Julia

  It got stormy iernoon. They all sat together in the living room, for which they had to carry the kit chairs over, and drahe wind whistled past the windows. Hanno and Leopold were ba the meantime. Hanno didn't stop pining about the cold weather.

  "What did you expect? It's almost winter. At some point the cold had to e", Flora reminded him amusedly.

  "We still have pumpkins in the garden! Almost all the leaves are still orees! I'm ionally attuo winter!", her husband grumbled. "It was terribly cold in the shop! And no er came. None! Nobody! Instead, the elder has pced even more elves as guards around the vilge. Armed with shovels and hooks. As if that would make a difference."

  "At least he seems to believe me. Or Ilse..." Julia sighed. "You should pack your things. We have to get out of here. As soon as possible. I don't want to wait for the soldiers... Even if I don't want to leave anyone behind... But we 't foryone."

  "Tonight? It's st. We 't leave now." Flora shook her head.

  "There will be a thuorm, the air smells of it", Fiete added. "Josefine and I will therefore leave tomorrow m. It would be wise to wait for the night."

  "We're leaving?" Josefine looked at her uncle sadly. "'t we stay here?"

  Her uncle shook his head. "That's too dangerous."

  Someone knocked on the door. Hanno got up to see who it was. The worry was written on his face. Soon after, angry voices could be heard again, Hanno scolded, something rumbled and three elves came into the living room. The three looked angrily at the group. "Is that the princess?", one of them asked. "The elder demands that we lock her ie room."

  "You certainly won't!" Hanno now stood at the living room door and blocked their way. "I forbid it."

  Josefiurned pale and moved close to her uhe elder dragon watched the events with i and stroked his niece's hair reassuringly.

  "You forbid it?", the strange elf ughed. "You're not in charge here! Instead of sitting here drinking tea, you and your son should stand out there with us defending our vilge, soldiers will e! We will threaten to kill the princess if they don't leave." The other two elves approached Julia. Their eyes were sinister. Leopold and Marko immediately stood in front of her.

  "Then you believe the princess? In that case, you should go home and pack your things. We 't win this battle." Hanno snorted. "And now out with you. You will leave the girl here. Get out!"

  Fiete had also stood up. His eyes glowed menagly and the air around him crackled. The three elves became restless. “I think you know your way to the door?", he asked. Josefine looked past him and growled. A deep, loud growl in which you could see her sharp teeth. They were slightly remi of shark teeth.

  As if they felt that they were not allowed to mess with the two, the three took a step back. Josefine's growl sounded dht annoyed. Her uncle pushed himself in front of her, but he didn't take his eyes off the elves.

  "We'll tell the eldest about your resistance!", murmured one of them, moving further away from the twons. The crag in the air increased. With pale faces, they finally hurried away. Fiete snorted.

  "What was that?" Peter looked at the dragon in amazement. "That was scary."

  Fiete smiled. "A little dragon trick. We are surrounded by our own magic. Wheake on a different form, we automatically hide ic. But we let others feel it if we want to."

  "Dragons have magic?" Ied, Peter sat cross-legged on the sofa. "Like witches and wizards?"

  Josefine giggled. "No. I'm not a witch! And my uncle is not a magi! We are dragons! What did you our ging of shapes is? It's magic. Dragon magic. If we want, we even speak normally in dragon form."

  "What?" Marko blinked irritated. He was now sittio Finn again, who yawiredly.

  Fiete sighed. "We dragons verse with the help of magic. If we want it, we also speak yuage in dragon form. You ot hear or uand our own nguage. It is a mixture of sounds and telepathy. We send each other pictures or memories, not words. But... About the men... They want to lock up a princess?" He looked at Julia. She couldn't interpret the way he looked at her. "You're a princess? Little one?"

  Julia nodded. "My aer's mother is the queen, yes. We were kidnapped. And now we are trying to save this vilge. Unsuccessful as it seems to me because nobody wants to listen."

  "Have you already turo all the elves?", asked Fiete.

  Julia shook her head. "They want to lock me up. I hardly go out the door. And I 't do anything from a ste room."

  "But you have magic!" Josefine snorted. "Don't let them lock you up!"

  Julia shook her head. "I don't have enough magic or enough experience for that. An elf wao help vihe others. I hope she do it."

  "Then someone was listening!" Fiete wi her. "Where do you want to go?"

  "Somewhere?" Finn chewed on his lower lip. "Some wolves are trying to flee into the marshnd..."

  "No. That's not possible", Peter quickly tradicted. "Our half-brother will soon marry the princess of the vampires. Presumably, they will then help send refugees back here. Or worse. We 't go into the marshnd. So far, the soldiers could not just go there, the vampires would have sidered this as a decration of war and Mom ’t afford another war at the moment. She already has enough to do with the uprisings and the refugees. But now that Torsten is marrying a vampire, that should ge quickly."

  "There are Kelpies, too!" Josefine grinned. "They live in the river. I saw one once... It looked beautiful!... But it would eat you... So that would be a bad idea."

