The Alchemist's Door (26 page)
Read The Alchemist's Door Online
Authors: Lisa Goldstein
“Who gave this to you?” Loew asked the boy. “Where did you get it?”
“A man came into the Quarter with it,” the boy said.
“What did he look like? Did he say where he came from?” Loew remembered that Kelley had had his ears cut off for some offense. “Were his ears clipped?”
“I don't know. I don't remember. He looked like a man, that's all.”
Loew tried not to become angry with the boy. Why should he have paid attention, after all? “Very well,” he said. “You can go.”
A knock came at the front door. Not now, Loew thought. I don't have time for thisâI have to think. He heard Pearl speak to someone and then lead him down the hallway, heard them pass the student on his way out. The door to the study opened.
“Your friend isâ” Pearl began.
“Doctor Dee!” Loew said, astonished. “I hadn'tâthis isâthat is, you are very welcome. Now more than ever. My God, what happened to your beard?”
“The demon tried to burn my children,” Dee said.
“My God,” Loew said again. “Are they safe?”
“Now they are, yes. I'm the one it wants.”
“But aren't you taking a risk by coming here?”
“It's worse than that. Somehow Rudolf got Pope Sixtus to banish me from Prague.”
“Well, then, you mustn't stayâ”
“I have to. It's my fault Kelley's after you. I was the one who led him to you, who told him about the thirty-sixth man. I have to make amends somehow. And Izakâis he in danger?”
Loew handed him the letter wordlessly. Dee read it
quickly, then looked up. “I know where Kelley lives,” he said. “I'll show you. Comeâwe'll have the golem pay him a visit.”
quickly, then looked up. “I know where Kelley lives,” he said. “I'll show you. Comeâwe'll have the golem pay him a visit.”
“I'm afraid I can't do that,” Loew said. “I took the
shem
from Yossel's mouth. He's disobeyed me a number of times. I told him to search for Izak but he went his own wayâhe's been talking to a woman in the Quarterâ”
shem
from Yossel's mouth. He's disobeyed me a number of times. I told him to search for Izak but he went his own wayâhe's been talking to a woman in the Quarterâ”
“Well, we can't confront Kelley ourselves. He'll run to Rudolf as soon as he sees I'm in town, or he'll grab us both and torture us for information. God knows what he has in that house of his.”
“The demon, you think?”
An expression passed fitfully across Dee's face; he looked like a haunted man, a man ridden by demons. He seemed to make an effort to cast away his evil thoughts. “Demons, yes,” he said. “And other things, probably, by this time.”
“That's another reason you shouldn't go. You can't face the demonâit's already done you enough harm.”
“I'm done with running,” Dee said. “And those seem to be my only choicesârunning or staying and facing this, whatever it is.” He tried to smile, but it made little headway against the haunted look in his eyes. “But I would feel safer if the golem were the one to beard Kelley in his own den.”
“Very well,” Loew said. “If you think that's the right course ⦠.”
“I do.”
Dee followed Loew to Yossel's room. The rabbi reached into one of his pockets, pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, and placed it in the golem's mouth.
The strange clay-colored eyes opened and saw them. “Rabbi Loew,” the golem said. “And Doctor Dee. It's good to see you both. And very good to be alive again.”
He looked from one of them to the other. For a moment the clay features moved and Loew thought he saw an expression
of resentment, almost of anger, pass over the golem's face. Then he smiled, and Loew shook his head. He had imagined it, that was all.
of resentment, almost of anger, pass over the golem's face. Then he smiled, and Loew shook his head. He had imagined it, that was all.
THEY MADE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE TINY STREETS AND alleyways of the Jewish Quarter. It was mid-afternoon; the summer sun burned hot, tarnishing the sky. Despite the heat, Loew had muffled the golem in huge shapeless clothing. The clothes were no disguise, though; Yossel's great height and shambling walk drew curious or terrified glances from nearly everyone they passed.
