The Devil's Daughter by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 21

Night fell quickly as the old man drove the carriage through the dense woods of the Carpathian Mountains. The road was narrow, and filled with roots, bulges, and potholes. With its ancient construction, the carriage moved slowly, finding every bump along the dark, beaten road. As the moon began to creep above the mountainous horizon, the heavy forest lent itself to the approaching darkness, and while the last glow of daylight faded, Kaku, having discovered a small clearing, steered the horses in, stopping at its far side. The rickety sound of the carriage was suddenly broken by the silence of the night, and as Kaku climbed down, Bradley stepped out and inquired as to the reason for stopping.

“No one travels these roads at night,” he answered. “These mountains aren't safe. Some people travel through here and never come back. No body, nothing. It's as if God took them from the earth.”

Having heard the conversation, Janet opened the carriage door and stepped out. Upset from the ride, her baby cried with frustration, to which Kaku urgently reacted. “Quiet that child!” he began. “These woods are filled with wolves, and they will easily be drawn by the sound of that baby.”

His words were quiet but filled with anger and frustration. Disappearing back into the carriage, Janet had become flustered by the old mans' disposition but putting their baby to her breast, she was able to calm her immediately. Bradley, upset by how Kaku chose to speak to his wife, turned towards him, and quickly stepped in close. “Who do you think you are to speak to my wife in that manner? You are certainly no gentleman.” Still, with a tone of urgency, Kaku made himself clear on the dangers of traveling the Carpathians at night. “Now you listen to me,” he began. “You're not in America anymore. I know what you people think of yourselves. The things that crawl through these woods don't care who you are. Here, dead is dead, and your bones will rot just as well as anyone else. And I will not die out here, in the jaws of what lurks in those woods. So, forgive me that I give your wife a stern warning, that we are not killed tonight because of a screaming baby.”

Walking away in continued frustration, Kaku went to the front of the carriage and began unhitching the horses.

Within the next few minutes, a fire had been lit, close enough to the carriage to keep it warm. Aside from Kaku's payment, Bradley had paid for several days of food stuffs and cookware. Generally, when they traveled, a nanny was hired as they visited expensive restaurants, theaters, and other places they felt worthy of their presence. Now, they were on their own, led by a crotchety old man, paid to look after their safety. Surveying their circumstances, Bradley was forced to ask himself how he could have been talked into roaming, what was, in his opinion, a barbaric place, frequented by things he dared not imagine.

The fire crackled with a life of its own, sending an occasional flurry of sparks into the clear, moonless sky. Its dancing flames brought the forest into a fugue of living shadows, all seeming to flicker out from behind the trees, looking and darting back. Punctuating the somber night, the distant howl of a lonely wolf was heard, calling out for the company of its pack. Trying not to display his fear, Bradley sat across from Kaku, staring into the flames. Having a life of privilege did little to teach him courage, and his sense of adventure was limited to what civilized society could offer.

Sensing Bradley's quiet discomfort, Kaku expressed his concern in a warning.

“You can't hide from it,” he said.

Bradley's eye darted up from the fire, as the two men made eye contact.

“From what?” he replied.

Leaning towards him, Kaku answered in a slow, methodical voice.

“Don't you feel it? This is an ancient place. Many men have died in these woods. The castle of Vlad, son of the dragon, is only fifty or so miles from here. Some people held him up as a hero, killed in battle. Others see him as a murderer. The road to his castle was lined with the dead, with poles hammered through their bodies, up their asses and out through their backs. What kind of man could invent such a horrible way of causing pain?”

Bradley's eyes grew wide with fear, as Kaku's words beat down the door of his mind, save for a sliver of disbelief. “Purely myth, I'm sure,” he said.

A moment went by as another solitary howl drifted through the cold night air. In spite of his age, or perhaps, because of it, Kaku was able, once again, to see Bradley's fear drift farther to the surface.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“These things are in our history. They are part of us. They run in our blood. Any child can tell you,” Kaku replied. The ensuing moment was broken as Janet opened the carriage door, trying not to disturb their sleeping child. She walked to the fire and gathering her skirt, sat next to her husband.

“Are you talking about vampires?” she asked. “I love those stories.”

Bradley, being quite traditional, spoke up about her tendency towards chattiness.

“Dear, don't you think you can be a bit ladylike?” Sighing with impatience, Janet quickly spoke up in her defense, believing that etiquette should only be practiced when the situation calls for it.

“Bradley,” she began. “We're in the middle of Romania. Certainly, this place does not demand complete civility, does it?”

Another distant howl wound its way through the forest, fading away into nothing. Janet gasped as her eyes widened with excitement.

“Was that a wolf?”

Kaku grinned slightly as he looked up at Bradley. “It seems that your wife is attracted to the darkness of this land,” he said. “Far more than you.” This was not so much a compliment of Janet's sense of adventure, but a subtle jab at Bradley for his apparent cowardice. Offended by Kaku's insinuation, he spoke up immediately.

“I am not afraid of those...things out there! I am only concerned for the safety of my wife and child!”

