Chapter 130: Chapter 108

Julia

 

They reached the border in the late afternoon. The forest of the fairies ended. Instead of the wonderful trees, they came to a coniferous forest. Red ribbons had been tied around some trees. They marked the border here. A sign had been put up, on which was written in large red letters: "Here begins the centaur country." Underneath someone had painted a skull. Should the sign be a threat? Along with the red ribbons?

The forest floor was a bit drier and an icy wind drifted between the trees. A wind that did not make it into the fairy forest.

"We're here!" A restrained cheering went through the group. They had done it.

Fiete stood frowning in front of the sign. "How many of them are there? Are they to be found along the entire border? It's not very inviting..."

"Certainly a few. Or it's the only one. Who knows." Peter shrugged.

"But why here? Behind the fairy forest?", asked Fiete. "Not many cross it, right?"

"Right", Peter agreed. "That's strange. Maybe they were refugees? Who wants to keep the intruders away? But then this location still does not make sense. Is it a warning? But to whom?"

"Maybe the fairy forest is often used as an escape route." Julia stood with both of them and leaned against her brother. "Come. We want to go further. The sign scares the younger children."

The group went quite a bit further. They came along a stream. Eventually, the tall trees gave way to some dry bushes and tall grasses. A narrow path led between the bushes. On the horizon, they could see smoke rising. A sign of a village.

They wanted to go to this village to see if they could stay there.

The bushes became thinner and thinner and soon they gave way to lush green meadows. The wind was freezing. The village got closer and closer. They could now see that a high wooden wall had been built around the houses. Now and then they passed a bush or tree and a narrow stream passed them. The water was clear. Julia spotted some small fish. Then, finally, they arrived at the wall. The gate was locked. Hanno knocked on it eagerly. It took a moment for the gate to open. In front of it stood a few grim-looking guards. At least Julia thought they were guards. They wore no swords and only simple clothes. They were all humans.

"How can we help you?", said a woman who was about fifty years old. "Who are you?"

Flora and Hanno gave her their friendliest smile.

"Hello. We are refugees and we are looking for a place to stay", Flora said. "We've come a long way."

The woman frowned. "Elves, wolves, and humans? In a group? This is rare. But we have no room for more refugees. About three hours from here is a small elven settlement. Maybe you'll be lucky there. And half a day away is another settlement. Mainly humans and werewolves. There are three other settlements, but they are all further away."

"Can we at least stay overnight? We have children with us", Hanno asked now. "We're all hungry."

"No." A fierce gentleman with a long beard shook his head. "There is no space. Sorry. We don't have anything like an inn here. Not yet. But two of the larger villages have one. We can give you some bread for the way. That's all we can offer."

Julia sighed. At least these people were willing to help them a bit. Leopold put his arm around her. He, too, seemed disappointed. Julia saw many disappointed faces around her.

Two of the guards, one no older than seventeen, left and later returned with two bags full of bread. This is what they gave them. They also filled a few small jugs with water and distributed these in the group. But then they had to move on. "Try it best at the elven village. I've never heard of them sending other elves away. But they are skeptical about humans", said the seventeen-year-old before the gate was closed again.

"What a pity", Finn murmured. Josefine grudgingly agreed.

 

Lea

 

Lea hadn't been to the academy for a long time. The buildings had not changed. But the equipment did. A teacher, Mrs. Drüse, guided her through the various buildings and showed her, her new office and her new, small apartment. The furniture was new. Her mother had everything rearranged within a day. A servant, not a bonded one, and a housekeeper would take care of Lea's well-being here. Her bounded servant, Shay, had also accompanied her here. The voices of the three could be heard from one of the rooms.

"Thank you very much", she thanked the fencing teacher.

Mrs. Drüse smiled politely and bowed quickly. "Of course, Your Highness. It is an honor to welcome you here as principal. Is there any news from your sister? Princess Julia?"

"Not yet. Unfortunately. And I only stay temporarily. Maybe a few years. But certainly no longer."

"What a pity. The young princess is greatly missed by her classmates." Mrs. Drüse sighed. "I hope to be able to teach her again soon."

"Thank you. We all hope so. If you allow? It's been a long day and I want to rest a bit." Lea was more than just tired.

"Of course. I wish you a pleasant evening." Mrs. Drüse bowed again, then left Lea alone. She looked at all the rooms in peace. The walls were wallpapered with simple, light fabric wallpaper and the furniture was all made of dark wood. The servant had already unpacked Lea's bag and she saw through her door as Shay checked the furniture for dust. "Everything clean," he murmured contentedly. Lea grinned. Shay couldn't stand dust.

More luggage would be sent from Lea's estate in a few days. Lea already missed her many books.

"This is exciting!" Shay burst into her bedroom. His transparent, white dragonfly wings trembled with excitement.

Lea looked at him reproachfully. "Shay. You didn't knock again."

"I know! The door was open. But! Highness! We're at a school." He beamed with enthusiasm. "Lots of loud teenagers who only have nonsense in their heads. It's going to be fun."

"Or exhausting. Go and rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I know!" He almost jumped. Lea grinned.

