Desiderium

Forma

The wooden shutters of the window were propped open, allowing the light summer breeze to cool down the inside. Although the city was located on the banks of a river, the season could sometimes bring stifling heat. Especially for someone working in closed spaces and layers of clothes.

Benjamin paused from his writing, looking up from his desk and towards the opened window. Leaves rustled in the light breeze, swaying from the treetops above the houses. He could hear the sounds of the bustling city around him. The horses trotting down the cobblestone streets, the people conversing as they walked, wagons loaded with goods being pulled. Ordinary sounds you would expect in the nation's capital. But what Benjamin had not been expecting was the peace to be interrupted by a hurried knock followed by a man bursting through the door.

"Is the physician here?" the younger man asked breathlessly.

"No, he is on holiday in the isles," Benjamin answered after recovering from his startle. "What is the matter? Who are you?"

"I have been sent by the Eldridge family to fetch physician Amherst," he explained, recovering his breath. "'Tis an emergency."

Benjamin hesitated with a frown, turning back to his writing. "I am afraid I can not help you. I am merely a surgeon, an apprentice."

"Please, sir." The messenger stepped forward. "I must bring someone back. Their daughter," his voice dropped to a whisper. "She has the plague."

Benjamin's eyes immediately widened at the word and he felt the quill release from his hand. His blood suddenly ran cold, freezing the veins within him. Had he heard that correctly?

The plague?

After a moment of silence, Benjamin took a sharp breath in and answered. "Then surely I cannot help you. The girl is as good as dead."

"You must," the messenger pleaded. "You are studying under the best physician in the realm. Please, I beg of you. You will be compensated well, I assure you."

Benjamin regarded the messenger with no hint of sympathy. But inside, something tugged at his heart, urging him to at least investigate the girl. At the very least, she deserved to hear the fatal prognosis; to be granted the visit of a physician, or his assistant.

"Alright." His wooden chair groaned as he stood. "I will follow you."

"Thank you." The messenger smiled. "I will prepare the horses."

Once the man left the dwelling, Benjamin couldn't help but curse himself as he gathered up instruments and jars. "You are a fool, getting tangled up with the plague. Nothing but disaster can come from that."

He placed the accouterments into his medical bag, noticing something tucked away in the corner of the room. Slowly approaching it, Benjamin couldn't help but smile in relief when he recognized the suit.

He brought his fingers to the coat, feeling the oily leather of it. On top of it rested a bird-like mask, which Benjamin raised up to his face. Staring into the black sockets, he saw his own reflection in the glass.

Turning it over, Benjamin brought the mask back to the shelves filled with herbs and began stuffing the beak with them.

**

"We are here," the messenger announced as his horse pranced to a stop.

Benjamin studied the fawn apartment in front of him, counting each of the four stories. "Which floor is hers?"

"The uppermost." He hopped off his filly, leading it around towards the back.

Watching with disinterest, Benjamin made no attempt to dismount. "Are we not going through the front?"