C18 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 sun at the decay and another animal would have still its emergency on top of it. That's why me and a few others avoided her presence. Mathilde was also the library keeper. Once I had brought back a book late, she had probably given me the longest sermon of my life. I would be unreliable and could count myself lucky that my father was such a brass hat, otherwise she’d have given me a few hot ears because she was not exactly known for her patience and sensitivity and liked to beat children with a stick. She was loyal to Emily, just like bald Wilbert, whom I liked. As children, my brother and I had often been given something sweet by Wilbert, he had a much calmer and friendlier disposition. Targhan, Sophia and Yvette were the persons who were sent by the werewolves along with Stephan. Targhan and Sophia had become a couple by now. It was about time, Targhan was a wild stallion who had to be tamed and the inconspicuous Sophia had done this by forcing him to lie down occasionally while coitusing. One only learned such things when, like me, one sat by the great fire in the evening in the village of the wolves and listened to the stories. Yvette, on the other hand, of this dark-haired beauty, I knew that she worshipped Sven. Frederick had told me this once, because he had passed her and could see it in her heart. He had the gift of finding hidden feelings, however small and hidden they may be. My father then chose Baltram, Giselle and Oswald to support him in the Council. Giselle was snobbish and didn't put up with anything. With her angel blonde hair and her very young looking face you could think she was more like a doll. Anyone who thought that was quickly proved wrong. I had seen her hunt a lot, she loved to kill slowly. Oswald wasn’t a spark better. The two often made a joke of rushing an animal until it collapsed from exhaustion. They called it a real pleasure. They were both a little older than my brother and I hated them, but never let them feel it, because father trusted them very much and on top of that Oswald, who was very extravagant, even for a vampire, was a very good politician. Baltram was one of the most powerful vampires after my father. He had his residence right next to our castle. My father already knew him when he was a mortal himself. A deep friendship connected them at those times and they would probably have followed each other to death. That's what happened. Baltram was dying and since my father didn‘t want to lose his faithful follower, he made him immortal after his own transformation. Baltram had been older than my father then. But being a vampire didn‘t rejuvenate him and among the vampires one could see his original age, because he already had a grey beard and grey hair. As I watched it all, it became clear to me that this wouldn‘t be an easy task to stand up to these twelve. Despite everything, I reaffirmed myself in my intention not to be banned from speaking. Mathilde came up to me and assigned me a place next to my father.

"You'll sit up there. Oh, here's some writing paper. You will record everything we tell you.“

I sighed. "That was obvious.“

"What? What did you say? Do you think just because your father is the ruler of this country, you get special treatment?"

"It's all right, Mathilde. I'm doing it. Just give me a nib.“

That started well. I sat next to Dad with my stuff. He welcomed everyone to the meeting. Today's topic covered the new trade routes. Other people had settled far beyond our borders; their economies were doing well, which is why they were to supply us with their earnings in the future, too. You could never have enough suppliers, because our people were numerous and many mouths wanted to be stuffed. Those newcomers had laid out their settlements and fields in a different direction than the previous suppliers. It was now up to us to open up the new trade routes in today's Council meeting, because, as we know, there are many routes to Rome, but not all of them are good. Claus suggested to let them take a route that led directly through the hunting grounds of the werewolves. Immediately there was a protest from their side.

"How do you imagine that, Claus?", Targhan rose, he was a good two meters tall.

"Well, Targhan“, Claus rolled his eyes lightly, as if answering Targhan's question was beneath his dignity, " you could certainly arrange not to hunt that day. People always come to certain days, so you don't hunt.“

"I don't think that's a good idea. You can't forbid a wolf to hunt. It's in our instincts.“

"Instincts can be suppressed, Stephan. I think this is the easiest way.“

That skunk. Where he went and stood he tried to manipulate and intrigue. I would spoil his plans.

"So you want to lock up the werewolves, do I see that right?"

"No one here has spoken of imprisonment, dear Larissa.“

"Oh, yes, you have, that's exactly what you want to do. You want to forbid them to go hunting for a whole day, so that people can bring this shitty commodity here by the shortest route.“

"Larissa, I beg you“, my father admonished me.

"No, you brought me here to help you, and that's exactly what I'm doing, albeit in my own way. I have a different opinion and I will make it known. So, I suggest you don't let people turn right at the Bear Intersection, let them turn left.“

"But then they'll come to our village.“

"That's right, Claus. You might as well accept the merchandise and then redistribute it. Haven't you been wishing for more handling in this regard anyway? Now's your chance, use it.“

"This is a detour, Larissa. People would travel almost twice as long.“

"So what! Then let them. We will reward them accordingly. Who cares if the goods don't arrive until late at night? People pass safe roads, even if they have to drive into the night, nothing will happen to them. We made this country safe.“

I turned to my father again, he should have the closing words on the subject.

"Father, look. To imprison a wild animal is certainly not what you mean by your promised land. We're all free, and we should stay free.“

"My daughter is right, Claus, it doesn't matter when the goods arrive. I hate to ask Stephan to keep his people from hunting. So, who votes for Claus' proposal?"

Only Claus himself and Mathilde raised their hands. Everyone else must have voted for me.

"Then it‘s decided. Tomorrow a raven will be sent to the people. He will send them a letter with all the information they need, including the route they had been given“, father's head leaned towards me, „well done, little daughter. You've just put your first proposal through.“

To annoy Claus even more, Emily started clapping, wearing a contented smile on her lips. Targhan and Sophie joined him, then Stephan and finally all the rest. I had actually found my destiny, yes, I would make politics. Claus would have loved to go up the walls in rage. He sparkled at me with his disgustingly piercing eyes, aiming at me like a deadly snake about to devour its prey. I didn't let myself be confused and stood up to the gaze. Then he hurried out of the room. I knew I had provoked him, I didn't give a damn. I had just begun my crusade against Claus. Now he was officially my opponent.