At the base of the poles, highly flammable items such as bales of hay and small sticks were piled up. Some wood had been stacked on top of this. A good number of soldiers and men in robes were gathered directly in front of the guild hall. On the armour of the soldiers and the robes of people who looked like priests were symbols, which Wenzel had never seen before. They were coats of arms, that depicted an open book with a hammer to the right and an olive branch to the left of it. The book obviously stood for the “Holy Testament”. Wenzel wasn't really sure what the olive branch was supposed to be about. But the meaning of the hammer was clear to him again, or so he thought. Wenzel was sure about who these men had to be: the Inquisition!

  Amidst the soldiers, two women in rags were held in iron cuffs on their wrists and ankles. They were here to be burned at the stake. When Wenzel realized what was going on here, he felt sick and a twinge of panic came over him, even though this didn't concern him at all. But he still was concerned by it. “Are these women also magicians like me?”, the boy thought. “In that case, couldn’t they just save themselves and just fly away?” No, Wenzel immediately realized what the situation was here. It was exactly as Mr. Albrecht had told him just before. The government was ramping up oppression, because of the conditions in the country. These ladies were not magicians. They were probably heretics or insurgents, meaning people who openly spoke out against the ruling family or the church. Now the boy had definitely received proof that Mr. Albrecht hadn’t lied to him. Not that he had expected that from his teacher. He had believed him anyway.

  The prisoners looked emaciated and disheveled and they appeared absolutely and completely exhausted. One could see the resignation in her glazy eyes. It was better not to know what had been done to them, for them to look like that. Wenzel became extremely nervous and his whole body froze at the sight of this tragedy. He actually wanted to run away from here, but his body wouldn’t move anymore, almost like a defensive reaction. A paralysis out of fear. Finally, the women were led onto the pyre and tied to the wooden posts. The “spectacle” would begin at any moment. Most of the crowd had now become quiet. One or two shouted something to the front, but he couldn't make out what it was.

  Then the inquisitors came with burning torches and placed them at the very bottom of the pyres so that the flames could ignite everything from the bottom up. Parts of the mob began to hoot and holler. Very quickly there was a huge production of smoke, which finally forced Wenzel to turn away and cover his nose with his sleeve. He didn't want to see something so abhorrent anyway. Finally having snapped out of his trance, he turned around and tried hard to push past the crowds. It was slow progress. He then began to hear screams behind him that pierced marrow and bone. Instinctively he turned around and saw……he saw the flames’ effect. Shocked, he immediately turned around and tried to get away from here and back to school as quickly as possible. That sight, however brief it had been, had branded itself on his memory. Wenzel would never forget it.

  When he finally made it out of the crowd, he ran. And not just anyhow. Wenzel ran as fast as his feet could carry him. It wasn't impressively fast, because he wasn't athletic, but that wasn’t the point. Besides, he was already weakened from being so far a distance from the pendant. Only when he was already at the edge of the settlement did he finally slow down. His heart was pounding and he was gasping for breath. He stopped at the side of the road and leaned over. “Blaaargh!” Wenzel’s body wanted to vomit again, but nothing came except for some water. His stomach was already empty. Of course, the main reason for the renewed belching wasn't the physical exercise. Then he just stood there and stared around for a while. The horror of what he had just experienced wouldn't let go of him. “How could they?”, he thought to himself. The state justified all of this with religious dogmas and justifications. For Wenzel they were just excuses. “If such a thing really is the will of God, then it is better to be against such a God!”, was the boy’s conclusion.

  Finally, he picked himself up and walked the remaining distance to the boarding school. He quickly made sure no one saw him, then climbed up the ivy that had overgrown the wall and jumped down the other side. However, he could only take a few steps before he realized that there was someone who had seen him! The person in question was a student, rather short and with long brunette hair. It had to be Amalie of all people! Wenzel, who as always had not thought of a plan when something like this happened, quickly walked towards her in order to somehow convince her not to tell on him. Her body language sent signals of surprise and that she would rather be somewhere else. “Um….you…I.” Amalie, who had first looked into his eyes, interrupted him and, lowering her gaze to the floor, said: “It’s okay. I didn’t see anything.” She immediately turned to the side and walked away from him.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The boy was more upset than he was happy about not having had to persuade her. What was going on? Was Wenzel really that repulsive? He knew that wasn't the case. And why had she never given him an answer to his love letter? Well, the boy pulled himself together straight away. He was convinced that this had more to do with the fact that Amalie was shy and didn't have the courage to answer him in person. He could understand that, because he too often wasn’t sure about how to express things to others.

