Servant of the Bones

13

For fifteen years, I traveled with Zurvan. I did his bidding in all things. He was rich, as I’ve said, and many times he wanted to travel merely as men do, and we went by ship to Egypt, and then back again to Athens and to other cities which he had visited in his youth and had despaired of ever seeing again.

“Almost never did he let on that he was a magician, though now and then he was recognized by one with second sight. And when called upon to heal the sick, he would do what he could. In every place we traveled he bought or had me borrow for him, or even steal, tablets and scrolls of magic, and these he studied and read to me and made me memorize, further reinforcing his conviction that all magic was more or less the same.

“That I can remember these years with crystal clarity is a mercy, because during the time that separated me from his death and the present I have few distinct memories at all. I know there were times after Zurvan’s death when I woke with no memory and served my masters out of boredom, and sometimes watched them bring destruction upon themselves and thought it amusing, and even now and then took the bones from them myself to another. But all this is hazy, fog. Meaningless.

“Zurvan was right. My response to pain and to suffering was to forget. And it is the overall tendency of spirits to forget. Flesh and blood, bodily needs, these are what inspire memory in man. And when these are wholly absent, it can be sweet to remember nothing at all.

“During Zurvan’s life, he made a better casket for the bones. He made it of very strong wood, plated inside and out with gold, and he made a carved-out space for the bones to rest in their curled position, as that of a child asleep. He had carpenters work on this because, in truth, the work of his spirit familiars was not exact enough for him. Those who know the material world work with greater respect for it, he said.

“On the outside of this casket which was a rectangle just long enough to contain my skeleton, he carved the name of what I was and how I was to be called, and he carved the stern warning that I must never be used for evil, lest that evil descend upon the one who calls. He cautioned against the destruction of my bones, lest all restraint upon me go with it.

“He wrote all this in the form of incantation and sacred poetry in many languages all over the casket.

“He put a Hebrew symbol or letter which means life on the casket.

“It was very good that he did all this early, because his death came quite by surprise. He died in his sleep, and I was called forth only when his house in Syracuse was being raided by petty thieves and people of the village who knew he had no kin and were in no fear for him. And as he had left no demons to guard his body, they sacked the house, found the casket, spoke of the bones, and I awoke.

“I slew everyone present, down to the smallest child who rummaged through Zurvan’s clothes. I slew them all. That night, the villagers came to burn the house of the Magus in hopes of dispelling its evil. I was glad of this because I knew that Zurvan, being Greek by birth, though a man of no nation or tribe by choice, wanted his remains to be burnt, and I had arranged them within the house so that they burnt first and fast.

“I journeyed back to Miletus, and then on towards Babylon though I didn’t remember why. I grieved for Zurvan. I thought only of Zurvan. I was in pain night and day, invisible, in the flesh, frightened to go into the bones to rest lest I never come out of them, and lugging my skeleton with me through the desert sands.

“At last I came to a city of Babylon but found myself repelled by it and hating it, and walking in pain with every step. I saw nothing that sparked a memory, only a feeling. I left very shortly after I’d come and I went back to Athens, which had been the birthplace of Zurvan. And finding a little house, I made a safe hiding place for the bones far, far beneath it, and then I went into them. And all was blackness.

“Much later I awoke with faint memories of Zurvan, yet remembering all his lessons, but it was another century. And maybe I always remembered his lessons. I think that may be the key to my eventual rebellion, that I remembered his lessons and loathed the perversion of them.

“Whatever the case, I was called forth in Athens. The soldiers of Philip II of Macedon had come down on Athens and beaten the Greeks, and Philip the Barbarian, as they called him, was looting the city, and in the process the bones were unearthed.

“When I came forth it was in the tent of a Macedonian magician, and he was as amazed to lay eyes on me, as I was on him.

