Louise

  "We were very lenient with you." Albert paced up and down in front of Louise. "Maybe we were too lenient?"

  Louise knelt on the cool stone floor and pressed her forehead against the stone while the elders deliberated on her case. It was a humiliating pose into which she had been forced. The elders, except Albert, sat around her. Some mumbled something, but Louise didn't understand a word. So far, she had not been allowed to speak.

  "After Remy's foolish betrayal, we must not allow disobedience!" hissed Asen. "As one of the elders, I demand punishment!" Fidan and Cosimo nodded, but Louise couldn't see that. She saw only the cool stone. Her hands trembled.

  The original meeting room of the council had fallen victim to the fire. Therefore, they sat in one of the meditation and prayer rooms of the priests. Rooms that Louise had only entered once before. Once to pray for her brother and for the deliverance from a curse. The gods did not answer her prayer. Her brother remained cursed. With a curse that never existed. A pure fantasy of the Wise. Misconception.

  Louise never meditated, unlike the other priests. She couldn't concentrate long enough for that. It was said that meditation paved the way to the Gods of the Sand and allowed magic to continue to grow. Louise had too little magic for it to do her any good, and to let her magic grow. Not much would happen. And although Nanette meditated diligently, her magic did not grow.

  "What punishment, brother?" asked another Wise Men. Louise wanted to look up, but she didn't dare. Behind her stood one of the guards, ready to push her down should she lift her head. Or worse. She felt sick at the thought.

  "The gallows!" growled Asen. An ice-cold shiver crept down Louise's spine.

  "No!" Albert snorted. "Every priestess was chosen by the gods for her office. Just like every priest and each of us brothers. We must act carefully or we will anger our gods. And that now, with our pns! We must not act rashly. Better to ask the gods for advice. Until then, we'll lock her up in one of the dungeons under the mountains. Without contact with the outside world. Without contact with other people. If the gods wish her dead, of course, we will obey. Either way, her behavior is unacceptable."

  Pns? Louise blinked. What pns? But to her regret, these pns were not discussed further. Instead, a dispute broke out between the old regents. And Albert pyed the role of the perfect Wise Man. Louise, however, suspected that he also wanted to see her dead.

  Would

  he kill me secretly? In the dungeon? What is he pnning? Why does he act as if the conversation between us had never happened? Does he think I would be so intimidated that I would remain silent?

  "Oh yes? Is that how a darling of the gods behaves?" cried another. "And since when has Mitko's position been yours? You have taken Mitko's pce like a thief!" “

  I am the eldest of all elders." Albert's deep voice echoed sublimely through the room. "I'm not a thief, I'm Mitko's successor. Of course, I took his pce."

  "No, we are! My brothers and I!" shouted Fidan. "You're younger than us! Our word should carry the most weight, not yours!"

  "It's always been a vote, brothers!" shouted one of the younger ones. "No word has more weight! We are a council of regents, not a dictatorship!"

  "Quiet!" growled Albert. "That's not why we're here! It's about the girl at our feet! We have to make an appropriate decision."

  Louise was boiling with rage. Her back began to hurt, but no one allowed her to sit up. Should I have run away? Instead of returning?

  "It's simple. The girl has gone against her duty. She needs to die. Perhaps then the gods will forgive us that we could not sacrifice the cursed one. Last night there was a big fire in the hard-working middle-css neighborhood. Several houses burned down. The reason is still unclear. It must have been a warning from the gods!" shouted one of the many old men dressed in white. They all had deceptively young faces. "Brothers! The gods demand a sacrifice! The fire is a warning."

  "Or human stupidity!" murmured another. "An unobserved fire can cause tragedy. No. Let's use the girl as a means of pressure. Her life, in exchange for the boy. Then we can sacrifice him to the gods. Just as they wish."

  Louise snorted. Now she wanted to look up, but at the moment when she raised her head slightly, the guard kicked her. Immediately she ducked again.

  "As if dragons care about only one priestess!" Cosimo grunted. Louise heard his brothers ughing softly. Was this the end? Her end?

