Anarchist Knight Apprentice by Joe E Bandel

Chapter 18 Visions of the Cave

Tobal thought back to Crow’s initiation, which had just taken place a couple of hours ago. The bonfire’s heat still warmed his memory as the line was forming for entrance. Misty and the High Priest were casting the circle. Ellen was standing as a guard at the circle’s entrance. She motioned for Tobal to come closer.

“Meet me after circle,” she said. “We’ve got some things we need to talk about.”

“Can Rafe come too?” He asked.

She considered and then nodded, “He probably already knows more than I do doesn’t he?”

Tobal nodded and chuckled, “I’ll tell him. We’ll see you later then.”

Together Tobal and Sarah found Fiona, Becca and Nikki and sat with them. They chatted and were telling stories about newbies. They were excited and impressed that Sarah was going to train a newbie in the middle of the winter. They watched as the newbies were initiated.

Later Tobal was introduced to each of the new initiates by Crow, who had just been initiated a couple of hours ago. Ellen had seen both him and Crow with the Lord and Lady above the bonfire during his initiation, and she was certainly going to be asking him about that. Having already astral projected to the cave with Ron, Rachel, and Arthur, Crow was excited to share his version of what they had revealed during the initiation—the cave’s altar pulsed as Rachel spoke—and Crow was eager to talk about it. Tobal urged him to wait till later when they were alone and could talk more quietly and respectfully. Crow agreed, but Tobal could see he was extremely excited.

He tried to speak alone with Fiona and Becca but they were so busy chatting with the others that he gave up in frustration. He wanted to know the two girls better but always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He really enjoyed the few trips they had made to sanctuary together. It seemed with all the partnering going on he was feeling lonely and left out much of the time. It didn’t help that much of this was his own personal choice.

Zee and Kevin were planning on spending the winter together. Their newbies were soloing and being kicked out of the nest. They would probably end up partnering with one of the other newly soloed Apprentices. No one really liked spending the long winter months alone if they could help it. It was an added bonus if romance was involved. Still, spending the winter with a romantic partner had its own drawbacks and many such partnerships did not last till spring. Still not very many wanted to train during the winter either. Perhaps the most common was partnering with friends or newbies during the winter.

The next place he headed was over to the beer barrel for some brew. Butch and Mike were talking with Rafe.

“Mike and I were thinking about holing up for the rest of the winter but we really don’t know where the best place is,” Butch was saying. “We have a few places we want to check out. Someone already claimed the one we were planning to use. They chased us out of there, let me tell you.” He laughed.

“Hey you guys can live in my old base camp for the winter if you want to,” Rafe said. “I’m not living there anymore and spending most of my time either at circle or the Journeyman camp. I have most of my things out of there that I need.”

“Are you sure?” Mike asked eagerly. Rafe was legendary and his camp must be a pretty sweet setup where ever it was.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “Consider it yours. Does either of you know where it is? I didn’t think so. Bring a map and I’ll mark it for you. If you have any trouble finding it Tobal or one of the girls can help you.”

He looked at Tobal and grinned.

“I’m just giving away my campsite to these guys,” he grinned mischievously. “That is if they can find it. The Journeyman degree is so different I don’t need a base camp for the winter.”

“We’ll check it out first thing Rafe,” Butch grinned back. “We’ll find it if it takes us all week.” Then he and Mike left toward the circle with their fresh brews in their hands.

Tobal nodded at Dirk.

“You guys working here now?”

“Yes,” Dirk grinned evilly. “We’re the beer meisters now.”

“What’s that mean?” Tobal asked cautiously.

“We were taken off wood duty and now we make sure no one runs out of beer. Rafe interrupted, “See this beer,” he held up a foamy mug of beer. “This beer is four months old. Beer tastes best when it is four months old. The beer we make won’t be ready until March or April sometime.” He grinned evilly.

“That means we can experiment with the recipe a bit and have some fun with it.” Dirk added, “We’ve got to brew the beer and keep it from freezing so we will be spending the next two months right here. We go through three or four barrels every month at circle. Last month we went through twelve because there were three days of feasting. That used up our reserves.”

“That means we’ve got to work harder than ever,” Rafe said gloomily. Then he brightened up, “That’s why we are going to have some fun with this. I’ve already got some special ingredients in mind.”

Tobal knew there were times when the beer had been absolutely nasty and undrinkable. “I hope you don’t make some of that real nasty stuff that gives people the runs like it did last July.”

Rafe grinned. “We aren’t planning to be around drinking it. We should both be getting our Masters initiation by then. I hear the medics have some real good stuff and they even make some brandy.”

“You’re not serious?” Tobal gasped in horror at the thought. You wouldn’t do that to us would you?” He pleaded with them. Rafe and Dirk were laughing hard now.

“You wait and see,” was all either of them would say.

They talked more about the art of brewing beer in the wilderness. The real issue was getting enough sugar to ferment into alcohol. The sugar content came from boiling maple syrup down into maple sugar in the spring. There were only about three weeks when the sap really flowed and the entire Journeyman community helped in boiling it down.

It was not uncommon to see air sleds carrying buckets of maple sap. The medics even provided plastic buckets with lids from used hospital supplies to be used for barrels and also provided the yeast. The other ingredients were left up to the imagination of the brew miester although the basic recipe was expected to be followed fairly closely. The maple syrup was kept in the same location as the beer and not allowed to freeze.

Tobal shuddered to think of what those two would come up with. Best to enjoy the beer they were serving today which was rich and tasty. He told Rafe he would talk with him sometime later after circle and they could both meet with Ellen to see what she had found out about the rogue attacks. Then he went off looking for the others.

