"n.o.body believes me. But it's true! The man with the hand of bones cut Anton's throat. He wanted to meet us down at the Lech Gate, and now he's dead." The girl's voice became a whimper.

"Sophie, we can..."

With a quick turn the girl escaped from Simon's arm and raced away down the alley. After a short distance she had already disappeared into the darkness. As he started to chase after her, Simon realized that the purse with the money for new clothes was missing from his belt.

"You d.a.m.ned little-" He looked at the heap of dirt and rubbish in the alley. Then he decided to dispense with a pursuit this time. Instead he went home, so that he could finally get a good night's sleep.

CHAPTER 5.

THURSDAY.

APRIL 26, 26, A.D A.D. 1659.

SEVEN O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING MAGDALENA WAS LOST IN THOUGHT AS SHE WALKED along the muddy road across the Lech Bridge and toward Peiting. In the bag she had slung across her shoulder she was carrying some dried herbs and the quant.i.ty of Our Lady's Powder she had ground yesterday. A few days ago she had promised to deliver the powder to midwife Daubenberger. The old woman was past her seventieth year and not very steady on her feet. Still, in Peiting and its surroundings she was the village midwife whom one called upon for help with difficult deliveries. Katharina Daubenberger had helped hundreds of children into this world. She was famous for her hands, with which she'd pull the most stubborn little imp into the light of day, and she was regarded as a wise woman, a healer, eyed suspiciously by priest and physician alike. But her diagnoses and her treatments were usually correct. Magdalena's father had often sought her counsel. His gift of Our Lady's Powder was a token of grat.i.tude; and he was soon going to need one herb or another from her. along the muddy road across the Lech Bridge and toward Peiting. In the bag she had slung across her shoulder she was carrying some dried herbs and the quant.i.ty of Our Lady's Powder she had ground yesterday. A few days ago she had promised to deliver the powder to midwife Daubenberger. The old woman was past her seventieth year and not very steady on her feet. Still, in Peiting and its surroundings she was the village midwife whom one called upon for help with difficult deliveries. Katharina Daubenberger had helped hundreds of children into this world. She was famous for her hands, with which she'd pull the most stubborn little imp into the light of day, and she was regarded as a wise woman, a healer, eyed suspiciously by priest and physician alike. But her diagnoses and her treatments were usually correct. Magdalena's father had often sought her counsel. His gift of Our Lady's Powder was a token of grat.i.tude; and he was soon going to need one herb or another from her.

When Magdalena pa.s.sed by the first houses in Peiting, she noticed that the peasants turned around to look at her and were whispering. Some crossed themselves. She was the hangman's daughter, and the villagers feared her. Many of them suspected she was having it off with Beelzebub. And they had heard that her beauty was based solely on a bargain with the prince of darkness. What he had received in return for it was nothing less than her immortal soul. She let people hold on to their illusions. At least it kept away obnoxious suitors...

Without a second thought for the peasants, she turned into a lane on the right and soon stood before the small, ramshackle house of the midwife.

At once she noticed that something was wrong. The shutters were closed despite the beautiful sunny morning, and some of the herbs and flowers in the little garden in front of the house were trampled. Magdalena approached the door and pushed the latch. The door was locked.

By now she had realized that something was fishy. Goodwife Daubenberger was known for her hospitality. Magdalena had never found her door locked. All of the women in the village could call upon the old midwife anytime.

She knocked vigorously on the heavy wooden door.

"Are you in, Goodwife Daubenberger?" she asked. "It's me, Magdalena from Schongau! I brought you Our Lady's Powder."

After quite a while, the gable window was opened. Katharina Daubenberger looked down at her with a suspicious eye. The old woman looked worried. There were more furrows on her face than ever. She looked pale and tired. When she recognized Magdalena, she forced herself to smile.

"Oh, Magdalena, it's you," she called. "That's kind of you to come. Are you alone?"

Magdalena nodded. Cautiously, the midwife looked in all directions, then she disappeared inside the house. Footsteps could be heard on the stairs and a bolt was pushed back. Finally the door opened. Hurriedly, Goodwife Daubenberger waved her in.

"What's the matter?" asked Magdalena as she entered. "Did you poison the burgomaster?"

"You ask what's the matter, you silly goose?" she snapped, stirring the fire in the hearth. "They waylaid me at night, the village lads did. They wanted to burn down my house. If it hadn't been for the farmer Michael Kossl, I'd be stone dead! He brought them back into line."

"It's because of Martha Stechlin, isn't it?" asked Magdalena as she sat down on a rickety chair near the fireplace. Her legs were weary from the walk. Katharina Daubenberger nodded.

"Now all midwives will be witches again," she murmured. "Like in my grandmother's day. Nothing ever changes."

