The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,201

out rusty nails and then they were cured.

For him, it seemed, there was no cure.

He was bound for hell.

What made it all the worse for him was the fact that he loved a man who was unattainable. It had started slowly and stealthily. In the beginning it was merely admiration and respect Karl had felt toward the doctor, but now it was respect coupled with true affection and—Karl quivered with embarrassment—uncouth thoughts. Doctor Faustus was a dozen years older than him, but he was still a good-looking man with soft raven-black hair and a dark, mysterious gaze. Karl thought it was mainly the eyes that attracted him so—gazing at them was like looking into two deep ponds. And he couldn’t figure out the mystery that lay at their bottom, no matter how hard he tried.

Karl knew he could never reveal his feelings. The way the doctor ignored him here in Cologne pained him. Yes, they took lunch together and saw each other at the Golden Crown Inn at nights, but Faust was never really with him. His mind was always with that arrogant Agrippa, whose company the doctor found much more stimulating than a conversation with his ignorant assistant. Karl’s frustration had edged him from one liaison into the next, even though he hadn’t felt good about it. His latest lover in particular seemed a little creepy. He was a pretty lad with hair just as black as the doctor’s. But his eyes had something calculating—nasty, even. A few times when they were lying next to each other at night, Karl had sensed the boy’s eyes on him. His looks burned like glowing pieces of coal. But as soon as Karl had opened his own eyes, the boy had only smiled at him and covered him in kisses. Just now Karl had been with him again, but this time he’d felt too uncomfortable and had run outside.

Still drunk, Karl got to his feet and wiped his mouth, a bitter flavor on his tongue. He needed this to end! He would go to the doctor and ask to be released. Faust would give him back his letters, and Karl would move on and try to forget the doctor. It would be the best for everyone.

With unsteady steps, Karl walked along the Rhine while rain fell from the sky like cold tears. He had bribed the guards to leave the small gate by the Franken Tower unlocked. The guards made good money with men like him. Only a few years ago it was revealed that more than two hundred respected citizens of Cologne were engaging in sodomy. The whole affair had been swept under the carpet, and until this day honest husbands sneaked through the gate down to the houses of ill repute by the Rhine. Karl looked up at the tower that served as a jail and reminded him of what was in store for him should he be discovered.

Gently, he pushed against the gate. It opened. As soon as he was through he noticed movement in the alcove below the tower. To his relief he realized it was just one of the guards, and the man winked at him conspiratorially. Karl was about to walk past him when the soldier suddenly blocked his way. The man’s expression darkened and he drew his sword.

“This is Wagner, the sodomite!” shouted the guard over his shoulder, and Karl saw more men move in the darkness. “Get him!”

Karl heard heavy footsteps, and then men with swords and pikes rushed toward him. The scene had a dreamlike quality to it; everything seemed to move slower than normally. Strangely, Karl felt no fear in that moment. All his senses were entirely focused on survival.

Before the soldiers reached him, he feinted to the right and then dashed past the astonished guard on the left. Even as a small boy Karl had always been one of the quickest. He raced like a hare and swerved left and right while a crossbow bolt whirred past his ear. Behind him the men yelled; Karl stumbled, caught himself, and stormed into a narrow alleyway. He knocked over a barrel, pressed on, and heard angry shouts behind him. He ran aimlessly through the maze of lanes, turning left here and right there until he came to the edge of the larger street that led from the port to the cathedral.

Panicked, gasping for breath, and with a wildly beating heart, Karl looked around. The men had gone. The rain was pouring down and