Read Online The Cabinet of Curiosities by Paul Dowswell - Free Book Online Page B

,’ said Grunewald. ‘Immortality from a medicinal concoction – that would be too much to hope for. But I hear Pope Clement VIII took it when he was very ill, and he made a full recovery.’
    Anselmus’s face lit up with fascination.
    ‘I entrust it to you, the great medicine maker,’ said Grunewald. ‘You must restore our Emperor to good health. This would be an unhappy realm without him.’
    He took his leave with a pleasant smile.
    ‘This will be just the thing for the Emperor,’ said Anselmus. ‘I must wean him off the absurd treatment Doktor Krohl is subjecting him to.’
    ‘Who’s Doktor Krohl?’ asked Lukas. He had forgotten he had already met him in Golden Lane.
    Anselmus sighed. ‘His Excellency has several physicians. Grunewald is one. He principally attends to the Emperor’s children and mistresses. Krohl is another. He has a rather grand idea of his own importance . . . and he doesn’t like me because I live here in the Castle –’ he smirked – ‘and he has a little cottage in Golden Lane.’ He went on. ‘His greatest flaw is his enthusiasm for magnetic remedies. I have no time for them. A lodestone may indeed point north, and attract iron particles, but I cannot see how it would draw the black vapours that cause melancholy from His Excellency’s body . . .
    ‘Anyway, look at this.’ Anselmus pointed excitedly at the text. ‘Guarinonius learned of the remedy in a dream. And now we have it here. Let me see what we will need.’
    Anselmus paused and wiggled his finger about, pointing this way and that and talking quietly to himself. ‘Zedoary, calamus, elder root we have in the garden . . . the Emperor’s apothecary has nutmeg and ginger . . . cinnamon I have in my kitchen . . .’
    After supper Anselmus donned his fur cloak. ‘We must go to the Castle herb garden to gather our ingredients tonight,’ he said to Lukas. ‘As I’m sure you know, the effectiveness of medicines is very dependant on the time of day they are harvested.’
    Lukas was excited. He was keen to visit the gardens that lay beyond the northern wall.
    On every stage of their route through the ramparts, over the bridge and into the Royal Gardens, guards bowed and opened any barrier that lay before them. Lukas felt proud of his uncle, recognised wherever he went, having doors and gates opened on his command.
    ‘We are in luck,’ said Anselmus. ‘The elder root must be plucked just before a full moon. And we are at that exact stage of the lunar cycle.’
    It was a warm, bright night. The moonlit Castle looked beautiful and the Royal Gardens were bursting with extraordinary smells.
    The quiet of the place, as they walked there, was unnerving. Apart from the call and response of hooting owls, all Lukas could hear were their own footsteps scrunching on the gravel path. The trees were beginning to sprout summer leaves but they still had something of their skeletal winter look in the pale light of the moon. Lukas drew in great lungfuls of night air.
    Anselmus told Lukas how to recognise each herb, and what it did for a patient. ‘Elder root: excellent for quinsies, sore throats and strangulations. Calamus: a sure cure for the intestinal worm.’ He knew exactly where to look and they found their herbs quickly.
    ‘Back to our warm fire,’ he said. Lukas was disappointed. He was enjoying being out in the night air.
    A low growling noise stopped them in their tracks. It came from somewhere close to the gate.
    ‘What was that?’ said Anselmus. His fear was infectious and Lukas was immediately afraid.
    ‘Walk back to the gate. Don’t run, but be quick,’ whispered Anselmus.
    ‘But it came from by the gate,’ said Lukas.
    ‘So it did. So it did.’ Anselmus grabbed his nephew by the arm and hurried him further into the garden.
    The growl came again. A guttural snarl Lukas could feel in his chest.
    Anselmus now looked terrified. ‘Nothing makes a noise like that . . . apart from the Emperor’s