"That brat will do whatever she likes," grumbled Andreas Dangler, the linen weaver, who had taken care of the child since her parents' death. "When she's here she eats us out of house and home, and when she's supposed to be working she'll just hang around in town. I just wish I'd never agreed to the whole business."

Simon wanted to remind him that the town paid him a handsome compensation for taking care of Sophie, but he contented himself with a nod.

Andreas Dangler continued to fume: "I wouldn't be surprised if she was hand in glove with that witch," he said, spitting on the ground. "Her mother, the wife of Hans Hormann, the tanner, was just the same. She cast a spell on her husband, driving him to an early grave, and then she died of consumption herself. The girl was always stubborn, thought herself to be something superior to everyone else and wouldn't sit at a table with us weavers. Now she has what she deserves!"

He was leaning against the door frame, chewing on a chip of pinewood. "If I had my way, there'd be no need for her ever to return here. She has probably run off before the same thing happened to her as did to the Stechlin woman."

As the linen weaver continued his complaints, Simon sat down on a dung cart next to the house and took a deep breath. He had the feeling he wasn't going anywhere like this. He'd have loved to smack the nagging Dangler right in the face. Instead, he only interrupted his grumbling. "Did you notice anything about Sophie lately? Has she been acting differently?"

Andreas Dangler looked him up and down. Simon was fully aware that he must look like a perfect dandy to the linen weaver. With his high leather boots, his green velvet overcoat, and his fashionable Vand.y.k.e he would appear to the simple tradesman like an effeminate city dweller from Augsburg, the distant metropolis. His father was right. He wasn't a local, and there was no point in pretending he was.

"What's that got to do with you, you quack doctor?" asked Dangler.

"I'm the physician in charge of the Stechlin woman's torturing," Simon exaggerated. "Therefore, I should like to gain an impression of the woman, so that I know what powers of witchcraft she may possess. Now, has Sophie ever spoken of the Stechlin woman?" The linen weaver shrugged. "She did say once that she'd like to become a midwife herself. And when my wife was sick she had the necessary medicine right on hand. I suppose she got those from the Stechlin woman."

"Anything else?"

Andreas Dangler hesitated, then he seemed to recollect something. He grinned. "I saw her once as she was drawing that sign in the sand back there in the courtyard. When I saw her she wiped it away at once."

Simon p.r.i.c.ked up his ears.

"What kind of a sign?"

The linen weaver thought for a moment, then he took the pinewood chip from his mouth, bent down, and drew something in the dust.

"It looked something like that," he finally said.

Simon tried to recognize anything in the blurry drawing. It resembled a triangle with a squiggle at the bottom.

It reminded him of something, but every time he thought something was coming back to him, the memory faded away. Again he looked at the drawing in the dirt, then he wiped it away with his foot and walked off toward the river. There was one other thing to do today.

"Hey!" Dangler called after him. "Now what does the sign mean? Is she a witch?"

Simon walked faster. The noise of the fully awake town had soon drowned out the shouts of the linen weaver. From afar, he could hear the blacksmith's hammer; children were driving a flock of cackling geese past him.

After a few minutes the physician had reached the Hof Gate, which was located right next to the Elector's residence. Here the houses looked st.u.r.dier and were built exclusively of stone. And there was less garbage lying around in the streets. The Hof Gate quarter was the neighborhood where the respected tradesmen and raftsmen lived. Those who had acquired some wealth moved to this part of town, away from the smelly tanners' quarter down by the river or the butchers' quarter, which lay a little to the east, with its common tailors and carpenters. Simon briefly greeted the sentry at the gate and walked on to Altenstadt, which was only about a mile away from Schongau to the northwest.

The sun shone rather gently, as it was still early on an April morning, but it nevertheless stung the physician's eyes. His head ached, as well, and his mouth felt dry. His hangover from the previous night's binge with Jakob Schreevogl was coming back. He knelt to have a drink from a brook near the side of the road. When a horse-drawn wagon piled high with wine barrels rumbled past him, he had enough presence of mind to jump on the back and crawl forward to the barrels that were lashed down. The wagon driver took no notice, and shortly afterward he arrived in Altenstadt.

Simon's destination was Stra.s.ser's inn, which was in the middle of the village. Before he had gone to the Schreevogls' last night, the hangman had given him five names-the names of the children who had routinely visited Martha Stechlin's house: Grimmer, Kratz, Schreevogl, Dangler, and Stra.s.ser. Two were dead, two were missing. There remained the last ward, that of Stra.s.ser, the innkeeper in Altenstadt.

