Free Apothecary Melchior and the Ghost of Rataskaevu Street by Indrek Hargla

– you know it’s an affliction from which no apothecary is free. Listen, I’ll tell you what happened.’
    Hinric listened with interest, nodding, and when Melchior finished, he said, ‘So that makes two men who are very curious. Grote, the Master of Quad Dack Tower, came to our monastery and asked to speak to me. I asked if he wanted to be shriven, and why didn’t he confess at the Holy Spirit, but he said no, he didn’t want to confess, he wanted instead to ask advice about ghosts and get some guidance. Melchior, you know I’m a man of great patience, and I heard him out. At first I also thought he must have drunk too much beer and started seeing devilish visions, and when he spoke I thought I’d recommend that he go on a long fast, to say theLord’s Prayer ten times a day and to go on a pilgrimage and think a bit more about his own soul. But as he carried on – and his story was confused, I have to say – I started to feel that he wasn’t talking about demons caused by too much drink at all. These demons are different.’
    â€˜So what had he seen?’ Melchior enquired.
    â€˜His story was confused, but he said something like “Holy Father, help a sinner and tell him what he must do when he has seen spirits. Does it mean his death? Should he be afraid?”’
    â€˜Does it mean his death?’ repeated Melchior thoughtfully. ‘Evidently it
did
mean his death.’
    â€˜I wasn’t able to say. I asked why he came to me, and he told me they were saying in town that Brother Hinric knows how to drive evil spirits out.’
    Yes, thought Melchior, they do say that. They said that Hinric had been summoned four or five years ago by the Bishop of Tartu, where he was supposed to have carried out a rite, as prescribed by the Pope, to drive a demon out of a person’s soul. That Canon of Tartu was still alive and well today. Hinric never spoke of such things, because the holy rite of exorcism has the same secrecy as that of the confessional, but still the word had spread. So who else would the poor Tower-Master turn to if he genuinely believed he had seen a ghost?
    â€˜His story was confused,’ Hinric repeated thoughtfully. ‘He asked for advice and guidance and he was really afraid. He said, “It came to me, there at the end of Rataskaevu Street. It came from the realm of the dead to bring a message. It was the voice of Death”, and would I please tell him what to do now and how he could defend himself.’
    â€˜And Master Bruys,’ insisted Melchior, ‘what did he say about Master Bruys?’
    â€˜Something cryptic,’ replied Hinric. ‘He sort of mentioned Master Bruys in passing – and you understand that he was also drunk at the time and must have had a few beers on top of your apothecary’s dram – and I know from experience that that on itsown can make a man pretty groggy. I recall that he mumbled something along the lines of “May Heaven have mercy on Bruys; may the angels be merciful to him.”’
    â€˜May Heaven have mercy on Master Bruys?’
    â€˜Yes, I think so. And then he said he had to go, yes, he had to go and talk … Forgive me, I didn’t understand him exactly, but he said, “I saw the face of Death, and the shadows swallowed it”, and then again said something about Bruys, but I don’t remember what exactly. I told him what I really thought was true, that people talk too much about ghosts and see them where they really are not. There is only one man who has risen from the dead, but he did it through the Holy Spirit.’
    â€˜And yet the saints can appear to people,’ said Melchior.
    â€˜Yes, the church investigates all these apparitions in great detail, because you cannot be careless about them. Saints are people marked out by God, who were born through His will to announce His word, and he has given them the power to work miracles. The