faithfully reproduced. A juggler in Freiburg had sung a few mocking lines about him while holding up a series of painted canvases. Johann had considered hiring the fairground performer as a glass painter, but the man was quite old and didn’t seem to be the brightest. He certainly wouldn’t know how to play chess.
Johann took off the dirty overcoat and flicked the reins. “Get a move on, you old nag,” he grumbled. “Or I’ll turn you into a mouse and feed you to Satan. You wouldn’t be the first lazy horse to land in the dog’s belly.”
The young man beside him finally recognized him. His eyebrows shot up and he gasped with surprise.
“You . . . you’re the famous Doctor Faustus!” he called out. “The hat, the beard, the cloak—so you are real!”
“And why shouldn’t I be?” replied Johann with a shrug as he continued to urge the horse forward. He could never tell how long his tricks would remain undetected. For all they knew, a mob of angry Hegau peasants might be on their way already. The Hegau region wasn’t considered particularly safe for travelers—especially not those who led good, honest burghers on a merry chase using sulfur, gunpowder, and magic tricks.
“Well, there are so many rumors about you that it’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s made up.” The youth gave a chuckle. “Like the bet in Leipzig, for example.”
“What is that about?”
“You straddled a barrel of wine and flew it up the cellar stairs right into the taproom. The innkeeper was forced to give you the barrel, and you emptied it, with the students’ help.”
“I straddled a barrel?” Johann grinned. “But why didn’t I fly out the door rather than share the barrel with a bunch of red-nosed pups? What else have you heard about me?”
“In Cologne, you made a grapevine grow out of a table. And in Erfurt you turned two red roosters and one blade of straw into two oxen and a bale of hay. They say you’re an infamous sorcerer and necromancer, and astrologer and alchemist. I don’t even know in how many taverns I’ve heard tales of your adventures.” The young man eyed him fearfully. “Some even say you’re in league with the devil.”
“So? Am I?” Johann gave his new travel companion a piercing look. When the young man gave a little start, Johann laughed. “A man is always that which people want to see in him. Out of everything they say about me, half at the most is true. But I’m not telling you which half.” He winked.
It was truly astounding what sort of a reputation he had gained over the last ten years of his travels.
“Your name is Wagner, am I right?”
“Um, yes.” The young man nodded, clearly surprised that Johann knew his name. “Wagner. Karl Wagner. I’m a student from Leipzig but have been traveling lately. I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough for saving my life! Even if I still don’t fully understand how you managed to do it.” He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Did you use magic? Sorcery?”
Johann waved one hand. “No magic, just science. I’ll show you tonight.” He bared his teeth, and for a brief moment, his face took on a mocking, almost devilish expression. “And unlike you, I know how you can thank me. Nothing in this life is free, my boy.”
Toward evening they came to a dense beech forest, the foliage glowing red and yellow in the fading autumn sun. To the south, the mighty rock face of Hohentwiel Mountain with its castle jutted into the sky; Lake Constance wasn’t far from here and pushed fog across the woods. The two men climbed off the wagon and led the horse away from the road until they reached a small meadow lined by moss-covered rocks as tall as a man.
“We should be safe here for now,” said Johann, giving the horse some barley from a bag. “Those superstitious peasants avoid this place. They believe it’s haunted.”
“You’ve been here before?” asked Karl.
“Let’s say I’ve moved around a fair bit in the last few years. And now quit talking—go find dry wood for a fire. I’m hungry.”
While Karl went looking for dry twigs and branches, Johann looked about carefully. He was glad Satan was keeping watch at the edge of the clearing. At the slightest sound, the mastiff would bark and defend its master with teeth and claws. The war in the Hegau region had finished only a few years