Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020): Season 2, Episode 4 - Brothers No More - full transcript
No!
Mehmed!
Who goes there? State your business.
- Help me. Help me.
- Alarm!
You unleashed this curse
upon the House of Osman
when you stepped onto Wallachian soil.
Now you will know the pain
of being ripped from your family,
of dying alone.
No!
Vlad! No!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Watch out!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
After chasing Vlad Dracula
for two weeks,
Mehmed II and his invading army
find themselves caught
in a nightmare come to life
deep within the Wallachian forest.
Don't touch any of them!
We're under attack
on the eastern perimeter of the camp!
Summon the rest of the guards!
What in God's name?
Plague.
We found two more
of the wretched creatures inside the camp,
and we killed them.
There could be more of them.
Search every tent.
Use spears and bows,
but no one is to touch them.
We will burn the bodies.
This is the work of the devil.
The devil, indeed.
Many legends have arisen out
of Mehmed's invasion of Wallachia in 1462.
One speaks of Vlad Dracula launching
a biological attack against the Ottomans
to slow their march
to his capital city, Târgovişte.
Vlad Dracula opened his prisons
and released hardened criminals
to go amongst the Ottomans
with tuberculosis and bubonic plague
so that they could infect
the Ottoman soldiers.
I think of plague
like an atomic bomb,
just killing a very large percentage
of people in a very short period of time.
It could kill very fast.
We're talking about mortality rates
between 30 to 60%.
If plague or another epidemic disease
spread in the army,
it would have been devastating.
Sultan...
we've killed more of the invaders.
Good. Double the watch
for the rest of the night.
If anyone or anything shows itself,
kill them.
You stay with me.
Vlad is here.
You saw him?
I'm certain of it.
In June of 1462,
Vlad's campaign of terror
temporarily slows the Ottomans,
who are encamped
65 miles southwest of Târgovişte.
But without reinforcements,
there is only so long
that the Impaler Lord
can keep Mehmed's
mighty war machine at bay.
If Corvinus and the Hungarians
don't get here soon,
they'll be scraping us...
off the boots of the Ottomans.
Were you able to speak
with our... friend from the camp?
No.
However,
I discovered the sultan has
four guards outside his tent
and additional men stationed nearby,
but it seems we spooked them nicely.
I don't think Mehmed or his men
will get much sleep tonight.
He uses these poor souls as weapons.
How can he hope to win like this?
It's a diversion.
He's playing for time.
We must move faster.
There's growing talk amongst the soldiers
about demons and jinn.
They think this land is cursed.
Have faith, Mahmud Pasha.
I always have a plan.
What about your safety, Sultan?
I beg you, take half of the army
and return to Istanbul.
With 30,000 soldiers, we'll finish Vlad.
The Prophet says, "Run from the leper
as you would run from the lion,"
but I will not run from Vlad.
His fate and my own
are bound together.
Forever.
Why are we spending
the afternoon in this old dungeon?
We should be out there sparring.
We sparred until our hands bled yesterday.
You must also train your mind
and think about the future.
Your father will soon release me
to reclaim my throne in Wallachia.
That is my future.
All the more reason to know
what fate has in store for you.
Our destiny can be found here, The Iliad.
What are you talking about?
Bibliomancy.
Bibliomancy was used
by the Ottomans
and many other cultures
throughout the medieval world
to divine the future.
But, in Islam,
it's forbidden to tell the future,
because that's involving
trying to predict the will of God,
and only God knows the will of God.
And one of the ways that you can
kind of get around the heretical side
of fortune-telling
is to use different kinds of books
to tell the future.
And they would let the book fall open
at whichever page might fall open to,
and then the eye would be drawn
immediately to a particular line
or a particular verse,
and whatever that verse or line said,
that's an indication
of what's going to happen to you.
"Let me not then die ingloriously
and without a struggle,
but let me first do some great thing
that shall be told amongst men hereafter."
Your turn.
"Hateful to me as the Gates of Hades
is that man who has one thing in his heart
and speaks another."
When you have your own kingdom...
what will be in your heart?
Are you questioning my loyalty?
