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were closed. Her son inquired as to her condition and the Physician spoke: She is old and her
injuries are grievous. There is little I can do. The Great Enemy will soon claim her.
The son wished to know the identity of this Great Enemy that he might be slain before the death
of the mother.
The Physician spoke at length: The greatest and final enemy of mankind. The merciless felon
who is always lurking nearby ready to snatch from us all we hold dear. The mocker of our
aspirations and dreams and hopes. Our cruel master. Death. How I hate death.
The Physician gave a pouch full of herbs to the son of the old woman. He explained that the
herbs would not save the old woman but would ease her passing. The son was touched by the
kindness of the Physician and cast his blade to the ground.
A messenger from the Salimbok entered the dwelling and reported that Runce the son of the
ruler had fallen gravely ill and was in need of the Physician.
The Physician and the messenger hurried to the royal dwelling. The Physician found Runce to
be grievously ill. His skin was pale and his brow burned.
The Salimbok inquired as to the cause of the illness. For had not Runce been victorious in a race
mere hours earlier? The Physician confessed that he had no certain knowledge but he supposed that
the illness came from merchants who had recently visited the area and were themselves ill. The
Salimbok wanted to know how this could be. The Physician replied that certain of his researches
indicated that disease could move from one person to another and promised to exhaust himself in
seeking to cure Runce.
The Physician was sorely troubled. He mounted the animal he had ridden in the race and rode
into the desert. In the distance silvered by moonlight a cloud of dust and sand were sure signs of
the nomads who preyed upon travelers. But either they had not seen him or they were indifferent to
plunder this night.
He dismounted at the place where he had been born and immediately he felt the energy that
surges from the very earth itself. Here he could think and dream those dreams that are often the
better of mere thought. The wind murmured and then howled and then shrieked and a thousand
shapes began to shimmer on the boundary of sleep. Monsters welled up from unimaginable abysses
to surround the Physician and fill him with dread. But he did not shrink from them as he had in the
past. He faced them and called them by their names and the names he called them were the names
of Death. It was in facing them that he came to see how he might defeat them
The narrative broke off. More missing pages. Bruce allowed himself a flicker of annoyance. Just when I
was getting to the good part . . .
He put down the manuscript and carried his empty cup into the kitchen. Something was bubbling on
the stove and something else was in the oven, and both smelled rich and highly caloric. He could hear
the sound of a Louis Armstrong solo from another part of the house and knew that Alfred was listening
to his favorite music while waiting for whatever he was cooking and baking to be done. Ever since
Bruce s return from abroad, Alfred had been outdoing himself as a chef. Every night there was a
different meal and every one was sumptuous.
Bruce did not know how to tell his friend that every one was also making him queasy.
He brewed himself another serving of green tea and went back to the library and his reading.
The narrative resumed with the Physician riding home and passing a corpse lying on the road. He
reached the gate of the city and was greeted by a guard who told him that during the night the nomads
had attacked. The marauders had been repulsed, but not without cost. Many men had been wounded.
The gatekeeper spoke: All that is of no consequence. The son of the Salimbok is dying and you
must attend him without delay.
The Physician went to the royal dwelling immediately and found that Runce was indeed close to
death. The Salimbok implored the Physician to save his son and promised the Physician gold and
slaves and even his kingdom itself. But the Physician wanted none of these things and told the
ruler that Runce was already beyond the reach of the healing arts.
The Physician spoke: It may be that last night a knowledge beyond medicine came to me in the
guise of a dream. I will need laborers to dig a pit and a tent and other supplies.
The kingdom was scoured to provide what the Physician needed and before the sun had set all
was in readiness. The wife of the Physician confessed that she was troubled for much of what her
husband had requested was poisonous and deadly to the human body.
The Physician spoke: If my theory is correct the poisons can be curative provided they are used
under exactly the right conditions. In this place where we stand I sense great energy. Perhaps it is
the energy of the earth itself. This combined with the other agents will either cure young Runce or
hasten his inevitable demise.
The Salimbok came forth and implored the Physician to accompany him to the shrine of Bisu
who was the foremost deity of the people. The Physician protested that he was a man of science
and had no belief in gods and would not worship them
Here, again, there was a gap in the story. But someone, almost certainly the younger Cavally, had
inserted into the folio a sheet of paper bearing some notes typed on a machine that had needed a new
ribbon.
Bisu . . . desert god. Not worshiped in the usual ways. More demon than god? Fitting for a harsh
place? Living conditions shape local idea of god-hood? (Cf volkergedanken.)
Human sacrifice? Would answer some questions.
Maybe it would answer some of his questions, Bruce thought. Doesn t do a thing for mine, though. And
what s this word in parentheses . . . volkergedanken ? German word, looks like. Mean anything
important? Probably not, but better find out.
He would call Sandra Flanders in the morning her or the university s German department. (Surely,
it had a German department.)
A bit wearily, Bruce resumed reading. Whatever the Physician did about worshiping, or not
worshiping, Bisu had happened in the missing pages. The narrative began in midsentence:
confess to a dislike of Runce as strong as yours, my wife. But he is a man and none who can be
called so are blameless. And his father has been generous to us.
In the tent the Physician made ready his preparations and commanded that Runce be lowered
into the pit that seethed and boiled and made a horrible stench. Runce no longer gave breath and all
who were present thought the Physician had failed. But with a terrible roar Runce rose up from the
pit and his eyes were filled with madness and his gaze was cast upon the fair wife of the Physician.
And he grasped her. The Physician tried to intervene but Runce was as strong as ten men and flung
the Physician aside. And such was his embrace of Sora that her neck snapped and she fell lifeless.
The madness left the eyes of Runce and he called out to his father. Others who had heard the
tumult entered the tent and saw the lifeless form of Sora and the Salimbok lied to save his son from
disgrace and blamed the death of Sora on the Physician.
Bruce lowered the manuscript. This is getting positively biblical . . . He had a sudden need to do
something physical; he could finish his research later. He put the manuscript in a drawer, went to his
room, and changed into a sweat suit.
In the garden behind the house, he began a series of dancelike martial arts moves designed both to
hone his combat skills and improve his overall conditioning. Within minutes, he was sweating and
panting and feeling fine. The moon was directly overhead and quite bright; Bruce had all the light he
needed.
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