The Bloody Rocks – that’s how people called the rocks at the foot of the Vrattsata Pass. All this happened in the last days, before the fall of the medieval city of Vratitsa under Ottoman rule. Radan Voivod and his army were the last defenders of the fortress of Vratitsa. They defended the freedom of the people of Vratitsa with their latest forces and without ammunition, while the invaders were becoming more and more aggressive. Radan stared at the black clouds that covered the sky and his heart tightened with sadness. Another thought that broke his heart – he was gone and left his only daughter at home – Elitsa. She has been without a mother since birth. He raised her with the help of one of his sisters. It was the light and joy of his life. And now that she’s grown up, she’s become a wonderful girl. The whole town admired her, not only for her beauty, but also for her kindness and good hands. The end of the Bulgarian kingdom had arrived – the voivode already knew this – the Turkish scimitar was cutting and the shabbiest roots of his century-old tree. If Vratitsa fell, there was no one to stop the enslavement. And they will continue to defile their country, to burn and to destroy, to slaughter and to hang. And no one will be spared, young or old. And then he understood, with both the mind and the heart, that he had nothing more to do but seek salvation in death. Radan pulled the sword from the sheath, squeezing Elitsa’s trembling hand and led it quickly through the back yard to the rock that rose near the wall of the fortress. They climbed the cliff for the last time to look at their town from above, to say goodbye to everything they loved and then they could seek salvation. First for Elitsa and then for him. They decided to die as free Bulgarians, in the name of their righteous faith …
“The Bloody rock” – tha’s how people called the rock at the foot of the Vratsata Pass, which absorbed the blood of their last protector Radan Voivode and his daughter Elitsa in those troubled years.