WITCH - The Queen

Chapter 48

Julia

At night the desert was cold. Very cold. Warmly dressed, the group made their way through the high sand. The most beautiful stars watched over them. Julia had never seen such a starry sky before.

While she slept, she had a vision again. She saw her brother Paul selling buns to werewolves in a village in the mountains. She saw a wolf, who looked very much like Marko, approaching him. The two chatted and Julia saw Paul slip him a small piece of paper. After that, she saw her brother Fritz walking into a small secluded building with a teenager, a werewolf girl. And finally, she saw the Queen and Prince Marlon looking at a map together. Prince Marlon pointed to the steppe with a smile.

The vision worried her. Did she have to hurry?

Peter was talking to Charlotte. The two laughed and he raved about Finn's skills as a tailor. Cleo occasionally watched the sky with concern. Finn rode on Marko, who had taken on wolf form, and let Julia pet him from time to time. She and Leopold went hand in hand. Josefine and Fiete were leading their group. But the two seemed restless.

"Do you think another storm is coming?", murmured Leopold. He, too, had noticed the strange behavior of the two dragons.

"Maybe? Or something worse." Julia looked at Cleo, who was also watching the two dragons. The dragons and the sky. "I ask her..."

She let go of Leopold's hand and caught up with the two dragons, as well as she managed in the sand. Julia asked them what was wrong.

"A dragon is nearby. We can smell it", Fiete replied quietly. "But we don't know if it's a black or white one. With a bit of luck, he will ignore our group."

"Should we seek shelter somewhere?" asked Julia, looking around. All she saw was the sand and the stars.

"There is nothing where we can seek protection. Better, we go on slowly." Fiete stroked Josefine's hair as the girl growled angrily.

"I could also go find out what kind of dragon it is!", she snorted.

"No. If it's a black dragon, he'll attack you. And as I know you, you would attack a white dragon if you thought it was too close to us", Fiete objected. "We remain vigilant. That's the best we can do."

"So what?!", muttered his niece. "I feel healthy! I've been feeling good for months, but I'm not allowed to have fun?"

Julia hugged her friend. "It's good that you feel healthy."

"Oh, yes..." Fiete sighed. "I thought you two must have noticed by now..."

"What?", asked Julia, confused.

"Your magic healed Josefine. I wanted to wait until you two realized it yourself... I thought this was good for Julia's magical development. And also for yours, Fienchen. That this would strengthen your covenant. And I was worried that Julia would stop healing you unconsciously if I said something. Perhaps this was the wrong decision. I should have told you immediately."

"I'm healthy?" Josefine blinked. "Really?"

But then, they heard a loud roar, and a dark shadow came towards them. The horses ran away.

Fiete looked quickly at Julia. "Run to Finn, Leopold, and Marko! Quick!" Then he and Josefine turned into two mighty dragons. Julia rushed to her friends and called for the sand around her until a cloud of sand circled around her. Cleo also called for the sand and shielded the group with it.

A large black dragon came towards them breathing fire. Julia tried to imitate Cleo's sand wall. She managed to shield Finn, Marko, and Leopold, and together with her sister, she created a solid sand dome under which they all hid. Charlotte and Peter ran to Finn and crouched next to him and Charlotte drew her swords. Peter helped Finn off Marko's back and put him in the sand. Marko stood protectively behind him.