Xuhn returned to his house and gathered the remaining firewood. He tied up everything with a rope and heaved all the wood onto his back. Then he set off from his house. To lighten the load, he sold some of it to people who usually bought wood from him and then he began visiting the houses of the newcomers. The first house where he asked already had a quantity of wood and they said they didn’t want to buy anymore. The beefy man of the house who came out to talk with him did not make any expression that suggested he was being affected by the smell of the garlic in Xuhn’s pocket. Therefore Xuhn went to the house of the next newcomer— a mother and daughter family.

He placed the wood on the ground near the doorstep ad stretched himself, his back aching. He could have already sold the wood to so many loyal customers and relieved himself of the labour, yet he was here, sweating away. The sun was higher up in the sky and the morning cold had gone. Boy, he did care for his village, didn’t he? So much for finding out vampires in disguise.

Xuhn knocked on the door.

“Hello!”

After a couple of minutes the door opened. Xuhn couldn’t help but stare. It was the daughter, Ritika or whatever her name was. She was so beautiful that Xuhn found his voice stuck in his throat for a moment. And then she put her hands over her face and ran back in.

Now, what was that?

Was she very shy? Had Xuhn looked at her in a rude way?

“Why have you come here?” Ritika’s muffled voice came from the inside.

“Um, do you need firewood?” Xuhn said.”

“No, we don’t. You can go away.”

Now that was rude.

Such a pretty girl, and should she behave like that? Xuhn felt his temper rise and prepared to heave the wood back onto his back.

Wait a minute. Could it be the garlic? Ritika’s beauty had almost knocked that out of his mind.

Ritika had forgotten to bolt the door in her flight, and it was now partially open. Xuhn took out the garlic from his pocket. Such a pretty girl and should she be a blood-crazy vampire?

Xuhn took a deep breath. He held the garlic in front of him as though it were a sword. Then he entered the house, very cautiously.

Xuhn immediately had to admit that it was a very dark and damp atmosphere inside the house and he could almost sense something sinister was at play.

“Hey there!” he called to the occupants of the house.

“What do you want?” a lady appeared at a door that led to another room— Ruponi, Ritika’s mother. Behind her was Ritika, and she was cowering. The moment Ruponi’s eyes fell on the garlic she went pale. Both mother and daughter took a few steps backwards.

“What- what do you want from us?” Ruponi said.

“Why are you so afraid of this garlic?” Xuhn asked as he went closer to the pair.

Ritika and Ruponi both seemed at loss for words, their eyes fixed at the garlic with fear.

“Tell me your true identity,” Xuhn said. “Do you accept that you are vampires?”

“Please put that away,” Ruponi said in a helpless voice.

“Do you accept that you are vampires?” Xuhn repeated.

Suddenly Ritika pushed Ruponi aside and came towards Xuhn with her fangs out. Perplexed, Xuhn couldn’t move and she grabbed the garlic from him before he could react and threw it out through the door. And then Ritika immediately fell down on the floor, clutching the arm with which she had touched the garlic, her face convulsing with pain. In moments she had become unconscious.

“Ritika!” Ruponi cried and rushed to her. She took the unconscious girl on her lap and began wailing. “What have you done!” she asked Xuhn, her eyes blazing with hatred.

“I- I,” Xuhn stuttered. Would Ritika die? She had been so afraid of the garlic that she was ready to die just to get rid of it?

“I am sorry,” Xuhn said. Vampire or human, he hadn’t really meant any harm. He knew vampires dreaded garlic, but he hadn’t really known the extent of their dread.

“C- can I help in anyway?” Xuhn asked Ruponi.

“Please bring some water,” Ruponi said.

Xuhn rushed to the kitchen and brought some water in a cup. Ruponi sprinkled it over Ritika’s face and fanned her. After a few tense moments Ritika returned to consciousness. The skin below her eyes seemed to have darkened, but she still looked strikingly beautiful even in her weak form.

“I am sorry,” Xuhn said.

Ritika slowly sat up.

“My girl,” Ruponi said and kissed her forehead.

“You must understand,” Ritika said, her tone weak, “we aren’t here to harm you… we just seek help.”

“I am sorry,” Xuhn repeated, not knowing what to say. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

“This is not simply about war between vampires and werewolves,” Ritika said. For a brief moment Xuhn found himself lost in her face even as she continued speaking. “… awaken Mortugal.”

“Er, Mortugal what?” Xuhn asked, returning to reality. He thought about Mayesha and felt guilty for getting lost in another girl’s beauty.

“It’s the beast that dwells under the ice in the frozen lake,” Ruponi explained.

“There’s really such a thing?” Xuhn said. Myths were one thing and reality was another.

“The elderly here do not speak concoctions of their own minds. The frozen lake is no natural phenomenon. Only the dragon Mortugal can end the war and make peace between the vampires and the werewolves.”

“Like a real fire breathing dragon?” Xuhn asked. Master Mahendra had told about dragons in his lessons. They had scales so thick that no arrow or spear could give them the tiniest scratch, and with their great wings they could fly high up to the clouds. And when they were angry they could spew flames, destroying whatever lay in front of them. Mostly they dwelt far north in the snow clad mountains.

“Yes, exactly like the ones you might have heard of in legends,” said Ruponi.

“But how do you know all this? What connection does Mortugal have with the war between vampires and werewolves?”

“We found an ancient scroll,” said Ritika. “We couldn’t decipher the entire text since it was written in an ancient tongue, but we know that only Mortugal can stop the war for once and for all. Mother, why don’t you show him the scroll?”

“Yes, just wait a moment,” said Ruponi and went to the next room.

Xuhn felt rather odd being alone with Ritika, who was still sitting on the floor.

“Erm, that garlic,” he began awkwardly.

“No, it’s okay,” Ritika said with a smile.

“I met another vampire today,” Xuhn said.

“Who?”

“Mitral. He killed Uncle Mada’s pig, so I was angry and wanted to find out if there were other vampires in our village.”

“Mitral maybe a vampire but we aren’t with him. He fled his land, but we came here seeking for help. He visited our house many times when we first came here. Mother doesn’t like him, he’s a weakling. He cannot control his thirst for blood at all.”

“Do you, er, drink blood as well?” Xuhn asked.

“Sometimes,” Ritika replied. “But we haven’t after we came here.”

Ruponi returned with a very delicate and ancient scroll. She placed it on a table and helped Ritika to stand up, and then the three of them gathered around the scroll. It was written in a script that had many pointy letters.

“It’s written in ancient Vampree,” Ruponi explained.

“Where did you find it?” Xuhn asked, curious.

“In our garden, believe it or not,” Ritika said.

“You mean in our village?” Xuhn said. Finding an ancient Vampree text in a land where vampires hadn’t dwelt for centuries would be an interesting affair.

“No, back in our own kingdom,” Ritika said. “One day mother was gardening and she found a chest, which contained this scroll.”

“See this sentence?” Ruponi said, placing her finger on a particular line of the pointy letters.

“What does it say?” Xuhn asked.

“From what I gather, it says that only a human would be capable of awakening Mortugal.”

“Why would that be so?”

“Because humans are the only uncursed race,” Ruponi said.

“But you aren’t cursed either,” Xuhn said, then realised his words had probably sounded hollow— the vampires were cursed with their thirst for blood. And the werewolves were cursed to keep shifting between the dual forms of human and wolf. It wasn’t like humans didn’t have their own faults, but those faults weren’t exactly curses because even the gods had them if one would believe mythology.

“But we are,” said Ruponi. “It forms the reason why everyone hates our kind.”