The Book of Maladies Boxset

by D. K. Holmberg

  Then again, wasn’t this exactly what she wanted? Hadn’t she wanted to understand her abilities? Didn’t she want to see what Marin might be able to teach her? She was tired of being lowborn. She was tired of living in Caster.

  Sam stepped inside.

  Marin reappeared, clutching something against her chest.

  “We can go,” Marin said.

  Sam glanced back. “What is this all about?”

  Marin moved her hands back just enough for Sam to see what was inside. Easar paper.

  Sam was sure of it.

  “You need to reacquire all of the missing paper. I don’t care how you get it, only that you do. Bastan cannot keep it. He doesn’t understand what it is, and he does not use it the way that it must be used. I don’t care if you and your Scribe continue to practice”—as Sam started to object, Marin shook her head—”and I know that you have been practicing. Maybe it is necessary. You should understand your abilities. You should understand the way that you can work together. It might be all that you have to keep yourself safe with what is to come.”

  “And what is that?”

  “There is danger in the city for you and Tray, Samara.”

  “If it’s easar paper, then you’re worried about the highborns.”

  Marin watched her. “As long as you remember where you came from, you will do well. As long as you remember who helped Tray when he was imprisoned, you will do well.”

  “You did that.”

  Marin glanced over and watched her. “And as long as we have an adequate supply of paper, we will be safe.”

  “For augmenting?”

  “And other things.”

  Sam would use the easar paper to augment herself, but Alec would have used it to heal others. What did Marin want with it?

  “Do you still have a Scribe?”

  Marin shook her head. “My Scribe was lost long ago.”

  “Then why are you taking the easar paper?”

  “I consider it my prize.”

  “Your prize?”

  Marin nodded. “My prize. It’s payment for the Theln attack.”

  “What does the paper have to do with the Theln attack?”

  Marin shot her a look. “It has much to do with it. Keep an eye on your Scribe. And let me know if he learns of anything that you think I should be aware of.”

  “Such as what?”

  “You are a smart person, Samara. Don’t make me tell you explicitly what you need to do. And stay out of the center sections.” With that, Marin disappeared into the darkness. Sam realized that was her dismissal, and it left her trying to find her way safely back into the Caster section, not drawing attention from whoever Marin had stolen from. Right now, she no longer knew.

  24

  An Attack

  Marin had been absent every time Sam went to their meeting location last few days. It frustrated her. Then again, it wasn’t only about Marin. It wasn’t only the fact that she had remained absent. Sam knew that her frustration stemmed from not knowing what was going on with Alec, and not knowing whether there was any way for the two of them to continue to understand their abilities together. And going off to the university made sense—she knew that it did—but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

  Kyza, but she hated waiting on people.

  Especially Marin.

  Sam wandered along the canal. Marin had been meeting her near the edge of the water, with the steam fields in the distance, sending smoke up into the air, likely to obscure their practicing. Most of the time, they had been practicing late in the day, often into the night, so that even if someone would see them, they would be able to remain hidden.

  She was tired of waiting.

  Sam started back and made her way toward Marin’s home, deciding to see whether she was there. When she passed, she saw movement inside.

  Sam hesitated and leaned against the stone building opposite her home.

  Movement behind the lit window didn’t look like Marin. Marin was short, compact and petite much like Sam. Whoever was inside the room was larger than Marin and seemed to be making short work of tearing through her home.

  What was that about?

  Had someone discovered what Marin had been doing? Had someone discovered that she had taken the easar paper?

  It didn’t appear to be Tray, though she couldn’t be certain. Marin had Tray working with someone else, and maybe she was training him much the same way that she was now training her. If so, she could actually get behind that.

  The movement behind the window stopped, and Sam shrank back against the wall, wrapping her cloak around her. Whoever had been in Marin’s room was heading out.

  Sam screwed together the ends of her canal staff and prepared for the possibility that she might need it. Since training with Marin, she couldn’t deny the fact that she had improved with her ability to jump over the canals. There had been other parts of the training, but Sam was only beginning to understand how much Marin knew—and depended on her canal staff.

  Why had Marin waited so long to train her? It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that Sam had some skill, and she hadn’t argued when Sam had taken up the canal staff and copied her, so why would she not have worked with her more openly?

  Three men appeared outside the door.

  They were of average size and average build.

  They were well dressed. Even from where she stood and in the fading light of the day, she could tell that the cloaks they wore were better made than most in Caster, and better made than most in any of the outer sections. That meant that they were merchants or highborns.

  If they were highborns, what would they be doing in Caster? Better still, what would they be doing in Marin’s home?

  They started off, moving quickly.

  Knowing that she shouldn’t, Sam trailed the men through the street. Every so often, she would allow herself to drift close enough to see them better, and she noticed a crest on their jackets.

