We didn't get to the castle until the next morning. During the night we stopped somewhere at the edge of the forest to rest. Now I saw the castle, which was illuminated by the rising sun. The residents of the castle were startled because they only saw me, but not the prince, because I had the sun behind me. Of course, this made it difficult for people to see.
"Land in the courtyard, Theo. It will be an appearance that will leave an impression."
I started to land and looked around at the same time. The castle wasn't really a fairytale castle. More like an impregnable fortress with high, gray walls and many towers.
I landed elegantly in the courtyard and Tom jumped off me. The courtyard didn't really offer much space, but it was definitely enough to land. It was completely paved with paving stones, and wooden houses that were covered with straw stood on the courtyard walls. On the north side of the courtyard stood the king's great palace tower.Flags with the coat of arms, which I had already seen on Tom, hung to the left and right of a large portal in the tower.
Tom grinned proudly at the people, as if to say: Look, I've tamed a dangerous dragon! I am the prince!
I just lay down on the floor where I was. Let's see what would happen next.
The servants had now gathered around me and Tom, and they were amazed.
"As expected from the prince."
"What a fine specimen."
"It must have been difficult to tame," I heard the people whisper.
Then the king came out of one of the huge doors to greet his son, who was actually not his son, but a high school student.
The king looked pleased.
"Tom, how nice to see you again. I see you have a new mount! How come?"
"Unfortunately, my gray horse was killed in battle. But with great effort I was able to catch and tame this dragon.He's better suited to a prince than a mount, don't you think? "
That hypocrite. All he'd done was spend 5,000 thalers. But I wouldn't say anything about it. He was the prince, after all, and I didn't want to make him look like a liar. Besides, the bad reputation would just fall back on me.
But Tom as a prince charming on a white horse? That somehow suited him. That's what the girls had called him sometimes. Tom, how he lives and how he lives.
Now Tom and his father went into the entrance hall from which the king had come, and the gates closed again. They just left me to the servants.
Whenever I moved, however, they recoiled. Even so, their curiosity was unbroken and they always kept an eye on me. Only when I looked at someone directly did they quickly turn away and go back to their work.
Then I saw a woman I also knew. It was Frau Gärtner, my teacher. She had gotten pretty close to me, but stopped when I looked at her.She looked sad.
"Don't be afraid," I said.
That seemed to frighten her even more. I noticed that I had used them out of habit, which was probably less common here. One spoke to oneself either with "you" or with "you", as in the old days.
"What do you have?" I asked.
I made up my mind to use her name. It sounded kind of wrong to my ears, but that was the hierarchy. I couldn't do anything about that.
"I ... I was assigned to take care of you," she managed.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt anyone."
"Is it true that ... that the prince tamed you all by himself?"
"I don't want to comment on that. You'd have to ask him yourself."
Of course she wouldn't. She was far too afraid that the prince might be angry.
"Then ... I want to show you your new quarters.", She said, trembling.
I nodded and followed her to a barn across the yard."You can sleep here."
"Oh yes. My name is Theo."
"I'm Maria Gärtner. Nice to meet you."