Asa’s eyes kept closing. The events of the previous night were demanding their rightful tribute—but suddenly she felt warm soft lips touching her own. She knew, she could smell, that it was Bathseda kissing her. The attraction was now mutual, and Asa gave herself up to the other girl’s caresses.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before,” the raven-haired beauty whispered tenderly. “You have won my heart, Asa. Now you must win the last test.”
“Will your father honor his part of the bargain?”
Bathseda hesitated. “I suppose so. I am still your hostage.”
“Does he value you highly enough?”
Again the other girl hesitated.
That was enough of a response for Asa, before she slipped into deep slumber, broken only by her companion’s kisses.
Toward evening Asa opened her eyes and stared out of the car window. The limousine was parked at the edge of a lake. A floodlit church tower rose up from the water, and a floating platform surrounded by railings had been erected around the exterior of the building.
Bathseda was waiting on the pebble-strewn beach, and nearby a motorboat rocked on the rippling waves. The car was buffeted by a strong wind whistling through the surrounding trees, and it caught Bathseda’s jet-black hair.
Asa already had an idea what the next challenge was to be—to spend the night in the drowned church.
She stepped out of the car and walked over to Bathseda, who took her hand at once. “This is the Störmthaler See,” the girl explained softly. “Once upon a time they quarried coal here. Many villages were sacrificed to the mining, the houses demolished and the people evacuated. That’s the story, anyway.”
“It’s not true?”
“No. The ground here opened up and swallowed the villages, killing everyone. The authorities started the myth about mining. They brought in excavators and diggers to explain the hole. Many years later they flooded the whole blighted region.”
“Nobody asked questions about the people who used to live here?”
“No. All sorts of lies were made up to cover their disappearance.”
Bathseda pointed to the artificial island. “That’s where the parish of Magdeborn originally had their church. It was the first building to go. What you see here is a monument to mark the place where the disaster began.” She gave Asa a long kiss, placing a hand gently on the nape of the other girl’s neck to pull her closer. “Survive the night. But be warned—there’s a terrible monster that lives in the lake. It is the reason that the ground around here opened up in the first place. Even today it sometimes swallows the occasional careless swimmer, or a fisherman along with his boat.”
Asa nodded and strode over to the motorboat, the wind tugging at her body and whipping her hair across her face.
Stepping in to the small craft, she started the outboard motor and was quickly chugging across the choppy surface. The increasingly powerful waves crashed against the hull of the boat and spray hit her face, blinding her momentarily. Asa imagined the monster hidden by the murky waters and creeping along the lakebed beneath her fragile nutshell of a craft. The idea gave her a thrill.
She was getting closer to the dark island with its fake bell tower. It was about forty-five feet tall, a floating construction made of wood and plaster anchored by chains to the bed of the lake.
Asa brought the boat alongside the platform and tied up to the railings. She stepped quickly across the wooden boards and entered the tower.
Immediately she noticed wet footprints on the dusty floor. Then the darker patches.
Turning around, she saw the guard from the memorial lying out of breath and exhausted among upturned chairs. His suit was dripping wet—he must have swum over to the island. There was blood pouring from a gaping wound in his side.
She hurried over and knelt down next to the badly injured man. “What on earth—?”
“You must not succeed in this final test,” he groaned, obviously in intense pain. “Faust’s curse is as nothing compared to what will happen if you do.”
“But my brother and I will die if—”
“Your lives are not important,” the guard interrupted her, clinging hard to her arm. “Whatever happens, Barabbas must not gain control of Leipzig.”
“Just who is he?”
“You don’t recognize the name? He is one of the criminals Pontius Pilate set free in place of Jesus. He is under a curse and cannot die. He’s condemned to roam the earth for eternity, doing evil.” The man’s words came quickly and were difficult to understand. Asa had to concentrate to make sense of what he was saying. “Over the centuries he has made many pacts with fellow demons, but he always broke his promises, and sometimes he was tricked by the devils, too. Mephistopheles is his arch-enemy. If Barabbas were to break the Faustian spell and take control of the town, it would be his greatest triumph.”
Asa suddenly wondered just how old Bathseda was. “He and his daughter—”
“She is the daughter of Mephistopheles,” the guard interrupted her. “He has tricked her into remaining with him and she has no choice but to keep up the charade.” The man coughed and convulsed with pain. “Barabbas will raze Leipzig to the ground to celebrate his victory. Everyone will perish!” His grip on Asa’s arm was growing painful. “Fail in this last test, or the whole town and all its people will be destroyed!” A final gasp of breath left his lips and his eyes rolled back.
Asa loosened the dead fingers from her arm. “What shall I do?” she murmured.
Searching through the pockets of the dead man, she found nothing to indicate how the guard had been so well-informed.
The hour of midnight struck above her.
The wind dropped abruptly and the sudden deathly quiet was like that following a disaster, or the final scream of a murder victim.
Asa stepped outside, eager to find out what spectacle might await her.
