"I like to hunt alone once in a while. I don't always need the pack. And I like this part of the forest very much.“
Sven accompanied me all the way home. He seemed to like the fact that I was a werewolf too. All the time he spoke of nothing else and very often he touched my hand. I didn't care for anything else. Sven was a very good friend and always would be. In the twilight, we reached the castle, one of the facades of which was still sleeping in the dark and the other was slowly awakened by daylight, and I climbed up the facade to my balcony, as usual, with the newly won member of my pack breathing soft farewells after me. Nevertheless, I also felt a touch of tiredness and let myself glide gently onto my rest camp. About two o'clock noon I went to the witches‘ village, to Emily's house to be precise. What she taught me now was only fine work, but it was hard for me to follow her words attentively. Again and again her picture disappeared and was replaced by last night. Her clearing her throat and her haunting look smashed me back into the here and now.
"What's the matter with you? Am I boring you?"
"Sorry, I was distracted for a moment. It's probably the bad sleep from last night.“
"And too short, as it seems to me“, her gaze became even more penetrating now, she bent down, came very close to me, as if she wanted to confront me, „have you been on the road last night? Have you taken a little walk in the moonlight, like a werewolf always does?"
WHAT? What was that like? Did she really say it? I mean, how the hell did she know? Her words gave me a dull blow in the pit of my stomach, frightened, I retreated. And the chair I was sitting on fell over. Fear crawled up my neck, mixed with anger. Was she spying on me? Wasn't she really so nice and had pretended to extradite me now? I saw myself in front of the Council, how they came upon me and condemned me.
"How can you know that? No one should know about this. If you want to betray me, go ahead, but then all your efforts were in vain.“
"Take it easy, my child. I won't tell anyone, I never intended to. How long have we known each other now? You should know you can trust me. And how do I know? Well, I helped bring you into the world, I knew it from the beginning. I just kept it to myself. I know no one should know, especially not your father. But I'm sure some people already know about it, don’t they?"
I got hot and cold at the same time. Was there something this woman didn't know?
"Yes, a few know about it. Tim, Frederick and Sebastian, as well as Sven and Crux, have been briefed.“
"You can trust them, none of them will betray you, and neither will I. We take your secret and keep it as a great treasure guarded in both our hearts, okay?"
I nodded. Emily's loyalty meant a lot to me. And while we shook hands and looked at each other for confirmation, I was uncomfortable for a short moment. I couldn't get rid of the feeling that she was responsible for the awakening of the werewolf in me. But it couldn't be. Not at all.
A new Council member
My life was wonderful. I had a small but fine pack who absolutely covered me and accepted me as their leader. Whenever I felt like it, I went to Crux, got on his back and we flew away. Or I spent time with the boys. We ran a race, climbed trees, went to the people in the city in the evening, visited a tavern, drank wine and went home again. In the city they already knew us and always gave us a warm welcome. No one knew what we were hiding, no one suspected anything at all. I spent many hours with Sven. We both loved hiking in the local woods and explored new places together. So was a wonderful waterfall that took your breath away. Sven was a gifted rider, which is why we rode with our stallions dozens of times. It was May and unusually warm, so we decided to move the horses. We had a lively conversation in the stable, when my father surprisingly joined us.
"Greetings, both of you. I see you're saddling the horses, probably for a ride.“
"There’s no harm on such a glorious day.“
"My jewel, can I have a word with you?", he asked me to stand aside.
"What is it, Father?"
„I have good news for you. I have suggested to the members of the Council that you be accepted into the Council as the thirteenth person and they have agreed. Congratulations, well, what do you think?"
His big grin told me to keep my mouth shut and cooperate. But the rebellious voice inside me screamed and protested.
"What do I think? I'm horrified, what's all this nonsense? Why didn't you at least ask me first?"
"There was nothing to ask. You're perfectly suited for this job. Every time I talked to you about politics, you more than exceeded my expectations. You're a politician and I'm sure you'll do a lot of good for this country now that you're a member.“
"Father, the Council has always consisted of only twelve members, a thirteenth person was never intended.“
"This isn‘t a matter of concern, things change. Look, there's a meeting tonight, we're expecting you, so be on time.“
Father turned his back on me and said no more words. There would have been no point in discussing this further. The rebel in me was silenced by father before it could have talked him out of it again. Me, suitable for this post? And all the Council members agreed with my admission? I couldn't believe that.
"Fuckin' hell. It'll ruin my whole day.“
Sven's empathy remained within strong limits. I didn't even get a pitiful smile, he just concentrated on his horse.
"Why are you so upset? You should be honored. After all, none of us heirs are in the Council, only you made it, even though you have an older brother.“
"No, it's just not right to take me by surprise like that. My life had run smoothly so far, I had had no obligations whatsoever. And now I'll probably be the new clerk in the Council. Do you know what that means? I may perform the lowly services.“
I was in a bad mood, leaning against the door of Lucifer's shack. His big, dark head pressed against me from behind. At least he understood me.
"Lis, I know this is dragging you down, but give it a chance. Your father's right, so you can do good. And you'll master that little commitment. Even my father makes it to the meetings and that means something.“
He rode off, left me gloomy. The pros and cons now ruled my emotional world. On the one hand I was terribly angry at the fact that father, behind my back, decided such things, but on the other hand it flattered me that he placed such trust in me. After all, the Council was about important things, so it couldn't harm to be there myself. And there was something else. Claus. If I was on the Council, I could keep a better eye on him. Yes, it was time to make politics, it was time to give something back to this country. At dusk, I went to the Council Hall. This stone building was located in the forest, about the same distance from each of the clans. The inner hall was sparse and only spartanly furnished. Four stone thrones served as seating and were set into the walls on both sides. My father, Stephan, Claus, Emily and now me were sitting at the front, at a half round wooden table. The middle of the room was filled with emptiness. It served only one purpose: whoever had something special to say, or whoever might have been judged, stood in the midst of this emptiness, could be heard, or heard to be judged. Most of the Council members were already there and the rest were on their way. Father gave me a short nod of the head to show his appreciation. Emily patted me on my back.
"Your first time, take it easy. It's not that bad.“
"Well, we'll see what the evening brings.“
I took an all-round look, looked who was present. The Circle of Witches provided Emily, Claus, Mathilde and Wilbert. I didn't have to mention that I didn't like Mathilde. Especially her eye disgusted me, even though it was a powerful weapon for her. But every now and then a hideous juice dripped from this eye, which is why Mathilde always carried a handkerchief in her skirt pocket. Once I stood too close to her, which fortunately wasn‘t often the case, the smell of this discharge crept out of her eye into my nasal cavities. A terrible stench, as if a dead animal was somewhere in the blazing hot