Lilah (17 page)

Sogdiam, eyes bright with excitement, looked from Lilah to Axatria, then back to Lilah. ‘“Sogdiam, my boy,” he said, “if you want to be a good Jew, make me a nice loaf of barley bread filled with pigeon's eyes, fish sperm, offal from a lamb killed according to Yahweh's Law, onions, a lot of garlic and curdled milk.” That's what he said – after a night like that!'

‘And did you make it?' Axatria asked.

‘It was impossible. Where could I find a lamb killed according to the Law in the lower town? And, in any case, Ezra forbade it. He claims Master Baruch is trying to kill himself even though the Everlasting has not demanded it of him.'

‘So?' Axatria prompted.

The excitement drained from Sogdiam's eyes. He rubbed his cracked lips and turned to Lilah. ‘That's why I'm here. Master Baruch has decided he won't
eat or drink until I've made his filled bread. What can I do? Where can I find the offal? I couldn't stay in the lower town, fretting, so I came to you. But with my legs, it's not easy to get about in the snow, especially at night. I lost my way. Ezra had told me where the house was, but how to find it in the dark, with all these streets and houses?'

Lilah was speechless. She drew Sogdiam to her, and kissed his temples.

‘It's all right, my boy, it's all right,' Axatria said. ‘As soon as it's light, we'll leave in the chariot. We'll hide you under a blanket. As for the offal, there must be some in the house, if Master Baruch really wants it. The one certain thing is that he mustn't die of starvation.'

By the time they reached Ezra's house, there were so many people in the street that Sogdiam had to reveal himself and speak before they were allowed through. How had the news that Master Baruch was dying spread through the lower city? Lilah had no idea. It was as if the air itself had spread the rumour.

They went through the gate. The courtyard, although also overrun with people, was strangely silent. Lilah recognized Zachariah. She ran to the study.

Ezra, dark rings under his eyes from exhaustion and sadness, was sitting on his stool beside Master
Baruch's bed. He stood up when she came in, and took her in his arms with a sigh of relief. ‘He's still breathing,' he whispered, before she could ask.

Lilah knelt by the old man's bed. His eyes were closed and his face, surrounded by his beard and hair, was at peace. For a moment, she could not move for tenderness, fear and sadness. She gazed at the old man's lips and nostrils: pale, without a sign of life. Shyly, she touched his brow. It was barely warm, like his cheeks. It was too late, it seemed to her. Ezra was wrong: Master Baruch had stopped breathing.

Without her realizing it, a moan escaped her. She looked up at Ezra, who shook his head and knelt beside her. Delicately, he held a thin sheet of silver in front of Master Baruch's nose. It misted over.

Sogdiam and Axatria had been watching their every gesture from the doorway. ‘Is he still breathing?' Sogdiam asked, in a barely audible voice.

Lilah nodded.

‘In that case, we mustn't waste any more time,' Axatria said softly. ‘Come to the kitchen.' She pulled the boy's sleeve.

‘To do what?' he protested.

‘To make his filled barley bread.'

‘You're mad! He won't eat anything now, in the state he's in.'

‘How do you know? He's alive, he asked for
barley bread, that's all that matters. Come on, hurry up and light the oven.'

Axatria was right. She was speaking the very words that Master Baruch would have wanted to hear.

Lilah tried to smile, but did not have the strength. She sat down on the edge of the bed. Her shoulders began to heave under the wave of sobs that overwhelmed her. Ezra put his arm round her and drew her to him. She sought out his hands, intertwined her fingers with his. She bit her lip to stop herself shaking too much. For the first time in years, she saw tears glistening in Ezra's red-rimmed eyes.

She yielded to his embrace. Their heads touched. Through their clothes, Lilah could feel the warmth of her brother's body. She had almost forgotten that Ezra had a body as young as hers. It had been such a long time . . .

Brother and sister. Ezra and Lilah.

It had been such a long time!

It was just before dusk that Master Baruch awoke. His eyes opened suddenly and his gaze was bright and alive. He immediately recognized the faces of those bending over him, and smiled. ‘My dove,' he whispered, ‘I knew you would come.'