She sat down beside Magdalena and poured her a cup of something dark and fragrant.

"Drink it," she said. "Honey water with beer and aqua ephedrae. aqua ephedrae."

"Aqua what?" asked Magdalena.

"Essence of ephedra. That'll get you back on your feet again."

Magdalena sipped the hot liquid. It was sweet and invigorating. She felt the strength returning to her legs.

"Do you know what exactly happened in the town?"

Katharina Daubenberger wanted to know.

Magdalena gave the midwife an outline of what she knew. The night before last, as they were walking along the Lech, Simon had told her of the dead boy with the witches' mark on his shoulder. She also had been able to overhear most of the conversation between her father and the physician through the thin wooden wall of his room on the previous night.

"And now it seems another boy's been killed, and he had the same sign on his shoulder," she concluded. "Simon went to see him last night. I haven't heard from him since then."

"Elderberry juice scratched into the skin, you say?" asked Goodwife Daubenberger, deep in thought. "That's strange. You'd think the devil would've used blood, wouldn't you? On the other hand-"

"What?" Magdalena interrupted impatiently.

"Well, the sulfur in the boy's pocket, and then this sign..."

"Is it really a witches' sign?" asked Magdalena.

"Let's say it's a wise woman's sign. An ancient sign. As far as I know, it shows a hand mirror, the mirror of a very old and powerful G.o.ddess."

The old midwife rose to her feet and walked to the fireplace to put on another log.

"At any rate it's going to cause us a great deal of trouble. If matters go on like this, I'll move in with my daughter-in-law in Peissenberg until this nightmare's over."

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. She had caught sight of a tattered calendar lying on the mantel.

"Of course," she murmured. "However could I forget that?"

"What is it?" asked Magdalena, moving closer to her. Meanwhile the midwife had picked up the calendar and was leafing through it frantically.

"Here," she said finally, pointing at a faded image of an abbess holding a pitcher and a book. "Saint Walburga. Patron of the sick and of women in childbed. Her day is next week."

"So?"

Magdalena had no idea what the midwife was trying to say. Puzzled, she looked at the stained print. The page was charred in one corner. The woman in the picture had a halo; her eyes were cast down modestly.

"Well," Goodwife Daubenberger began her lecture. "The day of Saint Walburga is May first. The night preceding it is therefore called Walpurgis Night..."

"Witches' night," Magdalena whispered.

The midwife nodded and continued.

"If we want to believe the peasants of Peiting, that's the night when the witches meet in the forest up at Hohenfurch to woo Satan. The sign right at this time may just be a coincidence, but it is strange in any case."

"You think?"

Katharina Daubenberger shrugged.

"I don't think anything. But it's just one week till Walpurgis Night. And didn't you find another dead boy with just the same mark only yesterday?"

She hurried to the room next door. When Magdalena followed her she saw how the midwife hurriedly shoved some garments and blankets into a knapsack.

"What're you doing?" she asked in surprise.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the old woman wheezed. "I'm packing. I'm going to my daughter-in-law's in Peissenberg. If the killing continues, I don't want to be around. On Walpurgis Night at the very latest the lads will set my house on fire. If there's really a witch around here, I don't want anyone to think it's me. And if there isn't one, there'll always be the need for a culprit."

She looked at Magdalena and shrugged.

"And now get out of here. Better for you to be gone. You're the hangman's daughter, and in their eyes you're just as loathsome as a witch."

Without turning around, Magdalena hurried out. On her way down to the Lech, past the barns and farms, she felt that there was a pair of suspicious eyes staring at her from every window.

It was about ten o'clock in the morning. Simon was sitting at one of the tables in the back of the Stern Inn, lost in thought and stirring a stew of mutton and carrots. He didn't really have much of an appet.i.te, although he hadn't eaten anything since last night. But the memories of that night-the sight of young Kratz, his parents' tears, and the turmoil in the neighborhood-had turned his stomach into a tight lump that wouldn't accept any food whatsoever. However, in the Stern he at least had some peace to think through everything that had happened yesterday.

The physician let his eyes roam through the lounge. There were over a dozen inns in Schongau, but the Stern was doubtlessly the best in town. The oaken tables were clean and smoothly planed, and chandeliers with fresh candles hung from the ceiling. Several maids watched over the few wealthy patrons, continually filling their goblets with wine from gla.s.s decanters.

At this time of day, the inn was frequented by only a few wagon drivers from Augsburg who had dropped off their cargo at the Ballenhaus early in the morning.

From Schongau, they would continue their journey to Steingaden and Fussen and across the Alps to Venice.

The drivers were smoking their pipes and had already drunk their fair fill of wine.

