“But when I got here, everything went wrong. You know how it is. I’ve learned to survive, sword fight, ride a horse, steal…you name it. But I never figured out how to leave the game.” Karl stared at me. “Damn Stuler kept a few secrets.”
“I went back,” I said.
“I know.”
“How do you…”
“You think for one moment that anything happens here without lords and their spies finding out? Sure you have no internet, e-mail or fancy phone. But everyone watches everybody else. I knew Schwarzburg had you at Rusteberg.”
“You were the one who got me out,” I said matter-of-factly.
Karl’s eyes flashed. “How did you…?”
“We met in the future. You’ll get home because I’m helping you.”
“How is that possible? Nobody survives the cells and dungeons very long.” He chuckled, his voice a mix of crazy and amusement. “Pretty funny when Schwarzburg’s guard mentioned this guy with a strange robe and Nerds written beneath a crown. I knew you’d come from the game.
“I was sure I’d figured out how to survive. But as you can see”—he pointed a thumb at his chest—“I’ve done a lousy job. When you disappeared shortly after, I knew you’d made it back home.”
Karl shook his head. “Why did you return? Why would you risk coming back here? Don’t you know how dangerous this place is? That the smallest thing can trip you up.”
“You asked me to. I even knew we’d meet at Hanstein. Except you forgot to tell me we’d meet in the dungeon.”
Now that I thought about it, I was getting fuming angry. Obviously, Karl hadn’t wanted to scare me. And he’d known he’d get out. But where did that leave me? Chances were good I’d die here.
“So I’m making it out of here?” Karl’s voice was filled with hope and wonder.
I nodded, thinking of the ailing man in present day Kassel. No need to tell him that he was going to retire from business.
“I forget you’re young,” Karl said. “What…sixteen?”
“Seventeen.”
Karl leaned forward, his bony fingers grabbing mine. “Tell me. How did you do it? What happened so you’d return?”
I wanted to shake off the disgusting hand, but somehow I couldn’t. I felt sorry for Karl. “I did several deeds…saved a life, became a squire…” I remembered the last night I’d been here. After Lord Werner had made me a squire. How I’d donned my old clothes and then…
“You’ve got to have all your personal belongings before the game lets you go home. Items you took into the game. You’ve got to take them out. Can’t leave modern stuff here. I had a watch, knife and wallet. And unless your outer clothes are completely destroyed you need all of them. Only when I had everything on me, did I return home.”
“I knew it,” Karl said. “That’s what I missed.” He leaned back and chuckled. “To think I was so close…” His voice fizzled into another sob.
“What happened after you helped me escape from Schwarzburg’s dungeon? How did you land in here?”
“I hit a dry spell. Didn’t have money or food. I got caught hunting deer in Hanstein’s forest.”
“Knight Werner threw you in here?”
“His brother, Lame Hans.”
His nickname should be mean Hans. “What do we do now?” I got up and started pacing.
“Now, my friend, we die.” Karl’s body began to shake. He was crying again, but the shaking turned into a laugh until the cell echoed with his snorts of amusement.
“I’m not ready to die,” I shouted. Karl was crazy all right.
But Karl kept laughing. “Who’s going to get you out this time,” he giggled. “I’m already in here.” More laughing…
“Why didn’t you make yourself known?” I asked. “After you helped me escape from Rusteberg.”
“You were in bad shape and needed help quickly. I couldn’t give it. Besides I thought it might reduce my chances of returning home. You know…if we collaborated.” New laughter erupted until Karl sagged back into the straw and lay still. “And to think all I needed was my wallet.”
“Did you do some good stuff? I mean deeds that would qualify you to return?”
“Sure, I saved people, fought evil. I did lots of things. But I lost my wallet a while ago.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“I think Lord Ott has it.”
I shuddered. Ott the creep who chased every skirt he got his lusty hands on. He’d attacked Juliana and nearly killed her. Ott would gladly murder me after I helped Juliana and warned Knight Werner. Worse, I’d smuggled Belladonna berries into Ott’s cup and made him violently sick. Ott had sworn revenge.
