The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,74

idea what the purpose of their excursion might be. “Why should I drink it?”

“My little Faustus,” Tonio sighed and placed one hand on his shoulder in a fatherly gesture. “I’ve always encouraged you to ask questions. Only those who ask will receive an answer. But for once I’m telling you not to. You must cross the threshold naked and unknowing. It’s the rule.” He smiled and stroked Johann’s cheek. “But you can trust me. Once you swallow that drink, your knowledge is going to be infinite. And that is what you want, isn’t it, my Faustus? Knowledge at any cost, just like me. This world is waiting for people like you and me—people who will finally lift the veil.”

Johann hesitated. He sensed that he was once more standing at a fork in the road, like when he’d set out from Knittlingen. If he took the potion, there was no way back. But did he really have a choice? He’d left everything behind. His mother was dead; he didn’t know who his father was. His only brother had vanished, probably eaten by wild animals. And the only girl he’d ever loved had cursed him with words he’d never forget.

Go away. You are the devil.

Tonio gave him a nod. His black eyes seemed to pierce Johann.

“It’s time,” the master said. “The stars don’t wait. Drink.”

The liquid felt thick on Johann’s tongue; it slowly ran down his throat and into his stomach. It burned like fire and tasted slightly rotten, of sulfur and vomit. Johann coughed and spluttered, and the master grabbed him by the collar.

“It’s crucial that you keep the drink down, my boy,” he said urgently. “It’ll soon be over.”

Johann closed his eyes, and the nausea indeed eased. But the feeling of fire in his stomach remained, as if something was eating into his guts. Poitou laughed.

“The first time is the worst. You’ll get used to it after a few years. The path to hell is lined with fire—but the ripest fruit awaits you on the other side.”

“Shut up, Poitou,” hissed Tonio. “Help me get him to the clearing.”

He dragged Johann to his feet like a puppet, but the young man shook his head.

“Leave . . . me. I . . . I can walk by myself.” With great difficulty, he took a few steps. For some reason he didn’t want the master to lead him. No matter what came next, he wanted to walk this path alone.

“As you wish,” said Tonio, letting go of him.

The two men walked on either side of Johann as they went deeper into the dense forest of fir trees and gnarled, scattered yews. It was much darker now, but Johann thought he could see better than before, as if the potion had sharpened his senses. A wolf howled somewhere very close to them, and Poitou gave a laugh.

“Loup-garou,” he said. “Tout est prêt.”

The men started talking in French again, while Johann staggered along like a drunkard. His throat was still on fire, but his legs felt strangely light. He seemed to walk faster and faster, almost flying. He listened to the sounds of the forest and made out dozens of different creatures: the howl of the wolf Poitou had called loup-garou, the hooves of a deer on a distant game path, the flapping of a small owl’s wings—yes, even the whispering of mice in their little underground caves. The trees seemed to glow with a strange light, their outlines sharp against the black sky. Every branch, every twig seemed unnaturally clear.

“C’est une bonne nuit pour le diable,” Poitou was saying. “La réunion va être une réussite.”

“Tais-toi,” growled Tonio. “Ne parle pas du diable.”

Suddenly, something strange happened to Johann. The men were speaking French, and yet he thought he could understand them! Some words, at least, because they were very similar to Latin. Was this the knowledge the master had promised him? Did the potion allow him to understand any tongue in the world, even the oldest? Words flashed through his brain like lightning bolts. Loup-garou, garache, bête bigourne, Belial, Beelzebub, Satan, Baphomet, béliche, le diable . . . Johann winced.

Le diable . . .

The beast had many names.

His heart skipped a beat when the realization sank in. The men were speaking of the devil. They were talking about a meeting with the devil, here in the forest. In an instant he saw everything very clearly. The potion allowed him to think faster, and now various memories came together like the pieces of a mosaic. The