‘Sogdiam came to fetch me, Master Baruch,' Lilah said.

‘A good boy . . . a good boy.'

His eyes closed. Lilah thought he had fallen asleep again. But the fingers of his right hand were moving. ‘Both of you,' he whispered in an almost inaudible voice, without opening his eyes.

Lilah and Ezra did not understand immediately. His old fingers moved more nervously. Finally Ezra placed his hand on Master Baruch's right hand and Lilah took hold of the other. The old man smiled slightly.

They remained like this for a while.

The murmur of voices could be heard in the courtyard. From the kitchen, where Axatria and Sogdiam were performing a miracle, there came a delicious aroma.

Again Master Baruch's eyes opened wide. Clear and lucid, they came to rest on Lilah. ‘It will come to pass,' he breathed. ‘You did what you had to do, I know. Have no doubts. It is Yahweh's wish.'

Lilah's eyes misted over. For the first time since she had left Parysatis, the shame that had clung to her like an extra skin was dissolving. It was as if Master Baruch's simple words had purified her.

Now he was looking at Ezra. ‘Everything has an end, Ezra,' he said.

‘Master . . .'

‘Listen to me. Everything has a beginning and an end.' He paused for breath, and to recover a little
strength. ‘Remember Isaiah's words. “At dawn, you will be born again, you will grow quickly, and justice will walk before you . . . and Yahweh will bring up the rear with all His weight.”'

After this great effort he fell silent again. But his will remained strong – they could see it in his eyes.

‘A time for study and a time to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,' he murmured. ‘A time for Baruch ben Neriah to thank Yahweh.'

Ezra was about to speak, but the old man's eyes closed again.

Lilah thought it was over. But after a moment of total silence, Master Baruch's fingers squeezed hers. ‘I can smell barley bread, filled barley bread! What a delight . . .'

Lilah sought Ezra's eyes. He nodded. ‘Sogdiam has just baked it for you, Master.'

Master Baruch's eyelids and lips quivered. ‘Bring it in, bring it in.'

Ezra ran to find Sogdiam and Axatria. The bread was placed right in front of Master Baruch's face. Old as he was, the smile that lit up his features was as radiant and carefree as that of a young man greedy for life and brimming with hope.

A moment later, he stopped breathing.

All night long, candles burned in the house. Although no one person made the decision, tallow,
wicks and oil were found. By the time the clouds had cleared to reveal the stars, the courtyard and the streets around Ezra's house were illuminated by hundreds of lamps.

Zachariah and his people sang, and Ezra read some words from the scroll of Isaiah, which Master Baruch had known by heart:

In the morning, the sky over Susa was filled with mist. It made the sun white and the snowy ground dazzling. When the white disc of the sun reached its zenith, which, at this season, was lower than the Citadel, they came. On foot, without a chariot, but armed. Ten soldiers with felt helmets and fur capes, spears in their hands. They cut through the silent crowd. When they reached the gate, their officer asked for Ezra, son of Serayah.

When Ezra appeared, the officer handed him a wax tablet. ‘By order of our king, Artaxerxes the Second, king of the peoples from east to west by
the will of Ahura Mazda, the great god, you, Ezra, son of Serayah, are ordered to appear by the statue of Darius the father, at the foot of the southern steps to the Apadana, the day after tomorrow. Present this tablet before midday and you will be taken to him. That is the will of the great King Artaxerxes.'

The soldiers turned back the way they had come, and the crowd stood aside to let them pass.

The visitors were struck dumb with amazement. They repeated the officer's words to themselves without grasping their meaning.

Ezra held the tablet in his hands, incredulous, and as nervous as if the wax concealed a magic spell or a poisonous insect.

Lilah's legs were shaking. If Axatria had not been behind her, she would have collapsed.

The King had summoned Ezra!

Parysatis had spoken!

Master Baruch had been right!

Zachariah was the first to cry, ‘Praise be to God! Praise be to the Everlasting!'

His cry was echoed by the onlookers, and spread through the courtyard. The men raised their hands to heaven, applauding, then flung their hats, turbans and caps into the air. Tears of mourning became cries of celebration. The joy was so intense that the other inhabitants of the lower town were taken aback, even shocked.