Once the golem stopped and gazed up at the window of one of the houses. “No,” Loew said harshly. “Come along.”
“What is it?” Dee asked. “Who lives there?”
“No one. A woman. I was going to tell her to stop talking to Yossel, but there's been no time ⦠.”
What's happened in this town since I left? Dee thought. The tale sounded interesting, but he couldn't think about it; he had to concentrate all his attention on Kelley.
They received even more stares after they passed through the gate of the Quarter. The Jews had probably all seen Yossel before, Dee thought, but these people had never encountered anything like him. He looked at the golem's mismatched arms and wished for the hundredth time that he had had time to fix them.
They headed south through the Old Town and the New Town, the golem tirelessly, the two old men stopping to rest every so often. Living on Vilém's estate Dee had forgotten the bustling crowds of Prague, the priests and conjurers, gypsies and soldiers and madmen, traveling musicians and quacksalvers and mountebanks.
Finally they reached the Cattle Market. It was market day
today; cows and other livestock brayed and bellowed, and men selling their wares tried to make themselves heard over the clamor. Dee caught the mingled smells of hay and horseflesh and dung.
today; cows and other livestock brayed and bellowed, and men selling their wares tried to make themselves heard over the clamor. Dee caught the mingled smells of hay and horseflesh and dung.
Loew pointed to a statue on the southeast side. “That's where I was supposed to leave a message,” he said.
“You were, were you?” Dee said. His anger with his old colleague had grown on the long walk; he was furious with Kelley for playing with innocent lives to further his own ambition.
Then he remembered Kelley's familiar at the alchemists' tavern, the thing that had perfectly imitated a human except for its strange backwards hands, and he shivered in the summer heat. How could they confront something like that?
The sun seemed not to have moved at all in the sky, though they had walked a long way. Dee led Loew to Kelley's huge house. The rabbi motioned the golem forward. The two men hid themselves in the shadows of a coach entrance next door, close enough to overhear anything that might happen. Dee tried to catch his breath; the heat was suffocating.
They heard the golem knock, and then the door opened. “Yes?” someone said. It was Kelley's voice; to Dee's surprise he had answered the door himself.
“I've come for Izak,” the golem said.
There was a long pause. Kelley was probably studying the golem, realizing that this was no ordinary visitor. “Ah,” he said finally. “You're Loew's creation, aren't you?”
“Yes.”
“I'm surprised he's let you out. From what I've heard he uses you as a slave, locking you away except when he needs you to do his bidding.”
“God's devils!” Loew said. “He's trying to corrupt him.” He moved forward.
“Stay here,” Dee said. He put his hand on Loew's arm. He
could feel the muscles pull and strain, like taut rope. “We can't let him see us.”
could feel the muscles pull and strain, like taut rope. “We can't let him see us.”
“IâI am not a slave,” Yossel said finally.
“No? So Rabbi Loew allows you perfect freedom, the right to do whatever you want?”
There was another long pause. Loew took another step toward the street. Dee's grip tightened on his arm. “No,” Yossel said.
“No? Tell me, what do you desire? What would you do if you were allowed anything at all, if you were free of him?”
“There'sâthere's a womanâ”
“A woman, good. I can help you there, I think. I have potions, amulets, trinkets ⦠. I can make her want you as much as you want her. Why don't you leave Rabbi Loew and come live here with me? I won't treat you as badly as he does, I promise.”
“No. No, he is my creator. As God is your creator.”
“Ah, but I have left God long ago. And you can leave Loew as well.”
“No.” Yossel's voice was louder, stronger. “I've come for Izak.”
“What makes you think you'll find him here?”
“Rabbi Loew told me.”
“And Rabbi Loew is always right, I suppose.”
“Yes.”
“I'm sorry to disabuse you, my friend. Izak is not here. It seems your precious Rabbi Loew was wrong.”
“May I come in and look?”
“Of course not. There's a good deal in here I don't want anyone to see. Especially Loew.”