“You sure.”
“I was at the Klausenhof playing dice. I made the mistake of gambling against Ott, you know, to earn a few coins. Make it easier to get food and not have to steal so much. I kept winning. I drank too much and passed out. The next morning, I was lying in the stables and all my belongings were gone including my winnings and my wallet.”
“That would be like him,” I said, sagging into the straw next to Karl. “But couldn’t it have been someone else? A stable boy, another man in the tavern?”
“Possible,” Karl said. “What difference does it make? I’m stuck in here and I won’t make it much longer. I’ve had diarrhea for a month and lost too much weight.” He spit again. “I used to do triathlons. Now my teeth are loose and I can barely stand.”
I stared at Karl. Hard to believe he’d been a professional once, driving a car and eating in fancy restaurants.
“I had a beautiful wife and daughter.” The laugh turned into a sob.
In my mind flashed the images of Emma’s green eyes, her rushing past me in my own house, demanding I help her dad.
“I met Emma,” I said aloud.
A choking sound came from Karl. “I miss her so. Tell me about her. I… I’ve been forgetting faces.” A new sob.
“She’s stubborn as a mule.” I squinted into the dark, remembering Emma standing in front of me, stabbing a finger into my chest. “She’s very cute, of course, I mean she’s smart and all…” To my surprise I found myself longing for her. What was the matter with me? I’d specifically returned to meet Juliana.
“Is she well?”
“Last I saw her, healthy and happy. How long have you been here?”
Karl struggled for control. “What year is it?”
“It’s 1473, late August.”
A deep sigh escaped Karl’s bony chest. “I’ve been here almost three years.”
I opened my mouth. Three years in the Middle Ages was a lifetime. I’d never make it that long. In the first game four weeks had nearly killed me.
“You know it’s a fact that you go home because I met you after you returned to present day. I just have to figure out a way.” I didn’t sound convincing even to myself.
By the time Werner returned we’d both be dead. “We must get out of here. And you’ll need to find your wallet.”
“Oh Max, forget it,” Karl’s voice came from the straw. “It’s over.”
I jumped up, immediately regretting it because the dank walls began to spin. Taking a deep breath I yelled, “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’ll go home. I know you will.”
I slumped back down. I understood Karl too well. After a few weeks in this hole, life shrank into nothing. Your thoughts spiraled into an abyss, sucking away the ability to hope, to think and with it plans of escape until finally you were so weak that the prospect of dying didn’t seem so bad anymore.
I barely noticed when the trapdoor opened. A wooden platter appeared. On it were several chunks of bread, cold meat, a slice of hard cheese and two apples.
“Max?” Bero’s voice sounded muffled.
“Yeah.” I threw myself toward the door, trying to peek through the opening.
“Got you nourishment.”
“Thanks, man.” I inhaled the nutty aroma of the cheese.
“Sorry I did not help earlier,” Bero sai
d. “I was…stupid.”
“None of this is your fault. The medicos is a lying sack of shit and Lame Hans, he is…” I tried to think of stronger words.
“The fart of an onion-eyed devil.” Bero had a way of putting it.
“Yeah, that one.”
“Must go,” Bero said. “I shall check again tonight.”
“Wait,” I shouted. “My friend here needs extra rations. Can you get more?”
“I will try.”
“Who’s that?” Karl whispered. He’d mustered the last of his strength and crawled toward the food, its smells now competing with the stench of the cell.
I offered the plate. Karl slumped down and began to eat. I expected him to gobble, but he ate slowly, chewing every bite with utmost care.
“My teeth,” he said after a while. “If I don’t eat carefully, they’ll break off. Already lost a couple molars.” He grinned. “Mmm, haven’t eaten this well in months.” There was new vigor in his eyes and it gave me hope.
After the meal Karl rolled himself into a ball and fell asleep.
Though I tried to do the same, I couldn’t relax. I was tired, but it was as if Karl had challenged me to find a way out. Yet, with every step, with every turn around the cell our chances disappeared, my mind shrinking into stupor. The cell was a fortress, escape impossible. I turned the corner, nearly upsetting the buckets. When my legs refused to move another inch, I sank into the straw.
