlad was not ready to celebrate. He went on a campaign and slaughtered enemy soldiers and populations that might have sympathized with the Turks, first in southern Wallachia and then in Bulgaria by crossing the frozen Danube. His strategy was rapid deployment without the enemy to regroup; he divided his army into several smaller groups and covered great distances and killing many Turks.

Vlad Tepes has broken the truce with the Sultan. The great army of the Sultan, eighteen thousand strong, led by the Grand Vizier Mahmud, was also defeated then when they tried to destroy the Wallachian port of Brăila.

Vlad Țepeș’ fortune soon changed then; he was welcomed as a hero by the others. Many Turks were now frightened of Vlad and left the European side of their empire and moved into Anatolia. Mehmed, when hearing about the events, abandoned his siege at Corinth and decided to go against Vlad Țepeș himself.  

 

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