There was no sign of Tara and Nick. Tobal guessed they were snowed in and making the best of it. The weather was bitter cold and the three-day travel to circle was something only the brave or desperate would willingly tackle. Tobal came because it was his social connection to the others, a time to forget his own troubles, celebrate and have some fun with others.

He found Sarah over by the cooking pits slicing off choice pieces of roast and getting some stew. The stew was the main way the clan had vegetables in the winter and everyone contributed from their own stores.

His own stomach started to rumble. “Is the stew any good?”

She glanced at him, “Oh, hi Tobal. Yes, the stew and roast is excellent. Grab a bowl.”

Tobal grabbed one of the large wooden bowls that were stacked nearby and went over to the roast first. He cut several chunks of meat off the roast and filled the bowl to the top with stew. Then he grabbed a wooden spoon and tasted it. She was right. It was delicious.

“Did you get your winter camp setup all right?” He asked her between spoonfuls.

“Butch and Mike helped me get things together and it’s really great! I’m so glad they were able to help because it was a lot of work. Did you hear they are going to get Rafe’s old base camp?”

“Yes, I heard they were going to check it out anyway,” he chuckled, “That is if they can find it. Rafe’s camp is hard to find.”

“I know, that’s what I told them too,” she said. “I had a hard time finding Rafe’s camp the first time I was there. You remember don’t you? It was when I was training with you and we needed to go there and get your old winter supplies. We went together.”

“Oh, that’s right,” he smiled sheepishly. “I must be getting old. I completely forgot about that. We did have some fun and some good times. I bet you miss your father though.”

“It’s kind of surprising but I really don’t miss him that much. In fact there are times I feel he is right here checking up on me. It’s like I can see him with my mind’s eye. I know he’s not really there but part of him is and it helps me.” She started crying and Tobal put his arms around her and comforted her. Finally she stopped and wiped her eyes and nose.

“Sorry about that,” she sniffled. “I guess I miss him more than I thought I did.”

“That’s alright,” he said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.” He changed the subject, “Now that your base camp is ready are you going to partner up for the winter?”

“Actually,” she said, “I’m going to try for my first newbie and see how it goes.”

“Really?”

Tobal was both surprised and pleased that she would try her first newbie during the hardest time of the year. She did have a nice base camp though and plenty of game in the area. She also had enough furs to get her newbie protected from the elements until they could manufacture their own.

“That’s great!” He gave her a big hug and a kiss. “Let me know if you need anything.”

She said she would and they finished their meal chatting about other things. She was happy and in much better health than she had been at the store. Tobal could tell she was thriving out here being around people her own age.

Together they washed the bowls and spoons so others could use them and went over to change into robes for circle.

It was during the party and after the initiations that Tobal, Rafe, and Ellen got together and compared notes.

“I want to check it out myself,” Rafe was telling them both.

“It’s not a good time right now,” Ellen said. “The snow will make it easy to track you to the location and it will no longer be secret. The ice in the pool and the coldness of the water also make it very dangerous. Tobal was lucky he was able to find warm clothes and get a torch going for warmth. He might have died from hypothermia.”

“She’s right Rafe,” he said. “I was lucky to get out of there alive. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t gotten that fire going. Still, Crow and I have been astral projecting to the cave, and I’m itching to explore it with my own feet as soon as possible.”

Ellen continued, “I’ve been keeping a patrol over that area looking for rogues every couple of days. What is interesting is there always seems to be fresh tracks in the area around the lake but I never see anyone. I am convinced they are looking for some secret location they know is there but can’t find. They are looking for the location you found Tobal.” She looked at him with a piercing stare. “There is something very important about that location. Are you sure you have told me everything?”

She tried to be polite, but both Tobal and Rafe knew she was serious and she knew they were withholding information from her. They looked at each other and Tobal shrugged uneasily.

“This gets weird.” He said a bit lamely.

Ellen was looking at him with a let’s get this over with expression. He considered and then gave in. Ellen was someone he trusted even if he didn’t know her that well. He had no reason to believe she would turn him in or cause him harm. She had already been very helpful to him.

“It’s all confused.” He began. “It involves my uncle who used to be the Federation Officer here. He was in charge of the classified work my parents were doing. It involves Sarah’s father who has a very strange shop in Old Seattle.

That’s not all,” he said resignedly. “It also involves Crow’s grandfather, a shaman named Howling Wolf from the local village and the mass murder of all the people living at the old gathering spot by the waterfall. These deaths include my own parents, Crow’s parents, Sarah’s mother and two brother’s that she doesn’t even know she has. Although there is increasing evidence that my own parents are still alive and held prisoner by the Federation. Then there is Arthur, an AI who guards the secret location and controls the force field that surrounds it.”

“Damn,” Rafe whispered in stunned shock. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

Ellen gradually regained her own composure and echoed Rafe’s question, “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“I’ve only just learned about some of it myself,” Tobal said. “I’m still training Crow and didn’t know he was Howling Wolf’s grandson until he told me. We’ve been astral projecting to the cave and met Ron, Rachel, and Arthur, but we’re eager to explore it physically when it’s safer.”

“So that is why you and Crow appeared above the bonfire with the Lord and Lady? Is there anything else you are not telling me,” Ellen persisted. “Do you have any proof what you are saying is true?”

Again Tobal and Rafe looked at each other. Tobal sighed and stood up. “You’d better follow me. We’ll go for a walk and I’ll show you.”

As they walked into the moonlit woods they retraced the steps back to where Tobal had demonstrated the wand to Rafe last month. He showed Ellen the same demonstration he had shown Rafe. There was pure silence as she touched the second hole in the boulder and looked at the steaming circle that seconds ago had been frozen and snow covered. With luck it would be frozen and snow covered again by morning if the wind kept up.