I'm asking, which family will you choose?
I will do what is best for Wallachia.
If that should put us on opposite sides
of the battlefield someday...
Let's hope it never comes to that,
but should that day come,
I will do everything in my power
to destroy you.
Loyalty is a... is a word
that carries a lot of weight, doesn't it?
But it's so easily discarded,
and that's true for both
Mehmed's life and for Vlad's lives.
They both feel betrayed by different
crucial figures throughout their lives,
whether it's family members,
or advisors, or generals, or allies.
It's the parallel nature
of the journeys of Mehmed and Vlad
that make this story
particularly compelling.
Maybe there were some personal differences
between Vlad and Mehmed.
As far as I can see,
they were very much alike.
They were strong leaders.
They were young leaders.
They were warriors. They wanted to rule.
Fourteen years later,
Vlad presses an increasingly desperate
guerrilla campaign
from the shadows,
hoping to demoralize the Ottomans...
...and slow Mehmed's march north...
...before vanishing yet again.
Elsewhere, the hunt intensifies
for Vlad's operatives
in the imperial palace.
- I'm so happy to see you.
- Oh, dear.
I returned as quickly as I could.
It was terrible.
And the prince?
Shaken, but unharmed.
Do you still have the gift I gave you?
It never leaves my side.
Good.
If the assassins are still lurking
within the palace, I will find them.
Do you have any news of Mehmed?
They have crossed the Danube,
but that is all I know.
Don't worry about Mehmed.
He is without equal on the battlefield.
And remember,
if you can't cut their throat,
slip the blade between their ribs,
and twist.
Not many people know about
the roles played by these royal mothers
of these princes of the Ottoman dynasty.
First and foremost, to protect their son.
Gulbahar Hatun played this role,
and she left a legacy in that sense.
The harem was called
the "Sultanate of Women."
The reign of women, where mothers
of sultans played very important role.
They are said
to rule the empire behind the curtains.
There's a wolf within our walls.
We must hunt him down.
Mehmed has pushed his army
within 45 miles of Târgovişte,
but Vlad Dracula's hit-and-run campaign
from the shadows
has left the sultan's troops on edge.
So too have rumors of Vlad's spies
operating within the camp.
Radu, this is Luca Rares,
a boyar from one of the oldest families
in Bucharest.
Prince Radu,
the last time I saw you,
you were just a young boy
chasing after your father
and older brothers.
That was a long time ago.
The sultan and I have been in discussions
through intermediaries
for many months now.
Since your brother started this
ill-advised war...
We now share a common foe.
Wallachia has enjoyed
a long and lucrative relationship
with the Ottomans and our neighbors,
but Prince Vlad's provocations
have destroyed much of our trade.
The country starves because of his war.
I cannot control my brother.
But you will soon
have his throne.
I know there is bad blood
between the boyars and your family.
I escaped the Easter banquet where
your brother mounted many of my friends
and their families on pikes,
and displayed them
like scarecrows outside the city walls.
Perhaps, he feared their betrayal
and knew it might be his head
on the city walls if he did nothing.
Time is short, so I'll get to my point.
Vlad Ţepeş killed
many of his enemies that day,
but in doing so, created many more.
There are powerful people, like myself,
willing to support your reign
if
you kill your brother.
But if you fail,
it will be you and I
strung from the walls of Târgovişte.
That man is a snake.
Why wasn't I told about this?
Remember who you are talking to,
Prince Radu.
Luca Rares and his friends are the scum
that helped the Hungarians
kill my father and brother, Mircea.
They are not to be trusted.
The only thing I trust
is their love of money.
It exceeds even their hatred
of the House of Drăculeşti.
Make them your allies,
and Vlad will have nowhere to turn.
Their power will be your power.
I can help you take the throne,
but the boyars can help you keep it.
But first,
we must flush your brother out of hiding.
We are a five-day's march
from the capital,
and Vlad grows more desperate by the day.
My brother is at his most dangerous
when he's cornered.
That is why we must draw him out
into the open and finish him
before the Hungarians come to his aid.
How do we do that?
You.
I'm not sure I follow, Sultan.