“I remember almost nothing of him. What I remember is the vibrant quality of the world, the lure of being solid once more, of tasting water, and of wanting to be a living and breathing thing even if only an imitation. I knew also my great strength, kept this secret from this Master, and only quietly obeyed his largely petty and foolish commands. He was a small magician.

“I was passed by him to another and another. My next distinct memory is only because Gregory Belkin wakened it in me…that I was in Babylon when Alexander the Great died. How I got there, whom I served, I don’t remember. But I remember dressing myself, making my body into that of one of Alexander’s soldiers so that I might pass before his bed and see him signal with his hand that he was dying.

“I remember Alexander as he lay on his bed, that he burnt with an aura as bright as that of Cyrus the Persian. Even in dying he was very beautiful and strangely alert. He was observing himself die, and he was not fighting to live. Not desperate to live. It was as if he knew this was to be the end of his life. I don’t recall him knowing that a spirit had walked past him, as I was solid and very complete. I do recall going back to my Master of the moment and telling him, Yes, the conqueror of the world was dying, and it seems this Master was old and Greek, too, and that he wept. I recall that I put my arm around him to comfort him.

“I wouldn’t remember that much if it weren’t for Gregory crying out the name of Alexander with such fury in New York and declaring that Alexander was the only man who had really ever changed the whole world.

“I could struggle now through other masters…bring up out of the cauldron of memory bits and pieces. But there is no dignity or magic or greatness that calls to me, that makes me long to recount it. I was an errand boy, a spirit sent to spy, to steal, sometimes even to kill. I remember killing. But I don’t remember feeling remorse. I don’t remember ever serving anyone whom I thought was unspeakably evil. And I do remember that I slew two masters at various times upon waking, because they were evil men.

“But this is hazy, as I said, unclear to me. What I remember next and most vividly, what I remembered only weeks ago when I awoke in the cold clear New York streets to witness the murder of Esther Belkin, what I remembered immediately with any clarity was the last master, Samuel of Strasbourg—named for the prophet, of course.

“Samuel was a leader and a magician among the Jews of Strasbourg. I only remember loving him and his five beautiful daughters, and I remember not the details of the beginning or the middle, but only the last days when the Black Death had come, when the city was in an uproar, and the word came down from the powerful Gentiles that all of us Jews should get out, because the local authorities might not be able to protect us from the mob.

“The last night shines before my eyes. Samuel was the only one left in the house. His five daughters had been smuggled out of Strasbourg to safety, and he and I sat in the main room of his house, a very rich house, I might add, and he made it known to me, that no matter what I said or did, he would not flee the wrath of the mob.

“Many poor Jews could not escape what was about to happen. And Samuel, much to my amazement, had conceived of the notion that someone of his tribe or clan might need him at the end, and that he must remain. He had not always been so self-sacrificing by nature, yet, he had chosen to remain.

“I was frantic, slamming my fists, ranging out and coming back to tell him that the entire neighborhood was surrounded, that the entire population of this district would shortly be burned.

“The history of the world was no mystery to me and neither was Samuel; the substance of the man was vivid then and is now; I’d gotten gold for him in abundance; I had spied on his connections in business and banking; I had been the source of his immense and ever increasing wealth. Killing, that was something I had never done for him because he never thought of anything so crude; he was a merchant Jew, a banker Jew, and clever and beloved and respected by the Gentile community for his good rates of interest and his reasonableness when it came to the payment of debt. A kindly man? Yes, but a worldly man, though a bit mystical, and now he sat in this room, as the mob and the fire drew closer, as the city of Strasbourg turned into hell around us, and he quietly refused to leave.

“ ‘There are ways out of this city still, I can take you!’ I said. Indeed we both knew of tunnels beneath the house of the Jewish district which led to the world outside the walls. They were old, true, but we knew them. I could have taken him through them. Or upwards, with great power, invisible through the air.

“ ‘Master, what will you do? Let them kill you? Tear you limb from limb? Either the fire will come racing at you from both ends of the street outside, or they will come, to tear off your rings and your robes before they kill you. Master, why are you choosing to die?’