  It was almost enough to make her pause.

  She recognized that crest. It was the same sigil that had been on the men who had attacked Bastan’s tavern.

  The palace.

  Were these the same men? Did they think that Marin and Bastan worked together?

  If she could find out who they were and where they were going, Bastan would reward her. She was getting tired of the small jobs, earning a few gold coins here and there, never making enough for her to ever fully break free of Caster. At that rate, it would take far too long for her to ever buy her way into even a merchant section. But if she brought him word of who had attacked his tavern, she could imagine Bastan paying well for that.

  They made good time, but they didn’t hurry, almost as if they didn’t care if they were caught, or even noticed in Caster.

  Were they that capable that they didn’t fear an attack in one of the outer sections, and when it was nearly night?

  When they crossed over a bridge, they flashed their sigil and were granted quick passage.

  Sam decided to follow. Rather than taking the bridge, she used her canal staff, jumping the canal and landing on the other side.

  She continued to follow, staying near alleys and pausing every so often to orient herself, keeping them always in view. She thought about going to the rooftops, but as they transferred from section to section, she didn’t think she had time to get there.

  They reached an inner section that Sam recognized. It was the same section that Bastan had sent her, and if she trailed along the road to her right, she would reach the warehouse.

  The men turned right.

  That couldn’t be a coincidence.

  She wasn’t supposed to come to these sections. Marin had been clear on that. But Sam wasn’t about to let them get away without learning what they were after.

  Sam kept close to them, but not so close as to draw notice. With the cloak, she figured that she was safe from anyone other than a Kaver like Marin seeing her.

  Sam paused. What if these men were Kaver
s?

  No. That couldn’t be. Even if there were other Kavers in the city—and if there were, why wouldn’t Marin have shared that, though the presence of easar paper made it likely—why would Kavers attack Marin?

  She was determined to keep after these men.

  When they reached the warehouse, they headed inside.

  There was no hesitation to them.

  Maybe they were merchants, but if they were merchants, what was the reason for their sigil? Why would they have the marking of the palace? Either they were soldiers who had been hired by someone—and from talking with Bastan, something like that wouldn’t be uncommon for soldiers to want to earn extra coin—or they were working on behalf of the palace.

  Sam waited in the darkness.

  As she did, her thoughts turned to Alec as they often did. She was troubled by the fact that she hadn’t seen him in weeks. Ever since going off to the university, he had been absent. All she wanted was to know that he was well… No, that wasn’t all she wanted. She wanted more than that. She wanted to know that he worried about her, and that he thought about her the same way that she thought about him.

  Did he?

  She had been angry with him when he had expressed his interest in going to the university, but she shouldn’t have been. Alec didn’t deserve that from her. He didn’t deserve anger, especially since going to the university was something that he had wanted for a long time. What Alec deserved was for her to be understanding.

  She could make it better between the two of them if she could find easar paper.

  And yet, she thought she needed Bastan to help. He had been the one to take the rest of the pages she had stolen. If only he still had them, she wouldn’t have to try to find more. Maybe he would have some insight about where there might be more, but to convince him to help, she would have to be honest about what it was and why it was important to her. She didn’t even know how to begin.

  Even more reason for her to search, when she found it, she could have that time with Alec. They could work together, and then they could continue their understanding of what it meant to be Kaver and Scribe.

  How long had it been since the men went into the warehouse?

  There wasn’t another way out, so they would have to come this way, but maybe they were in there searching through the crates, searching for items that the merchants intended to move through the city. Maybe there was something more in there that was valuable to Bastan.

  No, if there was something valuable, Bastan would have alerted her. He wasn’t trying to keep things from her. And he would pay more for information about the men who had attacked his tavern than anything else.

  When she went back, maybe she could trade that information for easar paper.

  It wouldn’t be the same as gold that would buy her way out of Caster, but maybe finding the easar paper was even more valuable. It would help her understand her abilities and who she was.

  Long moments passed before the men came back out of the warehouse. One carried something under his arm, and Sam realized it was a small box similar to the one she had grabbed for Bastan.

  Could it be the same type of box?

  Maybe there were others.

  Sam trailed the men as they made their way along the street, moving quickly. Not only could she find more information for Bastan, but maybe she could bring another box to him. That had to be worth gold, as well as information about where to find easar paper.

  The men crossed the bridge and she lost sight of them for a moment.

  Sam jumped the canal, caught up to them, and watched them disappear into one of the inner sections of the city. This one was more than simply a merchant section, and with the nature of the buildings, the quality of the build, and everything about them, they were clearly highborn buildings.

  Memories of the Thelns—and the attack—came back. It was a night like this when she had nearly died, but there were no Thelns in the city. Ralun had left.

