The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,218

their cage, like children who can no longer hold still. The man smiled.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Not long now.”

The master reached into a bag, pulled out another slippery scrap, and tossed it to the birds.

They hacked into it, tearing the scrap apart with their sharp beaks and devouring the lumps of meat.

They were surprisingly tender.

25

VALENTIN WAS ALREADY waiting in the garden for Johann shortly after sunrise. He looked like he hadn’t slept much; his scarred face was pale and unshaven, and dark shadows lay beneath his eyes. He got up from the bench he’d been sitting on as soon as he spotted Johann, and limped toward him.

“Good news from the commander! Eisenhofen managed to arrange for you to accompany me as a physician. Gretchen kind of belongs to the command staff, after all, and Eisenhofen has a right to know how she is doing.”

“I still can’t believe the Nuremberg authorities want to put a fourteen-year-old girl on trial for witchcraft. That’s ludicrous!”

“She wouldn’t be the first,” replied Valentin with a sigh. “But thankfully it hasn’t gone that far yet. Still—the long imprisonment is getting to her. Gretchen is such a lively, inquisitive child, you know. My heart breaks every time I think about her sitting down there in the prison cell, all alone . . .” Valentin’s voice trembled.

“You must love her very much,” said Johann sympathetically.

“There’s something about her . . . something familiar.” Valentin hesitated. “You’ll meet her yourself soon.”

They walked out the gate and headed north toward the Pegnitz. Valentin was carrying a small leather pouch containing a few treats for the girl, and Johann had brought a bag with medical instruments. The lanes were still quiet; only the hammering from the blacksmiths at the armory near the old city moat echoed through the city. A group of nuns walked toward the Klara nunnery, their lips moving in silent prayer. Up at the castle, last night’s watch fires still burned, bathing the sandstone in a warm light.

Johann hadn’t slept much, either. The commander had given him permission to set up his stargazing tube in the tower of Saint Jakob’s Church. He’d spent hours searching the night sky for any sign of the approaching comet, but without any luck. Maybe he was mistaken and there was no connection between him and Larua at all? His trip to Nuremberg seemed to be for different reasons altogether.

They walked across a stone bridge that separated the Lorenz quarter from the wealthier Sebaldus quarter, where merchants had built their houses as close to the main square as possible. This square, which was just beginning to grow busy, was flanked on one side by another large church with an elaborately adorned facade. There also was a fountain like no other Johann had seen in the empire, with a tall, thin tower of sculptures in its center.

“There is something else you should know,” said Valentin slowly as they crossed the large square. “Last night another child went missing. The eight-year-old son of a bailiff from the castle. The boy was playing in a dry part of the moat. When his mother went looking for him a few moments later, he was gone. It truly hearkens to the time in France when that malicious French knight was at large.” Valentin bit his lip. “I’m afraid our time is running out. The people are becoming more and more nervous—they want an explanation. It won’t be long before they torture Greta.”

North of the fountain stood the city hall, a gloomy, Gothic building that seemed to be from a different era. The entrance to the infamous Loch Prison lay at its rear.

Johann was glad that he had left Little Satan with Karl. The dog was eating as if he had been starved for weeks, and it was truly amazing how fast he grew. He was already as big as a full-grown poodle, and he wasn’t even ten weeks old yet. Little Satan’s discipline wasn’t coming along quite as fast as his size, however; last night he’d defecated inside the knights’ hall, much to Eisenhofen’s disgust. Johann didn’t want to imagine what they’d do to him and the dog should he do the same inside the city hall.

In front of a small but solid gate, two guards armed with halberds and pikes watched the two arrivals with surly, tired expressions. With his crippled hand, Valentin pulled out a folded document and handed it to one of the men. The man studied the seal of the Teutonic Knights for a