{"product_id":"2940014055161","title":"The Witches' Sabbath","description":"Our scene is one of those terrific peaks set apart by tradition as the\u003cbr\u003etrysting place of wizards and witches, and of every kind of folk that\u003cbr\u003eprefers dark to day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt might have been Mount Elias, or the Brocken, associated with Doctor\u003cbr\u003eFaustus. It might have been the Horsel or Venusberg of Tannhaeuser, or\u003cbr\u003ethe Black Forest. Enough that it was one of these.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot a star wrinkled the brow of night. Only in the distance the\u003cbr\u003etwinkling lights of some town could be seen. Low down in the skirts of\u003cbr\u003ethe mountain rode a knight, followed closely by his page. We say a\u003cbr\u003eknight, because he had once owned that distinction. But a wild and\u003cbr\u003ebloody youth had tarnished his ancient shield, the while it kept\u003cbr\u003ebright and busy his ancestral sword. Behold him now, little better\u003cbr\u003ethan a highwayman. Latterly he had wandered from border to border,\u003cbr\u003ewithout finding where to rest his faithful steed. All authority was in\u003cbr\u003earms against him; Hageck, the wild knight, was posted throughout\u003cbr\u003eGermany. More money was set upon his head than had ever been put into\u003cbr\u003ehis pocket. Pikemen and Pistoliers had dispersed his following. None\u003cbr\u003eremained to him whom he could call his own, save this stnpling who\u003cbr\u003estill rode sturdily at the tail of his horse. Him also, the outlaw had\u003cbr\u003ebesought, even with tears, to abandon one so ostensibly cursed by\u003cbr\u003estars and men. But in vain. The boy protested that he would have no\u003cbr\u003ehome, save in his master's shadow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey were an ill-assorted pair. The leader was all war-worn and\u003cbr\u003eweather-worn. Sin had marked him for its own and for the wages of sin.\u003cbr\u003eThe page was young and slight, and marble pale. He would have looked\u003cbr\u003emore at home at the silken train of some great lady, than following at\u003cbr\u003ethese heels from which the gilded spurs had long been hacked.\u003cbr\u003eNevertheless, the music of the spheres themselves sings not more\u003cbr\u003esweetly in accord than did these two hearts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wild knight, Hageck, had ascended the mountain as far as was\u003cbr\u003epossible to four-legged roadsters. Therefore he reined in his horse\u003cbr\u003eand dismounted, and addressed his companion. His voice was now quite\u003cbr\u003egentle, which on occasion could quench mutiny, and in due season dry\u003cbr\u003eup the taste of blood in the mouths of desperate men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Time is that we must part, Enno.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Master, you told me we need never part.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Let be, child, do you not understand me? I hope with your own heart's\u003cbr\u003ehope that we shall meet again to-morrow in this same tarrying place.\u003cbr\u003eBut I have not brought you to so cursed a place without some object.\u003cbr\u003eWhen I say that we must part, I mean that you must take charge of our\u003cbr\u003ehorses while I go further up the mountain upon business, which for\u003cbr\u003eyour own sake you must never share.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And is this your reading of the oath of our brotherhood which we\u003cbr\u003eswore together?\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47169440710896,"sku":"2940014055161","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014055161_p0.jpg?v=1763608836","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014055161","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}