Faces dart away from windows as we pass by. A ragged urchin scoops up a cat and dashes down a side street. Wind disturbs the surface of the puddles around my feet. Somewhere to the east i hear the rhythmic creaking and banging of a door. My friends are silent, fixed on carrying their only supplies we are left and their tired limbs along the street.

As we crossed a curve in the road, the silhouette of a magnificent building looms into view. Constructed around two big banyan trunks, its twin towers expand their canopies toward the night sky. Intricate paneling is interwoven with the natural growth of branches, twisted and curled around the building's exterior in a tight embrace.

At the building's base, a small crowd has gathered. A man in a shabby black coat and red tie runs up to meet us. "The Sage delivers all in our moment of need. Come, quickly!"

"Hold a moment," I reply, as the man moves to depart. "Who is this Sage?"

"The Sage of helpless, protector of Tml"

I look to Alicia and thaitang. "Sounds like the local deity," Alicia says with a slight shrug.

"Is the Sage not known to you?" the man asks, perplexed. Then, as if revisited by his purpose, he urges us to follow him. "There's not much time. He could fall at any moment!"

"Wait, who are you?" I asked.

He turns around, already several steps farther down the road. "I'm a disciple of the Sage, of course. Now make haste, before it's too late."

I find the dregs of vigor in my body, hoist our supplies on our shoulders, and pursue the man to the foot of the building. As the four of us push through the crowd, we follow their gaze up to one of the spiraling towers. There, at the edge of one of the decorative wooden protrusions, i can just about make out the shape of a lone figure in the moonlight.

Our guide takes us beneath a grand archway entrance, along a series of corridors, and points us up a staircase. "That'll take us to the roof, Abou can guide you all from there. I'll take care of your baggage. Hurry!" He says

The stairs to the spire are old and long, and the three of us have to pause to catch our breath. When we finally reach the summit, our legs and lungs are burning. Thaitang doubles over, taking deep gulps of air. I lean on the staircase wall next to Alicia, the two of us steadying ourselves.

Before I can recover, a hand reaches through the stairwell exit and grabs my arm.

I exclaim In Surprise.

The owner of the hand exclaims in return and lets go abruptly. An elderly man, he wears a green outfit , appears around the corner of the wooden door frame. "Doctors! A trio, no less. This is the fortune of the Sage at work." He waves us out of the narrow stairwell, onto the tower's open rooftop.

The moment I step out of the doorway, I feel the wind whips . Branches snake and curve their way around the building's parapet, and I hear a low, rolling sound, like the creaking of a great ship. Suddenly, my feet feel even less steady than before.

The old man is pointing at something with his wrinkled hand. Beyond the parapet edge, slumped in the nook where a pair of branches cross like the handles of farming sheers, is a figure in a torn, plain smock.

"I'm Thephilas," the elderly man says. "I fear we don't have much time. That man escaped from our infirmary this afternoon."

"Is he afflicted by the sickness that prevents sleep?" asks Alicia

Thephilas nods. "We call it the Waking Death. That man has not slept for days."

We approach the Patient With Caution.

The three of us edge toward the parapet. As i get within a few feet of the patient, I can see that his clothing is hanging off a thin frame. His legs and knees are marked with a series of sores, no doubt from dragging his exhausted body up the staircase.

He snaps upright and lets out a low wail, flapping his arms meekly in our direction. The sudden motion is enough to cause the branches supporting him to sway in an alarming fashion. I look down toward the ground, where torchlight from the gathered crowd provides a mirror of the stars above. A fall from this height would, without question, be fatal.

The man's moaning starts to take the shape of words. "…creatures…let me…leave…"

"Our masks," whispers Alicia,"If he's trapped within a nightmare, they may be making it worse."

With my mask off, as Alicia had suggested i diagnose his symptoms in an effort to calm him.
I heed Alice's advice and tell my colleagues to remove their masks, too. Calling out to the man, I attempt to talk him through an illness that we are encountering for the very first time.

"The pain, the visions, they're all because you haven't slept," I offer. "The three of us are doctors, we can help you. But you need to come over here, where it's safer."

We see him begin to sob, his hands to his face. His words are difficult to make out above the rising wind and the rustling of branches. "So tired…end it…"

"We can help you," I say again. "There are people below…if you fall, they could get hurt too."

"Help…how?" He looks at me, exhausted.

I hold up my pouches of medicinal herbs and list several pills that cause patients to slip into slumber. In truth, I have no idea whether these medicines will work on this new disease but there's a conviction behind my words to which the man responds.

He hauls himself back along the thicker of the branches at a painstaking pace. The wind whips around me as his hands finally meet mine, and im able to pull his weak frame over the parapet and back on to the roof.

Sanctuary monks help the man away down the stairs. Abou gives Alicia and Thaitang a warm pat on the back and smiles at me with some pride. "The Sage be praised." He beams. "What a satisfying outcome."

I responded "Happy to help, and I'm glad nobody was hurt!"
"Indeed so," says Abou, still smiling. "I'm so relieved."

"That man is still sick," Thaitang says. "Where did you take him?"

"We'll do what we can for him,, but he'll be under stricter observation," Thephilas replies. "You'll be welcome to visit him, of course." He motions toward the stairwell. "Now, let's get off this roof so I can show you your quarters. The hour is late, and you must all be ready to rest."

We are inclined to agree, just as soon as your heart stops trying to flee our chest. Below me, out of sight, the small crowd breaks up as people return to their homes. This harrowing encounter, brief though it was, has given me my first insights into the deadly disease. And we are glad that we had a shelter,for the night.
© bamriguipamei