The Book of Maladies Boxset

by D. K. Holmberg

  She meandered, making her way through the merchant sections as she spiraled back toward the center of the city and the palace. Now that she had documentation, she didn’t need to worry about reaching the palace, though she preferred to jump, taking her canal staff and leaping across the water. One thing her training had done was improve her jumping. Working with Marin had begun to help, but she had never managed to draw out the same capabilities that could now, training with Elaine and Thoren—a man assigned to train her with the staff—and others who worked with her at the palace.

  As she neared the center of the city, she caught sight of another merchant trailed by a dozen guards.

  Two such sightings in just as many days? What was going on?

  She decided to follow, keeping a safe distance. She imagined what Alec would say if he were with her, but Alec had been busy—far too busy for her. He would have warned her not to follow and would have told her that doing so would only get her into trouble.

  She realized they were not continuing toward the center of the city as the other merchant had but heading away from it.

  Where were they going?

  The merchant was dressed far too formally for one of the outer sections. He would be too easy to identify as a merchant, and certainly better-dressed than the lowborns found in these sections. There had to be a reason for his coming out here.

  Curiosity drove her forward. She stayed in the shadows, wishing that she had her cloak, but since training in the palace, she’d left it behind. There was something almost deceptive about wearing a cloak like that, and Elaine had preferred that she dress for the palace. She had thought that the merchant was out of place, but with her clothing, she would be just as out of place as he was.

  He reached an outer section that she wasn’t familiar with. In the distance, she could see the beginning of the swamp, the stink of the water carrying. It was a smell that she had noticed when they first reached this section, but she hadn’t known what it was. Sam rarely came to these sections, rarely spending much time so close to the swamp. Caster was nearer the steam fields than the swamp, and even there a certain odor hung over everything.

  She stayed near a building as the merchant came to a stop at the end of a road. He waited, and after a while, a man came out of one of the nearby buildings, dragging a heavy cart with him. They spoke softly, and Sam wasn’t close enough to overhear what they were saying. She needed to get closer, but she didn’t want to risk being seen.

  The merchant handed over a bag of what Sam suspected were coins and took the cart from the other man.

  He nodded toward his guards, and they started back toward his section.

  It was nothing more than a simple transaction.

  Even though it was probably nothing, there was strangeness about the transaction that still struck her. Why come all the way out here? Most of the time, merchants preferred to have others come to them, especially someone as well-to-do as this merchant obviously was. And why so many guards? Did he worry about the part of the city he visited? It was possible. She had no idea what was in the wagon.

  There was something she didn’t fully grasp. Sam didn’t know what it was, but she needed to understand, so she continued to follow the merchant, staying close.

  They crossed a canal bridge, and Sam gave them space, not wanting to follow too closely. She jumped instead, soaring over the water and landing on the other side. When she did, she heard the sound of fighting.

  She froze, holding on to her canal staff. Without any augmentations, she wasn’t sure that she could risk joining in any confrontation, but she needed to know what was taking place.

  The timing was odd. It seemed far too coincidental that it would happen while she was following the merchant.

  Could it be that someone had attacked the merchant? With nearly a dozen guards, such an attack would be suicide, unless whoever was risking the attack had come with even greater numbers.

  It wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out in some of the outer sections of the city, but it was uncommon for people to attack merchants. Doing so risked the attention of the city guard, and even Bastan knew better than to do something like that. He was careful. He had no problem stealing from merchants, but he had no interest in attacking them openly. It was better to keep others from realizing what he was doing.

  Sam crept forward, keeping her staff ready, and rounded a corner, expecting to see the attack, but when she reached it, it was already done.

  What had happened?

  The dozen guards were down, and most of them weren’t breathing. Dead.

  The merchant moaned, and Sam raced forward, reaching him. “What happened?”

  He looked up at her, a question in his eyes.

  “What happened?” Sam demanded.

  “An attack.”

  “I see that. But why? What were you transporting?”

  “For. The palace.”

  “I’m with the palace.”

  The merchant stared up at her, but his eyes became glassy.

  He took a gasping breath and then no more.

  Kyza!

  Sam stood and looked around, searching for the direction that the attackers would have gone. The cart was missing, so whatever it was the merchant had was valuable, but who would have risked taking something from a merchant who was transporting it to the palace?

  She used her staff and jumped to the nearest rooftop, searching for signs of activity. It was still early in the evening, certainly not late enough that she would expect the streets to be as empty as they were, though an attack like that might be enough to drive everyone back inside. The people in the outer sections were smart enough to recognize when the streets were dangerous.

  If that were the case, then all she had to do was find movement.

  As she raced along the rooftop, she thought she saw them.

  They were heading back toward the swamp.

  Could the man the merchant bought the goods from have sabotaged him?

  It would be underhanded, and yet, not completely unheard of. There were plenty of people who were foolish enough to attempt a double-cross, especially in the lowborns sections.

