Act One: The Shadow of the Gods (Part Ten)

ten

“Now you’re free. Where do you want to go?” Yakov stood there, motionless. “What should we do?”

Yubi's gaze shifted from his mother's head to Yakov's face on the stairs. These words snapped him out of his daze, and a look of joy appeared on his face. "I think I should go to Constantinople first and tell my sister all this. Uh, my relationship with my brother isn't very good, so I don't want to go to him; he'll blame everything on me..." His speech quickened, and he sounded much better. "Actually, I've only met them a few times... but I just prefer Ambicea." He quickly came upstairs, cradling Camilla's blood-stained head in his arms. "Constantinople! I've wanted to go there for so long! Have you been there, Blood Slave? What's your name?"

Constantinople. Yakov thought, it's several months' journey from here.

“My name is Yakov,” he answered Yubi’s question calmly. “Going to Constantinople requires a lot of money.”

"If we take all this valuable stuff, will it be enough for our travel expenses?" Yubi asked innocently, looking up at her.

That's more than enough, Yakov thought. If he really could manage to take all the valuables, and even hire enough mercenaries to trade with the Byzantine emperor. But he said, "It should be about enough if we're frugal."

Yubi hesitated slightly. But he had no choice, Yakov thought. The kid couldn't possibly go that far alone.

“Then let’s take everything of value we can, Yakov. Let’s go now.” Yubi made the decision quickly. He jogged past Yakov. “Get moving, Yakov, hurry up!”

The two men led the frightened horse upstairs, and Yakov managed to calm it down with some effort. He found two empty boxes, tied them to the horse's rump with ropes, and the sound of iron hooves rang out abruptly in the corridor.

They opened every valuable cabinet and drawer in the room, searching for jewels and coins. Yakov was astonished by the vampire family's wealth—all sorts of gems, both familiar and unfamiliar, and gold and silver coins of various sizes from different countries, gradually filling his chest. He wondered, how many years had this wealth accumulated?

Yubi, like any child about to embark on a long journey, excitedly rummaged through the items, chattering on about anecdotes about valuable objects. "Look at this ambergris!" he exclaimed, opening a lacquered wooden box and showing Yakov the small cloth bag inside. "It's worth twenty times the price of gold!"

Yakov glanced at it and said, "Throw away the box and just take the cloth bag."

“And this pearl, look at it, it’s unusually large!” Yubi brought over a velvet box. “It’s said to have belonged to a former Egyptian queen!”

Yakov glanced at it again. "No need to ask me anymore. If you're not worried about it breaking, just put it in."

Yubi was not satisfied with his attitude and quickly quieted down.

They swept through room after room, and soon every once beautiful and tidy room was ransacked, with empty boxes and clothes piled on the floor, looking like it had been ravaged. Yubi's face grew increasingly grim as he gradually realized what he was doing.

“I need to bring some clothes,” he said.

“Take only what you need,” Yakov replied. “Clothes take up space and aren’t worth much. We can buy new ones.”

"And what about the balm I use for bathing?" Yubi asked again.

“I told you, only bring valuables,” Yakov said coldly and impatiently. “We don’t have that much space.”

He stood lazily in front of the door, leading his horse. A secret smugness was rising within him, but Yakov controlled himself to keep it from showing. He thought, "I'm rich! This is incredible luck! Once I leave this place, I'll be truly free! And all I'll have to deal with is a child!" He looked at Yubi's silent expression and thought, "This is the first lesson I've taught him, and it's also obeying Camilla's orders." Yakov felt this from the bottom of his heart, without the slightest guilt. But he didn't understand why his chest still ached faintly.

So he asked Yubi, "How are you feeling?"

Yubi stood alone beside him. "I feel terrible," he whispered in reply. "I feel like a robber."

“Listen,” Yakov patted his shoulder. “This is your eighteenth birthday. From now on, you can no longer depend on your mother, no longer live that extravagant life. There will be no more servants to wait on you, no soft beds to sleep in, and no big pools to bathe in. This is what growing up is like. Feeling awful? That’s right. If you don’t become a robber of your life, others will. Do you understand? You can’t rely on anyone anymore.”

Yubi frowned at him. "But I still have you," he said bluntly. "You are what my mother left me."

Yakov fell silent, not daring to refute him. But his heart didn't hurt as much anymore.

After a while, he asked, "Is there anything else you need to bring?"

“Yes,” Yubi said. “The last one.”

He found a sealed glass jar, placed Camilla's head inside, and then wrapped the jar tightly with a soft cotton cloth, making it completely opaque. "Mother doesn't like the sun," Yubi said, carefully tidying up the horrible package in his arms.

"And what about you?" Yakov asked.

Yubi didn't answer him, but simply reached into his pocket. He took out a ring and put it on the middle finger of his left hand. Yakov looked closely; it was a ruby ​​ring with an obsidian base, exactly the same as the one he had seen in the painting earlier. "I'm not afraid of the sun," Yubi said, lifting his head and carefully wrapping his fur cloak around himself. "We can go now."

Yakov suddenly felt a pang of sadness. He looked at the stubborn child before him, who feigned resolve, his eyes clear yet innocent. He thought, perhaps he would suffer countless hardships, endure countless sins, witness countless treacherous people, experience countless injustices, and plunge headlong into that dark and hopeless world, never to return to this ivory tower. He himself was the first hurdle the child had to overcome.

But then he thought, this is a vampire's child, it's not my place to worry about him.

Yakov pulled the tapestry from the window. He noticed that not only was the snowstorm outside almost over, but the sky was also beginning to lighten with the first rays of the sun. He draped the tapestry over the horse's rump, covering the chests laden with treasure to make them look like ordinary luggage. He then helped Yubi up by the armpits and lifted him onto the horse. Yakov was surprised to find that Yubi's body was now warm, like a normal person's, no longer as cold as before.

“I can’t ride a horse!” Yubi shouted.

“This shouldn’t be happening.” Yakov put on his helmet and quickly mounted the horse, slipping into the stirrups. He sat behind Yubi, wrapping his arms around Yubi’s body to hold the reins. “You’re so old, you should have learned to ride a horse long ago!”

The chestnut horse snorted and shook its head in dissatisfaction, as if expressing its discontent with the excessive burden it carried, but it didn't seem too uncomfortable. Yakov squeezed his legs together, letting the spurs gently prick it. The horse, puffing out white breath, quickly trotted down the corridor. They rode down the stairs, across the blood-stained, brightly lit hall. To Yakov's surprise, the castle doors were open. The faint light of dawn filtered in from outside.

"Yakov, faster!" Yubi shouted excitedly, gripping the small handle on the saddle.

So Yakov spurred the horse again. The horse neighed and charged forward out of the gate.

In an instant, they tore through the cold air and the pristine snow. At the edge of the distant, forested mountains, a dazzling, golden light rose brilliantly, piercing the dark clouds. The tomb-like, cage-like stone structures were left far behind in the blink of an eye, their bloody, sorrowful scents left behind, shielded by the biting, knife-like wind.

Yubi couldn't open his eyes. But he cheered desperately in Yakov's arms.

"We are free! Yakov, I am free!"

He shouted, sounding neither happy nor sad.

Yakov thought, yes. At least they've taken the first step toward freedom.

Tbc.