In a city of sultans, seductresses and apes, English pilgrim and spy Balian of Norwich is pursued through a maze of streets by the Father of Cats, Fatima the Deathly, Shikk the half-man and many others. A disease that seizes the mind, the Arabian Nightmare pervades the darkness of medieval Cairo. It haunts the labyrinth of its streets. It is a dream without awakening, a flight without escape, a tale without end.