The Tale of the Moon and Sun (A Klaus Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Poenari

Sun rays woke me up the next morning. My head was spiraling out of control due to the events of last night, due to Klaus and his uncharacteristic affection towards me. Yesterday night the Klaus I'd known before was back, his usual charming and magnetic self. I sat up and looked out the window; it was a beautiful morning, the sky was blue, the forest was bright green and the lake seemed serene and inviting. Standing up and walking towards the bathroom I noticed there was no one in the room, I was completely alone. Looking at the digital clock on the bedside table I saw it read eleven am. My eyes grew wide, I'd completely over slept. Part of me found it weird that neither Klaus or Elijah had woken me up. But after last night I had the feeling that my relationship with Klaus was about to become really awkward.

I took a quick shower, got dressed and went downstairs to the hotel restaurant. I looked everywhere for the two brothers but had no luck. I ate lunch by myself and for some odd reason I found myself missing them. We were only four days into our trip but spending twenty-four hours with someone makes you used to them, even if they were unhinged monsters with murderous tendencies. 

After lunch I went out for a walk around the lake and found myself in one of the neighboring villages. It was small and quaint. The sun was bright and its rays made the small town seem incredibly charming. The houses were all small and close together, each of them was painted with bright colors and was decorated with delicate summer flowers. They all lined up around the town square and continued up a small hill that led to an old looking clock tower. I walked over drawn by a compelling energy. I walked passed a group of old ladies gathered at a small café, each of them looked at me with an obscene amount of curiosity and the closer I got to the clock tower the more they seemed to whisper. 

Once at the top of the small hill I noticed there was no one around me and there was only a small hut besides the mysterious tower. The closer I got to it the more heavy the pull it had on me became. I looked at it with more attention and saw it was made of dark brown stone, it had a wooden green door which was locked, the dome of the tower was pointy and painted with an old Romanian pattern in earthy colors, at the very top lay the clock which to my surprise wasn't very big and a few hours ahead, the clock read ten thirteen which for some reason struck me as odd. I stared at it for a while, as if hoping it would move and the more I stared at it the more I began to notice the intricate details hidden within. The face of the clock was a midnight blue and the numbers and hands had been in its time a beautiful gold color, but due to the passing of time and harsh winters and rains they'd turned a scaly green rusty color. 

A sound behind me made me jump. I turned around to notice an old woman coming out of the small hut. Her back was bent, she had tanned skin and big expressive raven colored eyes, her hair was grey and burnt. She was wearing an old "Carpathian Shirt" which was gathered at the neck and had intricate red and green embroidery on the arms, an ornamented wrap-around skirt of grey color or worn out black with red embroidery on the hem. To me she seemed as if she'd stepped out of one of my history books. There was something weird about her and for some reason she felt familiar, at least I felt as if I could trust her. 

"What brings you here child?" She asked. Her voice was raspy and I thought she was about to become out of breath. 

"I'm just wandering around." Was all I responded.

Her face was skeptical and she seemed to fear me. 

"This place is amazing. I'd never been out of Bucharest before, only to Constanta." I said in an attempt to make conversation. 

A toothless smile formed on her mouth and I looked away from her and back at the clock. In that moment I noticed something I hadn't seen before; a dragon seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It was a four legged beast with sharp wings and a winding tale, it was small but I could see every detail clearly. On the bottom of the dragon I could see letters but couldn't make out exactly what they said. I squinted my eyes further but had no luck.