The Book of Maladies Boxset

by D. K. Holmberg

  “The task might require you to use the paper, but you don’t need me to summon your friend Alec.”

  “You’ve heard that’s how the paper works.”

  “Yes, but it won’t be necessary for me to summon your friend back to Caster. What I need from you requires that you travel to the university. There’s someone there I need you to find, someone who might have the answers we have been searching for.”

  With a sense of trepidation, Sam reached the bridge that crossed over to the university. She had little doubt that the papers she’d been given would grant her access. That had not been a problem for quite some time. What troubled her was the idea of risking Alec and his presence at the university. She didn’t want anything that Bastan might ask of her to place his status in jeopardy.

  She kept her cloak tied neatly around her, the canal staff tucked securely within it, not wanting to give any sign that she carried it. Revealing that she had the staff was a surefire way to demonstrate that she was not supposed to be at the university. She needed to get in, find Alec, and then complete the task that Bastan had asked of her.

  The task was not one that she thought would be easy, and Bastan had seemed practically giddy when he told her what it was.

  Somehow, Bastan was convinced that Alec would know the solution. It seemed something of a puzzle, but then again, Alec was incredibly smart, and would likely be able to solve Bastan’s stupid puzzle.

  It was near evening time as the guards waved her across the bridge, and still light enough that she could see everything easily. The massive building of the university loomed in front of her, and Sam’s anxiety increased as she approached. This was where Alec studied. This was a place of learning. And she did not belong.

  She was nothing but a lowborn, regardless of what Elaine tried to make her feel. She might have papers that granted her access to other parts of the city, but that was all she had. That didn’t make her a highborn, any more than Alec spending time in Caster made him a lowborn.

  She hurried toward the main entrance. It was late enough that the usual line of people seeking healing had already gone home for the day. In the morning, the line would re-form, and hundreds of people would approach, all of them carrying money, seeking help with whatever ailment plagued them. It still seemed ironic to Sam that Alec had been willing to come to the university, especially after his comments about their requirements that forced people to sacrifice so much of their coin just to get some help. That had bothered him so much from the moment she first met him, but he seemed more at peace with it now. Maybe it bothered him when he wasn’t a part of it.

  Sam shook away that thought. That wasn’t the Alec she knew. She could be frustrated, but she should be frustrated with herself.

  As she approached the entrance, she reached into a pocket in her cloak and felt for the sheet of easar paper she had put there. Bastan had offered her a single sheet, claiming that was all she would need, but she’d held out for more. If she had to face Marin, if she had to somehow confront her, she wanted a greater chance for augmentations. More than that, she wanted a chance to practice with Alec and would need more easar paper.

  Would Alec still even want to practice with her?

  It had been weeks since they’d had a chance to practice together. The only time they’d had together had been when Elaine had been injured, and Bastan had brought Alec from the university to help heal her.

  Maybe he was more intrigued with what he was learning at the university than practicing as her Scribe. He’d been very interested in working as her Scribe before he’d been accepted to the university, but maybe that had changed. Maybe the university held some sway over him that she could not. Maybe he would rather use his intelligence to learn things that could benefit others, and not just work with Sam, augmenting her.

  She had to stop thinking like that. Alec was her friend.

  There was nobody at the main entrance, and Sam tried the door but found it locked.

  She knocked. It was a heavy, thunderous sound. She waited, and moments passed before anyone appeared at the door. When the door opened, she was greeted by a young man wearing a simple brown robe belted with rope. She wasn’t sure if he was a junior physicker or a student. He looked at her, a hard frown on his face.

  “It’s much too late for any healing.”

  “I’m here to see one of your students.”

  “The students aren’t allowed to heal without a master’s approval.”

  “I’m a friend,” Sam said.

  “Who is the student?”

  “Alec Stross.”

  The man considered her a moment longer before he nodded. He disappeared, leaving her standing at the door, wondering whether she should follow him, or if she should wait.

  “Come along then,” he called out from down the hall.

  Sam shrugged and stepped into the entrance hall. The door started to close, and she took a few more steps to keep from being hit by it. The man waited in the distance, and Sam hurried to catch up to him, and he continued down the hall. The university was nicely decorated, but not nearly as nice as the palace. The stonework was well done, mostly marble. She winced at the thudding of her heavy footsteps, noting the young man’s steps were all but silent. Lanterns lit the hall, keeping it bright, and revealed sculptures placed periodically along the hallway. A few tapestries hung along the walls, as well, and her time with Bastan, and in the palace, had given her something of an idea of the quality of the various tapestries.

  He led her to a wide stairway, and up. He kept a steady pace and made no effort to speak to her, so Sam refrained, as well. He seemed more put out that she was there than anything, and she didn’t want to annoy him any more than was necessary. On the third landing, he veered off and down the hall. The university was enormous, and they made several turns, Sam quickly getting lost as she went, before he paused in front of a door and knocked.

