“My God, Simon! Tell me it’s really you.”
From a balcony with steps leading into the castle, a tall man came running toward him. He was wearing a broad, black cloak and a pointed hat, making him look like a magician, and his arms were spread out in greeting. Not until the man had drawn closer did Simon recognize the friendly face, slightly hooked nose, and bushy eyebrows. His hair had thinned and he had a few more wrinkles around his eyes, but otherwise he looked just like he used to.
“Samuel!” Simon replied with a laugh.
They embraced warmly, and for a moment, the park with the fountain, the hedges, the exotic birds-indeed, all of Geyerswörth Castle-was forgotten.
“You should have sent a messenger to tell me you were coming,” Samuel chided him, raising his finger playfully. “I was worried something might have happened to you on your long trip.”
Simon sighed. “I’m afraid you overestimate my financial means, Samuel. I’m just a simple bathhouse owner who can’t afford a messenger on horseback.” His gaze wandered, half in wonder and half with envy, to the castle towers. “You, on the other hand, evidently are a regular guest of the Bamberg prince-bishop.”
“And shoot enemas up his fat ass,” Samuel laughed, waving him off. “The life of an esteemed city physician is not always as pleasant as people think. You know, of course, that the richer the patient, the more difficult he is to deal with. At present I’m treating not His Excellency but one of his playmates-”
“The one suffering from the French disease, I know,” Simon interrupted.
Samuel grinned. “I see you haven’t changed. Curious and sly as an old Jew. I don’t even want to know how you got wind of this highly secret information-nor how you slipped by the guards of the bishop’s summer residence,” he added with playful mock-seriousness.
“Well, let’s just say I managed both at the same time,” Simon replied with a smile. But then his face darkened. “The French disease is a horrible scourge. Years ago my father had some cases to treat, and all the patients died. Is just the girl infected? Or the prince-bishop, as well?” He lowered his voice and looked around to see if anyone might be listening.
Samuel shook his head. “Probably not, though naturally that is Philipp Rieneck’s greatest worry at present. I spread quicksilver all over the girl’s body to stop the disease, and the young thing screamed like a stuck pig. If the syphilis doesn’t drive her mad, then possibly the treatment will-but what can I do? I don’t know any other treatment.” He sighed sadly. “That’s why we’ve quarantined the patient here in Geyerswörth and not in his palace up in Mengersdorf where the prince-bishop resides in the cooler months.” Samuel smiled with tightly pursed lips. “The screams remind His Excellency too much of his own mortality-though today, at least, he deigned to come and visit her. After all, until now she was his favorite concubine.”
“Did you ever try using the potion made from the guaiac tree?” Simon asked. “I read about it just a few months ago. The great humanist Ulrich von Hutten, in an experiment on himself-”
Samuel laughed. “I see in this regard, as well, you haven’t changed-always in search of the newest treatments. Perhaps you’re right. I’ll. .”
He fell silent as two elegantly dressed men, accompanied by several guards, appeared beneath the archway and walked toward them. With a sigh, Samuel removed his hat and motioned to Simon to do the same.
“What a schlimazel,” Samuel muttered, falling back into the Yiddish jargon of his childhood. “The prince-bishop and the suffragan bishop at the same time. I am spared nothing. Let’s just hope these two high-placed gentlemen don’t both want to be bled at the same time, so I can return home before morning.”
He bowed deeply, and Simon, hesitantly, did the same.
A deep, booming voice greeted the city physician: “Ah, my dear Samuel.” The cleric was large, with long, elegantly waved gray hair and a goatee, likewise gray. His garb was that of a nobleman, with only the cap on his head revealing to Simon that the man standing before him was none other than the prince-bishop himself. He appeared to be about fifty years old.
“So how is treatment going for my beloved Francesca?” Philipp Rieneck asked with concern. “When I visited her this morning, the poor creature was beside herself. She didn’t even recognize me, her father confessor.” Only now did he notice Simon, and his eyes turned to tiny slits. “Have you perhaps shared our little secret with one of your servants?”
Samuel shook his head vigorously. “Of course not. This gentleman is the renowned physician Simon Fronwieser, a professional friend and esteemed doctor from the Munich area. We’re just discussing other treatment possibilities that won’t be as painful as quicksilver.”
The bishop seemed to be thinking it over for a moment, but finally nodded his head. “Very well, good. Anything is better than this screaming. Sometimes it’s so loud it goes right through you. But one thing has to be clear.” He looked Simon up and down sharply. “It concerns medical confidentiality-or I will soon be pleased to hear your own screams, Master. . Tell me your name again.”
“Fronwieser,” Simon said quickly in a hoarse voice. “Simon Fronwieser.” He couldn’t quite choke out the words to support Samuel’s bold lie, elevating him to the status of certified physician. “You. . you can depend on me.”
“Very well. I see we understand each other.” The prince-bishop flashed a friendly smile. Then he pointed to the elderly gentleman at his side, who, like himself, was wearing ecclesiastical garb-no doubt the suffragan bishop. While Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck was in charge of both the worldly and spiritual administration in Bamberg, the suffragan bishop concerned himself only with affairs of the church. He had the tonsure of a monk and a piercing gaze that Simon could feel going straight through him.
“Well, my dear Master Samuel,” Philipp Rieneck continued, turning to the doctor as his face darkened. “There’s bad news. Suffragan Bishop Sebastian Harsee has just informed me of another gruesome find reported to His Excellency by well-informed friends in the city guard. Evidently an arm belonging to the missing city councilman Schwarzkontz has been found in the Bamberg Forest. Dreadful, isn’t it?” Rieneck shivered. “That old city councilman was always such a strong pillar in the house of God.”
“This same Lord God will watch over him,” Samuel replied. “Probably the poor man was torn to bits by wild animals in the forest.”
“Or something else,” the suffragan bishop interjected. His creaking voice reminded Simon of the crunching sound of rotted wood.
Samuel looked at Harsee in bewilderment. “Something else? What do you mean by that, Your Excellency?”
“As His Eminence has just indicated, this is not the first discovery of a severed body part,” Harsee replied sharply. “And missing persons cases are mounting. Apparently the wife of the apothecary has disappeared, as well. But that’s not all.” He continued in a whisper, “I have just learned that last night a large, furry creature was sighted in the city, walking on its hind legs. It is said to be as large as a man, with long, pointed teeth.”
“A furry creature with long, pointed teeth?” Samuel stared at him open-mouthed. “But-”
“One of the night watchmen saw it, and the brave man reported it to me just this morning,” Harsee interrupted. “There is no doubt.”
Prince-Bishop Philipp Rieneck, who was standing beside him, cleared his throat nervously. “I told the suffragan bishop that I think the entire matter is. . well, pure fantasy. Evidently the witness is an old drunkard. Unfortunately, the man told other people about it, and the rumor is now coursing through the taverns. The church fears unrest.”