Chapter 62 Chapter 61

The first thing I felt when I saw the Rila Monastery was awe.Lanoff parked the car in the shade outside the gate, and we entered with a group of tourists. The scene in front of me is something I will never forget.Stoichev told me that this is a defensive tower, built by a nobleman in the Middle Ages to hide from his political enemies.I hold my breath: Could Rosie be somewhere in this ancient land? "The monks still live in this wing," said Stoichev. "Over there, along the way, is the guest house where we will spend the night. This is one of the greatest treasures of our national culture. Come, He added, "Let's go in and meet the dean." He led the way with astonishing agility, as if the place had given him new life.

The dean's lecture room is on the first floor of the monk's wing.The dean got up from the bench against the wall and came up to greet us.The Dean was about sixty years old, lean and straight, with a graying beard and blue eyes that were serene.The abbot invited us to sit down, and a monk brought a plate with a glass on it-not full of brandy, but cool water. I found that Ranov did not drink water, as if he was afraid of being poisoned. The dean said we could use the library freely, sleep in the guest house, and we should attend church services.We can go anywhere, except the monks' quarters—here, he nodded gently to Helen and Elena—they won't know that Stoichev's friends paid for their lodging, "Then," He said, "With such kind approval, let's go to the library."

"My uncle was very excited," Elena whispered to us. "He told me that your letter was a great discovery in the history of Bulgaria." The library is on the first floor, a long corridor almost directly opposite the dean's room. A black-bearded monk ushered us in at the door. He was tall and haggard.I think he stared at Stoichev for a moment before nodding to us. "This is Friar Lumen," Stoichev told us. "He's currently working in the library, and he'll show us what we need to see." Stoichev stomped on the stone floor, as if In summoning the gods, "here," he said, "you are looking at the heart of the Bulgarian nation - where monks have preserved our national heritage for thousands of years, often in secret operations. Once infidels invade This monastery, where generations of faithful monks copied these manuscripts, or hid them away. This is a small part of our national heritage—mostly destroyed, of course. But what remains Those are lucky enough."

He spoke to the librarian, who began poring over the labeled boxes on the shelves.After a few minutes, he took down a wooden box and took out some booklets from it. The top one is decorated with a startling portrait of Christ—at least I think he is Christ—holding the sky in one hand, a scepter in the other, and a Byzantine melancholy over his face.To my disappointment, Brother Kirill's letter was not in this richly decorated volume, but in a more modest one below. The administrator brought the book to the table, and Stoichev sat down eagerly and opened it expectantly. "From what I remember," said Stoichev, "there are two letters here, and it's not clear if there are more." He turned to the administrator and asked a question. "Yes," he told cheerfully. We, "They've printed this out in Bulgarian and I'll give you the best translation I can so you can take notes." So he translated these two letters for us intermittently.

Your Excellency Dean Eupalatius: We have been walking for three days on the road from Laota to Wien.We had come out of the forest into open hill country, with rolling hills on all sides.Fortunately, we saw no pagans on the road. Your most humble servant of Christ, kirill parishioner April 6985 of My Lord's Era Your Excellency Dean Eupalatius: We have been out of the city for some weeks, and are openly walking in heathen territory.We saw two monasteries and a church burnt down, the church still smoking.We can't talk much with the people who come out to meet us, just learn about these things.My lord, if this letter can be delivered to you, I hope it will arrive as soon as possible.

Your most humble servant of Christ, kirill parishioner June, 6985, My Lord Era Stoichev finished translating, and we sat in silence.There was no apparent mention of a specific destination, no mention of a grave, no burial - I was terribly disappointed. But Stoichev seemed undaunted, "Interesting," he said after a long time, "You see, the letter you brought from Istanbul must have been between these two letters in time. Before writing the first And between the second letter, they walk across Wallachia toward the Danube—the place is clearly written. Then there is your letter, written by Brother Kirill in Constantinople, Perhaps he wished to send this letter with the others from there. But he was unable or afraid to do so, we have no way of knowing. The date of the last letter is June. The route described in Galia's Chronicle. In fact, it must be the same route, since this is the main road from Sarigrad into Bulgaria."