I will pressure Vlad
by marching on Târgovişte,
while you draw him out of hiding
by taking the one thing
he loves as much as his throne.
Princess Anastasia?
- When he finds out...
- Yes.
He will be enraged,
and that will be his undoing.
Princess Anastasia is not to be harmed,
which is why it is you who must go.
Of course.
You will leave tonight under cover
of darkness with a unit of Janissaries.
Our spies say Princess Anastasia
is at Vlad's castle at Poenari.
Soon, it will be your castle.
Fourteen years earlier,
in 1448,
the Ottomans prepare to release
17-year-old Vlad Dracula
to fight for the throne in Wallachia,
leaving his younger brother's fate
hanging in the balance.
Radu?
I need your counsel.
Vlad has given me until tomorrow to decide
if I will ride with him to Wallachia
and fight for the throne.
I know I should go, but...
You fear him?
When he's angry,
he sees enemies everywhere.
What if he sees me as the enemy one day?
A rival for the throne?
Is that what you want?
The throne?
Mehmed will someday rule the world,
and Vlad, he will rule Wallachia.
There is no place for me.
When I came here,
I was just a little older than you.
A Christian princess from Serbia,
unsure of who to trust,
but I was treated with kindness
and discovered
that family takes many forms,
and that loyalty runs far deeper
than the blood
that runs through your veins.
We are your family, Radu.
Vlad will choose his own path.
Just as you must choose yours.
We think that living in a palace
with all these luxuries is just,
you know, dolce vita.
It's a... It's a sweet life,
but it wasn't the case.
These rulers found themselves,
from a very young age,
in the middle of these court intrigues.
One misstep could cost them their throne,
their lives, their freedom.
It is not an easy game to play.
As the invasion enters
its third week,
the relentless pressure of Mehmed
takes a toll on Vlad.
He's lost hundreds of men
in skirmishes with the Ottomans
and finds himself leading an army
in dire need of food
and reinforcements from Hungary.
Vlad was exhausted.
He had carried out
a scorched-earth policy against Mehmed,
and he had nowhere to rely on food
for himself either.
There was nowhere to go anymore.
He became a prisoner
of his own scorched-earth policy.
They're preparing
to head out in the morning.
We'll hit them with a small unit.
Slow them down a bit.
Remind Mehmed we're still out here.
- Prince.
- Yes?
A message from the border.
News?
Hmm.
Hungarian scouts
have been spotted in Wallachia.
Perhaps you'll be back
with Princess Anastasia
by the early winter after all.
Scouts!
Send a unit to meet them
and see if more are coming.
While the king drags his feet,
we are running out of time!
Prince, the Hungarians have
finally answered the call.
- This is what you waited for.
- A few scouts are not an army!
Today, it's target practice,
but soon those cannons will be trained
on the walls of Târgovişte.
I cannot let Mehmed take the capital.
He's taken enough from me already.
We should depart soon if we are
to make the main road by nightfall.
- Yes, Hamza Bey, have you seen my brother?
- No, Prince.
Fourteen years earlier,
young Vlad Dracula makes
final preparations to ride to Wallachia
and fight for the now vacant throne,
a position for which
the Ottomans have groomed him for years.
I came to see you off.
How kind of you.
My father has given you Hamza Bey
and some of our best soldiers.
The throne will be yours by fall.
But you have my brother,
in case things don't work out.
Radu has chosen to stay here
of his own free will.
He is the only family I have,
yet you keep him like a pet.
We are the ones
giving you soldiers to take the throne.
Prince.
We should be going.
I will send word of my progress
from Wallachia, brother Mehmed.
So Vlad is sent off to do
the big political business,
and Radu's left behind.
It's not clear whether he does this
willingly or unwillingly,
whether he remains a hostage
or he stays willingly at the court.
It may be a bit of both, that he's there
as another bit of insurance
for the Ottomans,
uh, but also, he seems to have taken
quite nicely to Ottoman court life,
and to all the attractions
and power that that brings.
Family is
the dearest gift we possess.
Loyalty is everything.
Prince Radu, we're ready.