  She had to tell herself that, though what if she was wrong? What if there were Thelns in the city? What if they were the reason for Marin’s concern?

  Sam caught up to them but realized she couldn’t move unnoticed here. She crawled up onto a rooftop, planning to get out of sight, and crouched there, waiting. From here, she could watch the street, as caught sight of the men as they disappeared into a building. She sat back, waiting, watching for what might take place.

  It wasn’t long before there was a flicker of movement that streaked into the building.

  Marin.

  It had to be Marin, especially considering the way she used the canal staff.

  Sam thought about jumping down and seeing what the woman was after and what she was doing but decided against it. She would watch. At least this way, Marin wouldn’t know that she was here. If she discovered Sam here, would she keep training her?

  There was a flicker of light in the windows that faded. She heard a scream and considered heading down into the street but thought better of it. After another moment, Marin raced out, a box clutched under her arm. It would be the same box that the men had grabbed.

  What was this about? What was Marin doing?

  And who was she attacking?

  She scrambled down from the rooftop and crept toward the building. She pushed the door open carefully, using the end of her staff so that she could look inside. There was faint light within, and she saw the three men lying motionless on the ground. Who were they? If they were only soldiers, why would Marin have attacked them? Marin was nothing if not careful about drawing attention to herself.

  Sam started to step back when she saw something else in the room.

  She crept forward, peering into the darkness, uncertain whether she saw what she thought she did. Maybe it was nothing more than shadows.

  There was no way to tell, not without stepping inside more fully.

  There didn’t seem to be anyone moving, so she decided to risk looking in the room.

  She used the end of her canal staff to push the door open all the way. This way, she could run, and thought that she could evade capture if someone else was in the room.

  When the door was open, she saw not only the men lying there, but something else, the thing that had caught her attention.

  It was a canal staff.

  She had never seen palace guards with staffs like that.

  There was another possible answer, but Sam didn’t want to think about what that meant. She glanced back along the street, looking in the direction that Marin had disappeared.

  Could these men be Kavers?

  If so, why would Marin have attacked them?

  25

  Visit to the Library

  Alec fidgeted in his seat. The day had been long, though beneficial, much like the ones that had preceded it. He had pages and pages of copious notes stacked neatly on his desk, more than he had anticipated taking during his early days at the university, especially when he had been warned that he might already have much of the basic knowledge.

  But it wasn’t basic knowledge that he was taking notes on.

  The master physickers had been as knowledgeable as he had come to hope. For the most part, they had different strategies than his father taught, and each seemed to have an alternative, though many of the alternatives required that he have access to healing that not everybody did. Most of them required medicines that were not readily available, even for his father.

  His notes were made in the same tight script that he used when making notes with his father, and the same tight script that he had used while recording the various augmentations attempted with Sam. He used a deep black ink that Mrs. Rubbles had given to him and was thankful for it.

  Alec was exhausted from the days sitting in lecture. Part of that exhaustion was mental, fatigue that came from sitting and listening and taking notes. Though much of the information was at a basic level, he wanted to take advantage of his time here, so he asked questions, probing for a deeper type of understanding.

  He nee
ded to find another way out of the university so that he could discuss with Sam what he’d overheard Marin discussing at the apothecary, but there just hadn’t been an opportunity. There seemed to be an increased presence of guards throughout the university, though that might just be in his mind.

  The instructor indicated the talk was over by abruptly turning and leaving the room. The rest of the students waited until he was gone, and then they stood and mingled, following him out of the classroom. Alec carefully gathered his papers together, sliding them into his satchel, before getting out of his chair.

  On his way out, Jen caught him. “That woman. She survived.”

  Alec glanced over. He had already gone to check on her, and had seen that the cracking of her skin was improving. The easar paper had been effective. “What woman?”

  “The one we were talking to Master Eckerd about. What did you do to help her?”

  Alec shook his head. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Yes, you did.” Alec felt his heart race. Could she have known what he had done? No. That wouldn’t be possible, especially since he had done it near the apothecary and had kept his scrap of paper hidden in his pocket. No one could have known. “I saw you tearing a strip of cloth and binding it around her leg. That would only slow the spread of toxins, not cure her.”

  “If it was a snake bite, I thought it was reasonable to give her a chance to recover.”

  “Except Master Eckerd said that the poison was nearly universally fatal. Despite that, you placed a tourniquet around her leg. That tells me that you intended to try to heal her.” She looked at him, the accusation in her eyes. “So. What did you do?”

  Alec shrugged and tried to shake her off, making his way down the hall, but she followed. He veered off, staying away from the small dorm room that he was granted, the same kind of room that most students were granted. Students that were here for longer were given better quarters, but for now, all Alec had was his single room, nothing more than a closet.

  Jen trailed him, an amused expression on her face. “Why are you so insistent on getting away from me?”