  When the door opened, Sam saw Beckah standing behind it. “Can I help—”

  The woman cut off when she saw Sam.

  “I’m looking for Alec Stross,” the young man said.

  “He’s here,” Beckah said, pulling the door open.

  Alec sat at a desk and looked up from the book he’d been reviewing. His eyes showed surprise when he saw Sam in the doorway.

  “Sam?”

  “I need your help. Bastan asked—”

  Sam cut off and looked around the room, realizing that she needed to be more careful. If the message from Bastan was anything close to accurate, it might get Alec into some sort of trouble, which she had no intention of doing. Regardless of whatever relationship was brewing between him and this Beckah, he was still her friend. And he was her Scribe. She needed to keep that in mind. There had never been anything more between Sam and Alec, regardless of what she thought she might have felt growing there.

  “She’s fine, Matthias.”

  Sam realized that Alec was talking to the man who had escorted her to his room, and Alec’s familiarity in addressing him by his first name told her he was likely a fellow student.

  The young man shrugged. “Students aren’t allowed visitors this late.”

  “She serves the princess,” Alec said.

  Beckah’s eyes widened as she looked at Sam with renewed interest.

  The fellow student glanced over, his mouth pressed into a disbelieving frown. Had it not been true, Sam wouldn’t have believed Alec, either. It was an outrageous claim, one that made no sense to her, even though in some ways, she did serve the princess.

  “Why would the princess send a servant here?”

  Alec met the man’s eyes. “Because I serve the princess, as well.” There was a clear disdain between the two of them, and that was likely the reason Alec shared as much as he did. He had never been so open about what she and he did.

  “I’ll make sure the masters know that you had a visitor,” Matthias said.

  “You do that. Make sure you inform Master Helen particularly.”

  Matthias gl
ared at Alec before turning and letting his glare linger on Sam for a moment as he departed.

  When he was gone, Alec motioned her in. “Don’t mind him,” he said. “He’s not the nicest student. Smart, but he’s not always pleasant.”

  Sam glanced from Alec to Beckah, pushing away the questions that came to mind.

  “Alec, I need your help. Bastan sent me here with a message.”

  “Why would Bastan send you here with a message for me?” Alec asked.

  She met his gaze and silently tried to hint for him to have Beckah leave. Sam didn’t want to have this conversation in front of her. Maybe she should pull out her canal staff and smack it over the woman’s forehead.

  She was irrational, but that was only because she felt more and more like a drifter, as if she had no place of belonging. She no longer really belonged in Caster. Tray no longer wanted her, and Bastan would use her, but that was not her home, regardless of what he might claim. And she wasn’t a highborn. She did not belong in the palace, in spite of the fact that Elaine—and the princess—and welcomed her, offering to train her, and setting her up with a person who could help her master her canal staff. She had nowhere, and no one.

  For a time, she’d thought the two of them would be something, but Alec looked comfortable in this room, the university fitting him in a way that nothing seemed to fit her.

  After everything was done, where would her home be?

  Maybe the answers would come from Marin. If she could force her to talk to her, to tell her what had happened, and to share why she’d hidden Sam’s memories from her, maybe she would finally learn where her true home was supposed to be.

  Alec watched her, but so did Beckah.

  “I ran into Tray out in the Yalling section.”

  “What? How did you find him? How is he?”

  “It’s a long story that I can tell later. I asked him to send a message to Marin to find me at Bastan’s tavern.”

  “Oh, Sam. Are you sure that was the right thing to do?”

  “The right thing? I don’t know what the right thing is. All I know is that I want answers, and Marin has them. And if we can keep…. them… out of the city, then it will be worth it.”

  She knew she sounded hurt, and hated that she did, especially with Alec. No, especially around this other woman.

  Sam could see the way Beckah watched him, the interested expression that she had, the distrust that she showed for Sam. This was a woman clearly enamored with Alec. It was a feeling that Sam understood.

  “And you told Bastan of your request to Tray? He’s okay that you made his tavern your meeting place?”

  “Well, everything has a price with Bastan, right? Hence, I am here with his message.”

  “What kind of message?”

  Sam glanced at Beckah. Alec followed the direction of her gaze.

  “You can talk in front of Beckah.”

  “Alec—”

  Alec shook his head. “Beckah is a friend. I trust her.”

  Sam bit back her retort. She didn’t want to make Alec feel any worse. Hadn’t Sam forced him into situations that had made him uncomfortable? Hadn’t she exposed him to people that were less than reputable, making him interact with people like Bastan, and for that matter, Marin?

  “Bastan sent me with a message that said you might be able to answer.”

  “So, what is it?”

  Sam shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. He said that he needed me to find the man who is dead but not dead.” And somehow, Bastan thought that had something to do with the merchants—and Marin. He hadn’t explained why. “He seemed to think that you would know what that means and seems to think that you can help.”

  Alec looked at Beckah. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “It does seem a little peculiar,” she said.