“Wake up,” a voice said.
“Mom?” I rolled to the side where my nose made contact with the straw and instantly jolted me to sit. “What is it?”
Then I remembered.
“Max!” the voice urged again.
The cell was black ink. I crawled toward the door where a light flickered in the opening.
“Juliana?”
“Bero is attending dinner with Lord Hans,” Juliana whispered. “Here.” In the dancing shadows, bread, cheese, some sort of a meat pastry, two pears and a handful of plums moved toward me. “And this,” Juliana’s white wrist appeared as she stuffed a flagon through the gap.
I managed to touch her fingers. “Thanks.”
“I must go,” Juliana said. “I waited until the guard had to make water.”
“Don’t go.” I wanted to hold on to her skin, run my hand up her arm. Bad timing, Max.
“I’m sorry.” The slot closed and I sat in complete darkness.
“Is that food?” Karl said into the silence.
“Let’s eat.”
We feasted in silence—the ale undiluted and cool on my tongue, the alcohol instantly going to my head and making me sleepy. I forced myself to finish the ration and crawled back into the corner. I had to find a solution.
It was only a matter of time before someone caught Juliana and Bero and the extra food would stop. I’d get weak and then sick. Karl had even less time.
Chapter 10
The next day I paced and did push-ups and crunches. Bero managed two extra deliveries, but by evening I was no further along with an escape plan. Karl had perked up considerably, whether from the better rations or my company wasn’t clear, but I was glad to see some new shine in his eyes.
He told me how he’d subsisted in the woods for years, traveling to Heiligenstadt for odd jobs, but always returning because he was afraid he couldn’t travel back to the twenty-first century unless he was near where he’d started.
Despite my plans I found myself dozing off more and more. The dimness inside the cell enveloped me during the day. The darkness at night opened like a black hole and swallowed me. My walks around the cell grew shorter, I quit push-ups and crunches. Other than when we ate, Karl talked less and less.
At first I’d wanted to know more about the game. About Dr. Stuler who’d intended to force me to play before I was ready. Karl shared gladly. Spittle on his cracked lips, he told of Stuler’s journey from high-tech Silicon Valley to his own company, Histech. Stuler had tinkered for years and finally, with the help of Karl, had made a breakthrough, incorporating time-travel into the game.
“The damn liar. He knows exactly how dangerous it is,” Karl said. For once, his eyes flashed with energy among the tangle of hair and beard. “In the beginning the game was supposed to allow you to choose a year and location. Stuler said it wasn’t fun enough. That it had to be random.”
I smiled grimly, Wade’s evil face swimming in front of me. Of course, I wouldn’t have met Ela and Billy the Kid, old Chief Nana and his warriors. Still I’d barely made it out alive, totally ill prepared for the Wild West.
“I tried coming back here before when I played level two.”
“You what?”
“I went to New Mexico by mistake. In the year 1881.”
“You damn fool. Do you see now? Just because you were lucky twice doesn’t mean shit. Damn. What a fool?” Karl started to chuckle. That was always the sign to stop talking. The laughing was unnerving. Worse than the silence or Karl’s anger.
That’s when I started to sweat because it occurred to me that even if I saved Karl, which I somehow had to have done, there was no knowing whether I’d return home. Until this moment I’d expected we’d get out together, but that was unlikely. I hadn’t done enough missions yet. Sure, I’d helped Lady Clara. I’d also gotten into the castle, but was that a mission? Hardly.
I lay there in the inky dark as panic engulfed me, turning every cell in my body to jelly.
I needed a miracle.
“Max Nerds. Out!”
I rubbed my face and stopped, disgusted with myself. My hands smelled so rank that I wanted to puke. I struggled to my feet, the brightness of the torch pricking my eyeballs. It seemed I had just gone to sleep, my brain foggy and my legs heavy.
“Make haste,” the voice said. The door slammed shut behind me. My knees refused to bend correctly and I staggered along following the dancing torch. New panic spread across my legs as I imagined the dungeon or worse, torture.
