Oliver Potzsch - The Dark Monk

“You look like-”

“Like some drunk who has fallen through a barroom window. Thanks, I know.” Simon arose and reached for the broadsword leaning against the bed. “In any case, it’s good we brought the sword along with us,” he said. “I’m sure these men have been after us a long time. They’re looking for the treasure, just as we are.”

He ran his hand along the blade, then scratched away the remainder of the rust with his stiletto until the entire quotation was visible. Individual words were spread out in wide intervals along the blade.

Heredium in baptistae sepulcro…

“The heritage in the grave of the baptist,” he translated aloud. “You can’t say that the riddles are getting any easier.”

“Well then, what do you make of it?” Benedikta asked.

Simon stopped to think. “The heritage could be the treasure. The baptist is, perhaps, John the Baptist-that part is easy. But his grave…?” He frowned. “I’ve never heard anything about John the Baptist’s grave. I presume it’s somewhere in the Holy Land.”

“But we’re in the Priests’ Corner,” Benedikta interrupted. “It has to mean something else. Think!”

Simon rubbed his temples. “Give me some time. Today was a little too much for me…” he said, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he stared at the sword on the bed for a long time. “The coffin of Friedrich Wildgraf under the Saint Lawrence Church contained his bones, but no sword,” he said, running his fingers over the blade again. Now, with the rust scraped away, it gleamed as if it had been forged just the day before. The pommel was set in silver and the cross guard decorated with a number of engravings. He examined them more closely, thinking.

They were Templar crosses.

“Perhaps this sword belonged to the master of the German Templars, Friedrich Wildgraf,” Simon said. “His weapon is the riddle. That would be just like him, big enough.”

“But that still doesn’t solve our problem of what these accursed words mean! We’ve got to go first thing tomorrow-”

Benedikta was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Who might that be?” Simon stood up and went to the door. “Perhaps the innkeeper…I’ll tell him that everything’s all right.”

He opened the door, and there standing before him was not the innkeeper, but someone he would never have expected to see here.

Brother Nathanael cursed, and not for the first time in his life, but as always he asked God for forgiveness right away. He rubbed his left shoulder, which, for a moment, he thought might be dislocated. It hurt like hell but still seemed secure in its socket. When he’d kicked the stranger in the face, Nathanael had fallen onto one of the pews. Climbing up the rope with only one arm had completely exhausted him. Despite the pain, he smiled. At least he’d sent one of those heretical dogs to hell. Now he was standing in a dark corner of the monastery courtyard murmuring the Confiteor.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa …Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault…

The murder, like so many he’d committed, was necessary. Committed in the name of the church. Nevertheless, it was a mortal sin. Tonight, Nathanael would flagellate himself for it.

From where he was located, the monk observed the activity in the courtyard. The noise in the church had quickly attracted some of the Augustinian monks who were already awake for prayers. Despite the late hour, a rather large number of workers, peasants, and the monastery superintendent himself had come running to the church, along with some other monks. Some were already shouting, “The devil, the devil is afoot in Rottenbuch!” A rumor started flying around that God himself wanted to signal his opposition to the superintendent’s building mania.

When the group headed by Michael Piscator entered the church, shouting and wailing could be heard. Nathanael assumed the monks had just come upon the open coffin of St. Felicianus. Admittedly, that was not a very edifying sight. The martyr’s skeleton had fallen to pieces, an act of desecration that probably not even the Pope could forgive. Perhaps, however, the monks’ wailing had more to do with the destruction of the statue of Mary, the overturned church pews, the broken stained-glass window, or the soldier who had been stabbed to death.

And Brother Avenarius was also lying there.

Nathanael was sure he was dead. No man could survive an arrow in the back from a crossbow, especially if he was later found facedown in a baptismal font. Brother Nathanael felt a certain relief. Without the fat Avenarius, he could move faster and more discreetly. And the monk wasn’t much help solving riddles. Now it would be simpler to just follow the medicus and his woman. They’d solve the riddle, and then he’d strike. The only problem was these strangers…

Nathanael’s feelings hadn’t deceived him. They were being watched, and it annoyed him to no end that he hadn’t noticed it earlier. Of course, these men were good fighters, silent and unscrupulous. And like him, they were after the treasure. From now on, he’d have to watch out, even if only two of them remained.

Once more he tried to remember how the skirmish in the church had unfolded. When Nathanael observed the three men climbing into the church, he hurried in after them. But the fat monk had a hard time climbing the scaffolding, and they lost sight of the strangers in the dark nave. It was Brother Avenarius who finally found them again in his own way. He stepped on the foot of one of the men hiding behind a curtain!

After that everything happened very fast. Brother Avenarius wound up floating in the baptismal font with an arrow through his chest, and Rottenbuch experienced its darkest day since the Swedes’ attack.

The monastery bells began sounding the alarm. Nathanael turned away from the excited crowd in the forecourt, which was now brightly lit with torches. For a moment, he considered returning to their quarters, which were not far from where Simon and Benedikta were staying. He and Avenarius had introduced themselves as itinerant Dominicans and been assigned two beds in the monastery by the Augustinians. But now that Avenarius lay dead in the church for all to see, a return to the monastery would probably be too risky. Thus, Nathanael found a barn nearby where he could await the coming day in a bed of warm straw.

As he was about to slip through a narrow barn door, he saw something outside that warmed his heart. Help was near! He sent a quick prayer to heaven and kissed the golden cross on his chest.

God hadn’t forsaken him.

“You owe me an explanation,” said Augustin Bonenmayr.

Like an angry schoolmaster, the abbot of Steingaden stared down through his pince-nez at Simon, whose mouth had dropped open. Without waiting for a reply, the abbot entered the room, closing the door behind him. Benedikta sat on the bed, mortified. Outside, the bells had started to ring.

“After your hasty departure, the superintendent told me about the poor Madame de Bouillon whose children were incurably ill. I was understandably quite surprised!” Bonenmayr said, starting to pace. “I asked myself why a woman from Landsberg, wife of a deceased wine merchant, whose brother had died in Altenstadt, had suddenly come up with such a story.” He turned to Benedikta. “Or are you perhaps this Madame de Bouillon, after all, and you lied to me, then? Speak up!”

Benedikta could only shake her head silently.

“Your Excellency, let me explain-” Simon started to say, only to be interrupted by Bonenmayr.

“My astonishment changed to distrust when, half an hour ago, the remains of Saint Felicianus were desecrated in a manner more diabolical than anything the world has ever seen!” The abbot shook his head as if he had just looked down into the jaws of hell. “The desecration of the very remains that your loyal companion, Madame Bouillon, wanted to view this morning. What an astonishing coincidence!” Bonenmayr looked from one to the other. “So tell me now, what is going on here? Speak up before I forget that our dear Savior preached love and forgiveness!”