One Witch at a Time Read Online Free

newborn doing?”
    â€œMother and calf are doing well,” said Papa, sitting and pulling off his boots. “The new spring grass will help Rosie’s milk come in nicely. Mayhaps the harsh months are finally behind us, and it’s about time.”
    â€œLook at you, poor dear!” said Mama, coming down the stairs. “Spent the whole night in the barn. Did you get a moment’s rest for yourself?”
    Papa rubbed his head, sending bits of straw floating to the floor. “Slept like a baby, truth be told. Ordinarily I can’t get a wink in the barn at night, what with the cows lowing and Zick-Zack prowling for mice. But it was quiet as a church all night. More peaceful than in my own bed, I’d venture to say. Not that you snore so loudly, Mama.” He winked at Rudi.
    â€œSeewhere you sleep tonight,” was Mama’s reply, and then, “Such an odd thing about Zick-Zack. I hope she hasn’t been snatched by a hawk or a wolf.” And then Mama gasped. “Or gone off to be a witch’s cat,” she whispered.
    Oma snorted. “Cats favoring witches? It’s a silly superstition. As for the hawks and wolves, they’re the ones need to worry about Zick-Zack, not the other way ’round.” She cast a troubled glance at Rudi, though she didn’t say another word.
    Papa shrugged out of his coat. “She’ll turn up. I’ll wager she was out hunting on the meadow or some such. Rudi! Where are you off to so early?” He spied the package in Rudi’s hand. “Ah, elderberry tarts. So it’s up the mountain for you, to beg for help undoing your reckless bargain? Off with you, then. Tell the . . . old woman . . . that we can’t be expected to trade one of our precious lovely cows for a meager handful of beans.”
    Despite Papa’s stinging words, Rudi couldn’t help noticing an interesting conundrum: Papa was content to have Rudi seek the counsel of the old woman on the mountain, even while he would not admit that the old woman and the Brixen Witch were one and the same. It’s bad luck to talk of such things . Because to talk of such things meant admitting such things. It meant admittingthat the village of Brixen was not only at the mercy of the weather and the seasons and the occasional pushy monarch. It was at the mercy of its very own witch.
    Rudi was grateful for the witch, and he knew Papa was too. Brixen was at her mercy, it was true. But she was also their protector. That was one more thing Rudi had learned not so long ago.
    â€œNo foreigner will take any cow of ours,” said Oma, tucking the bundle of tarts into Rudi’s knapsack. “ ’Twould be folly, trying to lead a creature through the mountains this time of year. It’s time someone visited the poor woman, that’s all. See how she fared the winter.”
    And now Rudi realized the true reason Oma was sending him up the mountain. She didn’t think the beans were magic any more than he did. It was only an excuse to check on the witch, who was very old and perhaps a bit frail, and who had endured a harsh winter the same as they had. Rudi decided that he would go gladly. It would be a boots-off, tea-and-tart sort of visit after all.
    He retrieved his coat from behind the door. “I’m off, then. I’ll see you tonight.”
    â€œBe careful.” Mama lifted his cap and smoothed his hair, which was her way of saying good-bye, now that he was thirteen and too old to be kissed by his mother.
    â€œGood luck, Son,” said Papa, placing a hand on Rudi’s shoulder. “And keep an eye out for wolf-eating cats.”
    Rudi made his way through the village and toward the tanner’s cottage. The steeple clock struck the early hour, and in the distance the blacksmith’s hammer rang. Rudi sniffed the air for a hint of baking bread, but he smelled only the sharpness of wood smoke.
    Now he felt a pang of