Simon pushed open the low door that led into the lounge. A smell of cabbage, smoke, stale beer, and urine hit him. Stra.s.ser's was the only inn in town. Anyone looking for something better went to Schongau. Here one came to drink and forget.

Simon sat down on a wooden stool at a table decorated with knife marks and ordered a beer. Two wagon drivers who were already sipping at their tankards at this early hour eyed him with suspicion. The landlord, a bald, potbellied man in a leather ap.r.o.n, shuffled to his table with a foaming mug and pushed the brew toward him.

"To your health," he mumbled and started to go back to the counter.

"Take a seat," said Simon, pointing at the empty stool next to his.

"Can't right now, I have customers, I'm sure you can see." He turned away, but Simon grabbed his arm and gently pulled him down.

"Please take a seat," he said again. "We have to talk. It's about your ward."

The innkeeper Stra.s.ser glanced cautiously at the wagon drivers, but they seemed to be absorbed in conversation. "About Johannes?" he whispered. "Have you found him?"

"Has he disappeared?"

Franz Stra.s.ser heaved a sigh and settled into a chair next to the physician. "He did, yesterday at noon. He was to look after the horses in the stable, but he didn't return. I guess he's run off, the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Simon blinked. The inn was only dimly lit, and the drawn shutters allowed very little light to enter. On the windowsill, a pinewood chip was glowing faintly.

"How long has Johannes been your apprentice?" he asked the landlord.

Franz Stra.s.ser thought. "Over three years," he said after a while. "His parents were both from here, from Altenstadt. Good people, but weak chested. She died in childbirth, and the father followed her to the grave just three weeks later. Johannes was the youngest. I took him in, and he has always been well cared for here, so help me G.o.d."

Simon sipped at his mug. The beer was watery and flat.

"I hear he was over in Schongau a lot," he asked.

Stra.s.ser nodded. "Right. Every hour he could spare. The devil knows what he did over there."

"And you had no idea where he might have gone?"

The landlord shrugged. "His hideout, perhaps."

"Hideout?"

"He spent a few nights there," said Stra.s.ser. "Every time I gave him a whipping for doing mischief, he went off to his hideout. I tried to ask him about it once, but he said n.o.body would ever find it and he'd be safe there even from the devil."

Lost in thought, Simon sipped his beer. Suddenly, he didn't care about the taste anymore.

"Were there others who knew it too...this hideout?" he asked cautiously.

Franz Stra.s.ser frowned. "Could be," he said. "He did play with other kids, he did. Once they smashed an entire shelf of beer mugs here. They went into the lounge, s.n.a.t.c.hed a loaf of bread, and knocked over the mugs as they ran away, the little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"What did the children look like?"

Stra.s.ser had worked himself up into a rage.

"Nothing but b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, the whole lot! Only mischief on their minds, all those orphans from the town. Ungrateful riffraff. They should be humble and glad that someone's taking care of them, and instead they just get fresh."

Simon took a deep breath. His headache was coming back.

"What they looked like is what interests me," he whispered.

The innkeeper stared, thinking it over. "There was a redheaded girl with them. Witches' hair...I tell you, they're good for nothing."

"And you really have no idea where that hideout could be?"

Franz Stra.s.ser looked irritated.

"Why are you so interested in that boy?" he asked. "Has he done anything to make you look for him so urgently?"

Simon shook his head.

"It's not important." He put down a copper penny for the beer and left the gloomy room. Franz Stra.s.ser watched as he left, shaking his head.

"d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" he called after the physician. "If you see him, give him a few behind the ears. He deserves it!"

CHAPTER 8.

FRIDAY.

APRIL 27, 27, A.D A.D. 1659.

TEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING THE COURT CLERK SAT AT THE BIG COUNCIL TABLE in the town hall drumming his fingers to the rhythm of some military march whose melody kept going through his mind. His gaze pa.s.sed over the pudgy faces of the men sitting in front of him. Red, sagging cheeks, watery eyes, thinning hair...Even the modish cut of the coats and the carefully starched lace neckerchiefs could not disguise the fact that these men had pa.s.sed their prime. They clung to their power and their money because, in Lechner's opinion, nothing else was left for them. In their eyes was a helplessness that made him almost pity them. In their small, beautiful town the devil was loose, and they could do nothing about it. The Stadel had burned down, some of them had lost a lot of money, and something out there was taking their children from them. The servant girls and laborers, the peasants and the simple people, expected that they, the masters of the town, would do something about it. But they were all at a loss, and so they looked at Lechner as if he could do away with the disaster with a snap of his fingers or a scratch from his quill pen. Lechner despised them, even if he would never let it show. in the town hall drumming his fingers to the rhythm of some military march whose melody kept going through his mind. His gaze pa.s.sed over the pudgy faces of the men sitting in front of him. Red, sagging cheeks, watery eyes, thinning hair...Even the modish cut of the coats and the carefully starched lace neckerchiefs could not disguise the fact that these men had pa.s.sed their prime. They clung to their power and their money because, in Lechner's opinion, nothing else was left for them. In their eyes was a helplessness that made him almost pity them. In their small, beautiful town the devil was loose, and they could do nothing about it. The Stadel had burned down, some of them had lost a lot of money, and something out there was taking their children from them. The servant girls and laborers, the peasants and the simple people, expected that they, the masters of the town, would do something about it. But they were all at a loss, and so they looked at Lechner as if he could do away with the disaster with a snap of his fingers or a scratch from his quill pen. Lechner despised them, even if he would never let it show.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

He rang his handbell and opened the meeting.

"Many thanks for having come on such short notice and interrupting your business, which is doubtlessly important, to attend this shortly convened meeting of the inner council," he began. "But I believe it is necessary."

The six aldermen nodded eagerly. Burgomaster Karl Semer pa.s.sed his lace kerchief over his sweaty forehead. The deputy burgomaster Johann Puchner wrung his hands and muttered agreement. Otherwise there was silence. Only Wilhelm Hardenberg, the old superintendent of the almshouse, pursed his lips and uttered a curse toward the ceiling. He had just been calculating how much the fire at the Stadel would cost him. Cinnamon, sweetmeats, bales of high-quality cloth, all reduced to ashes.

"G.o.d in heaven, someone will have to pay for it!" he whined. "Someone must pay!"

The blind Matthias Augustin struck his stick impatiently on the oaken floor. "Cursing won't get us anywhere," he said. "Let Master Lechner tell us what the questioning of the wagon drivers has revealed."

The court clerk looked at him thankfully. At least there was one beside himself who was keeping a clear head. Then he continued. "As you all know, yesterday evening little Clara Schreevogl was abducted by an unknown person. Like the other two dead children, she used to visit the Stechlin woman. People maintain they've seen the devil on the street."

A whispering and murmuring went through the council chamber, and many crossed themselves. Johann Lechner held up his hands to calm them. "People see a lot, even things which don't exist," he said. "I hope that we will be able to say more after the examination of the Stechlin woman this afternoon."

"Why didn't you put the witch on the rack long ago?" grumbled old Augustin. "There was time enough all night."

Lechner nodded. "If it were up to me, we would be further along," he said. "But the witness Schreevogl asked for a postponement. His wife is not well. Anyway, first we wanted to ask the wagon drivers about the fire."

"Well then?" Almshouse superintendent Hardenberg looked up, his eyes flashing with anger. "Who was it? Who is the swine? He should be dancing at a rope's end by the end of the day!"

The court clerk shrugged. "We don't know yet. The watchman from the bridge and Georg Riegg both said the fire spread very quickly. Someone did more than just set the fire, but n.o.body saw any of the Augsburgers. They came later to rescue their goods."

"They came very quickly," said third burgomaster Matthias Holzhofer, a corpulent bald-headed man, who had made a fortune with gingerbread and sweets. "They got all their bales out and lost hardly anything. They did it all right."

Burgomaster Semer tugged at his thinning hair. "Would it have been possible for the Augsburgers to start the fire and then rush all their goods to safety?" he asked. "If they really want to set up a new trade route, they have to make sure that people can no longer store their goods here with us. And they have succeeded."

Puchner, the second burgomaster, shook his head. "I don't believe it," he said. "All it would have taken would be the wind coming from the wrong direction, or a burning beam, and they'd have lost their goods just as we did."

"What if they did?" said Karl Semer. "What are a few bales and barrels for the Augsburgers? If they get their trade road, then those are worth their weight in gold. First it's the leper house in front of the town wall, now it's the burning of the Stadel. They're cutting the ground from under our feet!"