It's a little late
to be wandering about the palace.
My apologies.
I thought Gulbahar Hatun
might want some fresh water
before she retires for the evening.
She won't be needing
anything further tonight.
Yes, milady.
400 miles away
from the imperial palace,
as the Ottomans continue their
grueling slog north towards Târgovişte...
...a growing sense of unease
hangs over Mehmed and his troops.
The Ottoman troops are constantly
being picked off by hit-and-run attacks.
And then at night,
anybody outside of the trenches
is suddenly disappearing.
This is true terror.
Mahmud Pasha,
have them cut down at once.
We'll arrive not long after sunup.
Our spies say there's only
a small unit of guards at Poenari.
No harm is to come to Princess Anastasia.
I will personally capture her.
Prince Radu,
when was the last time
you saw your brother?
Ten years ago.
I haven't seen my own brother
since I was nine.
When I was taken for the sultan's army.
But this is my family now.
We are the children of Fatih,
and we'll sacrifice everything
to bring him honor and glory.
Even my own brother.
As Mehmed's army
closes on Târgovişte...
Touch my food again,
and I will cut your hand off!
Let me go!
...tensions flare
in the Ottoman camp,
where food and water
are in increasingly short supply...
Bastard!
...and rumors of
the Hungarian army joining Vlad
grow by the day.
Sultan, you wish to see me?
Yes.
Tonight,
I saw two men
fight like dogs for a scrap of meat.
I saw an army
that was lifeless, heartless.
Primed for defeat.
Sultan, our men are tired and hungry.
Mahmud Pasha,
you were not with me at Constantinople.
No, Sultan.
Standing knee-deep in mud and blood,
and the bodies of my men
outside those towering walls for weeks,
I faced a fear and exhaustion
unlike anything I'd ever known.
The pirates...
Giustiniani...
did not indulge in
the gruesome theatrics Vlad is fond of.
But I can assure you,
he was a nightmare unto himself.
I saw that nightmare
in the faces of my men.
Every time, fewer and fewer of them
came back from fighting him in the moats.
Yet you triumphed, Sultan.
Yes.
Because my cause was righteous,
and because I had sworn an oath
that I would take Constantinople.
Just as I've sworn
to punish Vlad for his betrayal.
We lost valuable hours today,
and the Hungarian threat is real now.
We are running out of time.
Tomorrow, we begin
the final push towards Târgovişte.
Gather the men in the morning
before we depart.
I want them to know
exactly what is at stake.
Today, that terrible sun will burn
like the fires of hell upon our heads,
just like it has for the last 12 days.
I know you're thirsty and hungry,
and that we are besieged by evil
on all sides.
But fear not!
A great and cruel reckoning
is coming for our enemies!
Vlad Dracula has nowhere left to run.
He hides like a rat!
At the walls of Târgovişte,
he will taste the steel of our swords
and cower before the roar
of our mighty cannons!
We will avenge Hamza Bey!
We will avenge all of our brothers,
and sisters, and children
who we lost in this godforsaken place!
Let's go!
We will destroy the Impaler Lord
and burst open the gates of Europe!
Buda, Vienna, Roma!
The world!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Find Princess Anastasia! Find her!
Princess, go back to your room!
Leave us.
Little Radu.
I'm here to protect you.
If you come with me,
I promise you won't be harmed.
So you've come for Vlad's kingdom
and now his wife?
I never wanted any of this.
That's a lie!
This is all you've ever wanted.
You're weak. A coward!
Less than a man.
You don't deserve
to call Vlad your brother.
I tried to save Vlad.
It didn't have to end like this.
Vlad is dead?
And you will be too
if you don't leave with me now.
No harm will come to you.
I promised him.
I made a promise too.
No!
Sultan, you need to see this.
Vlad Dracula's seal.
This was discovered
in Radu's tent.
Unfortunately, we did not find the letter.
Keep this between us.
Sultan, we must do something.
I will deal with him personally.
Prince Vlad.
What is it?
The Ottomans,
they came to Poenari.
Anastasia?
She's...
She's... She's dead.
Prince...
It was... It was...
