WITCH - The Queen

Chapter 3

Julia

"How about you stop bickering and help us bring the food into the tent? It started to rain!" Hanno came in and shooed them behind the tent. It was raining softly.

They quickly brought everything into the tent and made themselves comfortable on the ground. They did not have any large furniture, as they moved along the river with the centaurs. They had pillows, blankets, a flat wooden table... Things that could be quickly loaded onto a big cart when the centaurs moved on. The cart was next to the tent.

Julia's new family gathered in the tent. Flora and Hanno flirted during the meal. Leopold watched them amused and kissed Julia's cheek. Finn was lost in thought and didn't notice Marko stealing the food from his plate. There was a herb salad and braised mushrooms.

"Tomorrow is the competition of manipulation of the centaurs, right?", asked Peter. "The last two years of this competition have been quite turbulent. I'm a little worried about our tents."

"They will certainly pay better attention and not tear down a tent like last year." Flora laughed softly. "Although it was funny when Finja's tent was knocked down last year."

Finja was the tribal elder among the centaurs. She was three hundred and sixty years old. A proud age for centaurs, as they had a life expectancy of four hundred years.

"She was terribly angry and both centaurs had to apologize. The one who tore down the tent and the one who made him do it." Hanno grinned. " Dandelion and Lars. And then kids knocked down one of the tents while playing. But I don't think our tents are in danger. We're too far away from the spectacle for that." Dandelion was Flordeli's father and Lars was Kalle's father. Kalle, however, resembled Oskar more. Aurel's father. It was rumored in the tribe that Kalle's mother Ernestine had an affair with Oskar. However, both disagreed.

Josefine sighed. "I would like to see the competition."

"We can decide tomorrow whether to go or not", Peter murmured. "Last year I was almost run over by several centaurs. I would like to do without that this year."

"I think they expect our presence", Leopold replied. "After all, we are their guests."

"I don't know..." Julia sighed. "They don't let Josefine and Fiete watch, because some of the centaurs are afraid of them."

"I don't mind, sweety." Fiete winked at her.

"Hanno and I could go alone. And you have a nice day", Flora suggested. "But we don't have to decide that now."

The centaurs did not allow the dragons to attend their competition or to approach their tents without invitation. They were very careful, but they tolerated the large reptiles, as they had promised not to endanger the tent village and its inhabitants.

Julia leaned against Leopold and looked at the two dragons. Josefine snorted angrily and Fiete looked at Peter with a gentle smile.

Lea

Lea sorted the registrations of the new students. This year there would only be one new class, as only ten young witches and wizards had registered. It was a very small group. A disturbingly small group.

Storms had damaged the roofs of the academy, which is why the school started classes later than usual this year. The buildings had to be repaired and renovated first. Without this delay, only eight students would have registered, as the magic of two had only shown itself a few days ago.

"Is everything alright?", asked Shay. "You look worried."

"Last year we had thirty new students. But this year only ten will come. That's not much. And none of our new students come from a noble family. They are the children of farmers, traders... The common people."