“Let’s go back,” was all she said. The snow crunched eerily under their boots as they made their way back to the fire circle.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the wand before,” Tobal said nervously. “I wanted a chance to examine it first. Everything was so rushed and the rogues were tracing me somehow. Then last circle I tried to meet with you and wasn’t able to.” He stopped as she waved a weary hand to silence him.

“We can be pretty certain the rogues are able to monitor any of us that are wearing med-alert bracelets,” she said finally. “That’s why we never see any of them. They know we are coming and hide. We can also be pretty sure they are from the same mountain complex we use as our own base.”

Tobal and Rafe looked at each other in puzzlement. Ellen noticed and continued.

“Just like the Journeymen and the Apprentices, the Masters or medics have a secret meeting place. Ours is part of a mountain complex we thought belonged to the city. I am now thinking it is part of a classified Federation military operation of some type. We are only allowed access to the emergency room in the hospital and one wing where we have our own personal quarters and do rituals. I suppose it makes things much easier for them to keep an eye on us when we live right there with them.”

She looked at Rafe, “I’ve told Tobal this already. The area around the lake by the waterfall and several other locations including the village are forbidden and we have orders to prevent people from going there.”

“I didn’t realize Crow came from the other village,” she said. “That might complicate things if he ever decides to go back and visit.”

She put her hands on her temples rubbing them as if she had a massive migraine coming on. “Let’s just leave it like this for now,” she said at last. “We can talk about it later next month. I really need to think about what you have told me and shown me. This sounds like something very dangerous to be mixed up in.”

Rafe interrupted, “Can you mark on my map those other forbidden places? I might not be able to check them out but I would like to know where they are.”

Ellen stared intently at Rafe a few minutes and then nodded, “Most of them are not accessible on foot though so it won’t do you any good. Bring me your map and I will mark it later.”

“And you,” she turned to Tobal, “What are you planning to do with that device you found? Have you thought about that? It is not safe to have it around or to carry it with you.”

“I’d like to think about it for another month,” he said thoughtfully. “I know I can’t keep it after I’m a Journeyman because I won’t have a good place to hide it. I’ll let you know soon.”

The three of them had a lot on their minds as they broke up the meeting and went back to join the others at the drumming circle. Tobal felt thirsty and went looking for fresh brew and light conversation. Later he even joined in with the dancing although he kept his robe on. So did many of the others as the wind was chill and it was several degrees below zero.

He and Crow said their good-byes and left the circle early the next morning right after the group meditation with the usual hugs and kisses to the girls. A faint cave echo lingered during the meditation. The days were getting shorter and there was only six hours of light for useful travel. As they snowshoed their way back to Tobal’s winter camp they talked about Crow’s initiation and his conversations with the Lord and Lady.

“They are worried about you,” Crow said to Tobal suddenly.

“Who is worried about me? What are you talking about?”

The Lord and Lady, they are worried about you. They say that you need a soul retrieval. An important part of your soul is missing.

“What is a soul retrieval?”

“That is when a shaman goes on a soul journey and brings back a part of someone’s soul that has been missing or stolen. My grandfather trained me in the spirit journey method and I can do this for you. The Lord and Lady want me to do this for you. Having astral projected to the cave with them, I’ve felt their guidance, but I’d love to stand there in person. You will let me do this won’t you?” He implored looking searchingly at Tobal.

Tobal was a bit uncomfortable talking about things he didn’t understand. “I need to think about it ok? What else did the Lord and Lady have to say?”

Crow was very excited, “They told me to tell you they are still alive! They are very weak and not in good health but they are alive. They are trapped somewhere and can’t free themselves. They use the energy generated by the circle and by the cave to communicate with us. Not many can see or hear them though. Usually it is only the High Priest and High Priestess that can see them or hear them.

“I have never heard them or felt them so strongly,” he told Tobal with tears in his eyes. “We do not have circle like this at our village. Our circle is different and they don’t come to us as strongly. They showed me my parents again, Tobal. They let me speak with my parents again.”

“But I thought your parents were dead,” Tobal asked slowly?

“They are in the Summerland,” Crow replied. It is where the spirit goes after the physical body dies. My parents are happy there but they miss my sister and me. They told me there is danger for all of us coming soon and we must be prepared. The Lord and Lady will help us if they can but we must learn how to talk to them and listen to what they have to say. I need to teach you and your friends the ways of the shaman so you are ready when the time comes.”

Tobal didn’t know what to say. The thought that his parents might still be alive seemed more and more certain since they were talking with him as well. It still stunned him that his parents were the Lord and Lady and that Crow was able to carry on conversations not only with them, but with Crow’s own dead parents as well. He felt them now, the Lord and Lady, at the back of his mind urging him to believe. Oh, how he wanted to believe but did he dare? Having visited them astrally in the cave, he longed to see them physically, but these thoughts troubled him as they made their journey home through the bitter cold and snow. The only time he saw them in happy visions was during circle or his visits to the cave. Shadows of chains flickered in all his other contacts and visions of them, nightmarish and haunting.

He spent the second month with Crow gaining advanced knowledge in the art of survival and craftsmanship. Crow had grown up in a community that lived a primitive life close to nature. His training had went beyond simple survival into quality of life areas such as art and decorative clothing and functional tools such as hand axes made of flint with razor edges and the knowledge of how to sharpen them. There were fun things too such as games, drums, whistles, flutes and other items carved from wood.