“He had told me twelve times to be quiet and go back into the bones. I wouldn’t do it. Finally I said, ‘I won’t let this happen to you. I’ll take you from here, you and the bones!’

“ ‘Azriel,’ he cried. ‘There is time and you will be still!’ He neatly put aside the last of his books, a volume of his cherished Talmud, and his books of the Kabbalah from which had come much of his magic, and then he waited, with his eye on the door.

“ ‘Master,’ I asked. My memory of this is exquisite. ‘Master what of me? What will happen? Will the bones be found without their casket? Where do I go, Master?’

“Surely I had never asked such a self-serving question. Because the look of surprise on his face was so bright. He broke off his reverie and staring at the door and he looked up at me.

“ ‘Master, when you die, can you take my spirit with you?’ I said. ‘Can you take your loyal servant into the light?’

“ ‘Oh, Azriel,’ he said in the most despairing voice, ‘what ever gave you such notions, foolish, foolish spirit. What do you think you are?’

“The tone of his voice infuriated me. The look on his face infuriated me.

“ ‘Master, you’re leaving me to the ashes! To the looters!’ I cried out. ‘Can’t you clasp my hand as they kill you, if that’s what you must have, can’t you take my hand and take me with you? Thirty years I’ve served you, made you rich, made your daughters rich. Master! You’re leaving me here. The casket may burn. The bones may burn. What will happen!’

“He looked completely confused. He looked ashamed. At that point the door of the house opened and two very finely dressed Gentile merchant bankers whom I knew came into the room. Both were anxious.

“ ‘We have to hurry, Samuel,’ they said. ‘They’re starting the fires near the walls. They’re killing the Jews everywhere. We cannot help you escape.’

“ ‘Did I ask you to?’ said Samuel with contempt. ‘Give me the proof that my daughters are away.’

“Anxiously they put a letter in his hand. I saw it was from one of many moneylenders whom he trusted most, who was in Italy and in a safe place, and it confirmed that his daughters had come and described the color of the dress of each and every one, and her hair, and gave the special word from her which her father demanded.

“The Gentiles were terrified.

“ ‘We must hurry, Samuel. If you’re determined to die here, keep your word! Where is the casket?’

“At these words I was astonished. Only too quickly did I understand! I had been bartered for the salvation of the five daughters! Neither of these men could see me, but they saw the casket of my bones, which was in plain sight with the books of the Kabbalah, and they went to the casket and opened it and there lay my bones!

“ ‘Master,’ I said in a secret voice to him. ‘You can’t give me to these men! These men are Gentiles. They aren’t magicians. They’re not great men.’

“Samuel was amazed still, staring at me. ‘Great? When did I ever tell you I was great or even good, Azriel? When did you ever ask?’

“ ‘In the name of the Lord God of Hosts,’ I said, ‘I did for you what was good for you and your family and your elders and your synagogue. Samuel! What do you do to me now?’

“The two Gentiles closed the casket. ‘Goodbye Samuel,’ they said as one of them hugged the casket to his breast and they both hurried out the door. I could see the light of the fire. I could smell it. I could hear people screaming.

“ ‘You evil, evil man!’ I cursed him. ‘You think God will forgive you because this fire cleanses you and you’ve sold me for money, for gold!’

“ ‘For my daughters, Azriel. Spirit, you have found a powerful voice too near the end.’

“ ‘The end of what?’ But I knew. I could feel already the others calling, those who had their hands on the bones. They were already outside the city gates. And my hatred and contempt was boiling in me. Their calls were a temptation!

“I came at Samuel.

“ ‘No, Spirit!’ he declared. ‘Obey me, go to the bones. Obey as you always have. Leave me to my martyrdom.’

“There came the call again. I couldn’t hold my form. I was too angry. My body was dissolving. I had in my anger forfeited too much. The voices that called me were strong. They were farther and farther away but nonetheless strong.