Kaku, still sitting across from him, smiled slightly and made a brief but underhanded reply. “Of course you are.”

Sensing both his hostility and sarcasm, Bradley sat, steaming in anger, feeling as though his manhood had been questioned.

Deeply satisfied with his insult, Kaku got up from the fire and walking to the carriage, pulled down a wooden chest containing the necessary supplies for cooking. “Dinner will be quick,” he said. “I'll stay up for the night.” Janet, whose mind was governed largely by innocence and Naivetè, expressed her concern.

“But you have to sleep.”

Kaku had no patience for outsiders, especially Americans, and he had lived long enough to have met a small handful of them. For Kaku, they were all the same – rich, arrogant and naïve. They had no understanding of anything beyond their own selfishness, and Kaku made little attempt to subdue his opinions, but he tried to be patient with Janet, having come to mildly admire her for her fascination with a land that, routinely, swallowed up the unknowing traveler. “Ma'am,” he began. “If I sleep, the horses will probably be attacked by wolves. By morning, their entrails will be scattered across the ground, and we'll have to walk, and I'm not doing that.”

Janet was left without words, as opposed to Bradley, who quickly got to his feet and confronted Kaku, with the clear impression that his wife had been insulted. “Excuse me,” he began.

Kaku let out a sight of impatience, as he turned to face him. “Something else?” he asked.

Bradley found his lack of manners intolerable, believing that they should be shown a certain amount of respect. “Don't you think that's a bit much?” he asked.

Kaku stepped in close, and raising a scolding finger, responded both quietly and harshly. “Now, you listen to me,” he began. “You're not in the big city, alright? If you were to go off into those woods, no one would ever see you again, and your wife would be a widow. Now, we're about halfway to Gura Haith, so if you feel like going home with your tail between your legs, the road is right there. But as long as you're paying me, you listen, 'cause I'm not baby sittin' anyone, got it? I'm going to make some dinner. Like I said, it'll be quick.”

As promised, dinner was short – pork and beans, and some rice. Although Bradly had paid for both food and supplies, he was left at the mercy of what was available. It was not the rich food they were accustomed to, but it was, it least edible. However, seeing the need for something civilized, he had managed to purchase a bottle of wine, and at Janet's insistence, retrieved it from their luggage. As the wealthy tends to do, Bradley and Janet traveled as they lived, even in the harsh wilderness of Romania. In their minds, if one can afford to have the best, one should, and with the wine, came three crystal glasses. They had purchased them in Paris and were flawless to a fault. Janet fell in love with them the moment she saw them, and being the romantic, insisted on keeping them in pristine condition for a special occasion. Perhaps, she found beauty in the dark Carpathian Mountains or the faint, lonely howls of wolves, wafting down from its slopes. But, for whatever reason, Janet saw fit to insist that Bradley bring them out, and sitting back down at the fire, he uncorked the bottle. With his thumbs pushing under its edges, Bradley aimed up and let the cork fly, exploding from the bottle with a loud pop, and disappearing into the woods. Seeing what he believed to be a display of opulence, Kaku sat across from them, disgusted by their ignorance and disrespect.

“I know I'm supposed to let it breathe,” Bradley began. “But, it's not exactly a quality wine, so why bother.” As he poured, he looked at Kaku's scowling face. “Kaku, I believe your people made this. Would you like some?”

Kaku's expression went unchanged, save for a slight furrowing of his brow.

“I prefer whiskey,” he replied.

Having set the extra glass down in front of him, Bradley passed another to Janet, and filling it with the pale drink, tried to make it a bit more conversation with Kaku. “Ah, a man’s drink,” he began. “I never really developed a taste for it myself. I guess I prefer something a bit more civilized.”

Holding out his glass, Janet brought hers up, as they touched them together in a gesture of celebration. He then held it out towards Kaku with a slight grin. “Cheers.”

Kaku remained in silent resentment, seeing them as children who had been sheltered from the world by privilege, knowing nothing of the suffering of others – of poverty, of children living in squalor and people on the edge of survival.

They soon emptied their glasses, and picking up the bottle, got to their feet and started towards the carriage. Unlike other women of the time, Janet's sensitivity to alcohol had dissolved away with the practice of drinking. Up until the time of her pregnancy, she could drink many a man under the table and prided herself on this well-deserved ability. Bradley also shared this gift, and it was one of the things that brought them together. As they drew closer to the carriage, Bradley turned back to Kaku. “Well,” he began. “I guess we're going to turn in for the night. I left the bottle there in case you change your mind.” Climbing into the carriage, he closed the door, and pulled the curtains, leaving Kaku to sit alone by the fire. By this time, Kaku had retrieved his rifle and would sit for the rest of the night, alert to any sound, or movement, creeping out of the woods. However, in his mind, he was not keeping over his clients, but the horses. If anything happened, he would need a way to escape, and if he had time, he would hitch them up and rescue the small American family. But some things happen too quickly for sane thinking, and as long as Kaku had been paid up front, he saw no need to be honorable. In the event a crisis launched itself from the midnight woods, he would not hesitate to consider his own safety first and would leave Bradley, Janet, and their baby behind to die.