Chapter Thirteen
The Brank
This particular device was an heirloom in Vlad’s Bulgarian family and had been worn by his mother after she was discovered to be the source of substantial losses among the castle’s servants and visiting guests. Unwilling to follow her husband’s strict orders to keep her fangs out of other people’s necks, the mask/brank was engineered by the village blacksmith and forcibly installed on the Queen, despite her vigorous objections and numerous bites on the husky servant guards who were charged with the fitting.
One reason the brank was so ponderous, (other than its weight), was the mouthpiece that included a large brass ring that distended the wearer’s jaws and a steel and rubber probe which held the tongue pressed into the lower jaw and, when locked in place, fil