Mehmed!
Mehmed!
Who goes there? State your business.
- Help me. Help me.
- Alarm!
You unleashed this curse
upon the House of Osman
when you stepped onto Wallachian soil.
Now you will know the pain
of being ripped from your family,
of dying alone.
No!
Vlad! No!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Watch out!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
Alarm!
After chasing Vlad Dracula
for two weeks,
Mehmed II and his invading army
find themselves caught
in a nightmare come to life
deep within the Wallachian forest.
Don't touch any of them!
We're under attack
on the eastern perimeter of the camp!
Summon the rest of the guards!
What in God's name?
Plague.
We found two more
of the wretched creatures inside the camp,
and we killed them.
There could be more of them.
Search every tent.
Use spears and bows,
but no one is to touch them.
We will burn the bodies.
This is the work of the devil.
The devil, indeed.
Many legends have arisen out
of Mehmed's invasion of Wallachia in 1462.
One speaks of Vlad Dracula launching
a biological attack against the Ottomans
to slow their march
to his capital city, Târgovişte.
Vlad Dracula opened his prisons
and released hardened criminals
to go amongst the Ottomans
with tuberculosis and bubonic plague
so that they could infect
the Ottoman soldiers.
I think of plague
like an atomic bomb,
just killing a very large percentage
of people in a very short period of time.
It could kill very fast.
We're talking about mortality rates
between 30 to 60%.
If plague or another epidemic disease
spread in the army,
it would have been devastating.
Sultan...
we've killed more of the invaders.
Good. Double the watch
for the rest of the night.
If anyone or anything shows itself,
kill them.
You stay with me.
Vlad is here.
You saw him?
I'm certain of it.
In June of 1462,
Vlad's campaign of terror
temporarily slows the Ottomans,
who are encamped
65 miles southwest of Târgovişte.
But without reinforcements,
there is only so long
that the Impaler Lord
can keep Mehmed's
mighty war machine at bay.
If Corvinus and the Hungarians
don't get here soon,
they'll be scraping us...
off the boots of the Ottomans.
Were you able to speak
with our... friend from the camp?
No.
However,
I discovered the sultan has
four guards outside his tent
and additional men stationed nearby,
but it seems we spooked them nicely.
I don't think Mehmed or his men
will get much sleep tonight.
He uses these poor souls as weapons.
How can he hope to win like this?
It's a diversion.
He's playing for time.
We must move faster.
There's growing talk amongst the soldiers
about demons and jinn.
They think this land is cursed.
Have faith, Mahmud Pasha.
I always have a plan.
What about your safety, Sultan?
I beg you, take half of the army
and return to Istanbul.
With 30,000 soldiers, we'll finish Vlad.
The Prophet says, "Run from the leper
as you would run from the lion,"
but I will not run from Vlad.
His fate and my own
are bound together.
Forever.
Why are we spending
the afternoon in this old dungeon?
We should be out there sparring.
We sparred until our hands bled yesterday.
You must also train your mind
and think about the future.
Your father will soon release me
to reclaim my throne in Wallachia.
That is my future.
All the more reason to know
what fate has in store for you.
Our destiny can be found here, The Iliad.
What are you talking about?
Bibliomancy.
Bibliomancy was used
by the Ottomans
and many other cultures
throughout the medieval world
to divine the future.
But, in Islam,
it's forbidden to tell the future,
because that's involving
trying to predict the will of God,
and only God knows the will of God.
And one of the ways that you can
kind of get around the heretical side
of fortune-telling
is to use different kinds of books
to tell the future.
And they would let the book fall open
at whichever page might fall open to,
and then the eye would be drawn
immediately to a particular line
or a particular verse,
and whatever that verse or line said,
that's an indication
of what's going to happen to you.
"Let me not then die ingloriously
and without a struggle,
but let me first do some great thing
that shall be told amongst men hereafter."
Your turn.
"Hateful to me as the Gates of Hades
is that man who has one thing in his heart
and speaks another."
When you have your own kingdom...
what will be in your heart?
Are you questioning my loyalty?
I'm asking, which family will you choose?