By the time evening came, Sogdiam had had to explain a hundred times why there had been such laughter. This, he said, was perhaps the true miracle of Master Baruch's death, and the reason for the beautiful smile with which he had savoured the final moments of his earthly life.

But as they were about to place the old sage's body in the earth, Ezra stood up suddenly, and looked fixedly at Zachariah and Lilah. ‘It's impossible,' he said.

He went to find the wax tablet from the Citadel, written with all the skill of the Apadana's scribes, and waved it above his head. ‘It's impossible!' he said again. ‘I can't appear before the King.'

All those who heard him froze. They repeated to themselves what he had said, as earlier they had repeated the good news. This time, a curious silence spread from the courtyard to the surrounding streets.

‘Why is it impossible?' Zachariah asked at last in a quavering voice.

‘Whoever appears before the King must bow down. He must bend his knees and even blow a kiss to Artaxerxes.'

‘Yes,' Zachariah said, with a frown. ‘We know.'

‘Whoever does not bow down,' Ezra went on, waving the tablet, ‘is seized by the eunuchs, and the audience is cancelled.'

‘May the Everlasting protect you!' Zachariah said. ‘You'll bow down and everything will be fine.'

Ezra roared with anger, and started walking up and down in front of the astonished crowd. ‘How can someone who must lead Yahweh's people to their land bow down?' he cried, looking at Lilah.

But it was again Zachariah who replied. He went up to Ezra and tried to calm him. ‘Come on! What harm is there in bowing to the King of Kings? It's the rule. Even the lords of the Citadel, even the envoys of the Greeks, have done it. There's nothing shameful in it.'

‘Zachariah!' In his anger, Ezra hurled the tablet from him. It flew between earth and sky, and the crowd cried out in horror. Sogdiam leaped towards it and caught it before it could hit the ground and break. He landed heavily on his back, but his grimace of pain was mingled with relief.

Ezra barely glanced at him. He pointed at Zachariah, then at those around him. ‘What is not shameful for the Gentiles is shameful for us!' His voice swelled, and he opened his arms wide: ‘This is how it starts! You want me to lead you to Jerusalem. You want to carry the stones to rebuild the walls of the Temple. You want to be the hands that will purify it, that will open its doors, and you don't even know what it means to bow down! Artaxerxes walks hand in hand with his god Ahura Mazda as if
he were the master of the universe. He demands that we bow down before him as if he were a god of heaven and earth!' Ezra's voice was less furious now. It quivered more in sorrow than in anger. ‘Zachariah! And all of you, sons of Levi, sons of Jacob, sons of the
kohanim
, including the first of them, Moses' brother Aaron! You who ought to carry them within you as the blood carries your steps, have you forgotten the words of Yahweh? “You shall not bow down before any idol. You shall not bow down before any false god, or before any man who claims to be a god.”'

The quivering voice fell silent.

Heads bowed.

Lilah, who had bent to help Sogdiam, felt her body grow cold. Had so much effort been in vain? For a moment she hoped that Master Baruch would raise his voice and suggest a solution to Ezra. But Master Baruch's voice was silent now for ever.

‘There is something you could do,' Axatria said unexpectedly.

All eyes turned to her.

She was looking at Ezra with a shy smile. ‘If the King isn't a god, he doesn't know how to separate true from false.'

Taken aback, Ezra frowned. ‘What do you mean?'

‘That you can look as if you're bowing to him without actually doing it. Watch.'

She stepped forward and bent her body gracefully. As she did so the thin bracelet she wore round her wrist slipped off. She bowed deeply to pick it up from the melting snow, and at last stood up, blowing on her frozen palm in what might have been a tender kiss.

There was a silence. Then Sogdiam burst into laughter, others too, and as Ezra blushed to the roots of his hair, the laughter spread through the courtyard.

Axatria, just as scarlet as Ezra but with a twinkle in her eyes, murmured, ‘Yahweh will know you did nothing shameful. But Artaxerxes won't, because he's only a man.'

Lilah saw Ezra reach out his hand towards Axatria. Now he, too, was laughing heartily. She closed her eyes and thought she could see Master Baruch's smile.