Morbus Dei: The Sign of Aries. Matthias Bauer

a reunion. Two musicians were playing chirpy melodies on the fiddle and the chalumeau, lending an air of melancholy to the proceedings.

      Johann gazed around. He smiled at the children clapping in time with the music, the men drinking and the maids dancing, knowing all the while that what he wanted most was to be up and away and looking for Elisabeth. He felt a sense of pressure building up inside him, making him restless.

      Markus sat beside him, gnawing at the last rib of the roast lamb. Victoria Annabelle was fast asleep under a coarse blanket, her head in her father’s lap.

      Hans and Karl were embracing each other and laughing and knocking back the booze.

      The Prussian still hadn’t come round and the physician was snoring loudly as he kept watch over him inside the house.

      Von Binden looked pensively at Johann ‘Don’t do it, you’ll come unstuck.’

      Johann gave a start, as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. Von Binden shook his head. ‘You won’t be able to accomplish anything on your own. You must be patient. Together you’ll be able to find her.’

      ‘Perhaps that’ll be too late, milord Count.’

      ‘Perhaps,’ replied the Count, biting off a bit of tobacco. ‘But if you go it alone you’re bound to fail.’

      Johann gazed into the fire. He knew von Binden was right. And he cursed him for it.

      Von Binden spat at the floor, then he raised his tankard with a grin. ‘And please call me Samuel!’

      V

      ‘Save your strength, you’re going to need it.’ Von Pranckh’s words hammered in Johann’s head.

      Then he saw the glint of the instrument in his enemy’s hand as he strode towards him, and the walls of the dungeon started to close in.

      A burning pain overwhelmed his senses, leaving him gasping as von Pranckh rammed and twisted the blade into his side.

      He paused briefly, waiting for the pain to subside, before twisting the iron spiral a bit further into Johann’s flesh.

      Johann knew that this time there was no escape.

      Forgive me, Elisabeth.

      Waves of scalding pain washed over his body. Everything was spinning, and he felt the release of unconsciousness beckoning him.

      And again the pain came … again and–

      Johann opened his eyes wide. Victoria Annabelle was standing in front of him, poking him in the shoulder with the stick that she had tried yesterday to balance on her nose. A mischievous smile flitted across her face when she realised he was awake and she dashed back into the hut.

      Johann touched his shoulder, feeling the wound he’d got from von Pranckh.

      It was still painful.

      He gazed round. The rays of the rising sun glanced pleasantly off the little cottages of Deutsch-Altenburg, and the straw beneath him was warm and soft. Yesterday’s camp fire was still smouldering and a smoky haze lay over everything.

      It was quiet in the village, except for a few gypsy women chatting and laughing as they did their washing in the Danube. Johann got up and stretched. He could feel a gentle throbbing in his head, probably from the tankard of wine which he had drained yesterday with von Binden. Or the one after it.

      He went into the barber surgeon’s cottage. On the table where yesterday the Prussian had lain was a wooden tureen of steaming beer soup. Leonardus, von Binden, Victoria Annabelle, Hans and Karl were already seated round the table, the effects of yesterday evenings’ celebrations still apparent in the men’s faces.

      Without a word, Johann perched himself on a stool and ladled some soup into the bowl in front of him. Then he crumbled some bread into it and stirred it with a spoon.

      ‘We thank you, oh Lord, for this meal,’ murmured the physician, crossing himself. The others followed suit.

      Johann took a gulp of soup and the small beer tasted full-flavoured and hearty. He gazed at the faces round the table, all trace of yesterday’s frivolity gone, their minds back on their escape and everything they had left behind them.

      ‘Ah, risen from the dead!’ exclaimed Leonardus suddenly.

      Everyone gazed towards the figure staggering out of the back room–it was the Prussian.

      ‘Heinz, you old–!’ cried Johann, springing to his feet and running to help his friend. The Prussian waved him off grumpily, cuffing him on the collar with his right hand. ‘Save that for old women and the Tyrolese yokels, deserter!’

      ‘I’ll let you off that sort of cheek today but that’s all you’ll get away with,’ retorted Johann, giving him a hug.

      ‘Isn’t love a wonderful thing?’ joked Karl. Hans and Victoria Annabelle giggled.

      ‘Come and sit down. How are you feeling?’ inquired Leonardus, peering at him.

      ‘I’m feeling more or less okay,’ replied the Prussian, ‘it’s not the first time I’ve been shot at.’

      ‘But it could have been the last,’ retorted the barber surgeon.

      ‘My time obviously wasn’t up yet,’ said the Prussian, grinning. Then he sat down at the table, slowly and stiffly like a very old man.

      ‘More or less okay? Well I’ll be damned!’ murmured Leonardus.

      The Prussian looked at him grimly and Johann pushed a bowl of steaming soup towards him. The Prussian picked up a spoon, dipped it into the soup and lifted it unsteadily to his mouth. He swallowed and beamed with satisfaction. ‘And now I’m starting to feel even better,’ he said, spooning the soup more quickly into his mouth.

      The others grinned.

      When the Prussian had finished, he put down his spoon. ‘And now, tell me what happened! I know we almost made it, we’d almost reached the barge when the bullet caught me. I had to let go of Elisabeth and–’

      He stopped mid-sentence and glanced round.

      ‘Elisabeth?’

      Von Binden shook his head. The Prussian looked at Johann, whose eyes had now assumed a fixed stare.

      ‘Johann, is she–’

      ‘Dead? No, not as far we know,’ cut in von Binden, answering for Johann.

      ‘I don’t understand–’

      ‘She was captured by some soldiers, we only just managed to drag you to the barge in time,’ said Hans.

      ‘They dragged her towards a black carriage, as far we could make out,’ Karl continued.

      ‘Has it all been for nothing then?’ The Prussian was stunned.

      ‘No, my friend, for as soon as you’re well again I’m going to look for her–and I’m going to find her, even if I have to go to hell and back again,’ said Johann with a determination that defied all doubt.

      ‘What are we waiting for then?’ asked the Prussian, standing up and staggering so much that he had to sit back down again. Bright flashes of light flickered before his eyes. He took a few deep breaths, then he felt someone press something into his hand. ‘Drink!’ he heard the physician say.

      With a trembling hand, the Prussian raised the mug and took a gulp. It was wine, and it tasted atrocious–but it made the flashes of light disappear.

      ‘The heroic deeds will have to wait a couple of days,’ said Leonardus, taking the wine from the Prussian and gulping some down himself.

      ‘Yes, listen to the barber surgeon and don’t be as–stubborn as a ram,’ joked Hans, beginning to laugh.

      ‘Just be as gentle as a lamb,’ added Karl, thumping his thigh.

      The Prussian looked at Johann in bewilderment but Johann waved his hand. ‘I’ll explain later.’

      The