Vlad Tepes Page #3

---

Stephen?

I'm glad you called me.

With whom do we fight?

With Petru Aron.

But only you.

You should be at Suceva before he knows.

On the Moldavian throne.

Take the army.

I gathered it just for you.

- The Lower Country wants me as lord.

- I know.

First try to make peace

and order in the country.

to secure peace

at the borders.

Something has changed

since Constantinople's fall.

We are trapped between

the sultan and Hungary's king.

When they want to conquer, to oppress,

to take what is not theirs,

there is no difference between

Christians and Pagans.

Soon each of them will

try to subdue us, smiling

and telling us... they want

to protect us the other one.

There will be a bitter struggle.

Maybe it will last hundreds of years.

There's no wall that can protect us.

The walls of our resistance

should be inner ones.

In each of us.

- With this I've finished.

- I have not!

You spoke to me as to a lord,

I'll answer you as a lord.

Mountains protect me

from the king of Hungary.

I have a chain of citadels.

The Hotin, The Orhei,

Tighina, Soroca,

Alba Citadel

all protect me from

Tatar invasions.

Moldavia is safe, like in armor,

but one piece is still missing.

Chilia.

Now it's yours.

I want it back.

Without Chilia the heart of country

is exposed to Mohamed.

The citadel is mine just theoretically.

After Iancu's death the King of Hungary

replaced his soldiers with a garrison.

If I give it back to you,

it will give the king

a motive to start a war,

and I'm not prepared for this.

I will take it by sword.

You are not ready too.

Let's wait...

a while, make it seem

like a fight between us.

In this way nobody will be upset.

On the other hand,

there are the boyars.

They want to crown their own king.

They promise the sultan double

tribute if he supports their choice.

I asked for those horsemen

to weaken their army,

not for starting a war with the Turks.

Now do you understand why?

I wanted nobody to perish.

God is my witness.

It's their choice.

I'm going to scour my land.

- What is going on here?

- What you see.

Govora is a princely monastery.

-Who dared to touch it?

-Me!

And with me the entire

country's great princes.

I took out the sword to defend

the boyar's privileges.

We want Albu as our prince.

You'll pay with your head.

Draculea can't get here

sooner than three days.

In three days we'll be

ten times as many.

There are also the 2000

horsemen who are on his side.

When they see what is going on,

they will raise their swords against

him and will be ready to fight.

Do you understand now

why I gave them to him?

To be the one who kills him.

Draculea! Draculea is coming!

Get out of my way!

.

Protect us, Your Holiness!

We are inside the holy church, Your Highness.

They should have come to the holy church

before, not after!

You shall not murder!

Love thy neighbor as you love yourself,

lead his soul towards righteousness.

I have to lead the country

towards righteousness.

Your Holiness should take care of the souls.

They are the business of every shepherd.

Each shepherd with his pipe.

From Your Highness's pipe

comes a pagan sound.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not murder.

Thou shalt not bear false witness

against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house

or anything that belongs to him.

For all to go well with you.

Do the holy commandments

sound like this or not?

You have learned them, Your Highness,

but you didn't understand them.

Have I ever done otherwise than being said?

Have I ever punished for a different flaw?

From your holiness's pipe

comes pagan sounds,

when you want to protect the lawless.

God does not wish for the sinner's death.

But for his righteousness, I know.

But if they are commandments,

let them be commandments.

In order to convert ten sinners

into righteous men, one man should die.

In order to convert 100, ten must perish.

Serving as an example.

In vain you ask the thief not to steal,

the killer not to kill.

Asking does not accomplish anything.

It is not the love of God

brings people to the church,

but fear of the hell's throes.

And Your Highness wants to embody them?

If you heed my orders

five of you will kill 100

A hundred will banish 10,000 and enemies

will die by the sword in front of you.

If you don't heed my orders...

I will come with rage and

punish you seven times for your sins.

You will perish, the land of your enemies

will swallow you

Do you want me to wait cross-handed for this

punishment which means the country's death?

Mehmed is close. The country should confront

him like an invincible steel sword.

Swords are hardened through fire,

not words, your holiness.

-But not in hell's fire.

-I haven't another handy.

Impale them! For the whole country

to see and learn!

From now on,

this will be the only punishment.

The stake is for the lowest scum.

There are also boyars here, Your Highness.

Are there? Then mark my words:

don't put the prince near the craftsman,

the robber near the monk,

and the boyar near the common people.

Give each the stake

appropriate to his class.

I want to be seen from afar

that my justice is the same for all!

Beg him to cut off my head.

He is my brother.

Do you want him by your side?

It is possible in one way:

with you by his side.

I didn't want it,

I don't want.

But it is needed.

How else to separate

the wheat from the chaff?

I made everybody his own judge.

I've put the scales of justice

in their hands.

But for some of them,

the scale has just one pan.

To swing impaled, if they want.

The sooner, the better.

A rotten apple will spoil all the others.

I must not hesitate.

I must not blink.

If I don't do this,

everything will be lost.

My God...

Why me?

Your duty is to watch my sleep,

not disturb it.

It is a miracle we escaped.

You said you wanted to trap him

and we all fell into his trap.

Look what has become of us:

no fortunes and no estates.

All we have left are our clothes.

I lost more than you did.

- It is good that my head is on my shoulders.

- What use can you make of it?

Yes, one of Mircea the Old's men is here

in Transylvania, watching the throne.

We'll go to him, gather an army,

and return to Targoviste led by him.

Everything we lost

will be ours again and even more.

On your horses!

We need to appoint new prince.

According to the custom I should name them.

I could also let you choose them.

I won't do either.

Each of you should ponder on a choice

and take the office he feels worthy for.

Think about it very well, thou.

Those who choose themselves improperly,

I will get nearer to heaven.

And they will be the ones to blame.

Judge.

Treasurer.

Council Head.

Come on!

Let's get out of this hole.

-Who are you?

-But you?

Szilagi's soldiers.

-You?

-Merchants from Wallachia.

-What you have in the carriages?

-Steel.

What a shame.

I think you are men of the King.

-What do you have against the King?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes