“I don't understand,” Yossel said. “What do you mean by revenge? Why do you hate him so much?”
“He's my father. He used my mother and then left her. He-”
The golem's deep voice rode over his. “The peddler is not your father,” he said.
“He's not?” Izak said. “How do you know? Who's my father then?”
“I know because I wander the Quarter and I hear things. People do not think I have any understanding, you know. They will say anything in front of me.”
“But who is my father?” Izak said impatiently.
“A neighbor of yours. The butcher, Baruch. His wife was the one who started the rumor about the peddler. She never knew for certain about her husband, of course, but she wanted to throw suspicion onto someone else. I heard her screaming at him one night, berating him about his faithlessness, telling him all she had done to protect him.”
“Myâmy neighbor? My mother and Baruch? But she hates him. She crosses the street when she sees him coming.”
“It was not lovingly done,” Yossel said. “It was rape.”
“No wonder,” Izak said softly. “No wonder she never told me. She must have been so ashamed ⦠.”
“Will you come with me, then?” Yossel asked.
“That's enough,” a voice said. It was Rabbi Loew.
Suddenly the alleyway was crowded with people, Loew and Dee and several strong men from the Quarter.
“How long have you been standing there listening to us?” Magdalena asked.
“Long enough,” Loew said. “Yossel, come with me.”
The golem looked at him. A complex expression passed over his face, affection mingled with resentment. “Ah,” he said. “My creator.” He sounded almost mocking.
“Get out of there,” Loew said.
“Why should he?” Magdalena asked. “What does he owe to you?”
“He owes everything to me. I created him, after all.”
“Yes, that's true,” Yossel said. To Izak's horror the golem stood up.
“Don't go,” Izak said. “Stay here with us. After all you've saidâ”
“I would like to,” Yossel said. “But I can't disobey.” He stood and walked toward Loew. The other man grasped him by his thick wrist.
“Why not?” Izak called after them. He heard the despair in his voice. “Break awayâyou're stronger than he is. Don't leaveâ”
Neither Loew nor the golem answered.
BY THE TIME LOEW RETURNED TO THE SQUARE MANY OF THE men had come back for the midday meal. Women bustled around, handing them food and drink. People cried out and backed away as Loew led Yossel docilely into the square, and he saw the expressions he had grown used to, fear and astonishment.
“Where was he?” someone called.
Loew ignored him. He raised his voice and said to the townspeople, “Don't worryâhe won't escape again. Thank you, everyone. You're free to go.”
Dee walked with Loew and the golem to the rabbi's house. Loew led Yossel to his room, then reached into his mouth and removed the
shem.
As soon as the light of intelligence left the golem's eyes Loew said, “It worries me that Izak and Magdalena have become such friends.”
“They seem to feel they have something in common, that they're both outcasts,” Dee said. “And something in common with the golem as well.”
“Yes, I heard that. They want to travel the world together, they said. Well, at least Yossel will not be able to go with them.”
“What will you do now?”
“I should, I suppose, unmake him completelyâthat's what the people here want me to doâ”
“But you find that difficult. He's your creation, after all.”
“Yes, exactly. It is a blasphemous thought, but I cannot help but wonder if God had this much difficulty with his creation. And then I realize that he did, that the first man and woman disobeyed him as Yossel disobeys me.” He sighed. “Well, it will soon be time for evening prayers. Perhaps God will tell me what he wants me to do next.”
“Farewell, then,” Dee said.
“You're leaving. Of course. Thank you for your help, and I sincerely hope I will not have to trouble you with our problems again.”
Dee laughed. “Perhaps the next time I will trouble you with mine.”
LOEW FOUND IT HARD TO CONCENTRATE ON THE EVENING prayers; he thought again and again of Yossel, of how he had
found him in the company of vagabonds. This was not what he had planned for his creation, not at all. The golem had come with him obediently enough, but Loew sensed his growing restlessness, even anger. And Izakâwhat was he to do with Izak? Why didn't the boy stay in the Quarter where he belonged?
A distant sound disturbed his reverie, a faint rhythmic noise that insinuated itself into the chanting of the prayers. Footsteps marching, heading toward the synagogue. Soldiers?
The sound grew louder. The door to the synagogue burst open, and ten or twelve men in Rudolf's uniform pushed their way inside. The king had finally decided to move against him, Loew realized with horror, and the golem was no longer there to protect him.
Everyone quieted. The soldiers squinted, trying to see in the dim light from the high windows and hanging lamps.
“Where is Rabbi Loew?” the soldier in front called out. “Give us Loew and we'll go away.”
“There he is!” another said, pointing to the chief rabbi standing at the front of the synagogue.
Before Loew could say anything the soldiers made their way down the narrow aisle. The people in the synagogue stood and watched as they passed, beginning to mutter to each other. One of the soldiers brushed a hanging bronze lamp and the shadows swayed back and forth, throwing fantastic pictures on the wall.
The leader reached the chief rabbi. The old man stood without moving, his eyes blinking rapidly as if he were trying to block out the events in front of him. In one fluid movement the leader wrenched the rabbi's arm behind him and put his sword to the other man's throat. The rest of the soldiers formed a ring around him.
“I'm not the man you're looking for!” the rabbi said,
breaking from his paralysis and trying to twist away from the sword. “I'm not Judah Loew!”
“Where is he, then?” the soldier asked.
“I don't know. I don't see himâhe didn't come to prayers tonight.”
Loew did not dare move. From the corner of his eye he could see other men standing still as well, as still as the benches behind them. The bronze lamp rocked back and forth, slowing, its rusty squeaks loud in the silence.
“I don't believe you,” the soldier said. “We hear he's a pious man, very pious. Not the kind of man to miss his prayers.”
“I'm telling you the truth!” the rabbi said. “I don't know where he is.”
The leader looked out over the congregation. “Is this true?” he asked.
There were nods among the men. A few of them said, “Yes,” quietly, as if they did not want to provoke the leader any further.
“Then where is he? Where is Judah Loew?”
No one said anything. Loew found that he was looking at the dark stain on the synagogue wall, the blood of martyrs.
“I will kill this man if you do not tell me where Loew is,” the soldier said. “And then I will kill another, and another, for as long as I have to. And finally the answer will not matter, because you will all be dead. Now, I ask you again. Where is Rabbi Loew? Is he among you?”
Loew stepped toward the aisle. It was one thing to hide among other men, another to allow those men to die for him.
Someone else called out something; Loew could not hear it over his own panic. The man standing next to Loew grabbed him by the wrist.
“It's me!” a voice shouted. “I'm Rabbi Loew!”
It was the peddler, Mordechai. Izak's father, if the rumors could be believed. Mordechai walked calmly toward the front of the synagogue, one hand raised slightly in surrender. He was still wearing his long shapeless cloak, and he held a staff in his other hand.
Loew moved forward. The man next to him held on firmly to his wrist. “Let him go,” the man whispered. “You're worth more to us than he is.”
Loew shook him off, but by that time the soldiers were marching back down the aisle, their captive held firmly between two of them.
Loew watched them, uncertain. Should he say something? Should he let Mordechai go, let Rudolf discover the soldiers' mistake? But what would Rudolf do then?
The soldiers left the synagogue. It's over, Loew thought. I can't do anything. But something he said to Dee came back to himâ“When a person saves a life, it is as though he saved an entire world”âand he felt deeply ashamed. He was not worth more than Mordechai, not in God's eyes.
THE NEXT MORNING DEE HEARD POUNDING AT HIS DOOR once again. He went to answer it, certain he knew who it must be. And there, just as he expected, stood Rabbi Loew.
Dee laughed wryly. Loew scowled a moment, seeming to wonder what was so amusing, and then he too laughed. “It doesn't look as if I'll ever leave Prague,” Dee said.
To his surprise Loew spat several times and said something in Hebrew; Dee caught the words
“ayin ha-ra,”
the evil eye. “You must not say such things,” Loew said. “You don't know who might be listening.”
“You're probably right,” Dee said. “But come, my friendâwhat's happened? What brings you here?”
Loew told him about Rudolf's soldiers, about the peddler who had gone off with them in Loew's place. “Why would Mordechai of all people play the hero?” Loew asked. “I never thought him capable of something like that. On the contrary, he seemed the worst sort of coward, a man who would seduce women and then leave them with child.”
For a moment Dee did not understand what Loew was talking about. Then he realized that Loew had not listened as closely as he had to the conversation in the alleyway, that the other man had missed something important. “I don't know that Mordechai
is
Izak's father,” he said. “The golem said he overheard some people talking, and that he thinks Izak's father is someone else, a man named Baruch.”
“Baruch? Izak's neighbor, you mean? But then why does everyone assume it's Mordechai?”
“Becauseâ” Dee struggled to remember the conversation. He had not paid much attention; he had been more interested in capturing Yossel. “Baruch's wife was the one who spread the rumor. She wanted to draw suspicion away from her husband.”
“Then Mordechaiâ”
“âis not a bad man.”
“Traveler, Jewish Quarter!” Loew said suddenly.
“What are you saying? That he's one of the thirty-six?”
“It's possible. He risked his life for me. And he visits us about once a monthâonce every thirty-six days, I'll bet. And in that caseâ”
Dee finished his thought for him. “In that case, the thirty-sixth man is in Rudolf's hands.”
I
ZAK WOKE AND WONDERED WHERE HE was. He stared up at the square of light above him and after a moment realized that it was formed by buildings hemming him in. Then he turned over and saw Magdalena, sleeping in a nest of blankets beside him.
Suddenly all the strange events of the day before came back to him: the conversation with the man of clay; the revelation, wrenching his life out of its accustomed shape, that the peddler was not his father as everyone had supposed. And Rabbi Loew, interfering once again, coming to take the golem away.
Magdalena opened one eye and brushed her wiry gray hair away from her face. “Well,” she said, “are you ready to go out into the city?”
“Of course,” he said, and they set off on their rounds again.
A few hours later they returned to their hiding place, carrying the spoils of their search. “Isn't it dangerous for a woman to live on the street the way you do?” Izak asked. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Oh, many years,” she said.
“That's what you said the last time. Do you still want to travel together, the way the golem said? Because if we do, we're going to have to know things about each other. I can tell you all about my life, but there isn't much to say. But youâyou've been places, seen things ⦠.”
Magdalena sat still a moment. She wasn't ignoring his question, Izak saw, but thinking about the best way to answer it. “I haven't been on the streets as many years as you suppose,” she said slowly.
“No? But-”
She lifted her hand. “Hush,” she said. Suddenly her hair became a light brown, her eyes clear blue. She straightened from her bent crone's shape.
Izak scuttled back against the wall, his heart beating rapidly. Was this witchcraft? Sorcery? Was she an old woman who had magicked herself into a beautiful young girl, or had she always been the girl, and the woman was the illusion? “Whatâ” he said, barely able to speak. “Whatâ”
“Hush,” she said again. Her voice calmed him. “This is my true shape. I took the other to protect myself. No one ever notices an old woman.”
He reached out toward her. She moved back, so quickly he didn't see her go. “I once vowed that no man would ever touch me without my consent,” she said. “If you do that again I'll turn you into a toad.”
To his own surprise he laughed. “If you could turn people into toads you'd have done it long before this. You don't need to threaten me. I'll never harm you, never touch you unless you give your permission.”
“You'll never touch me, then,” she said fiercely. “I've been ⦠hurt at the hands of men. No one will ever do that to me again.”
“I would never harm you, in any case,” he said softly. “Not all men are monsters. But I understand that you have to learn that for yourself.”
NEITHER LOEW NOR DEE SPOKE FOR SEVERAL MOMENTS silenced by the idea that Rudolf might have the thirty-sixth man. “We have to get him back,” Dee said finally.
“How?” Loew said. “Go back to Rudolf's dungeons? Do you really want to risk that again?”
“There's no other choice. We can't let Rudolf learn what he's gotâ”
“We don't know for certain that Rudolf has anything. Mordechai could be the thirty-sixth, I grant you thatâ”
“We can't take the chance that he isn't.” Dee thought back to his notes. “We know it's not Anna or Jaroslav or Samuel. That leaves five people, that's a gamble of one in five. We have toâ”
“How? The two of us against the might of the Holy Roman Empire?”
“We have the golemâ”
“Oh, no. I'm not putting the
shem
in Yossel's mouth ever again. You just said that he overheard some people talking about Izak, that he has a whole life I know nothing about. I won't let him out of my control.”
“Well, what else? That's why you created the golem, isn't itâfor protection? And as you say, we can't do anything by ourselves.”
“I don't know.” Loew began to pace the narrow hallway in front of Dee's room. “You're rightâwe can't leave him there. I don't know.”
“Let's free him, just this once. We can keep watch over him, make certain he does nothing but what we tell him to do. And afterward you can put him back to sleep, or unmake him ⦠.”
“Very well,” Loew said. He seemed to decide all at once. “Let's go.”
Together they set out for the Jewish Quarter. “Where do you think Rudolf is keeping Mordechai?” Dee asked.
“The same place he kept us,” Loew said. “The Daliborka.”
At Loew's house they headed toward Yossel's room. “Judah, what are you doing?” Pearl asked, following them down the hall. “Are you freeing that monster again?”
“Yes,” Loew said.
“Why? He's destroyed thingsâyou know that. Maybe the
next time he'll even kill someone. And the townspeopleâthey don't want him. They're afraid of him. Of you.”
“I can't help that,” Loew said.
“Judah, for God's sake, you can't do this. Do you know what they say about you, the things I've had to hear? They say you dabble in witchcraft, that you speak to demonsâ”
“Don't listen to them, then.”
Loew and Dee stepped into the golem's room. Pearl stayed at the threshold, one hand at her mouth. Loew took out the piece of paper and put it in Yossel's mouth.
The golem opened his eyes. “What do you want?” he asked. There was a harshness in his voice that Dee had not heard before.
“We need your strength again,” Loew said. He seemed unworried by the golem's truculence.
“Why should I help you? When I obeyed you the last time you put me to sleep.”
“You know why. Because I'm your creator. I made you from nothing. You must do as I say.”
The golem bowed his head for a moment. “It's true, you made me,” he said finally. “Very well. But this time after I carry out your commands I want to stay awake. I want to be taught the same things that other people learn, how to read, how to pray. And I want to marry Rivka.”
“I won't bargain with you.”
“At least teach me something. I want to learn. I know nothing about the worldâ”
“We'll discuss this later. Right now I want you to break into the Daliborka and free the man Rudolf's imprisoned there. Do you know where that is?”
“Yes, I do.”
Loew's mouth twisted. “And yet you say you know nothing about the world. When did you learn about the tower?”
“When I was free to walk about in the world. When you told me to search for Izak.”
“I told you to go to the Cattle Market. The Daliborka is in the opposite direction. You continue to disobey meâdo you see why I can't trust you?”
“I only wantedâ”
“Never mind. I won't argue with you. You'll do as I say. And this time I'll go with you, to make certain of that.”
The three of them walked to the river. Yesterday's heat had dissipated; the day was cooler, and pleasant wind ruffled the surface of the water. Clangorous traffic plied back and forth across the bridge. In the rare moments of silence the wheeling birds screeched overhead.
They crossed on the side of the bridge reserved for travelers on foot and came to what Dee now knew was called the Lesser Quarter. A poor name, he thought; the opulence nearly overwhelmed him. He had been away for so long, traveling in distant lands, that he had almost forgotten the richness of Rudolf's kingdom.
The golem began the climb up to the castle. Beside him Dee heard Loew labor for breath, and he stopped too, already tired. “Wait,” he said to the golem.
Yossel looked from one to the other, a puzzled expression on his face. For a moment it seemed as if he would disobey; then Loew repeated Dee's command to wait, and the golem stopped.
“Why do you puff like that?” Yossel asked. “Why don't we continue?”
Loew glared at the golem, but Dee, taking pity on him, said, “Because we're old.”