In the evenings he worked on the small carvings he intended to give to his friends at Yule. He also very much improved the look of his wardrobe seeking to match the stylish clothing Crow created so easily from the leathers and furs they had caught over the past two months.

Mostly though, in the evening he listened to the stories of the old ones and of the Lord and Lady of the Oak. They both astral projected to the cave and were taught by his parents and by Arthur. They taught them both things and protected them in the wilderness. Crow said they also talked with his grandfather. His grandfather knew Arthur and knew his parents were still alive but it was not time to free them yet. They had to wait for Lucas and Carla. A glimpse of a fiery realm flickered during one projection.

Tobal asked questions and tried to make sense of as much of it as he could. Crow offered to teach him special meditations that would prepare him for the time when the Lord and Lady would talk with him also. Having already astral projected to the cave, Tobal accepted gladly and each night they would practice astral projecting to the other realms and other shaman practices Crow felt were important.

“The soul has many parts.” Crow told him one evening. “The soul was divided into 120 fragments and scattered through all nine realms. These are hidden and must be found. Each of these fragments must be strong and complete and full of energy before the soul can travel to the different realms. A surge of clarity hit me when I found one fragment.”

Howling Wolf, my grandfather, found and developed all the parts of his soul until he was filled solid and complete like a crystal. His soul was so hard and packed with energy it was like his physical body. It too could travel and he could be in two places at the same time. The Lord and Lady called this bi-location and wanted to learn it from grandfather.

Grandfather told them it was an ancient mystery of shaman since the dawn of time. Grandfather knew about the sanctuary training program that your parents created and he approved of it. He said it helped to gather and develop all the missing soul fragments in the lower realms, but not the higher ones. He told your parents the soul could not travel until all of the parts were completed and filled with energy. That was why things were not working right for your parents in their research.

Grandfather offered to teach them the ways of the shaman to retrieve the higher missing soul fragments and they accepted. He came to them in secret and taught several of them and several other in the secret meeting place near the lake. Soon the Lord and Lady were more powerful than Howling Wolf. They were scientists and discovered ways to use machines to force even more energy into the soul and physical body than ever before. Then they were contacted by the Time Knights.”

Crow continued his story as Tobal listened in fascination.” Grandfather had only been able to bi-locate or spirit travel to the point where he could be in two places at once. His spirit body that traveled was made of energy so tightly packed and compressed that it could be seen and felt like a physical body. It was a physical body made completely of energy. When he traveled he used this physical body of energy and left his normal physical body at home sleeping.

“The Lord and Lady used machines to develop this process to the point where the actual physical body would disappear and appear some other place. Later at the secret meeting place they were able to take others with them on journeys to strange and wonderful places and bring things back with them. The Time Knights came and shared their own technology with Ron and Rachel.

“Grandfather says he still goes on journeys to some of those places he visited with the Lord and Lady. He has taken my sister to some of those places too but it is very secret and he says I am too young to go on such journeys yet.

Now my sister goes on journeys by herself without grandfather and he worries about her because the journeys are dangerous. He says my parents and the others at the lake were killed because they knew these things and that if the evil ones knew about us they would try to kill us as well.”

“There is a mighty secret hidden in the cave at the lake,” he said seriously to Tobal. “I can find it but you must explain it to me. That is what grandfather told me. Having visited it astrally with Ron, Rachel, and Arthur, we know it’s real, but I’d love to see it with my own eyes. We can go now if you want.”

“We can’t go now,” Tobal told him gently and pointed to the med-alert bracelets they both were wearing. “These bracelets let the medics and the evil ones know where we are at all times and we can’t take them off. If we take them off the medics will come looking to see what is wrong. If we don’t wear them we can’t become citizens of Heliopolis. You remember that is what your grandfather wanted you to do?” He asked.

” That area by the lake is forbidden and they don’t want us to go there. It is because of the great secret you are telling about.” He told Crow about his experience with the air sleds during his visit of the abandoned gathering spot the first time. When he told Crow about his second visit the boy’s eyes looked like burning coals as Tobal described the cave and the altar.

“That is the cave we visit in our astral journeys,” he said. “My grandfather goes to a cave much like the one you have described. But it is a secret and he has not told me its location. I am not old enough he says, although my sister has gone and she described it to me. It has the same symbol you speak of above the altar itself. Perhaps it is the same cave?”

“I don’t think so,” Tobal replied. “When I was in the cave it looked like no one had been there for many years.”

“I want to see the grave of my parents in person. Will you take me?” Crow asked Tobal suddenly.

“I have wanted to go back many times myself,” he said to Crow, ” but I am afraid it will not work in the winter time. I’ve spoken much about this with my friend Rafe and Ellen. They both believe it is very dangerous and we must wait until we are medics and have our own air sleds. Then we can work together and protect each other if needed. Having astral projected there, I’m eager to stand at their graves in person, but any other way seems too dangerous and likely that we will get caught. It is especially dangerous in the wintertime when the snow will give away our location and leave tracks. I will mark it on your map though so you know where it is.”

“Then let’s become medics,” Crow said determinedly. “Let’s learn the mysteries and ways of the evil ones so that we may defeat them.”

Tobal chuckled, “So we will, so we will. But now it’s time to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a busy day.”