The whole lake was a luminous jade-green, glowing from below as if the sun had set in a sea of ink. Coils of mist rose and floated over the surface, making her head spin, but she did not waver. She held fast to the platform’s railings.
Suddenly the waters divided.
A gargantuan creature shot up from the depths, half-fish, half-monstrosity; something Asa had never even seen in any book before. It displaced the shimmering waters of the lake. Seven ice-gray eyes stared down out of an ugly visage forty feet above her. The jaws opened, revealing rows of long, sharp teeth.
“You dare to measure your strength against mine, wretched human?” the creature thundered.
“Yes, I dare.” Asa smiled, even though its booming voice hurt her ears. This was quite some monster—awesome!
“And you are prepared to risk death, worthless worm?” The monstrosity lifted its tentacles and whipped the surface of the lake, sending clouds of spray over her, soaking her through. Waves washed over the boards of the platform.
Yet Asa stood firm. “Yes.”
“The cruelest of deaths? The sharpest pain and the worst of tortures?” The monster opened its mouth wider and displayed teeth that were certainly strong enough to crunch through wood.
“If need be.”
“You might end up between my fangs. Or I might swallow you whole and you’ll rot away in my stomach.” The creature was enjoying itself. “And I’ll—”
Asa interrupted the beast. “You’re wasting my precious time.” She was sizzling with excitement. “Get to the point.”
The monster rose up further still out of the bubbling water, much taller even than the Völkerschlachtdenkmal. “So you really and truly are willing to risk life and soul in combat with me?” it screamed out. “This is my last warning, puny human!”
Asa nodded firmly, though she had no idea what would happen next. She spat out the lake water she’d had to swallow while being splashed. Not yet loosening her grip on the railings, she slipped the silver brass knuckles onto her fingers. Given the size of the monster, they would probably be too small to have any effect anyway. Let him swa
llow me up. I’ll punch my way out of his belly! she thought.
Amazingly, the creature sank back down in front of her very eyes, turning and twisting in the water and sending up huge waves that swamped the man-made island. The tentacles lashed the air close by her, but she kept a tight hold on the railings and stood her ground despite the raging floodwater.
Screaming at the top of its voice, the creature thrashed around in the glowing jade-green waters, sending up more violent waves. It opened its gaping mouth wide to release a ghastly sound, together with the stink of rotting fish and fetid water.
Asa was expecting it to attack her at any second, and she wiped the spray out of her eyes to be ready for it. “Bring it on!” she yelled, competing with the creature’s mighty roar.
“I’m going to eat you up!” boomed the monster, racing through the turbulent waves toward her, fast as a torpedo.
Asa could hardly believe her eyes, but … the closer her monstrous opponent came, the smaller it appeared to be.
It shrank and shrank until eventually it was the size of a small fish, which catapulted itself out of the lake and landed, flapping wildly, at her feet.
Asa wasted no time, but stamped her foot down on the ridiculously helpless monster, crushing it to slime beneath her heel.
Abruptly the windows of the church tower streamed with brilliant light and the air was filled with the ringing of what sounded like a hundred cathedral bells.
The lake monster fed purely on its victims’ fear! Since Asa had never been afraid, not even for a second, the beast had had no power over her and had ceased to exist.
All three ordeals had been successfully withstood!
She jumped into the small boat and started back to dry land, where she hoped to find Bathseda waiting for her.
When she reached the shore she found not only her darling girl but also Barabbas Prince.
He smiled and lifted his cane in greeting, sketching a bow. “How could I ever have doubted you or your love for your brother?” he said sarcastically.
“I carried out all the tasks. Now give him back to me.” Asa put her hands in her pockets and was able to slip the brass knuckles on without being observed.
“Oh, I shall. As soon as you’ve left here,” the man replied with a malicious grin. “I can’t have anyone near me as bold and fearless as you.”
“That’s not the deal we made. But I’ve been told you have a reputation for always breaking your word.” Asa approached her startled opponent, pulling her hands out of her pockets and hitting him hard with the magical artifacts. “It’s time to teach you some manners!”
Try as he might to avoid her blows, the immortal criminal could not match her strength!
His dragon-headed cane snapped under the girl’s violent attack, his bones fractured, piercing him from the inside, and his flesh was slashed by the sharp edges of the jewels. Finally, even his skull burst open as Asa directed ferocious blows to both temples simultaneously. Blood gushed out of his nose and ears and he uttered a ghastly cry.
“I’m not going to let you take over the town!” Asa punched both fists into his face. “This time you will not escape your punishment!”
The sharp diamond tips of the brass knuckles gouged into his eye sockets—and then, with an enormous thunderclap, Barabbas Prince exploded in a puff of smoke! His immortality had suddenly run out, and all that remained were his bloodstained clothes and the broken cane, lying amongst the pebbles beside the lake. The dragon’s eyes on the cane glowed with fire for a final time before growing dark.
Asa looked at Bathseda. There was another spell that now needed to be broken. “And as for you,” she said, “you promised that you would stay with me if I named your true identity.”
The black-haired girl surveyed the pile of bloodied rags and splintered cane in astonishment. “But you know who I am.”