“Oh,” Yossel said. “Will I become old too?”
Loew continued to say nothing. “I don't know,” Dee said. “You're the only one of your kind in the world.”
“The only one ⦔ Yossel said, breathing the words. Another expression passed across his face. Was it loneliness?
When they were rested they continued up the hill. Dalibor Tower was at the eastern end of the castle outbuildings. They skirted the castle walls carefully, keeping watch for guards or servants or guests of the emperor, but the few people they saw ignored them and went about their business. Probably the folks in the castle had grown used to strange visitors.
As they approached the tower Dee heard a commotion up ahead, what sounded like two men arguing. “Wait,” he said. This time the golem obeyed him. He motioned the other two around a corner of one of the outbuildings.
“What is it?” Loew asked.
“Hush. Listen.”
One of the voices grew louder. “I delivered him to the tower like you told me to,” the first said.
“And then what?” the second man said. “He flew out the window?” He laughed loudly at his own wit.
“I don't know what happened to him.” The first man's tone had grown wheedling. “All I know is, I left him in the tower. I don't know how he got out.”
“He got out because you forgot to lock the door.”
“No. No, I swearâ”
“Well, the only other explanation is that you let him go. How much did he pay you?”
“He didn't pay me a penny. I swear to youâ”
“Not a penny? You let him go for nothing, then?” More laughter. “I'd confine you to barracks, but unfortunately I need you to help search the grounds. But you're sticking close to me, do you understand? I'm not going to lose him again.”
The first man muttered something Dee couldn't hear. “What was that?” the second man asked.
“He'sâhe's a great magician, they say. What if he's disappeared? What if he turns us into toads?”
The second man laughed. “He's not, though. He claimed
to be this fellow Rabbi Loew, but rest assured that King Rudolf knows what Loew looks like. The man's just a peddler.”
Dee heard Loew gasp beside him. How had Rudolf gotten that information? Had Mordechai been tortured?
“A peddler?” the first man said. “All right, thenâI'm ready!”
The two men headed away from the tower, their footsteps growing fainter as they went. “Where could he have gone?” Dee asked. “Does he know any magic?”
“No. I don't think so, anyway. None of the thirty-six do, as far as I know. I'm supposed to protect them.”
Something screeched in the tower room, a sound horribly like the demons in Kelley's house. Dee spun around. The raised center of the towerâthe circle that he had puzzled overâwas lifting. It rose higher as he watched, and then someone pushed it over to the side, and the peddler's head came into view.
They hurried toward him. “Whoâwho are you?” the peddler said, fear evident in his voice.
“Is that where you hid?” Loew asked, and at the same time Dee asked, “What's down there?”
“Rabbi Loew?” Mordechai asked. “What are you doing here? It isn't safe for you. And is that your golem behind you?”
“It isn't safe for you either,” Loew said. “Come, we have toâ”
“Hush,” Dee said. “I think they're coming back.”
No one spoke. Footsteps headed toward them, two men by the sound.
“Quickly,” Mordechai said. “There's a ladder.”
He began to lower himself. Dee hurried to the circle and looked inside. He could just make out the first rung in the light from the open door.
He followed Mordechai. The ladder went down into pitch darkness. “What is this place?” he asked. “How do you know about it?”
“It's a dungeon,” the peddler said. Loew and the golem came down the steps after Dee. Mordechai went back up and muscled the circle back into place. The dark was absolute now; Dee felt as if he'd gone blind. The air was chilly and smelled of mold and damp earth and something else, iron perhaps. Or old blood? He shook his head; he was being fanciful.
He recited a spell and a small light bloomed outward around them. The shadows fell back; Dee made out the wavering forms of Loew and Mordechai. The golem remained in shadow, a dark looming shape.
Dee had not noticed what Mordechai looked like earlier. Now he saw that he was shorter than either Dee or Loew, with a sun-browned face. His white hair was thinning on top; what remained curled around the sides of his head like sheep's wool. His beard, also white, was trimmed close to his face. He had brought a candle out of one of the voluminous pockets of his dark shapeless cloak; he put it back when he saw Dee's glow-light.