  “We haven’t heard anything one way or the other. I don’t know if the thistle root made a difference.”

  “I think we would’ve heard something if it had.”

  “Maybe not. If the masters were afraid of it getting out that they had misdiagnosed…”

  “But they hadn’t misdiagnosed it. It just might have been too late.”

  “We don’t even know if the foxglove poisoning was the right diagnosis. We are trusting that it was, only because Master Carl claimed it was.”

  “You took the foxglove,” Beckah said. “You were in the hospital for over twelve hours because of it.”

  Sam stepped forward. “I don’t have any idea what the two of you are talking about. But clearly, you understand Bastan’s message?”

  Alec turned to her. “I think I understand what he’s getting at but am not sure that it’s possible to find the person he wants us to find.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s either dead and incinerated, or he lived and has left the university.”

  27

  Search for Answers

  Alec glanced at Sam as they made their way through the university. He shouldn’t be uncomfortable around her—he knew that he shouldn’t—but that didn’t change the fact that he was. There was something about having both Beckah and Sam present in the same place that left him unsettled. Alec had never been in a situation where he had two women where he was competing for their attention.

  That wasn’t quite right—it was the women who were competing for his attention.

  He felt conflicted. He loved spending time with Sam, and loved the fact that the two of them had the shared bond of both Kaver and Scribe, something that he had never expected to experience, but was that all that was between them? He liked to think they shared more of a connection than that, but in the last few months, that was really all that had bound them together.

  Then there was Beckah. The connection between them was different, built on a shared interest in healing and study. She challenged him in ways that he had never been challenged before, and that was very appealing. But he felt a bit guilty that he wanted to share those experiences with Beckah.

  They reached the stairs leading down into the morgue. Would this man even still be there? Alec didn’t think it likely. He would have been incinerated.

  “Why do you think Bastan wants this man?” Alec asked.

  Sam looked over and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s Bastan. He could want him simply because the man owes him money.”

  That didn’t seem quite right, not to Alec. There was something more to it—though he didn’t know what it could be. Did it have to do with the fact that Master Carl had been involved? There was something about the master that made Alec uncomfortable.

  “I’m not even sure where to find him,” Alec said.

  “How do you know about him?” Sam asked. She seemed to make a point of ignoring Beckah, who walked only a few paces behind Alec.

  For his part, Alec tried not to spend too much time looking at either of them. At other times in the university, Beckah might have slipped her hand into his, something that Alec would have otherwise enjoyed, much as he enjoyed the vibrant way that Beckah had about her. With Sam being here, as well, Alec didn’t want Beckah to take his hand, mostly because he still wasn’t sure how he felt about either of them.

  “One of the masters brought a man to us to study. He had been given something called foxglove. It’s a treatment that slows the heart and gives a person the appearance of being dead.”

  “Appearance?” This time, Sam did look from Alec to Beckah.

  Alec nodded. “Only the appearance. This man wasn’t dead, at least not that we knew.”

  “Alec was the one who recognized that something wasn’t quite right,” Beckah said.

  Sam again glanced from Alec to Beckah. “Is that right? Well, I’m not surprised. Alec always has had a way with healing. The very first time I met him, he made a point of saving my life.”

  “Oh?” Beckah said. “How long ago did you meet Alec?”

  “I’ve known Alec now for months. At least I thought I did.”

  “Stop. You know me,�
� Alec said.

  Sam only shrugged. “I thought I knew you. But the Alec I knew was interested in healing as a calling.”

  “Are you implying that Alec is no longer interested in healing as a calling?” Beckah said. “Because if that’s the case, I would argue that you don’t know Alec nearly as well as you claim. Alec is not interested in healing for financial gain. In fact, I think he makes some of the masters uncomfortable because he would just as soon offer healing to anyone, regardless of ability to pay.

  Sam rounded on Beckah. “You don’t think it should be?”

  “What I think isn’t the issue. That decision isn’t up to me.”

  “If it were, how would you respond?”

  “As I said. That decision isn’t up to me.”

  Sam smiled. “That seems to be an easy way out of answering.”

  Beckah glanced at Alec. He wondered how she would answer. They’d never had a conversation about her thoughts on healing others. Many in the university felt much like the master physickers did, believing that only those with means deserved a chance for healing, which meant only highborns or those with money. Alec didn’t think there were many like him, who felt that healing should be offered to anyone in need, regardless of their capacity to pay. Maybe that was why his father had left the university.

  “I came to the university with particular beliefs, but those have been challenged in my time here.”

  Sam watched her for a moment, almost seeming to wait for her to say something else, but Beckah didn’t take that bait.

  “What if he’s not still here?” Alec asked as they reached the door to the morgue.

  “Still?” Sam asked.

  Sam glanced over at Alec. “You’ve been down here before?” she asked.

  Alec nodded. “When we learned about foxglove. Part of the lesson involved the students taking a sample of it, and when we did, it slowed our hearts, but it affected me more strongly than others.”