When I slowed, one of the two guards came back and took hold of my bicep.
“Make haste,” he urged. “The Lord is waiting.”
“The Lord is my judge,” my muddled brain whispered. He’s going to hang you. Despite my anxiety I lifted my head to sniff the fresh air. Stars covered the sky in such quantity that they appeared milky against the blackness. If I had to die, at least I’d enjoy a decent helping of oxygen.
We entered the great hall, walked along the corridor and up the stairs. What had Bero called Lord Hans? Fart of a pimple-haired devil. I broke out in a chuckle. I was starting to sound like Karl. Losing my freaking mind.
The radiance of dozens of torches nearly blinded me. I lifted an arm to shield my eyes, coming to a stop in front of Hans’s desk. As before, Werner’s brother sat on his ornately carved chair, a beaker of wine and the carcass of a half-eaten chicken next to him. I couldn’t help but stare at the food. My mouth watered and I swallowed loudly. There had been no dinner tonight, whatever time it was.
“Max Nerds, I trust you are well,” Hans said. His chestnut eyes, so unlike the blue ones of his brother Werner, were hard to read.
“Yes, My Lord, I’m okay. I mean I’m fine.”
“Your tongue continues to be strange indeed. What is okay?” He winked at one of the guards who forced a chuckle. Hilarious. Hans’s way of joking and they had to pretend he was funny.
“You are fortunate, Max Nerds,” Hans said. “My Lady insists you are healing her. She has asked for your release and…your continued ministrations. I have difficulty understanding how she thought that…”
I stopped listening to the mumbling. Lady Clara was better. I wanted to shout and pump my fist in a high-five. But my arm was still in the iron hold of the guard.
“Release him,” Hans said. “You will sleep in the barn with the other squires until my brother returns. You will attend to the Lady’s wishes. If you fail, if she is for worse, you will return to the holding. Bero will be your guard.”
“Yes, My Lord,” I said, even managing the slight
est bow. I’d only heard release, Lady and Bero, but couldn’t stop grinning.
“Now go, before I change my mind.” Hans waved his hand as if I were an irritating fly.
I hurried across the courtyard to the barn, the air of freedom sweet on my face. I wanted to stop by Lady Clara’s room. Juliana would be there.
In the middle of the courtyard I stopped. Karl! What a self-centered jerk I was. Karl was stuck in the stinking cell. If I wasn’t coming back, Karl would fade quickly.
“Hey, dimwit.” I hadn’t even noticed Bero approach. “You stink worse than pig shit.”
“Good to see you, too.” I smirked. “You try living in that hellhole. How long was I in there?”
Bero cocked his head. “Five days or so. You want some water for that washing thing you do?”
I smiled. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ll go behind the barn if you can get me a couple buckets.” I really wanted to visit the river, but it was dark and I’d fought hard to be allowed inside the castle. I wasn’t going to leave any time soon.
I wandered to the barn and peeked inside. Most stalls were empty. A dozen or so pairs of brown eyes stared back at me. Where was everyone? Werner sure cleaned house when he rode off. Most squires had gone with him, too. Even Enders, the grump.
I remembered Juliana and the giddiness returned. I thought of her brown hair and the feel of her lips on mine, her tongue in my mouth, her firm breasts pushing against my ribcage. I’d sneak into the barn with her tonight and pick up where we left off. I sure could do with some serious kissing. Who knew where it would lead.
After my wash I climbed the stairs to Lady Clara’s chamber. I still wore my fur boots now black with stains. Already my feet simmered again though I’d scrubbed them for ten minutes. No good, I needed lighter boots. My T-shirt had ripped across the stomach. I remembered my cape I’d left at the Klausenhof, the barman keeping my lighter.
I had to get them back or game over. With all my preparations I’d never expected to lose my clothes again. For one I’d thought it would be winter. It seemed ludicrous now. Last time, Werner had retrieved my knife and jeans, unknowingly helping me to travel back to present day.
At Witches' End Page 7