I will do what is best for Wallachia.
If that should put us on opposite sides
of the battlefield someday...
Let's hope it never comes to that,
but should that day come,
I will do everything in my power
to destroy you.
Loyalty is a... is a word
that carries a lot of weight, doesn't it?
But it's so easily discarded,
and that's true for both
Mehmed's life and for Vlad's lives.
They both feel betrayed by different
crucial figures throughout their lives,
whether it's family members,
or advisors, or generals, or allies.
It's the parallel nature
of the journeys of Mehmed and Vlad
that make this story
particularly compelling.
Maybe there were some personal differences
between Vlad and Mehmed.
As far as I can see,
they were very much alike.
They were strong leaders.
They were young leaders.
They were warriors. They wanted to rule.
Fourteen years later,
Vlad presses an increasingly desperate
guerrilla campaign
from the shadows,
hoping to demoralize the Ottomans...
...and slow Mehmed's march north...
...before vanishing yet again.
Elsewhere, the hunt intensifies
for Vlad's operatives
in the imperial palace.
- I'm so happy to see you.
- Oh, dear.
I returned as quickly as I could.
It was terrible.
And the prince?
Shaken, but unharmed.
Do you still have the gift I gave you?
It never leaves my side.
Good.
If the assassins are still lurking
within the palace, I will find them.
Do you have any news of Mehmed?
They have crossed the Danube,
but that is all I know.
Don't worry about Mehmed.
He is without equal on the battlefield.
And remember,
if you can't cut their throat,
slip the blade between their ribs,
and twist.
Not many people know about
the roles played by these royal mothers
of these princes of the Ottoman dynasty.
First and foremost, to protect their son.
Gulbahar Hatun played this role,
and she left a legacy in that sense.
The harem was called
the "Sultanate of Women."
The reign of women, where mothers
of sultans played very important role.
They are said
to rule the empire behind the curtains.
There's a wolf within our walls.
We must hunt him down.
Mehmed has pushed his army
within 45 miles of Târgovişte,
but Vlad Dracula's hit-and-run campaign
from the shadows
has left the sultan's troops on edge.
So too have rumors of Vlad's spies
operating within the camp.
Radu, this is Luca Rares,
a boyar from one of the oldest families
in Bucharest.
Prince Radu,
the last time I saw you,
you were just a young boy
chasing after your father
and older brothers.
That was a long time ago.
The sultan and I have been in discussions
through intermediaries
for many months now.
Since your brother started this
ill-advised war...
We now share a common foe.
Wallachia has enjoyed
a long and lucrative relationship
with the Ottomans and our neighbors,
but Prince Vlad's provocations
have destroyed much of our trade.
The country starves because of his war.
I cannot control my brother.
But you will soon
have his throne.
I know there is bad blood
between the boyars and your family.
I escaped the Easter banquet where
your brother mounted many of my friends
and their families on pikes,
and displayed them
like scarecrows outside the city walls.
Perhaps, he feared their betrayal
and knew it might be his head
on the city walls if he did nothing.
Time is short, so I'll get to my point.
Vlad Ţepeş killed
many of his enemies that day,
but in doing so, created many more.
There are powerful people, like myself,
willing to support your reign
if
you kill your brother.
But if you fail,
it will be you and I
strung from the walls of Târgovişte.
That man is a snake.
Why wasn't I told about this?
Remember who you are talking to,
Prince Radu.
Luca Rares and his friends are the scum
that helped the Hungarians
kill my father and brother, Mircea.
They are not to be trusted.
The only thing I trust
is their love of money.
It exceeds even their hatred
of the House of Drăculeşti.
Make them your allies,
and Vlad will have nowhere to turn.
Their power will be your power.
I can help you take the throne,
but the boyars can help you keep it.
But first,
we must flush your brother out of hiding.
We are a five-day's march
from the capital,
and Vlad grows more desperate by the day.
My brother is at his most dangerous
when he's cornered.
That is why we must draw him out
into the open and finish him
before the Hungarians come to his aid.
How do we do that?
You.
I'm not sure I follow, Sultan.
