Harper

 

"I'm ready! You can't be more ready than me!" Nour drummed with her hands on the floor. She sat between Lou's legs and leaned against him. Lou hugged her. His expression was as usual: a mixture of shyness and expressionlessness. The flickering light of a small fire painted orange patterns on his cute face. Nour, on the other hand, excitedly showed her sharp teeth and spoiled the sight for me. "Let's go!", she shouted. I stood at the cave entrance and looked out when I wasn't looking at Vivi. Everything was quiet, but I could smell an approaching sandstorm. We had to hurry.

"I'll save the fair maiden! I'm ready to save a doll!" Nour chuckled, leaned her head back, and looked at Lou. "The dragon saves the fair maiden, just like in your fairy tales! Yes? I'm ready!"

"Of course you are!", growled Max.

Lou, on the other hand, frowned. "I think the princess must always be saved from the dragon...", he murmured.

Nour rolled her eyes. "Details!" Then she looked at me. "Let's go! What are we waiting for?"

"Or you stay here?", Lou suggested quietly. But Nour didn't like the idea.

"What? No! Dad said I could help!"

"As long as you're careful! And stay with us!" Ross reminded her. "You can keep watch nearby."

"Boring!", the girl protested immediately.

I was about to tease her when a slightly unpleasant smell rose to my nose. Magic. The smell of Louise. "Lou? Your sister is coming."

"Louise?" Immediately Lou's cheeks turned rosy, but he looked worried. "She'd better leave."

"I agree!" Connie grumbled. "There's a storm coming."

"We can fly in it unseen...", I thought. But it would not be without danger. We wanted to go to Remy's house and get everything Lou needed. We would raid the house. But Remy wasn't there. It certainly didn't bother him.

"Heavens! It's hard not to fall off the cliffs in the dark! If I hadn't seen the fire...", Louise called into the cave after a while. A while in which we continued to discuss our plan. The main thing was to convince Nour that keeping watch was a very important task. She didn't believe us. Louise, on the other hand, looked at us, and especially Nour in Vivi's arms, curiously. "Hello. Please, forgive the disturbance. The way here took longer than expected in the dark. I almost fell once..."

"Then you'd better come in before we have to rescue you", Sally replied loudly. My parents just snorted. The two lay curled up together in dragon form at the back of the cave. They had promised to take care of Vivi while we were on our way.

"Save? No, thank you! Hey, Lou! Surprise!" Louis cautiously entered the cave. Her gaze wandered from Vivi to Nour. "Hello. Are you a sister of Harper?"

"Huh?" Nour grimaced.

"She's Narcisse's sister", Lou explained. "Hello, Louise."

"Hello, little brother!" Louise smiled broadly and hurried over to her brother. "I've got sweet dates for you."

"Oh." Lou nodded absently.

"Louise! Thank you!", I sat down next to them and teasingly pulled Nour by the hair. The girl immediately hissed and showed me her teeth. So I pulled a little more. "You should get home quickly. A sandstorm is approaching. It's still distant..."

"A sandstorm? Is the cave safe?" Louise wanted to know immediately.

"Of course!", Ross called out to her. "But you should leave before the storm is here. Otherwise, you'll have to stay here. And that might stand out, wouldn't it? If you're not in the temple tomorrow?"

Louise nodded. “Fine. Thank you. But I have to tell you something first! Lou?" She stroked her brother's hair. "I know where your sparklestone is. The Wise have it."

"The Wise Men?" Lou blinked. I, on the other hand, growled. Just like Nour.

"Thieves!" I growled. Lou, however, got frightened. That's what always happened when we growled. I should have known better, but now I was angry.

"Vivi? I'll get you your stone! I promise", I said.

Lou nodded. "Will you accompany Louise to the temple? The storm... Take care of her, please. And of you."

"We should go now! It's dark enough!", shouted Max.

"Yes!" Nour threw her hands in the air and jumped to his feet. "Adventure, I'm coming!"

"Make noise and you'll stay with Lou!", growled Sally.

Lou nodded immediately. My Vivi wanted Nour to be safe.  He chewed on his lower lip uncertainly. Then he looked at his sister and frowned. Now that Nour was no longer besieging her brother, Louise took the chance to hug him. "Take care of yourself!", Vivi whispered in her ear.

"I will!", promised Louise. "And you take good care of yourself, too, yes? And of the dragons." She winked at him.