  Afterwards he went up to his room. When he entered, Aurel was sitting at his desk, writing on something. He looked up and greeted Wenzel laconically. Then he immediately returned to his work. It looked as if Wenzel's absence had gone unnoticed. In general, Aurel hadn't been checking at all lately whether Wenzel, when he said that he was doing homework with Peter at school, actually did so. That's why the boy was now able to sneak out of the boarding school more often. In any case, Wenzel was completely exhausted. The balcony door stood open, due to his brother always wanting to “let fresh air in,” as he put it. “It may be blazing hot outside, but why not? Just let all the hot air in!” Wenzel thought sarcastically. He stood out on the tiny balcony and looked out over the park. For a while he just stared blankly into space. Today had done it for him. And what he had seen would stay with him in his nightmares tonight! What a day!

  The next day was completely normal…..until the third lesson. They had just finished math class and were about to change classes again when he overheard something from the other students, who were gossiping with each other: “I never would have guessed, that she would go with him either. He can be quite a meanie, that Aurel.” Then Wenzel pricked up his ears. Aurel and a girlfriend? Normally, he didn't care about such things, but when it came to his brother, Wenzel made an exception. What he would hear after that, however, was anything but “interesting”.

  “Amalie and Aurel? “They don’t look like a good match at all, do they?”, said one of the girls. Wenzel continued listening, but something inside him had now started to fester. And it wasn't anything good! The boy would last another two hours, then he informed a teacher that he was “dizzy and at the limit of what he could do” again, in order to get another hour with his pendant with Ms. Adele. But this time it was a lie. All he wanted was time to have “a word” with Aurel. He didn't go straight to Ms. Adele but waited in the corridor to intercept Aurel. When his little brother told him, that he wanted to talk to him about something, Aurel was surprised. The two then went up to the attic so no one could hear them.

  As they walked in through the door, they were met by old fug. Everything here in the attic was completely dusty, old benches, tables, glasses, stacks of books, cupboards and who knows what else. Huge spider webs hung from the rafters. “What is so important that we have to come up here to talk about it? “Couldn’t you have waited until we got home, Wimpel?”

  "No! And stop calling me that!” Wenzel barked angrily at him, probably for the first time in his life. Then he tried to compose himself a little, but it was a wasted effort. “There are rumours going around, that you have a girlfriend.” Wenzel looked questioningly into his brother’s eyes. He replied: “Yes. So?" - "They are saying, that it’s Amalie. Is that true?” Aurel had a serious and simulaneously slightly confused expression on his face. He sensed his younger sibling's hostility.

  "Yes. That’s right,” he finally answered the question. At that moment Wenzel finally freaked out. He shouted, “You did that to me on purpose! Admit it!” Aurel wasn’t always a quick-witted person, but he immediately understood what was going on. He had had no idea about Wenzel's feelings towards Amalie. Wenzel had drawn his own conclusions here, since Aurel was constantly picking on and looking down on him. He had convinced himself, that Aurel ultimately wanted to get one over on him with such an action. Before Aurel could answer or do anything, it had already happened. Little Wenzel clenched his fist and punched his big brother in the stomach!

  That was a big mistake! He was immediately knocked to the ground by his much stronger sibling and took ten times as much as he had dealt. Aurel had actually wanted to discuss the matter with Wenzel peacefully, but this brief thought had now gone out the window. “I don’t owe you any accountability! My relationships are not of any concern to a loser like you!” announced Aurel, who also was enraged now.

  Wenzel had meanwhile gotten up from the floor again. Aurel almost wanted to attack him again, but then restrained himself and said: “You'll shut up now and go back to class! If you do something like that again, I will have to tell the teachers and our parents that you always sneak out of boarding school!” The little brother was perplexed. He didn't expect Aurel to know about his "excursions" to Olemar. Wenzel's face was red from anger. The boy no longer looked his older sibling in the eyes, walked past him and back to his class. The topic was over. And for Wenzel, Aurel was through.

  A huge number of problems had now piled up for Wenzel, without there seeming to be any way out of them. Wenzel, the "demon" had almost reached his limit now. It was the eleventh hour!