Helen raised her head, "But can we be sure that this last letter is from Bulgaria?" "We cannot be absolutely sure," Stoichev admitted, "but I believe it is quite possible. If they set out from Sarigrad, that is, Constantinople, into a country whose monasteries and The church burned down in the late fifteenth century, so probably Bulgaria." I couldn't help expressing my dismay, "But there's no mention of the monastery they're looking for, even if it's Sveti Georgi." Ranov sat with us, looking at his thumbs. "Yes," Stoichev nodded, "Certainly Brother Kirill didn't write down their destination in his letter, just as he didn't add Euparithius's name before the name Snagov. The title is the same. Once they are arrested, these monasteries will eventually be greatly damaged, at least searched." There is an interesting sentence here," Helen has finished taking notes, "What do you think it means? Immediately I looked at Stoichev, and I was also impressed by this remark. He sighed, "This may refer to a fresco or icon in the monastery."It's hard to imagine what the painting would have looked like.Even if we did find Sveti Georgi, it's unlikely that a fifteenth-century icon would still be there, especially since the monastery burned down at least once.I don't know what this means.Perhaps it was a theological note, known only to the Dean and not to us; perhaps it referred to a secret agreement between them.We'll have to keep that in mind though, because Brother Kirill took it as a sign that they're in the right place. I'm still struggling with disappointment. I realize now that I thought the letters wrapped in this faded envelope were our last key to finding Rosie, at least helping us to understand the few I hoped would be useful. map.

"There is a bigger but strange problem," Stoichev stroked his chin with one hand, "the letter from Istanbul says that the treasure they are looking for—perhaps a relic of Sariglade—is in the In a monastery in Bulgaria, so they must go there. Professor, please read that passage to me again." I pulled out the letter from Istanbul.I kept it with me while we were studying other letters from Brother Kirill, "It said, . land." "This is it," said Stoichev. "The question is—" he tapped his long forefinger on the table in front of him—"for example, why was a holy object smuggled in 1477?" Out of Constantinople, why did the Monastery of Panakratos send a surviving relic to Bulgaria after twenty-four years, why did these monks go to Constantinople to find this special relic ?”

"Well," I reminded him, "we know from the letter that the Turks' Janissaries are looking for the same relic, and that it has some value to the Sultan." Stoichev thought, "That's right, but the guards didn't look for the relic until it was safely taken out of the monastery." "For the Turks, this sacred object must involve political power, but for Snagov, it is a kind of spiritual wealth." Helen frowned and tapped her cheek with a pen, "A book Books, maybe?" "Yes," I said excitedly, "if this is a book, the content in it is what the Turks want and what the monks need, so what?" Suddenly he gave me a hard look.

Stoichev nodded slowly, and it took me a moment to recall that he disagreed, "Books in those days generally had no political content - they were religious texts, copied many times for use in monasteries , or used by the Turks in religious schools and mosques. It is unlikely that monks risked so much just to find a holy book. They already have such a book in Snagov." Wait, " Helen opened her eyes wide and thought, "Wait. This must be something Snagov needs, or something to do with the Dragon's Call, or Vlad Dracula's Wake—remember the Chronicle?" The dean wants to bury Dracula elsewhere."

"Yes," Stoichev mused, "he wanted to transport Dracula's body to Saliglade, even at the expense of his monks." "Yes," I said.I felt like I was going down another line of thought, about to say something.Suddenly, Helen turned to me and shook my arm. "What?" I said, but she recovered immediately. "It's all right," she said softly, looking neither at me nor at Ranov.As soon as he left, Helen grabbed my arm again, and Stoichev stared at her intently. "Paul," she said.She looked very strange, I put my arms around her shoulders, afraid that she would faint, "His head! Didn't you see it? Dracula went back to Constantinople to ask for his head!" Stoichev gave a soft "hum", but it was too late. That's when I looked around and saw the thin face of Friar Lumen peeping out from the bookshelf.Although his back was to us when he put things down, he was listening.Helen and I looked at each other helplessly. That person left, but it is very likely that it won't be long before another person—such as Ranov—will hear Helen's conclusion just now.How might Lanoff use this discovery? "