Phoenix ch 05
‘Of course, no one really knows why he chose to base his main character on Vlad the Impaler’ – from a treatise on Successful Authors of the 19th Century, section on Bram Stoker His army was destroyed and his war-horse had foundered at the base of the hill. His breath ragged in his chest, he ran desperately up more than a thousand steps, ignoring the macabre remains of the dead soldiers and prisoners staked out along the path leading to the high castle. His chosen few were manning the gates and the castle walls, but they would not be enough to ward off his brother’s black guard – the army that had crushed his own dragons. Exhausted and gasping with each breath, he stumbled up the last hundred steps. His brother’s guard was getting close. …