Madame Bluebeard by Karl Hans Strobl and translated by Joe E Bandel

Ruprecht stood pensively in the dark, then climbed
the stairs, where Jana waited at the top. Sleep was
impossible. First, another glass of wine to calm
himself. The news had shaken him. So much had
surfaced—radiant youth, a blonde girl’s face… it
gleamed like treasure unearthed from a barrow. One
more glass…
“You can go, Jana,” he said.
But Jana stood in the room’s center, staring at his
master.
“What is it?”
“Master… you must come to the cellar. I need to
show you something.”
“Another secret? I’m exhausted. But fine, if you
insist.”
“Not by the stairs,” Jana said. “Better no one
knows you went with me. Over there…”
Beside the heavy cabinet with armored men was a
hidden panel door, so well-concealed Ruprecht had
only found it after careful search. Even Helmina
claimed ignorance. “This old castle may hold more
such secrets,” she’d said. Indeed, Ruprecht had found
similar features in other rooms—secret doors,
pivoting paintings, hollow walls, the full medieval
romantic apparatus spared by the imaginative Count
Erwin Moreno during renovations. It was the era of
Grillparzer’s The Ancestress. Such things were a
point of pride. “I find it almost eerie,” Helmina had
remarked. “Eerie? No!” Ruprecht smiled. “Feudal,
high feudal! Pity we don’t have a white lady
heralding the owners’ deaths.” At the flash in
Helmina’s eyes, he’d added, “It’s odd no one’s
noticed… shows how little we heed our
surroundings.”
The castle was a fox’s den, but these secrets were
harmless. Dark stairways led to passages, doors to
hidden chambers, pivoting paintings to empty niches.
If they once held purpose, they were now mere
mood-setters.
Behind the study’s panel door, a narrow spiral
staircase descended past a lightless chamber to a
ground-floor corridor, ending behind old oak
paneling near a garden glass door.
Jana led with a lamp. The steps creaked under
their tread. From the staircase’s end, it was a short
walk to the cellar entrance. Jana hadn’t locked the
rusty iron door, opening it silently, plunging ahead
into the damp dark.
The cellar held many rooms. The first were
stocked with provisions, then wood and coal stores.
At the back, behind a wooden gate, lay the wine,
entrusted to Lorenz’s care. Each barrel bore a neat
label noting vintage and origin. In the rear, bottled
wines nestled in sand, dusty bottles aligned in orderly
groups, their patina-covered labels facing up.
A faint trickling guided Ruprecht through the
bottle rows to the cellar’s end.
Jana raised the lamp, pointing to a dark patch on
the wall. Water had broken through, spurting between
stones, carving a path in the sand. Bottles here were
jumbled, half-submerged in sodden ground. At the far
end, a dark opening gaped. Clearly, water had cleared
a blocked hole in the wall, now cascading in small
falls, widening it as it carried soft muck away. “Have
you been down there?” Ruprecht asked.
“No, Master, but I think we should see where it
leads.” Without hesitation, Jana knelt and crawled
into the hole, lamp in hand. Ruprecht lit his way, arm
extended. He wanted to smile at his servant’s
suspicion and this adventurous probe into the castle’s
depths, but he was strangely tense. As Jana slid
halfway down, he found footing, taking the lamp.
Ruprecht followed swiftly.
They entered a lower, empty cellar, its walls
arching close overhead. Water stood ankle-deep, with
no drain. Ruprecht felt dampness seep through his
shoes.
Jana shone the light around. Nothing. Opposite
was another low doorway, steps leading up.
“Onward,” Ruprecht said, seized by explorer’s
zeal.
The next room was empty too, its air stifling, the
lamp dim. They searched the vault, squeezing
through a narrow gap into another chamber.
More vaults followed—some up, some down, a
passage, then more rooms.
Finally, they descended slick steps deep below.
Ruprecht tested the walls. “We must be near the
tower. These stones are giant-laid.”
Jana stood by a small wall opening, too narrow to
crawl through. He thrust his arm with the lamp into
the dark, casting wary glances like harpoons.
“Nothing,” Ruprecht said. “Let’s turn back. I’m
soaked.”
Jana turned, horror in his gaze. “Master,” he said,
“look here.”
Ruprecht approached, craning past Jana’s
outstretched arm. The lamp’s light didn’t reach far.
Nothing was visible in its glow. Beyond the lit circle,
something seemed to emerge—a yellowish shape,
like a rotting pumpkin… a human face, grimacing in
distortion.
Ruprecht recoiled. “Jana,” he said, gripping the
Malay’s arm, “there’s a corpse.”
“I see three dead men,” Jana nodded.
“Jana—Jana!” Ruprecht leaned against the wall,
staring into the Malay’s face.
“Yes… Master!”
Only their breathing and the lamp’s faint, anxious
hum broke the deep silence.
“It could be from long ago…” Ruprecht said
finally. “Castles like this didn’t coddle prisoners.
Bodies can preserve for centuries in cellar air. I’ve
seen it often.”
Jana peered through the opening again. “Master,”
he said, “their clothes are like yours. The people in
the yellow hall’s paintings wear different ones.”
“We can’t get in,” Ruprecht said, eyeing the
massive, unyielding stones. “Impossible without
tools.”
“Leave the dead in peace, Master! It’s enough you
know three corpses lie under this thick tower. You
should leave this castle.”
“It’s Helmina’s castle, Jana! Helmina’s castle! I
see you think she knows.”
“Yes! She’ll kill you, Master! Come away. Return
to India.”
“No, Jana, I can’t. I must see if you’re right. This
adventure must be faced.”
“You’ll be careless… you’ll betray yourself…
then you’re lost.”
Ruprecht straightened. “Haven’t I proven I can
keep silent? You’ll see! It’s good I know this… Let’s
go back. Take my wet suit, erase all traces, Jana…
No one must know we were here tonight… Besides, I
can’t believe you’re right. Helmina knows nothing of
this… it’s nonsense. People don’t just vanish
nowadays.”
Jana met his master’s gaze. Horror gave way to
iron resolve. Ruprecht’s face was taut but calm, as
Jana knew from Indian jungle hunts.

Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers and translated by Joe E Bandel

The professor laughed and said, “She brings money into the
house.”
He knew very well that these things happened in a natural way,
that it was only the result of his intense occupation with these things
of the earth. But still there was some connection with the little
creature and he played with the thought.
He took a very risky speculation and bought enormous properties
along the broad path of Villen Street. He had the earth dug up and
every handful of dirt searched. He did business taking great calculated
risks, putting a mortgage bank back on a sound financial basis when
everyone else thought it would go bankrupt in a very short time. The
bank held together. Whatever he touched went the right way.
Then through a coincidence he found a mineral water spring on
one of his properties in the mountains. He had it barreled and hauled
away. That is how he came into the mineral water line buying up
whatever was available in the Rhineland until he almost had a
monopoly in that industry. He formed a little company, hung a
nationalistic cloak around it, declaring that a person had to make a
stand against the foreigners, the English that owned Apollonaris.
The little owners flocked around this new leader, swore by “His
Excellency”, and when he formed a joint company gladly allowed
him to reserve the controlling shares for himself. It was a good thing
they did, the Privy Councilor doubled their dividends and dealt
sharply with the outsiders that had not wanted to go along.
He pursued a multitude of things one right after the other–they
had only one thing in common–they all had something to do with the
earth. It was just a whim of his, this thought that Alraune drew gold
out of the earth and so he stayed with those things that had something
to do with the earth. He didn’t really believe it for a second, but he
still entered into even the wildest speculation with the certain
confidence that it would succeed as long as it dealt with the earth.
He refused to deal with anything else without even looking into
it, even highly profitable stock market opportunities that appeared
with scarcely the slightest risk. Instead he bought huge quantities of
extremely rotten mining concerns, buying into ore as well as coal,
then trading them in a series of shady deals. He always came out–
“Alraune does it,” he said laughing.
Then the day came when this thought became more than a joke
to him. Wölfchen was digging in the garden, behind the stables under
the large mulberry tree. That was where Alraune wanted to have her
subterranean palace. He dug day after day and once in awhile one of
the gardener’s boys would help.
The child sat close by; she didn’t speak, didn’t laugh, just sat
there quietly and watched. Then one evening the boy’s shovel gave a
loud clang. The gardener’s boy helped and they carefully dug the
brown earth out from between the roots with their bare hands. They
brought the professor a sword belt, a buckle and a handful of coins.
Then he had the place thoroughly dug up and found a small treasure –
genuine Gaelic pieces, rare and valuable. It was not really
supernatural. Farmers all around sooner or later found something,
why shouldn’t there be something hidden in his garden as well?
But that was the point. He asked the boy why he had dug in that
particular spot under the mulberry tree and Wölfchen said the little
one wanted him to dig there and nowhere else. Then he asked Alraune
but she remained silent.
The Privy Councilor thought she was a divining rod, that she
could feel where the earth held its treasure. He laughed about it. Yes,
he still laughed. Sometimes he took her along out to the Rhine along
Villen Street and over to the ground where his men were digging.
Then he would ask dryly enough,” Where should they dig?”
He observed her carefully as she went over the field to see if her
sensitive body would give some sign, some indication, anything that
might suggest–
But she remained quiet and her little body said nothing, later
when she understood what he wanted she would remain standing on
one spot and say, “Dig.”
They would dig and find nothing. Then she would laugh lightly.
The professor thought, “She’s making fools of us.” But he always dug
again where she commanded. Once or twice they found something, a
Roman grave, then a large urn filled with ancient silver coins.
Now the Privy Councilor said, “It is coincidence.”
But he thought, “It could also be coincidence.”
One afternoon as the Privy Councilor stepped out of the library
he saw the boy standing under the pump. He was half-naked with his
body bent forward. The old coachman pumped, letting the cold stream
pour over his head and neck, over his back and both arms. His skin
was blazing red and covered with small blisters.
“What did you do Wölfchen?” He asked.
The boy remained quiet, biting his teeth together, but his dark
eyes were full of tears.
The coachman said, “It’s stinging nettles. The little girl beat him
with stinging nettles.”
Then the boy defended himself, “No, no. She didn’t beat me. I
did it myself. I threw myself into them.”
The Privy Councilor questioned him carefully yet only with the
help of the coachman was he able to get the truth out of the boy. It
went like this:
He had undressed himself down to his hips, thrown himself into
the nettles and rolled around in them, but–at the wish of his little
sister. She had noticed how his hand burned when he accidentally
touched the weed, had seen how it became red and blistered. Then she
had persuaded him to touch them with his other hand and finally to
roll around in them with his naked breast.
“Crazy fool!” The Privy Councilor scolded him. Then he asked if
Alraune had also touched the stinging nettles.
“Yes,” answered the boy, but she didn’t get burned.
The professor went out into the garden, searched and finally
found his foster-child. She was in the back by a huge wall tearing up
huge bunches of stinging nettles. She carried them in her naked arms
across the way to the wisteria arbor where she laid them out on the
ground. She was making a bed.
“Who is that for?” he asked.
The little girl looked at him and said earnestly, “For Wölfchen!”
He took her hands, examined her thin arms. There was not the
slightest sign of any rash.
“Come with me,” he said.
He led her into a greenhouse where Japanese primroses grew in
long rows.
“Pick some flowers,” he cried.
Alraune picked one flower after another. She had to stretch high
to reach them and her arms were in constant contact with the
poisonous leaves. But there was no sign of a burning rash.
“She must be immune,” murmured the professor and wrote a
concise thesis in the brown leather volume about the appearance of
skin rashes through contact with stinging nettles and poison primrose.
He proposed that the reaction was purely a chemical one, that the
little hairs on the stems and leaves wounded the skin by secreting an
acid, which set up a local reaction at the place of contact.
He attempted to discover a connection as to whether and to what
extent the scarcely found immunity against these primroses and
stinging nettles had to do with the known insensibility of witches and
those possessed. He also wanted to know whether the cause of both
phenomenon and this immunity could be explained on an auto-
suggestive or hysterical basis.
Now that he had once seen something strange in the little girl he
searched methodically for things that would validate this thought. It
was mentioned at this spot as an addendum that Dr. Petersen thought
it was completely trivial and disregarded the fact in his report that the
actual birth of the child took place at the midnight hour.
“Alraune, was thus brought into this life in the time honored
manner,” concluded the Privy Councilor.
Old Brambach had come down from the hills; it had taken four
hours to come from beyond the hamlet of Filip. He was a semi-invalid
that went through the hamlets in the hill country selling church raffle
tickets, pictures of saints and cheap rosaries. He limped into the
courtyard and informed the Privy Councilor that he had brought some
Roman artifacts with him that a farmer had found in his field.
The professor had the servants tell him that he was busy and to
wait, so old Brambach waited there sitting on a stone bench in the
yard smoking his pipe. After two hours the Privy Councilor had him
called in. He always had people wait even when he had nothing else
to do. Nothing lowered the price like letting people wait, he always
said.
But this time he really had been busy. The director of the
Germanic museum in Nuremburg was there and was purchasing items
for a beautiful exhibit called “Gaelic finds in the Rhineland”.
The Privy Councilor did not let Brambach into the library but
met with him in the little front room instead.
“Now, you old crippled rascal, let’s see what you have!” he
cried.
The invalid untied a large red handkerchief and carefully laid out
the contents on a fragile cane chair. There were many coins, a couple
of helmet shards, a shield pommel and an exquisite tear vial. The
Privy Councilor scarcely turned to give a quick squinting glance at the
tear vial.
“Is this all, Brambach?” he asked reproachfully and when the old
man nodded he began to heartily upbraid him. He was so old now and
still as stupid as a snotty nosed youngster! It had taken him four hours
to get here and would take him four hours to go back. Then he had to
wait a couple hours as well. He had frittered the entire day away on
that trash there! The rubbish wasn’t worth anything. He could pack it
back up and take it with him. He wouldn’t give a penny for the lot!
How often did he have to tell people again and again, “Don’t run
to Lendenich with every bit of trash?”
It was stupid! It was better to wait until they had a nice
collection and then bring everything in at one time! Or maybe he
enjoyed the walk in the hot sun all the way here and back from Filip?
He should be ashamed of himself.
The invalid scratched behind his ear and then turned his brown
cap in his fingers very ill at ease. He wanted to say something to the
professor, most of the time he was very good at haggling a higher
price for his wares. But he couldn’t think of a single thing, only the
four miles that he had just come–exactly what the professor was now
berating him for. He was completely contrite and comprehended
thoroughly just how stupid he had been so he made no response at all.
He requested only that he be allowed to leave the artifacts there so he
wouldn’t have to haul them back. The Privy Councilor nodded and
then gave him half a Mark.