“No. He was not your father. You are really the daughter of Mephistopheles.”
With a cry of delighted astonishment, Bathseda immediately flung her arms around Asa’s neck and covered her companion with kisses. “You have released me!” she cried joyfully. “The curse has finally been lifted!”
Asa embraced her. “And will you still come with me?”
“Yes, yes, yes and three times yes,” she answered happily. “Let me tell you this: I have never met anyone braver than you.” Bathseda took both Asa’s hands in hers. “Now all Barabbas’s fortune belongs to you. I can take you to where he hoarded all his treasure—he was immensely rich. You can buy yourself everything you’ve ever dreamed of—all your wishes can come true!”
Asa only had the one wish. “Do you know where he has been keeping my brother?”
Bathseda nodded. “Of course. We can go there and free him this very instant.”
And off they went, together.
Now listen here to how the story goes:
So this was how the fearless young Asa freed the town of Leipzig from the dreadful curse laid on it by Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles; how she destroyed the immortal demon Barabbas Prince; how she won the heart of the beautiful Bethseda and, last but not least, how she saved her brother’s life.
On top of these successes Asa was heaped with riches and rewards, enough to open her very own Horror Park, in which the main attractions, thanks to the splendid connections she made through Bethseda, were genuine ghosts and demons and monsters, who respected Asa as their mistress because she never for a single moment showed any fear.
Her brother was made the manager of the attraction and visitors came from far and wide to experience the ultimate in bloodcurdling, spine-chilling frights.
Asa’s Horror Park soon gained a worldwide reputation for being the most scary place on earth.
But you should also know this: there was a very simple reason why Asa was never afraid.
In fact, she suffered from Urbach-Wiethe syndrome—a very rare brain disease affecting the area known as the amygdala or corpus amygdaloideum. And the amygdala, of course, is the seat of fear.
So everything she experienced that would have driven any normal person insane with fear, she experienced as hugely exciting—and very entertaining.
However hard her brother and Bathseda tried to show Asa what it was like to feel fear, they had no earthly chance of success.
But one day, many years later, Asa happened to glance in a mirror—and suddenly she realized: she couldn’t live with Bathseda forever. As a mortal woman, she would die someday, she must die someday, some hour, suddenly or slowly, suffering or without warning.
I will die, Asa thought. And lose my love.
She shook with horror, and her skin was covered in goose bumps. She gasped and felt as though her heart would burst. Quivering all over, she was nearly sick, she was so upset.
What a revelation—so this was what fear was like!
Then Asa realized that nothing could be more terrible, nothing more cruel, nothing more indescribably awful, than losing the love of her life.
MARKUS HEITZ was born in 1971 and lives in Homburg/Saar, Germany. His debut novel, Schatten über Ulldart (the first in an epic fantasy series), won the Deutscher Phantastik Preis (German Fantasy Award) in 2003. Since then, he has won the GFA ten times, more than any other writer. The author of more than thirty novels (seventeen bestsellers in Germany) in all genres, along with two children’s books, Heitz’s popular series Die Zwerge (The Dwarves) includes Der Krieg der Zwerge (The War of the Dwarves) and Die Rache der Zwerge (The Revenge of the Dwarves) and established him amongst Germany’s most successful fantasy writers. The series is now translated all over the world, including in Russia, Japan, and China. He is the editor of the science fiction series Justifiers, based on the RPG of the same name, and he also wrote the libretto of the musical Timm Thaler (aka The Legend of Tim Tyler: The Boy Who Lost His Laugh) and produces the German ambient-Gothic band Lambda.
Cinderella
The wife of a rich man fell sick, and as she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only dau
ghter to her bedside and said, “Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from Heaven and be near you.” Thereupon she closed her eyes and departed.
Every day the maiden went out to her mother’s grave, and wept, and she remained pious and good.
When winter came the snow spread a white sheet over the grave, and by the time the spring sun had drawn it off again, the man had taken another wife.
The woman had brought with her into the house two daughters, who were beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart. Now began a bad time for the poor step-child.
“Is the stupid goose to sit in the parlor with us?” they said. “He who wants to eat bread must earn it. Out with the kitchen-wench!” They took her pretty clothes away from her, put an old gray bed-gown on her, and gave her wooden shoes. “Just look at the proud princess, how decked out she is!” they cried, and laughed, and led her into the kitchen.
There she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable injury—they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. In the evening, when she had worked till she was weary, she had no bed to go to, but had to sleep by the hearth in the cinders. And as on that account she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.
It happened that the father was once going to the fair, and he asked his two step-daughters what he should bring back for them.
“Beautiful dresses,” said one.
“Pearls and jewels,” said the second.
“And you, Cinderella,” said he, “what will you have?”
“Father, break off for me the first branch which knocks against your hat on your way home.”
So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls and jewels for his two step-daughters, and on his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat. Then he broke off the branch and took it with him. When he reached home he gave his step-daughters the things which they had wished for, and to Cinderella he gave the branch from the hazel-bush.
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