The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,31

ran down to the pond and washed her own face, arms, and legs, lifting up her dress high enough for Johann to see her marble-white thighs. He followed and washed himself, too, casting furtive glances at her. The water was surprisingly warm for the end of October. The sun shone onto the surface, and the two of them looked at their reflections in the water: Margarethe’s freckled face with her flaxen curls, and Johann’s narrow, pale face with the dreamy expression in his eyes and the raven-black hair his mother had loved so much.

Meanwhile, Martin had climbed atop one of the biggest boulders and waved from up high. His fears seemed forgotten.

“I can see the city from up here!” He laughed, clearly feeling at ease; even his stammer had vanished for the moment. “Let’s stay a little longer, please?” he begged. “It’s so nice here!”

Margarethe looked at Johann, and eventually he nodded. He also enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere of this place. “All right!” he called up to Martin. “But you stay in the clearing, understood?”

Martin threw his arms in the air and whooped—this hunchbacked little person reminding Johann of one of those mythical kobolds. He loved his brother more than anything in that moment. After his mother’s death, Martin was the only one in the family he felt he belonged to. How could he ever have considered leaving Knittlingen? He had to stay for Martin. Martin needed him, and he needed Martin.

“He looks so happy up there,” Margarethe said with a smile, watching Martin’s little dance of joy.

“I think he likes being with us,” Johann replied. “We’re his family.”

Margarethe laughed. “You mean like father, mother, child?” She started pulling him toward the cave. “Then quick, let’s go into our house and cook a sorrel soup, like we used to when we were children, my dear husband.” She sounded playful, yet there was an undertone of desire.

Johann was glad to let Margarethe lead him away.

Martin stood atop the boulders as if he were the king of the world.

He’d never been so happy in his life! He had been shunned and despised for as long as he could remember. People called him a cripple and a fool. But he didn’t care, because all that mattered to him was his brother Johann. Especially now that Mother was dead. Johann protected him, played with him, and, most important, explained the world to him. Martin had so many questions. Why did the sun rise and set again? Where did lightning and thunder come from? Who made plants grow in the fields and calves in the stables? Why had the dear Lord given him, little Martin, a hunched back and a stammering tongue?

Johann didn’t always know the answer, but he always went searching for an explanation. And now his big brother had taken him into the woods with beautiful Margarethe. They had brought him, the little cripple, along with them. Johann, Margarethe, and Martin. They’d always be together, for certain! His brother would never forsake him.

Martin climbed down from the boulder and walked toward the pond. He knew Johann and Margarethe were doing naughty things inside the cave. Earlier, Johann had made him promise to leave him and Margarethe alone for a little while. So he played among the reeds and made small boats from tree bark, letting them float on the pond. Then he tried to hit them with pebbles and watched them go under. One of the little rafts sank right in front of him. He leaned forward and thought he saw a black shadow in the depths, like a monstrous, slimy fish. Frightened, he shot up and stepped back.

There was a gurgling sound, and a bubble rose to the pond’s surface. A slight smell of sulfur wafted across the clearing.

Martin thought of all the scary stories people told about the Schillingswald Forest. He thought about the kobolds and the boogeyman, who snatched little children. Suddenly the old rhyme the other children sang when they played no longer sounded funny, out here in the woods.

Who’s afraid of the boogeyman? No one! And if he comes? Then we run!

But then he heard Margarethe giggle in the cave, the afternoon sun shone brightly, and the shadow in the water had disappeared as quickly as it had come. The smell of sulfur also faded. Martin breathed a sigh of relief.

Still, the pond now seemed unappealing. He stood up and went looking for a nice stick he could practice using his little knife on. Maybe he’d carve a