Page 74 of The Frog Prince
“Did you hit your head in the forest when I wasn’t looking?” Alwin asked, honestly concerned.
Otto laughed and drew back. “Fine. Have it your way.”
He began picking at the food nonchalantly, sneaking glances at him from time to time in a very obvious manner. Alwin couldn’t help but be amused by the lack of skill, even as his body still shook.
He ate a few more bites, his body not requiring that much to keep it going. Otto stared every time and Alwin didn’t turn away.
He tried to put it out of his mind, taking note of what Otto picked first and just how he ate his food. He’d always been soconcerned with his own appearance that he hadn’t been able to observe.
A frown formed when he realized there was very little logic to Otto’s choices. He’d take a bite of bread, chase it down with a few seeds, pop some roots into his mouth, then munch on more seeds.
He took a breath to say something several times, but stopped himself because he didn’t really know how to bring it up politely.
“You’re the one staring now,” Otto said.
Alwin jerked his head down, pretending to be fascinated by his own food. “I was not.”
“Yes, you were.” Otto’s words sounded a bit sharp, even as the corners of his lips turned slightly upward in amusement. “Is it my clearly superior way of eating?”
Alwin hoped his non-eyebrows conveyed his dubiousness. “Superior?”
Otto pushed his nose into the air. “I take pride in it. It leaves everyone on their toes. What will I choose next? What will I combine? How ever do I come up with this?”
“You are a strange one, young master,” Alwin said, shaking his head fondly as he watched Otto continue his tactically unpredictable eating.
“I do hope Gisela is doing well,” Otto said after a few more moments of silent chewing.
“She is strong and capable,” Alwin said. “I am sure she can handle herself.”
“Henne is not harmless. He might look frail and old, but he… The lack of scruples makes him dangerous.”
Alwin nodded. “I’ve seen many like him over the years. Greed rots the soul, and his is black. Maybe he wasn’t always like this, but he’s on a path he can’t come back from now.”
Otto nodded somberly, picking at the remnants of their meal.
“Farwin is with her,” Alwin said, hoping to lift his spirits. “I know that doesn’t seem like much to you, but he knows he is to notify me the moment Gisela is in danger. He can lead her to the safest parts of the forest if necessary. He knows them all well.”
Otto nodded without a word, and Alwin frowned at the gesture.
“What else is unsettling you so much?” Alwin asked.
“I have no proof,” he said.
“Of?”
Otto fiddled with the cloth the bread was wrapped in. “I have been suspicious of Henne for months now. At first I thought it was simply incompetence and laziness, but now I think…he might be the onemakingpeople sick.”
Alwin’s breath caught in his throat. “What makes you think that?”
“Nothing I can substantiate.” Otto’s jaw clenched. “There are misdiagnoses and incorrect prescriptions, yes. I have a book full of notes I collected over the last few days, but nothing that indicates a source or proves definitively that it came from Henne. It could be incompetence, except…there’s a gut feeling I have.”
“It was brought on by something,” Alwin said, like he was talking to an adviser. “You have a good head on your shoulders, Otto. Trust your judgment.”
Reaching into his bag again, Otto pulled out one of his notebooks and flipped through it. “As I mentioned, there are too many different symptoms to truly connect these illnesses in people. And yet they all started at roughly the same time, and they haven’t spread beyond our village as far as we know, despite us having contact with other people passing through. It just doesn’t add up.”
“The question is why,” Alwin said. “He’s desperate for recognition, to move up in the world. Leaving a village of bodies behind him achieves none of that.”
“If I am to trust my gut like you suggested, then my worst fears have come true,” Otto said. “His own plan has gotten away from him.”
