Chapter 150: Book 2 Chapter 15

 

Leopold

 

The next morning the first tribe reached the tent village. How did they know? Now, while Marko was still asleep and Finn was too tired to think clearly, Pepe ran into their tent. "There are more horse people! And they carry weapons! That's so cool! They're setting up their tents!"

They sat at the breakfast table, Julia had fallen asleep again on Leopold’s shoulder and looked at him irritated. "Good morning, Pepe", Hanno finally said.

"Good morning!" Pepe looked at the breakfast table and grinned. "And bon appétit!"

"Thank you, Pepe." Flora yawned. "Where is your father? And why don't you ask if you can come in beforehand?"

"Here!" Liam came into the tent and gave his son a stern look. "Pepe? You can't just walk in other people's tents!"

"But the horse people!", protested the boy. "This is so cool! Have you seen their weapons?"

"Centaurs," Liam corrected immediately, then looked at Leopold and the others. "Excuse me. We will leave now. Enjoy your meal." He lovingly pulled his son out of the tent.

"What’s going on?", Julia rubbed her eyes.

"The centaurs are here," her brother replied. "We don't know how many yet."

Fiete yawned and rested his head on Peter's lap, who immediately proceeded to run his fingers through Fiete's hair. Josefine grinned, although she now had less space, as her uncle stretched out tiredly. Now Marko shuffled to the breakfast table. He frowned, as there was little space thanks to Fiete, and then sat down next to Finn. The two did not speak a word to each other.

Soon after, the centaurs at the tent village became restless. It sounded as if the centaurs were arguing. They, therefore, stayed in the tent for the time being and played cards at the table. Leopold was convinced that Finn, Peter, and Fiete were cheating, but he could not prove it. The fact that Finn played along surprised everyone, as the werewolf did not like card games.

"What is all that arguing about?" Julia leaned against Leopold and he tried to hide his cards from her.

"About us?", thought Flora. "But I hope not. Maybe they are just arguing about the best places for the other tents. Will the village of centaurs soon look like a big city? With all the tribes?"

"Probably", Peter murmured.

"Can we come in?" That was Gisele's voice.

"Of course!", cried Hanno. Gisele, Lavinia, and Maleen, as well as came inside.

"Are you playing cards?", asked Maleen. "Can I play? I like to win."

Her sister sighed. "And you're a bad loser!"

Maleen stuck out her tongue. "Well, I want to win, not lose!"

Lavinia ruffled her hair, then they all sat down and Flora collected the playing cards. Now that they had visitors, the game round was over.

"So many centaurs. It's scary!" Gisele sighed. "We didn't want to be alone."

"And the game!", protested Maleen. "I want to win!" Her sister whispered something to her with a serious face. Probably that the game was no longer played.

"Of course, you're welcome!", said Flora immediately, then her eyes wandered to Sofia. "How are you? Now that Collin is gone?"

Gone was a nice paraphrase. He had left Sofia for an elf from the elf village, whom he met there when he and Sofia visited the village together.

"Oh. It's alright!" Sofia sighed. "With us, it wouldn’t have worked. He desperately wanted children, but I don't want any. And when he realized that I wouldn't change my mind, he just looked for another one."

Peter grimaced and gave Fiete a glimpse that the dragon didn't notice.

"That's a real shame." Leopold looked at his childhood friend and then at Julia, who listened to the conversation with interest. He had done everything he could for the past nearly three years to make up for his mistake, but Julia was often plagued by nightmares.  No matter how much he loved her, there was nothing he could do about her dreams. That night, she had another one. He heard her wailing in her sleep and crept into her room when she had just woken up from the dream. He had comforted her, but Julia could no longer fall asleep.

 

Fritz

You are reading story WITCH – The Revolt at novel35.com

 

"Can we spend a few days at the sea this fall?" Paula looked out the window of the salon. "Just for a few days. Away from everything."

The children were asleep and a nanny looked after them. Nannies were truly a blessing, but Fritz still tried to spend as much time as possible with his children. He felt sorry to leave Paula alone so often. Well, along with the nannies who did most of the work.

"You want to go to the sea? I don’t know. There is so much to do. The hospitals and... Hany asked me to deliver a message."

"A message? Hopefully nothing risky?"

"I don't know the exact content of the letter. It is probably about plans to infiltrate our people into the universities in order to find allies among the students. I'll be on the road for a few days."

"Again?" Paula sighed. "You're gone too much, Fritz."

He put his arms around her and kissed her neck. "I know. But after this, we will go to the sea."

"Good." Paula nodded.

There was a knock at the door and one of her servants came in. Not a bound one. Fritz had no slaves.

And that out of conviction.

"Two letters have arrived!", said the servant quietly. He carried these letters on a tray. Paula took them to her.

"Thank you" With a smile, she sent the servant away, then opened the first letter. "Oh! It looks like Moritz will be visiting us tomorrow."

"Paula?" Fritz shook his head. "Are you reading my letter right now?"

"What?" She looked at him with innocent doe eyes. "Never, never, never would I do that!" Then she opened the second letter and took out a sheet of fine paper. The queen wrote her letters on this paper. As Paula read the letter, her gaze became more and more serious. "What!?", she finally snorted and handed Fritz his letter. The letter was from the Queen, and he did not like the content of the short letter either.

"She found out about the children!" Paula let herself fall on the sofa. "Good. She only heard rumors, but still! This is a disaster. She wants an explanation!"

"The second part of the letter is not much better..."

"I haven't read that far. The first part is bad enough! What does she write?"

"She wants me to visit the big slave market in Moosstadt. The market celebrates its bicentenary. Before that, there were only small markets, as you know..."  Fritz put the letter on the table and sat down next to his wife. "She wants me to go in her place and congratulate the owner. The whole thing will be a gala with dinner. She also writes that I will probably be given a slave. As a thank you for my appearance. And she wants me to accept the gift. Anything else would be rude and would make her look bad."

Paula had turned pale. "What? But you have no Bound Servants! Just like Cleo."

"And in her opinion, this is not a good, royal status symbol." He ruffled his hair. "For my twentieth birthday, she gave me a werewolf. Cleo got one for her nineteenth birthday. Cleo's servant died twenty years ago and mine became terminally ill and died after ten years of work. After that, I refused to let a werewolf or an elf get tied to me. It was a terrible birthday present. Even if I didn't see it that way at the time. I mourned the loss of a friend."

"And if you don't want a bound servant?" Paula crossed her arms. "I don't want one!"

"Me neither. But I'm afraid I can't refuse... The queen is already upset about the rumors. I don't want to upset them anymore. Because of our children!"

Paula nodded.

 

Cleo

 

Her mother had sent her a letter. Cleo was expected to attend a council meeting. A Council meeting in the absence of Her Highness. This got in the way of Cleo's plans. She and Charlotte had to postpone their journey to the steppe.

The Queen wrote that a dragon regularly attacked border guards and that they should discuss solutions to the problem. The meeting was a top priority.

Dragons.

So they were still there.