Simon could hear their loud laughter.

Seeing the drivers, Simon remembered the brawl the raftsmen on the Lech had told him about. Josef Grimmer had started an argument with some of his compet.i.tors from Augsburg. Was it because of this that his son had to die? But what about the other dead boy, then? And that man with the hand of bone whom Sophie had spoke of?

Simon sipped at his mug of weak beer, thinking. For a long time now, the Augsburgers had been planning a new trading route on the Swabian side of the Lech to avoid Schongau's transportation monopoly. So far, the Duke had always thwarted their plans. But there was no doubt that in the long run things were in their favor. If Schongau were avoided on account of diabolical activities, more and more merchants would be in favor of a new route. Furthermore, Schongau was currently planning a leper house. Not a few of the aldermen believed that it could frighten away merchants.

Was the man with the bony hand perhaps an emissary sent by Augsburg to spread fear and chaos?

"This one's on the house."

Awakened from his thoughts, Simon looked up. Burgomaster Karl Semer himself was standing before him. He plunked down a tankard of bock beer on the table so that the foam splattered. Simon eyed the landlord. It was not a regular occurrence that the presiding burgomaster of Schongau visited the lounge of his inn in person. Simon couldn't remember if he'd ever been addressed by Semer, except that one time when Semer's son had been in bed with a fever. But then the burgomaster had treated him condescendingly, like a vagrant barber, and had rather reluctantly handed him a couple of h.e.l.lers. Now, however, he smiled in a friendly way and took a seat at his table. He beckoned to one of the maids with his chubby ringed fingers and ordered another beer. Then he raised his tankard to Simon.

"I've heard of the Kratz boy's death. Nasty business, that. Looks like the Stechlin woman has an accomplice here in town. But we'll find that out soon enough. Today we're going to show her the instruments."

"How can you be so sure it was really the Stechlin woman?" asked Simon without raising his tankard.

Semer took a hearty swig of the dark beer and wiped his beard.

"We have witnesses who've seen her celebrate satanic rites with the children. And on the rack at the very least she'll confess her sins, I'm sure of that."

"I hear there was a brawl with the Augsburgers in your inn," Simon replied. "Old man Grimmer supposedly gave a few of them a good beating..."

For a moment, Karl Semer looked irritated, then he snorted disdainfully.

"Nothing special. Happens every day. You can ask Resl here. She was waitressing that day."

He beckoned to the girl to come to the table. Resl was about twenty and not really a stunning beauty with her big round eyes and her crooked nose. She lowered her head bashfully. Simon knew that she had often looked at him dreamily. The maids still considered him one of the most desirable men in town. Besides, he was still a bachelor.

Karl Semer invited the maid to sit down at the table with them.

"Tell us about that brawl with the Augsburgers the other day, Resl."

The maid shrugged. Then she produced a shy smile, while she regarded Simon from the side.

"It was a couple of men from Augsburg. They were drinking too much and started criticizing our raftsmen. That they didn't tie down the goods properly and damaged them. That they drink liquor while they're working, and that Grimmer lost an entire cargo owing to that."

"Well, and what did Grimmer say to that?" asked Simon.

"He kicked up a fuss and whacked one of the Augsburgers right in the face. And then the dust started flying here. Our men threw them all outside. Then there was order again."

Karl Semer smirked at the physician and took another swig.

"As you see, nothing special."

Suddenly Simon had an idea. "Resl, on that day, did you happen to see a tall man with a feather in his hat and a scar on his face?"

To his astonishment the maid nodded.

"Yes, there was such a one. He was sitting back there in the corner with two others. Gloomy-looking men. I think they were soldiers. They had sabers, and the tall one, he had a long scar that went all across his face. And he limped a little. He looked like the devil had sent him here..."

"Were they involved in the brawl?"

The maid shook her head.

"No, they only watched, they did. But after the fight they left pretty quickly. They did-"

"That'll do, Resl. You may go back to work," the burgomaster intervened.

When the maid had left, he looked at Simon angrily.

"What sort of questions are those? Where does that get us? It was the Stechlin woman, and that's that. What we need is peace and quiet back in our town, and you and your questions will only cause further anxiety. Keep your hands off that business, Fronwieser. That'll only lead to more problems."

"But we can't even be certain-"

"I said, keep your nose out of it." Karl Semer tapped Simon's chest with a plump index finger. "You and the hangman, you are only causing unrest with your questions. Drop it, do you understand?"

With these words the burgomaster rose to his feet and, without a farewell, withdrew to the upstairs rooms. Simon finished his beer and made ready to leave.

As he was about to step outside, someone tugged at his overcoat. It was Resl, the maid. She looked around anxiously to see if they were being watched.