Shay had been her servant for a very long time. Her servant and her best friend. He served her since she was nineteen. A birthday present from her mother. Lea's father had been terribly upset about this.  At the time, Shay was fifteen and very shy.

"Your Highness?", he said now. His enthusiasm had given way to a sorrowful expression.

"Yes?"

"Your sister brought elven children from the villages in the woods. That's true, isn't it?"

Lea nodded. She didn't like it. Her mother had overreacted to her reaction. Several villages had been destroyed... The fact that Cleo helped her grieved Lea. To tear young children from their families. She thought it terrible. And Shay obviously thought so too.

Of course, he thought so.

"I thought, couldn't you... Provide a home for one of these children?" Shay looked at her pleadingly. "I mean... I would of course take care of the child... I always wanted a family... And you would have a new servant. With you, the child would be fine. With me."

"You want to host one of the children?" She sighed. Shay had a good heart and he was very sensitive. Of course, he wanted to save the children. Or at least one. Some noble houses treated their bound servants terribly. That was a thorn in Lea's side. Bound servants had a great benefit and after the war, it had been an understandable measure... But to torment servants? Her mother did not want to have this banned. "Good. I can accommodate one or two children. We can convert the small library in this apartment into a youth room. The books are then put in the hallway."

A home for two young elves? She hadn't expected that. But it should be the right thing. But after Julia's kidnapping, Lea was no longer sure if bounding servants had been a good decision...

Shay's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really." He would be a good father. And I am happy to give two of the children a new home. They will have to learn a lot... But Shay makes proper servants out of them and I prevent them from getting into terrible households. They certainly miss their families.

Unfortunately, I can't take them all...

 

Cleo

 

"I can't believe it! She beat you!" Charlotte hugged Cleo tightly. Again. Since she had arrived at her friend's house, Charlotte had hugged her again and again. "Who beats their child, it’s horrible!"

"The Queen?" Cleo grinned sadly.

"The Queen!"

The two sat in Charlotte's old girl's room on her old bed. The walls were painted pink. It was generally all pink. Charlotte had painted the furniture pink with colorful flowers as a teenager. After all these years, however, the color had faded and the furniture looked worn.

"You need new furniture", Cleo said. "Your room will fall apart soon."

"I know! But I love this furniture!" Charlotte sighed. "I've had them repaired many times."

"It's nice that nothing has ever changed much here. It's like coming home. A journey through time." Cleo leaned against Charlotte. She remembered Lea's words. Cleo could secretly marry Charlotte. She quickly banished the thought from her mind. What had Lea been thinking?

"And you really want to look for your sister alone? Even though you could run into dragons?", asked Charlotte. "I don't like that. You just escaped the dragons. You could’ve died."

"I have to find my sister."

"I know. I would do the same. I accompany you! We go together!"

Cleo blinked in surprise. "What?"

"We are looking for them together. Julia. And Peter. I won't let you go alone! Certainly not. But what will the Queen say? If you're always on the road?"

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"I'll come up with an excuse."

"You don't want to tell her you're looking for Julia?"

"No. I can't do that. Not if my suspicion is confirmed and Julia has joined the elves. The Queen would never respond well."

"We go together."

"Gladly!" Relieved, Cleo leaned against her best friend. Together.  Lea's words came to her mind again. "My sister had a silly idea."

"Silly?" Charlotte grinned. "Tell me!"

"I don't know... She said we could get married secretly." How did she come up with that?

"Hm." Charlotte dropped her back on her bed. "I don't think the idea is silly."

"What?" Cleo looked at her best friend startled. "You don’t?"

"Why not?" Charlotte winked at her. "Then my parents can't marry me off to some old grandpa! And your mother can't... Awaymarry you."

"I'm sure that word doesn't exist." Cleo lay down next to her.

"Whatever!"

 

Julia

 

The group went in the direction in which the village guards had sent them. They had already been on the road for an hour. The group was exhausted. Julia also didn't want to have to go any further. But before they reached the village, Gisele discovered several figures approaching them. They approached them very quickly.

"What do we do?", asked Collin, putting his arm protectively around Sofia. "Who might that be?"

"We'll wait and see what they want", Julia announced, without waiting for the adults' assessment. "Maybe they're friends." At least that's what she hoped.

"They smell funny", Josefine murmured while she leaned against Julia. "Like horses and people. But also different. These are centaurs. They have horse bodies."

"Centaurs." Now Julia was nervous. She couldn't see as well as her dragon friend. Centaurs.

Faster than she would have liked, the centaurs had arrived in front of them. It was a group of teenagers. A girl with long blond hair and two boys who looked very similar. Brothers?  The three looked at the group curiously and stopped in front of Julia.

"What are you doing here?", one of the boys asked. "Do you belong to one of the settlements? In that case, you should go home quickly. A storm is coming."

He was right. Dark clouds were coming towards them, and the wind had become stronger in the last half hour.

"We don't belong to any of the settlements", Julia replied. "We've just arrived here."

"Refugees?", the girl asked.

"Yes", Julia confirmed. "We are looking for a place to stay."

In the meantime, Hanno and Flora had joined her. "We hope that one of the settlements will take us in."