  Sam was forced to jump down to continue following them and used her staff to leap the canal, tracking the sense of movement. When she reached the street, she looked for signs of movement but saw nothing.

  Once again, she climbed to the roofs. From here, she scanned the streets. There had to be something, anything, that would help her understand what had taken place, but she found nothing.

  As she continued to search, she tried to see through the growing darkness, wishing for an augmentation that would allow her to see more clearly. If she had some sort of augmentation, maybe sight or hearing, she would be able to see more than the shadows.

  But there was nothing. Even the sounds in the street were quiet.

  There had to be someplace they were going. She decided to retrace her steps, going back to where the merchant had made the initial transaction. When she reached the street, she found the building the man had come out of, but it was empty.

  She swore under her breath. Bastan had buildings like that. Empty shells. Being the owner of multiple properties made him appear reputable. He would arrange meetings nearby, in the open, and then manage to disappear through one of his buildings.

  It was possible that there were buildings connected, but she wasn’t willing to search through them, especially not at this time of night and in a section that she was unfamiliar with.

  Sam stepped back out on the street, listening. Wind gusted, and she felt the evening chill coming on, once again making her miss her cloak. She made her way toward the edge of the section, toward the waterfront that would lead out to the swamp. Beyond here, it was pitch black. She’d visited the edge of the city a few times, and had seen the swamp, and had smelled the putrid odor that radiated from it. There was no way of crossing the swamp. Barges would often drift out, heading away from the city, but be forced to return. From what she’d heard
, it was difficult to navigate, if not impossible. More than a few barge captains who thought to venture through the swamp were lost. Sam had a hard time finding sympathy for men like that. All it took was one look at the swamp to know it wasn’t a place that anyone should go. It was imposing, almost as dangerous as—

  A splash caught her attention, and she turned, looking toward the north. The sound had come from there.

  What was it?

  Sam raced along the shore, looking to see if she could find any sign of movement, but there was nothing. Just the splash.

  When she reached where she’d heard the sound, she stared into the darkness. As she did, she realized that there was movement out on the water. It was too large to be any sort of creature. The swamp was rumored to be the home of strange animals, and the eels that Sam knew to be in the canal water had to be found in the swamp, too.

  As her eyes adjusted, staring into the darkness, she realized what it was that she saw.

  A barge.

  It wasn’t a large one, but it moved swiftly, heading out and away from the city, venturing into the depths of the swamp.

  Could that be the merchant’s attacker? Could they have risked heading out across the swamp?

  If so, why would they have come this way? Unless it really had been the same man who had traded with the merchant to begin with. Unless he really had double-crossed him.

  Sam continued to gaze into the darkness until the shadowed form of the barge faded from view. When it was gone, she turned back, heading toward the palace. She had to tell someone what she had seen, but who? Elaine was gone, and she didn’t know anyone else in the palace well enough to share this with. If Alec were still accessible, she would have shared with him, but he was gone, too.

  Maybe she needed to find Bastan. But what could he do?

  She remained unsettled as she meandered through several sections of the city, before realizing where she was heading.

  Caster.

  It was almost as if her feet carried her of their own volition.

  She wound her way to Bastan’s tavern and slipped inside. She nodded to familiar faces that she came across before knocking on the back door.

  “He’s not there,” Kevin said.

  She turned. “Where is he?”

  “Out.”

  Sam frowned, staring at Kevin for a moment. “That’s all you’re going to give me?”

  “I’m not at liberty to share anything more than that.”

  “Come on, Kevin. Tell me where he went.”

  “It’s an assignment that he hasn’t involved me in.”

  Sam took a seat at one of the tables, and Kevin stared at her for a moment before heading into the kitchen and returning with a tray of food. She smiled at him as she dove into the tray of food that he offered. She wasn’t about to turn it down; Kevin was a good cook. The palace might have good food, but there was something about the cooking in Bastan’s tavern that simply tasted like home.

  When she was nearly done with her meal, the door to the tavern opened and Bastan entered. He surveyed the inside of the tavern quickly before his gaze settled on Sam, and he made his way to her table, taking a seat across from her. “All of a sudden you are visiting more often.”

  “I saw something I thought you should know about.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I’m not really sure.”

  “Why should I know about it?”

  Sam shrugged. “I’m not really sure.”

  Bastan leaned back in the chair and took a swig from the mug of ale that Kevin brought him. “You’re not giving me much to work with here, Samara.”

  “I followed a merchant.”

  “Whose job?”

  “Nobody’s job. I just thought it odd that a merchant would have nearly a dozen guards with him.” Bastan’s brow furrowed. “I trailed him into one of the outer sections, one that abuts the swamp.”

  “Why would a merchant venture there?”

  “I don’t know. But when he headed back toward his section, he was attacked. All of his guards. Him. Dead. Whatever he bought. Gone.”

  Bastan stiffened. “Did you see what happened?”

  “No. It happened too fast.”

