WITCH - The Queen

Chapter 73

Agathe

A narrow path led to the royal tombs. Just wide enough for a small carriage to pass it. Rose bushes adorned the path. A few white flowers braved the cold between the yellow leaves.

She was not yet allowed to go to Friedrichs's grave, and Agathe had no reason to visit it. No. She was on her way to her first husband's grave. The father of Fritz, Cleo, and Lea. No one would dare to stop her from this visit, even if she inevitably passed by Friedrichs's grave. The path led past magnificent tombstones and mausoleums to the largest mausoleum. King Friedrich rested in it.

Agathe had it built many years ago when she won the war. Friedrich rested in the memorial to her parents, for whom she had the mausoleum built. But Friedrichs's body was the only one in the grave, as her parents' bodies had been lost in the war. Her parents lay in mass graves. A plaque in the middle of the mausoleum commemorated their loss.

Agathe walked past the stone walls of the building, to a gold-decorated plate, on the wall of the building. At every sunrise, the ornaments would sparkle. This was the grave of her beloved. At the time he died, she couldn't stand the thought that he should lie in a dark mausoleum. Therefore, the grave was built into the wall. So that the dead man was greeted by the first rays of sunshine every day. Here, his body had it bright and beautiful.

Agathe stroked the ornaments and sighed. "Are you disappointed, Mirko?", she asked. "Would you be proud of me? I protected the kingdom as best I could. And I'm going to enlarge it. I wish you could see it then. My kingdom! But... I promised you to protect our children from another war. I couldn't keep the promise. I'm sorry."

She rested her forehead against the cool stone and wiped a tear from her face. "There will be war again. I saw it coming. And I will win it. I do what is necessary. Two of my children have disappeared. My little Julia. My little girl. I can't find her. And Peter. Maybe you would have been a better parent to him than I and Friedrich ever were. I never understood the boy. I gave him everything a young prince could wish for. And yet he was a disappointment. And I was probably a disappointment to him. For my stupid boy."

Agathe waited in vain for an answer. Of course. The dead do not speak. But whenever she came here, she waited for her sweetheart to come to her and tell her it was all just a bad dream. That he hadn't died. That they were still happy.

He would never come to her.

"Mirko? Our three children are acting up. Cleo eloped with her best friend and disappeared some time ago. I can't find her either. Fritz has married a mortal, a commoner at that, and Lea generally refuses to marry. But I only want the best for them. And this is what strengthens my kingdom. Me. It is their duty. But they resist. You've always had better access to them. I wish you could bring them to their senses. I want them to be happy, yes. But we all have sacrifices to make, and duties to fulfill. I need you by my side."

Lazily, she turned away from the grave and sat down on the damp grass. That her expensive clothes would get stains did not matter to her. She looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were gathering. The air smelled of rain.

Agathe closed her eyes and focused on the past. She wanted to see Mirko. And if it were just pictures. She let the magic work until the first images of a vision found their way to her:

It's evening. Her father sits at the kitchen table and laughs at a joke Agathe told him. Her mother knits a warm red wool hat for Agathe. Through the window, she can see high snow. They are snowed in. Little Fritz takes his first step on shaky legs. Agathe whirls him proudly through the air. Mirko sits by the fireplace and smiles. Mirko plays with Fritz. The little boy holds on to his father's trouser leg and lets himself be pulled across the floor. Mirko kisses her. Mirko, who says 'I do'.

The pictures moved on.

Julia stands in front of a small window and looks into a dark forest. Peter is standing next to her. Julia, Peter, and two of their servants are sitting on a simple bed in an unknown room. A small village in the elven forest. Cleo rides towards the village with her shadows. A sea of flames. Cleo calls for Julia. Peter is hit by an arrow. Julia pulls him to his feet. Her daughter is crying. Lea strokes the hair of a young, blonde elf. Fritz kisses a little girl with dark skin. Paul is standing in a bakery. Wolves bare their teeth. Harpies fly over the castle. Julia talks to a girl at the academy. The two laugh together.

Agathe opened her eyes. Only now did she notice the heavy rain shower that was soaking her clothes. Thick drops rolled down her forehead. Snorting, she brushed a few wet strands of hair from her face. The girl from her vision knew her face. That was Marie. The girl from the military school. So, she and Julia were friends? That was good. Even if the girl was somewhat distant, this could only mean that she was a supporter of the royal family.

Peter... An arrow. Did he die?

Her little boy was killed by the arrow of her own soldiers. What an irony. The queen grinned. That's what the stupid boy gets out of going against me.

Hot tears ran down her cheeks and mixed with the raindrops. Her little boy, her Peter, was dead. She had lost her child. Agathe felt a stinging sensation in her heart. The loss hurt more than she had expected. What would she do to hold her son to herself? The stupid boy who couldn't be tamed. But Julia. She had survived! Right?

But where was she?

Was she still being held captive?

Or was she hiding?

Why don't you come home, child? Who is stopping you? Who threatens you? Don't worry, my darling. I find you, and then we conquer the world!

Resolutely, she wiped the tears from her face. Soldiers would scour the country for her daughter. Again. Somewhere was her little girl!

And Fritz... So, he had a child after all. Agathe snorted. She would take care of that later. She currently had other priorities than an unwanted kid.

(c: sasi)