"Speaking of the leper house," the court clerk broke in. "It wasn't just the Stadel that was destroyed yesterday, but someone also vandalized the site where they are building the leper house. The priest told me that the scaffolding was torn down and parts of the foundation were destroyed. Mortar has been stolen, building wood splintered...and weeks of work gone down the drain."

Burgomaster Semer nodded thoughtfully. "I have always said that the building of such an establishment for lepers is not welcome here. Quite simply, people here are afraid that traders will stay away if we set up an asylum directly in front of the gates. And who can guarantee that the disease will stop outside the town? Such diseases can spread!"

Wilhelm Hardenberg, the gray-headed almshouse superintendent, agreed with him. "This destruction is certainly reprehensible, but on the other hand...you can understand that people want to protect themselves. n.o.body wants this inst.i.tution, but in spite of that it's being built. And all because of a mistaken concept of compa.s.sion!"

Burgomaster Semer took a big gulp from his lead-crystal gla.s.s before speaking. "Compa.s.sion has to stop when the interests of the town are endangered, that's what I think."

Blind Augustin pounded the table with his stick, so that the expensive port wine in the carafes swished dangerously back and forth.

"Absolute rubbish! Who cares about the leper house at a time like this! We have bigger problems. When the Augsburgers find out we have locked up one of their head wagon drivers, and one of the Fuggers to boot...I tell you, let the wagon drivers go and burn the witch, and then we'll have peace again in Schongau!"

The second burgomaster Johann Puchner shook his head again. "None of this makes any sense," he said. "The fire, the murders, the kidnapping, the damage to the leper house...The Stechlin woman has been locked up for quite a time, and it still goes on nevertheless!"

The others, too, began to speak up, talking loudly all at the same time.

Court clerk Johann Lechner had been listening calmly to the dispute, occasionally taking notes. Now he cleared his throat. Immediately the aldermen fell silent and looked at him expectantly. He took his time before answering.

"I am not quite persuaded that the Augsburgers are innocent," he said finally. "I therefore propose that we have the Stechlin woman tortured today. If she confesses to causing the fire as well as to the murder of the children, we can still release the Augsburger wagon driver. If not, I shall not hesitate to question him as well."

"And the Fuggers?" asked burgomaster Semer.

Lechner smiled. "The Fuggers were a powerful clan before the war. But now n.o.body really pays them much attention. If the Augsburg wagon driver really confesses to arson under torture, then that'll be trouble for the Fuggers."

He rose and rolled up the handwritten parchment. "And then we have a good case against the Augsburgers, don't we?"

The aldermen nodded. It was good to have a court clerk. One like Lechner. He gave you the feeling that there was a solution for everything.

The devil's white bony hand grabbed at the girl's throat and closed its grasp slowly. Clara felt how he was cutting off her air, her tongue swelled to a fleshy lump, her eyes bulged out of her head, and she looked into a face that she could only see unclearly, as if in a fog. The devil was as hairy as a goat, and out of his forehead grew two twisted horns. His eyes burned like glowing coals and now the appearance of the face started to morph into a distorted mask of the midwife clutching her hands round the girl's neck, with a gaze that seemed to beg for forgiveness. It seemed that she whispered something, but Clara could not catch the meaning of the words.

White as snow, red as blood...

Once more the face changed. Her foster father Jakob Schreevogl knelt over her, his mouth twisted into a crooked grin, still pressing harder and harder. Clara felt her life ebbing away; from a distance she heard children's voices, the voices of boys. With horror she realized that they were the voices of her dead playmates, Peter and Anton, crying for help. The face changed again. It was Sophie, who was shaking her wildly and trying to speak to her. Now she raised her hand and gave Clara a resounding slap.

The slap brought her back to reality.

"Wake up, Clara! Wake up!" Clara shook herself. The world around her came into focus. She saw Sophie bending over her, stroking her burning cheek. The damp rock wall that surrounded them, smeared with ash-colored signs, crosses, and formulas, lent her a feeling of security. It was quiet and cool, and from a distance the rustling of the trees could be heard. Near her lay her wooden doll, dirty and torn but still a reminder of home. Clara leaned back, relieved. Down here the devil would never find her.

"What...what happened?" she whispered.

"What happened?" Sophie could laugh again. "You were dreaming, and you frightened me with your shouting. I was outside and suddenly I heard you scream. I thought they had found us."