The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,65

was covered with a pane of glass, reminding Johann of the eye glasses Father Antonius used to wear occasionally. The monk had told him they helped him to better decipher the tiny writing in books. Could this mysterious construction also be for reading books? Then he’d probably have to look through it.

He reached for the tube with trembling hands and brought his eye down to the skinny end. At first he saw nothing, just blurred blackness. Then he noticed that he could move the tube up and down and left and right. He played around for a bit—and started with fright.

The mountains that had been so far away a moment ago suddenly stood right before him, as if he could touch them with his hand. He clearly saw the snow glistening in the sun, the rugged rocks, and an eagle circling the mountaintops, just as though they were right there in front of him. When he stepped back, everything was far away again. What a wondrous toy this was! Johann thought of the printing press in the Maulbronn monastery. This tube, too, seemed like an invention capable of changing the world. Was it powerful enough to let him see the stars up close? Would it be possible to see beyond the eighth sphere?

More confident now, Johann spun the tube in the other direction, toward the forest. Again, everything was blurry at first, but after a while he could make out details. The village church looked as if it were directly in front of him, then the road, and the path winding its way up through the woods to the tower.

And the master.

Johann screamed and let go of the tube as if he’d burned his fingers. He had seen the master’s sinister-looking face and his thin black hair blowing in the wind. Tonio had appeared so close—and he seemed to have looked right into Johann’s eyes. Without the tube, Johann saw only a black dot, but it steadily grew larger as the master rushed up the path.

Johann prayed that Tonio hadn’t seen him on the platform. He climbed down the ladder as fast as he could, raced through the master’s chamber past the pentagram and the pile of clothes, down the stairs into his own room, and finally down to the first floor, where he quickly sat in front of the cold fireplace with a book in his hands, pretending he’d been reading it all along.

Soon enough he heard the master’s footsteps outside. The door was pushed open and Tonio entered. He had apparently been walking fast; sweat gleamed on his forehead, and he breathed heavily. He gave Johann a long, hard look with his piercing pitch-black eyes, and the young man suddenly felt certain Tonio had seen him on the platform. Then the master spoke with a sense of urgency.

“We must leave. I spoke with a merchant on the road. He said the village folk believe sorcerers are staying at the tower. Apparently, there was an incident in the village. Pack your things if you don’t want to get burned alive! If we’re lucky, they won’t come until the morning. They’re probably too drunk on a Sunday.”

He didn’t ask what Johann had been up to and why he was already back from the village. Instead, he went upstairs to his chamber, and Johann heard him packing in a hurry.

While Johann gathered his own belongings, he thought about the clothes he’d seen in the master’s chamber. He hadn’t paid them much attention earlier, but now, thinking about it, he remembered that there had been a lot of clothes. Many more than the master owned. And he could have sworn that they’d looked small.

Like children’s clothes.

Upstairs, he could hear Tonio’s footsteps, heavy and ominous, like those of a dark sea captain pacing the deck while their ship slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean.

7

THEY DROVE DOWN to the road in silence. At the Master’s command, Johann had hitched the horse to the wagon and loaded their bags, sacks, and crates. The cage with the birds was back in its old place, dangling from the ceiling of the wagon.

One last time Johann turned to look at the tower that had been his home for the last few months, where he had learned so much. Then Tonio cracked his whip, and the tower was soon out of sight. It wasn’t long before they had to climb down from the wagon and lead the horse. The snow had gone, but the track was riddled