I sighed, pressed a kiss to Lou's forehead, and then pulled Louise with me.

"You're going to the temple?", Ross asked immediately.

"Exactly", I confirmed. "I'll get Vivi's Sparklestone."

"And I'll save the maiden!", exulted Nour, showing off her non-existent muscles.

"No, you're keeping watch!", hissed Max.

"See you later, Vivi", I called out to him, ignoring my siblings and Nour. I took the form of a dragon and carefully grasped Louise with a claw. She squealed, startled. Then I flew into the night and carried her to the temple.

It was time to retrieve a Sparklestone!

And that's exactly what I did. After I accompanied Louise to her room. Disguised as a little mouse that she carried in her hands. "Good luck!", she whispered to me and sat me down on the floor. I squeaked once, then hurried away. Of course, I hadn't accompanied her all the way as a mouse. No. I took the form only after I landed as quietly as possible away from the temple. At first, I walked beside her as a human until we approached the high walls of the temple complex.

Now, in the guise of a mouse, I hurried across the property. I knew from Louise that the sparklestone was in one of the rooms of the Wise's home and main house. But that's where I had to find my way first. There was the smell of magic everywhere.

My nose was already itching. The stench made me sick. In addition to the stench, a terrible abomination, there was another problem: brooms! Brooms, and the people who swung them screaming at me. It wasn't easy as a mouse. And also not as a dragon on a secret mission. To my regret, I was not allowed to eat these people, my stomach growled, nor set them on fire. (I also didn't want to get acquainted with the lousy spells they could use to harm us.)

An elderly servant with long gray hair was currently chasing me screaming with her broom. She was the third person to discover me. Several servants were currently sweeping the cobbled paths of the temple. One man, he smelled of ancient magic, had even tried to climb a palm tree screaming. But the others swung their brooms.

STOP HITTING ME WITH A BROOM! AND STOP WITH THE SCREAMING!

Brooms were generally not very useful against a dragon. And from the screaming, this dragon disguised as a mouse also got a headache.

Eventually, I got away from the noise and the brooms and also found the main building. It smelled intensely of magic here. Of old, rancid magic, of old rancid sorcerers. The magic smelled like the palm climber. Was that one of the Wise Men? Ha! Every now and then I had to dodge a foot, but none of the people in this house noticed me. They argued loudly. About our caves and our treasures.

I was already sick to my stomach while listening.

These people, these old men who reeked of magic, were actually considering getting Lou out of our cave and claiming our treasures. Apparently, they wanted to trade it and increase their influence in the world... Well, not everyone was convinced by the idea. Especially about the success of their crazy idea. Therefore, they argued. And since they were arguing, they didn't notice me.

It didn't take long for me to smell Lou's scent. The smell had almost faded, but it was still there. I followed Lou's scent, sweet and delightful, until I came through an arch door into a small office. It was finely furnished, but scrolls were everywhere as if a storm had swept through the room. I took human form and lifted the rolls of paper as quietly as I could to look for the stone. I knew roughly where the stone was, but the disgusting smell of all the magic bothered me. When I finally found the stone, I heard footsteps coming towards me. I hugged Vivi's treasure and quickly took the form of a vulture. With the stone in my claws, I flew out of the window of the room, which was only covered by a curtain. Just in time to avoid being noticed by the wizard.

I left the buildings of the temple behind me. You could still see the traces of the fire, even though the renovation had already begun. "Where's the diamond? Thieves!", I heard the distant cry of the wizard I had escaped.

Serves you right! This is Vivi's stone!

When I arrived at the cave, I landed unusually quietly, took human form again, and entered the cave.

"A vulture?", Mom asked, smiling. She sat next to Lou in human form.

"Yes", I replied with a grin.

When Lou heard my voice, he looked up. By now it was too dark for his eyes. "Harper?"

"I'm back." He jumped up and stumbled towards me. I quickly ran to him before he fell or ran into a wall. Although Lou knew his way around the cave by now, the small campfire wasn't enough for him to see properly, and he was excited. I hugged him, holding the stone in one hand, as I reached him. Lou stumbled into my arms and squeezed me.

"You're okay? The others haven't arrived yet..."

"I'm fine." I kissed his forehead and loosened his embrace to press his stone into his hands. "Your sparklestone."

"Oh!" Vivi hugged the stone and...

Smiled faintly.