  "The steppe!", said Julia. "We are fleeing to the steppe."

  "To the taurs?" Flora looked at her in disbelief. "The nd there is barren."

  "It doesn't matter." Julia sighed. "Or would you rather go to the fairy forests?"

  "That would be stupid!" Hanno scratched his head. "These forests are dangerous. There are not only fairies but also mermaids. They get into your head and lure you into the water. They are just as dangerous as Kelpies! We should not fet the will-o’-the-wisp either. They take hikers off the trail. No. We better avoid the fairy forests. So, the steppe?"

  Julia nodded. "The steppe!" A loud thunder was heard and they could see through the window how a burning tree fell on a small shed. The heavy rain quickly extinguished the fire, but even more lightning fshed in the sky.

  "We should start pag!" Flora stood up and looked at her husband and son invitingly. "Paly the bare ies!"

  " we help?", asked Julia, but Flora shook her head.

  The three elves left the living room.

  Josefine looked at Julia with wide eyes. "What's it like to be a princess?"

  "Exhausting!", said Julia.

  "Exhausting? But didn't you have everything you wanted?" Josefine frowned. "Were you able to order people around?"

  Now Julia had to ugh. "I had a lot, yes. But I certainly didn't order anyone around!"

  That night, no one came to demand Julia. The storm was to. No one dared to go outside their front door.

  Torsten

  He sat with his father and his new family in the vampires' dining room. The table was richly set with fn food, which Torsten did not know. Everything tasted wonderful. King Friedrich talked to Torsten's future parents-in-w. Torsten didn't listen to them. He was much more ied in Prince Marlon. The heir to the throne. Although not officially, as Annamarie had told him. Queen Franka and King Heinrich had not yet appointed either of their two childreo the throne. However, the nobles of the kingdom assumed that Marlon would i the throne. After all, he was the firstborn.

  The Vampire Prince hardly ate anything. He actually seemed to sulk.

  "I heard you're joining the military soon", Torsten turo him, struggling not to smile mischievously. "I'm sure you're excited."

  Marlon wrinkled his nose. "Excited? I learo handle a sword. Why should I be excited? I'm sure I'll be in and quickly! After all, I am the prince."

  Annemarie giggled. "Or you'll stay a foot soldier!"

  Marlon looked at his sister venomously.

  Amused, Torsten took some puree. Potato aroot? He wasn't sure. "Did you want to join the military? After all, Annemarie is now part of the cil." This will certainly annoy you.

  "Excuse me?" Caught off guard, Marlon dropped his fork. It nded king on his pte, spshing sau his fine shirt.

  "Did you want to join the military?", Torsteed his question.

  Marlon looked at his sister. "You are now part of the cil? Since when?"

  Annemarie smiled at him sweetly. "Not for long. Didn't Mother tell you about it? After all, I knew you were going to join the military."

  "Obviously, you didn't tell me that either." Meanwhile, Marlon tried unsuccessfully to wipe the sauce off his shirt. "Why do you have a seat on the cil? And that now!"

  "Oh. I'm still learning. As soon as Torsten is familiar with our ws and traditions, Mother will probably bring him into the cil too."

  This seemed to annoy the prince even more. He looked at his mother, who did not notice his angry look.

  "So you wao join the cil?", Torsten cluded with relish. So being part of the cil is more advantageous than joining the military. Have the Queen and the King decided to appoint Annemarie as heir to the throhat would be wonderful! He looked at his fiancée. Annemarie was drinking from a golden cup. Blood. Probably. Her drink smelled a bit like iron. But not necessarily human blood. At mealtimes, she also drank animal blood from time to time. Unlike her parents, who rarely resorted to preserved blood. Vampires could store blood in cy jars and keep it fresh, but Torsten didn't know how. Annemarie licked her lips. She would be a good queen.

  What Torsten already knew about the Queen and the King was that they shared the tasks. King Heinrich was mainly responsible for the military, while his wife ahe cil, which was the heart of the try. The cil took the most important decisions when it came to ws and other things. Of course, the cil could not decide anything without the sent of the Queen, or the King, when it came to the military. Queen Agathe, oher hand, distributed tasks within her family, who then acted on her behalf, but she always had the st word. Her husband, King Friedrich, had no deaking power of his own. He could a her behalf, and he could express his opinion, but he was led to more.

  If Annemarie became queen, this meant that Torsten, unlike his father, would reign at her side. This thought warmed his heart. Except Annemarie's parents rule until her death. Then I will probably never sit ohron... But Annemarie is vihat we will rule together. Are they sidering abdig?

  Annemarie looked at him curiously. "Why are you smiling?"

  "Because you're perfect!", he replied. Yes. She erfeot only her figure, no, but also what she brought with her.

  Annemarie blushed. "Really?"

  "The most beautiful woman I've ever seen!"

  Marlon rolled his eyes and took a rge sip from his golden cup.