  "Not the dragons, but the cursed one!" the other defended himself. "The boy will come if we threaten him with his sister's life. They are twins. Surely she means a lot to him."

  Louise could no longer listen to the nonsense. She stood up angrily. The guard tried to push her down again, but Louise spat in his face. The guard struck and pushed her to the ground, but Louise still looked into the angry faces of the old men. She was just as angry. "You must allow me to speak!" she cried.

  "No!" said Albert.

  "Speak, child", Cosimo replied. "Please. Expin your behavior to us. You've got a chance! Only one."

  Albert protested, but the other Wise Men agreed with Cosimo. And so she was finally given the word. Now she had to choose her words wisely.

  "I was confused and acted hastily. I had to see my family to be able to think clearly again. Forgive me!" she repeated the words with which she had previously apologized for her behavior. Only to be taken to court anyway. An unfair court. "Shouldn't a sister be attached to her brother? I grew up with the curse. I only see my brother!" And there is no curse.

  "That's why I was shocked when I heard that some people here are willing to bend visions to their liking." She pointed to Albert. "You and one of the priests! And who knows how many more! I've heard them talk about it. They changed visions! They have also admitted it to me! They did it while believing it was the will of the gods, they said, yes, but is it? If it were their will, would a vision have had to be invented? Certainly not! Did they think I would keep quiet about it? And if visions are changed or invented, is the curse real? So wasn't I justifiably angry? But now I have come to my senses and returned to my pce as a priestess. Trusting that the gods will once again show me, us, the right path."

  "Made up? Changed?" Asen looked at Albert. "Surely the girl is joking?"

  "Of course, it's a lie!" grumbled Albert. "We should execute her for this bsphemy”, he immediately changed his opinion. Louise wanted to ugh. I knew it!

  "No. I think we should think about her words!" A white-haired man with dark, almost greenish skin looked at Louise with interest. "Such an accusation should be investigated, shouldn't it? If what the priestess says is true, then we have an impostor in our holy ranks. Or several. We must not ignore this. And so far, the girl has always been very sensible and obedient. That would expin her sudden misbehavior. It would expin it very well."

  "And the girl?" asked Fidan. "What do we do with her? I agree with Albert here. That was bsphemy."

  "She gets house arrest. At least that's what I suggest. Until the matter is crified." The green-skinned man smiled lovingly at her. "If you tell the truth, then you have nothing to fear. And it would expin your wrongdoing. If one of the visions is not true, then some others may also be wrong. I suggest we vote."

  "Nonsense!" hissed Albert.

  "Why are you so angry all of a sudden?" The green-skinned man ughed amused. "Do you have something to hide, my friend?"

  Now several eyes turned to Albert. "We're voting!" announced another of the Wise. Several nodded.

  "Silly! And how do you want to check that?" Albert asked with a threatening undertone. "We keep countless visions! Do you want to go through every single one? Or should the priests pray for a direct answer? The gods like to talk in pictures! They rarely give direct answers! That's in vain!"

  "We go through all the visions. Maybe we will find inconsistencies! Who votes for it?" asked Cosimo. Albert protested again, but the other Wise Men all raised their hands. Cosimo nodded contentedly. "Good. The majority voted in the girl's favor. Albert is thus outvoted. If the girl tells the truth, then we almost did her wrong. Child? Until further notice, go to your room. You are not allowed to leave it!"

  But Louise could not be happy about her half-success. The guard was already pulling her away. He squeezed her arm so tightly that there would be bruises. Louise cried softly.

  They would lock her up... If she was imprisoned, she couldn't take Nina to the dragons! And the dragons knew Louise, but not the youngest child of the family. They said I smell almost like Lou because we're twins. What if Nina smells completely different from Lou? Then she will become dragon food if she tries to enter the mountains alone!

  What is it worth this?

  If they believe me? If they find evidence?

  "And now to you Albert!" she heard Fidan’s voice before she left the building.

  sasi