“I lunged at Samuel and I threw him out the open door. The street was full of flames. There’s your martyrdom, Rabbi!’ I shouted. ‘I curse you to walk among the undead for all your existence, until God forgives you for what you did to me, leaving me, bartering with me, leading me to love you, and selling me like gold!’

“From both directions terrified people ran to him, people who were suffering then final anguish. ‘Samuel, Samuel,’ they called out his name.

“My bitterness broke for an instant when I saw him embrace them. ‘Samuel,’ I cried. I came towards him. I was growing weak but I was still visible to him. ‘Take my hand. Hold the hand of my spirit, please, Samuel, take me with you into death.’

“He didn’t speak. The crowd surrounded him, sobbing and clinging to him, but I heard his last thought as he rebuffed me as he turned his eyes away. He said as clearly as if aloud,

“ ‘No, Spirit, because if I die with my hand in yours you may take me down into Hell.’

“I cursed him.

“ ‘Not enough grace and goodness for both of us, Master. Master! Leader! Teacher! Rabbi!’

“The flames engulfed the crowd. I rose upwards through the flame and smoke, and felt the cold night pass through me and I sped towards the sanctuary of the bones. I sped away from smoke and horror and injustice and the screams of the innocent. I went through the dark woods, as a witch to a Sabbath, flying with my arms out, and then I saw the two Gentiles at the door of a small church at a great remove from the city, the casket on the ground between them, and wanting only death and silence; I relaxed into the bones.

“All I learnt of them was that they were weeping for Strasbourg, for the Jews, for Samuel, for the whole tragedy. And that they planned to sell me in Egypt. They were not magicians. I was a marketable prize.

“It didn’t seem that mine was a long uninterrupted sleep. I was called, I was taken places, I slew those who called me, and some I can picture, some not. The history of the world was written on the blank and endless tablets of my mind in column after column. I did not think, however; I slept.

“Once a Mameluk in beautiful silk called me forth. It was Cairo, and I chopped him to pieces with his own sword. It took all the wise men of the palace to drive me back into the bones. I remember their beautiful turbans and their frantic cries. They were such a flashy lot, those Moslem soldiers, those strange men who lived all their lives without women, and only to fight and to kill. Why didn’t they destroy me? Because of the inscriptions that warned them against a masterless spirit who could seek revenge.

“I recall in Paris a clever satanic magician in a room full of gaslight. The wallpaper was most intriguing to me. A strange black coat hung on a hook. Life almost tempted me. Gaslight and machines; carriages rolling on cobbled streets. But I killed the mysterious man and retreated once more into the bones.

“It was always that way. I slept. I think I remember a winter in Poland. I think I remember an argument between two learned men. But all this is misty and imperfect. They spoke a Hebrew dialect and they had called me, but neither seemed to know I was there. They were good and gentle men. We were in a plain synagogue, and they argued. And then they decided that my bones must be hidden within the wall. Good men. I slept.”

“When I came to life again, it was in the bright winter sunlight only weeks ago, as a trio of assassins made their way through the press on Fifth Avenue to kill Esther Belkin as she came out of her black limousine and entered the store before her—innocent, beautiful, without the slightest sense of death circling her.

“And why was I there? Who had called me? I knew only these assassins meant to kill her, these hideous rustic evil men, drugged and stupid and enchanted with the pleasure of killing her, in all her innocence. I had to stop it. I had to.

“But I was too late. You know what the papers told you.

“Who was this innocent child? She saw me, spoke my name. How had she known me? She had never called me. She had only seen me in the thin realm between life and death where truths are visible which are otherwise veiled.

“Let us linger on this killing. A death such as Esther’s deserves a few more words. Or maybe I need to recount my coming into awareness. Maybe I need to describe what it was like to see and breathe again in this mighty city, with towers higher than the mystical mountain of Meru, among thousands of people, good and bad, and without luster, as Esther was being marked for the kill.”