“Loew isn't interested in anything but Izak.”
“Oh, I doubt that. You tell your owner that he knows the terms of our bargain. He tells me the name I want, and I release Izak.”
Dee heard a scuffle, and then a thump as something hit the floor. He stuck his head out cautiously. Kelley lay prone across the doorway. Yossel was nowhere to be seen.
“What is it?” Loew said intently.
“Yossel pushed past Kelley and went inside.”
Nothing happened for long moments. Bells rang out somewhere in the city. A coach drove down the street and Dee and Loew ducked back into the shelter of the doorway. “Do you see anything?” Loew asked impatiently.
Just then Yossel ran from the house. He looked wildly up and down the street and rushed past them.
“Yossel!” Loew said. “Come here! Now! Yossel!”
The golem paused. Something had terrified him badly, Dee saw. How could a lump of clay have such a searing expression? The golem headed toward them reluctantly.
“What happened?” Loew asked. “What did you see?”
Yossel shook his head.
“What? What was it?”
“I can'tâI can't say.” The golem's voice was low, rasping.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Kelley's moving,” Dee said. “He's going to wake up soon. We've got to go.”
Without discussing it they headed around the market, anxious to put the noise and bustle between them and Kelley. “Tell me,” Loew said urgently. “What did you see in Kelley's house?”
“Nothing can make me speak of it,” Yossel said. “Not even if you were to promise me an immortal soul.” And he said nothing else on the way back to Loew's house, though both Loew and Dee tried to draw him out.
Shadows were lengthening across the streets by the time they reached the Jewish Quarter, the evening finally bringing the promise of cooler weather. Someone had placed a bundle of rags against the wall near the gate. As they came closer the
bundle moved and stood up, and Dee saw that it was Magdalena.
bundle moved and stood up, and Dee saw that it was Magdalena.
She had insisted on traveling to Prague with him but had gone her own way when the coach reached the city; she had not thought Loew would welcome her, and he had to admit that she was probably right. Now he nodded to her as she came toward them. “Good day, Doctor Dee,” she said.
“Good evening, more like,” Dee said.
Loew looked from Dee to Magdalena. For an instant Dee saw her as Loew did, a shapeless mass of soiled and ragged clothing, and he felt briefly embarrassed. Then he thrust the feeling away. Magdalena was a good person; he had no reason to be ashamed of her.
“This is Magdalena,” he said to Loew. “She's been helping me with my investigations.” He turned to Magdalena. “And this is Rabbi Loew.”
Loew nodded without turning toward her. Dee felt annoyed at his rudeness; then he remembered that Loew did not look directly at any woman other than his wife.
“And who is this?” Magdalena asked, indicating the golem.
“My name is Yossel, lady.” He held out his hand. Magdalena took it gravely.
“I have a great deal to tell you,” Dee said. “Is there a place we can go to talk?”
“There's a tavern,” Magdalena said.
“Good. Will you join us, Rabbi Loew?”
Loew hesitated. “Yes, very well. But I don't think they will look kindly on Yossel.” He turned to the golem. “Yossel, go home. Go to your room. Do not talk to anyone on the way. Do you hear me?”
Yossel nodded and shuffled through the gate into the Quarter.
The tavern was like a border outpost, Dee saw as they went inside, a place that served Jews, Christians, and Saracens alike.
It reminded him of that other borderland he had visited, István's realm, with its confusion of different peoples and religions. The three of them, mismatched as they were, drew no stares from the other patrons.
It reminded him of that other borderland he had visited, István's realm, with its confusion of different peoples and religions. The three of them, mismatched as they were, drew no stares from the other patrons.
As they went toward an empty table they passed a group of women seated together. One of them turned, and Dee recognized Marie.
“Doctor Dee!” she said. “You mustâyou mustâ”
The German defeated her. She spoke to one of her companions in French and the other woman translated.
“You must be careful,” the woman said. “My friend Marie says she has seen the countess Erszébet in Prague.”
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