The girl shook her head. "It's a long way to the next settlement. You won’t make it. You better come along with us. You can all stay with us! My name is Flordelis. And these are my friends Aurel and Kalle. Our tent village is closer than the nearest settlement."

The boy, whom Flordelis had introduced as Kalle, looked at her indignantly. "You invite them to join us?"

"Where else are they supposed to go? The storms here are dangerous!" She turned back to the group. "Come. You are safe from the storm with us. We live not far from here. By the river."

"All right", Julia agreed, turning to the others in the group. "We accompany them. Or does anyone have any objections?"

No one objected, but the adults wanted to make sure that it was really okay to stay with the centaurs. Aurel promised them that it was okay and that no one would harm them. And so they followed them to their tent village.

There was a great surprise when suddenly a group of refugees appeared, but the centaurs turned out to be reserved, but hospitable. Julia and her friends and family stayed with Aurel, where they met his little sister Amarillis. It was cramped in the tent, but it protected them from the approaching storm.

"You must have come a long way", Aurel's mother said, handing them tea. Peter stared at her horse's body in fascination. It didn't seem to bother her.

"Yes. Thank you very much for your help", Hanno thanked her. The tents were large, with several demarcated rooms. Nevertheless, it was very tight inside. Julia never thought the centaurs would be so helpful.

"We don't send anyone away who requires help", Aurel's father said when Hanno expressed his amazement. "At least not our tribe."

The next morning, after breakfast, Julia and Peter walked along the tents. The centaurs had offered to stay with them for the time being. Julia had never imagined centaurs to be so friendly. But she was relieved. They had learned from Aurel's parents, Mila and Oskar, that there were also problems between humans and centaurs, but their tribe did not think much of it. They preferred to live peacefully. She saw Finn and Marko sitting in the tall grass. The centaurs had given Marko clothes. Clothes he desperately needed. However, since they had no trousers, he now wore a very long, closed coat and underneath a long shirt that looked a bit like a dress on Marko. Peter had teased him with it.

"Juli! Peter!" Josefine came running towards her. Fiete and Leopold followed her.

"What is it?", asked Peter.

Fiete winked at him. "You wanted to see my true form. There is enough space here."

"When we leave the tent village", Josefine added. "Do you want to see it?"

"Definitely!", shouted Marko, having heard the conversation. Finn grinned.

"I think that's a bad idea", Leopold objected, but his protest was ignored. Julia grabbed his hand and smiled apologetically at him.

The group left the village, which stood close to a wide river. Plants and bushes grew abundantly here. They went down to the river, where they met Flordelis, Kalle, and Aurel.

"Do you enjoy the scenery?", asked Aurel.

"No. We will pet dragons!", replied Marko.

Fiete looked at him a bit upset. "I would have liked to keep that a secret from the centaurs!", he hissed. "We could have gone somewhere else."

Josefine grimaced. "I don't think the centaurs would overlook two dragons. We're big."

"Dragons?" Flordelis looked at her in shock.

Julia sighed. "Fiete and Josefine are dragons. Friendly dragons."

"Well then", Kalle murmured sarcastically. "In that case everything is wonderful."

"Do you think there will be problems?", asked Fiete.

Flordelis shook her head. "No. I don't think so. My parents said that they feel dragon magic nearby. I think they know it already. The older ones will all have noticed it by now. But we don't attack anyone who doesn't attack us. This also applies to dragons."

"Dragons are dangerous!", muttered Kalle. "I don't like it! And I'm certainly not the only one."

"The adults will certainly discuss it, but if it were a problem, they would have sent the dragons away yesterday." Aurel put his arm around Kalle. "And they didn't."

"Well, then!" Josefine clapped her hands and pulled her uncle away from the group. "Are you ready for two dragons?", she asked with a grin.

"Ready!", announced Peter.

And they transformed. It was a spectacular sight. The air seemed to shimmer around them and then the two people were gone. Instead, in front of them stood a white dragon with a little orange and a mainly black dragon with white and orange feathers and a few orange scales. Of course, Julia had already seen the dragons in their true form. But this time it was different. She was not in an extreme situation, and she was not afraid.

"Wow", Finn murmured, reaching for Marko's hand.

Peter just stared at the two dragons with wide eyes. Just like the three centaurs.

But Julia was more courageous. She walked towards Josef and Fiete until she stood in front of them. Josef was slightly smaller than Fiete and yet the two dragons were huge. An impressive sight. Their scales shimmered in the sunlight and the feathers of their wings seemed soft. Josef tilted his head towards Julia, and she stroked his head. The dark scales were cool, but they felt like velvet. In the meantime, Leopold and Peter had come to her. Leopold wrapped his arms around Julia. "That's something different", he said reverently. Josef nudged them with his big nose.

"Definitely", Julia agreed, wrapping her arms around Josef's big head. Josef closed his eyes in satisfaction. Fiete snorted and lay down on the floor.

Peter went to him. "Hi", he said. "You're pretty tall. May I pet you?"

The dragon replied with a wink and let out a snorting laugh. At least it sounded like a laugh. Fiete tilted his head and let Peter pet him.

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