I will pressure Vlad
by marching on Târgovişte,
while you draw him out of hiding
by taking the one thing
he loves as much as his throne.
Princess Anastasia?
- When he finds out...
- Yes.
He will be enraged,
and that will be his undoing.
Princess Anastasia is not to be harmed,
which is why it is you who must go.
Of course.
You will leave tonight under cover
of darkness with a unit of Janissaries.
Our spies say Princess Anastasia
is at Vlad's castle at Poenari.
Soon, it will be your castle.
Fourteen years earlier,
in 1448,
the Ottomans prepare to release
17-year-old Vlad Dracula
to fight for the throne in Wallachia,
leaving his younger brother's fate
hanging in the balance.
Radu?
I need your counsel.
Vlad has given me until tomorrow to decide
if I will ride with him to Wallachia
and fight for the throne.
I know I should go, but...
You fear him?
When he's angry,
he sees enemies everywhere.
What if he sees me as the enemy one day?
A rival for the throne?
Is that what you want?
The throne?
Mehmed will someday rule the world,
and Vlad, he will rule Wallachia.
There is no place for me.
When I came here,
I was just a little older than you.
A Christian princess from Serbia,
unsure of who to trust,
but I was treated with kindness
and discovered
that family takes many forms,
and that loyalty runs far deeper
than the blood
that runs through your veins.
We are your family, Radu.
Vlad will choose his own path.
Just as you must choose yours.
We think that living in a palace
with all these luxuries is just,
you know, dolce vita.
It's a... It's a sweet life,
but it wasn't the case.
These rulers found themselves,
from a very young age,
in the middle of these court intrigues.
One misstep could cost them their throne,
their lives, their freedom.
It is not an easy game to play.
As the invasion enters
its third week,
the relentless pressure of Mehmed
takes a toll on Vlad.
He's lost hundreds of men
in skirmishes with the Ottomans
and finds himself leading an army
in dire need of food
and reinforcements from Hungary.
Vlad was exhausted.
He had carried out
a scorched-earth policy against Mehmed,
and he had nowhere to rely on food
for himself either.
There was nowhere to go anymore.
He became a prisoner
of his own scorched-earth policy.
They're preparing
to head out in the morning.
We'll hit them with a small unit.
Slow them down a bit.
Remind Mehmed we're still out here.
- Prince.
- Yes?
A message from the border.
News?
Hmm.
Hungarian scouts
have been spotted in Wallachia.
Perhaps you'll be back
with Princess Anastasia
by the early winter after all.
Scouts!
Send a unit to meet them
and see if more are coming.
While the king drags his feet,
we are running out of time!
Prince, the Hungarians have
finally answered the call.
- This is what you waited for.
- A few scouts are not an army!
Today, it's target practice,
but soon those cannons will be trained
on the walls of Târgovişte.
I cannot let Mehmed take the capital.
He's taken enough from me already.
We should depart soon if we are
to make the main road by nightfall.
- Yes, Hamza Bey, have you seen my brother?
- No, Prince.
Fourteen years earlier,
young Vlad Dracula makes
final preparations to ride to Wallachia
and fight for the now vacant throne,
a position for which
the Ottomans have groomed him for years.
I came to see you off.
How kind of you.
My father has given you Hamza Bey
and some of our best soldiers.
The throne will be yours by fall.
But you have my brother,
in case things don't work out.
Radu has chosen to stay here
of his own free will.
He is the only family I have,
yet you keep him like a pet.
We are the ones
giving you soldiers to take the throne.
Prince.
We should be going.
I will send word of my progress
from Wallachia, brother Mehmed.
So Vlad is sent off to do
the big political business,
and Radu's left behind.
It's not clear whether he does this
willingly or unwillingly,
whether he remains a hostage
or he stays willingly at the court.
It may be a bit of both, that he's there
as another bit of insurance
for the Ottomans,
uh, but also, he seems to have taken
quite nicely to Ottoman court life,
and to all the attractions
and power that that brings.
Family is
the dearest gift we possess.
Loyalty is everything.
Prince Radu, we're ready.
It's a little late
to be wandering about the palace.
My apologies.