  He arched a brow at her. “Too fast for you?”

  “There are things that I can’t do, Bastan.”

  “I wasn’t implying that there weren’t. I’m just saying that you are incredibly capable, Samara. What did you see?”

  “That’s just it. I didn’t see anything. I tried to track where the man’s cart went. I followed it back to where the merchant had purchased the goods, but there was no one there. Then I spotted a barge out in the swamp, but I couldn’t tell who was on it.

  He was silent, watching her for a moment. “Does this have anything to do with Marin?”

  Sam shook her head. “I don’t think so, but…”

  “But what?”

  “There was another merchant who went to the palace the other day, and the physicker I’ve been meeting with dismissed it when I asked about him.”

  “Why have you been meeting with a physicker?”

  “The princess and Elaine think the physicker can help me recover my memories. They believe that if she can, it will unlock something within me.”

  “Do you think you need that?”

  “I’ve lost ten years,” she said.

  “Have you? I’ve known you those ten years. You haven’t lost anything.”

  Sam stared at him, trying to decide if it was some sort of joke or not, before realizing that with Bastan, it wasn’t. “Fine. I didn’t lose those years, but I lost the years before that. Does that make you feel better?”

  “A little.”

  Sam glanced down at her tray and used the remaining hunk of bread to mop the gravy before stuffing it into her mouth. “Will you see what you can find out?”

  “Now you would direct me?”

  “I’m not directing you, but if there’s activity happening in the outer sections, it impacts you.”

  “I don’t control all of the outer sections.”

  “You control enough of them.”

  Bastan watched her for a long moment before nodding. “I’ll see what I can find out, but if it doesn’t have anything to do with Marin and what you’re after, I can’t promise that I will have much to share with you.”

  “Anything you can discover is more than I have now.”

  Bastan watched her for a moment before standing. He tapped the tabletop once, hesitating as if he wanted to say something, then meandered through rest of the tavern, stopping at several of the tables before disappearing into his office.

  Sam turned her attention back to the food, finishing off her meal. She hadn’t thought the merchant incident had anything to do with Marin, but could it?

  And if it did, what would Marin be after?

  10

  A Study Group

  Alec sat in the library, poring over the book that he’d pulled off the shelf, but his mind wasn’t on his studies. He wanted nothing more than to see Sam, to share with her what he’d been learning, but she had not come to the university. That had been their agreement and one she hadn’t fulfilled. When he’d tried going to her, he had failed.

  The other tables in the library were all full of students, and he was thankful that he had his own space, a booth that he could stay in, where he could be left alone with the books he’d borrowed.

  A figure appeared in front of him, and Alec looked up, expecting Beckah, but it wasn’t she. It was Stefan. He was a tall man and had a long face and gently sloped eyes that made him look like he was always a bit sad. “What are you studying?” Stefan asked.

  Alec glanced down at the book. “Our last lecture was on healing broken bones. I thought I would review the various types of splints that we’ve been taught.”

  Stefan smiled. “Do you need to study the splints? I thought your experience with your father had given you hands-on training.”

  It had, but there were differen
t types of splints, for different types of injuries. Alec thought about the author and imagined he had a sort of fascination with injury. He described various fractures with a loving sort of detail.

  “The things I learned while with my father haven’t always been applicable,” Alec said.

  Stefan nodded to a chair and waited for Alec to give him permission before he took a seat. “No? I think from what I’ve seen, the things you know always seem to have some sort of applicability. It may be nontraditional, but it definitely seems to connect with the different masters. Especially with Eckerd.”

  Alec glanced down at his book. “I got lucky with Eckerd. I noticed the spots on the fingers and recalled something my father had once taught me.”

  “You don’t have to downplay it with me. I don’t have a problem with you being the smartest student the university has seen in a generation.”

  “I’m not the smartest person in a generation,” Alec said.

  “No? That’s the way I hear you described by many of the masters.” He looked over at the book and shook his head. “Your father studied here?”

  “Apparently. I didn’t discover that until recently.”

  Stefan started to laugh before he seemed to realize that Alec wasn’t joking. “You didn’t know that he had studied here?”

  “No.”

  “And I suppose you didn’t know that he was once considered the brightest mind in his generation,” Stefan said.

  That Alec didn’t have a hard time believing. His father was a natural with healing, and his near-perfect memory made him even more skilled. “I didn’t know anything about my father’s training, or his time at the university. It’s not something he talks about often.”

  “I’ve been looking through the old rosters, and every time I come across your father’s name, there is another comment about how smart he was, or all the things that he knew, or even the fact that he managed to discover a new way of treating a specific injury.”

  There was a lot there for him to work through. “You’ve been reading through the rosters?”

  Stefan shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

  “Why?”

  “Most students have some connection to someone in the university. I thought I would see what yours was. Then when you said your father was an apothecary, I thought that maybe he wouldn’t have any connection to the university, but he does.”