Madame Bluebeard by Karl Hans Strobl and translated by Joe E Bandel

They discussed the year’s events. Hugo extracted
Helmina’s promise to attend every festivity.
The afternoon passed. They took a short drive.
The weather had cleared, the thinning clouds hinting
at the sun. Hugo wished to prolong the day, but
evening approached, they returned to the castle,
dined, and his departure loomed.
“I feel so at ease here, madam,” Hugo sighed.
“You may return if you enjoyed it,” Helmina
smiled. Then she excused herself. The fresh air had
tired her, she had a headache, and wished to retire.
The men adjourned to Ruprecht’s study. “A cigar,
a glass of wine, eh?” Ruprecht suggested, ringing the
bell. The Malay appeared at the door.
“Tell Lorenz to fetch a bottle of 1882
Schönberger,” Ruprecht said.
“Lorenz isn’t here.”
“Oh, right—he’s on leave. Linz, or somewhere.
Get the keys and fetch it yourself. You’ll find it. It’s
at the back of the cellar, red-sealed.”
Meanwhile, Hugo surveyed the study’s
furnishings. At the café’s regular table, they had an
arts-and-crafts enthusiast skilled in style
comparisons, giving Hugo a rough sense of Gothic,
Renaissance, and Rococo to prove his cultured
credentials. Here were charming relics: a heavy
cabinet with carved columns and armored men on its
doors; a desk with dainty, curved legs and an oddly
uncomfortable top, fit only for brief love notes, not
serious work. For that, Ruprecht used a cozy
Biedermeier desk, its genial polish beside a sleek
black filing cabinet with lapis lazuli and marble-lined
drawers, supported by two gilded, snarling griffins.
“Ancestral heirlooms,” Hugo said. “The castle’s
full of them.”
“Yes… some are exquisite. Next visit, I’ll show
you a Wenzel Jamnitzer goblet. Dankwardt even
started a medal and seal collection. I know too little
about it.”
“These pieces likely came with the castle from
earlier owners?”
“Not many. The Counts of Moreno, from whom
Helmina’s first husband bought it, stripped it bare.
Later owners were collectors, gradually bringing
things back.”
“Fine pieces… truly! They hold their own. The
whole castle…”
“Yes, the castle’s worth seeing.”
“You’re a lucky man… and your wife…” Hugo
stretched in his seventeenth-century armchair. “You
have a delightful wife.”
Ruprecht glanced at him briefly, saying lightly,
“You haven’t fallen for her, have you?”
A reassuring laugh should’ve followed, but it
sounded forced. “It’d be no wonder,” Hugo said, then
continued, “Tell me, aren’t you ever jealous of your
wife’s past? You’re her fourth husband.”
“It’s not my way. I find that kind of jealousy
absurd.”
“But in this castle… everything must remind you
of your predecessors.”
“It wasn’t entirely pleasant at first. Life’s a
ceaseless flow, washing away past impressions
quickly. The past clings more to dead things. These
furnishings and rooms reflect my predecessors far
clearer. In Helmina, they’re dissolved, swept away by
life.”
“Haven’t you thought of building a new home?
One where… only you exist?”
“Helmina’s attached to these walls… oddly so.
She craves city lights, glamour, noise—she had a
wild Carnival. But this castle holds her. She always
returns. She’d never agree to live elsewhere. And… I
find this grim house intriguing. It has charm… it’s,
how to say… an adventure, a romantic danger…”
Ruprecht’s nonchalance emboldened Hugo,
tempting him to play with fire. “And the present… I
mean, Helmina’s present?”
“I don’t follow.”
“Aren’t you jealous of that?”
“Oh, I’m pleased when people pay Helmina
tribute. Besides, I’m certain of her.”
He’s insufferable, Hugo thought, fuming, and it’s
maddening that he’s right.
Jana returned with bottles, fetched glasses from
the armored-men cabinet, and poured. Ruprecht took
a cigar box from a filing cabinet drawer. Hugo
glimpsed a revolver inside.
“You’re armed,” he said. “Even here?”
“Old habit,” Ruprecht smiled. “In Alaska, I
worked months with a rifle beside me…”
As Ruprecht raised his glass to toast Hugo, he
noticed dirty smudges, like wet earth, on Jana’s white
turban.
“Bumped your head, Jana?” he asked.
“I fell, Master,” the Malay replied. “Water’s
seeped into the cellar, washing it out a bit…”
“Hope the bottles don’t float away.”
Hugo hadn’t heard, spreading the subscription
sheet before Ruprecht, who signed.
“Enough?” the castle lord asked.
“Oh, you’re an angel. Thank you. Truly, I name
you chief patron, top of all sponsors… I’ll honor you
somehow, just need to think how.” Hugo launched
into his anthology, its hopes, its prospects for
recognition from high places. His wine-fueled
imagination bloomed like a Jericho rose. This
anthology would be an event. All notable authors
would contribute. Bystritzky had connections, even
inviting Gegely, though that awkward incident…
“Ah, Gegely,” Ruprecht said, suddenly animated
after listening politely. “I’ve heard nothing of him
lately. I don’t read papers—waste of time. What’s
our famous poet up to?”
Hugo slapped the chair’s smooth arms. “You
really don’t know? Nothing about Gegely… my God,
it was a European scandal…”
“I swear, I know nothing…”
“Well, Gegely… it’s unthinkable… psychologists
are baffled. Our great Gegely, our hope, our pride,
poet of Marie Antoinette… what do you think? He…
he took a manuscript from Heidelberg’s university
library… let’s say, accidentally.”
Oh, the thrill of breaking such news first, asserting
one’s importance. It was a hearty delight, a bold
affirmation of self.
How it shook his friend. Ruprecht paled, his brow
damp. “Is it possible…” he stammered, “he stole…?”
“Well—stole? Legally: yes. Psychologically: a
momentary lapse.”
What bliss to cause such a stir. Gegely, another
carefree glutton for wealth, ignorant of the grind of
being rank-bound, salary-tied.
“How could it happen?” Ruprecht asked, still
reeling.
“No idea what possessed him. He could’ve bought
such scraps by the dozen at an antiquarian’s. It
kicked up a storm… a European scandal, as I said.
They tried to save him, of course… spun theories
about the phenomenon… and finally draped a nice
veil over it…”
“What happened to him?”
“He was put in a sanatorium… a ‘U’ became an
‘X,’ as such cases go. You’ll see… Bystritzky invited
him to contribute to the anthology before this
happened. It’s awkward now. If he sends something,
can we accept it?”
“Poor woman,” Ruprecht said thoughtfully,
swirling his wine.
“Frau Hedwig… yes, terrible for her!” A sudden,
delicious thrill hit Hugo. A memory surged. “Frau
Hedwig, the blonde… say, didn’t you once…?” He
squinted gleefully. “It hurt you deeply, didn’t it,
when Gegely took her from you? You were smitten.
Still think of her?”
“Oh, come now!” Ruprecht said softly, stiffening
in resistance. “A youthful acquaintance. It was long
ago… I pity her… having to endure that.” He stood,
pulling out his watch. “If you want to catch your
train, it’s high time to leave.”
Hugo regretted leaving his scene of triumph. He’d
have savored it longer. Ruprecht escorted him to the
courtyard. They lingered, shivering, in the renewed
rain. The carriage emerged from the stable, its dim
lights casting trembling patches at their feet. The
horses snorted, restless, loath to leave the warm
stable. The courtyard felt like a pit’s bottom,
darkness rising in steep walls around them.
“Well, thanks for everything,” Hugo said,
climbing in. “Hand-kiss to your wife. So… our
anthology? What do you think…” He poked his
pinky through his overcoat’s buttonhole. “How’d this
suit me?”
“Splendidly!” Ruprecht replied evenly. “You were
born for a medal…”
“Here’s hoping!” Hugo laughed, closing the
carriage door. The carriage arced around Ruprecht
and out the gate.