I thought Gulbahar Hatun
might want some fresh water
before she retires for the evening.
She won't be needing
anything further tonight.
Yes, milady.
400 miles away
from the imperial palace,
as the Ottomans continue their
grueling slog north towards Târgovişte...
...a growing sense of unease
hangs over Mehmed and his troops.
The Ottoman troops are constantly
being picked off by hit-and-run attacks.
And then at night,
anybody outside of the trenches
is suddenly disappearing.
This is true terror.
Mahmud Pasha,
have them cut down at once.
We'll arrive not long after sunup.
Our spies say there's only
a small unit of guards at Poenari.
No harm is to come to Princess Anastasia.
I will personally capture her.
Prince Radu,
when was the last time
you saw your brother?
Ten years ago.
I haven't seen my own brother
since I was nine.
When I was taken for the sultan's army.
But this is my family now.
We are the children of Fatih,
and we'll sacrifice everything
to bring him honor and glory.
Even my own brother.
As Mehmed's army
closes on Târgovişte...
Touch my food again,
and I will cut your hand off!
Let me go!
...tensions flare
in the Ottoman camp,
where food and water
are in increasingly short supply...
Bastard!
...and rumors of
the Hungarian army joining Vlad
grow by the day.
Sultan, you wish to see me?
Yes.
Tonight,
I saw two men
fight like dogs for a scrap of meat.
I saw an army
that was lifeless, heartless.
Primed for defeat.
Sultan, our men are tired and hungry.
Mahmud Pasha,
you were not with me at Constantinople.
No, Sultan.
Standing knee-deep in mud and blood,
and the bodies of my men
outside those towering walls for weeks,
I faced a fear and exhaustion
unlike anything I'd ever known.
The pirates...
Giustiniani...
did not indulge in
the gruesome theatrics Vlad is fond of.
But I can assure you,
he was a nightmare unto himself.
I saw that nightmare
in the faces of my men.
Every time, fewer and fewer of them
came back from fighting him in the moats.
Yet you triumphed, Sultan.
Yes.
Because my cause was righteous,
and because I had sworn an oath
that I would take Constantinople.
Just as I've sworn
to punish Vlad for his betrayal.
We lost valuable hours today,
and the Hungarian threat is real now.
We are running out of time.
Tomorrow, we begin
the final push towards Târgovişte.
Gather the men in the morning
before we depart.
I want them to know
exactly what is at stake.
Today, that terrible sun will burn
like the fires of hell upon our heads,
just like it has for the last 12 days.
I know you're thirsty and hungry,
and that we are besieged by evil
on all sides.
But fear not!
A great and cruel reckoning
is coming for our enemies!
Vlad Dracula has nowhere left to run.
He hides like a rat!
At the walls of Târgovişte,
he will taste the steel of our swords
and cower before the roar
of our mighty cannons!
We will avenge Hamza Bey!
We will avenge all of our brothers,
and sisters, and children
who we lost in this godforsaken place!
Let's go!
We will destroy the Impaler Lord
and burst open the gates of Europe!
Buda, Vienna, Roma!
The world!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Fatih! Fatih! Fatih!
Find Princess Anastasia! Find her!
Princess, go back to your room!
Leave us.
Little Radu.
I'm here to protect you.
If you come with me,
I promise you won't be harmed.
So you've come for Vlad's kingdom
and now his wife?
I never wanted any of this.
That's a lie!
This is all you've ever wanted.
You're weak. A coward!
Less than a man.
You don't deserve
to call Vlad your brother.
I tried to save Vlad.
It didn't have to end like this.
Vlad is dead?
And you will be too
if you don't leave with me now.
No harm will come to you.
I promised him.
I made a promise too.
No!
Sultan, you need to see this.
Vlad Dracula's seal.
This was discovered
in Radu's tent.
Unfortunately, we did not find the letter.
Keep this between us.
Sultan, we must do something.
I will deal with him personally.
Prince Vlad.
What is it?
The Ottomans,
they came to Poenari.
Anastasia?
She's...
She's... She's dead.
Prince...
It was... It was...
Mehmed!