Alec had been inside only one other time, but not by invitation. That time, he’d found Master Eckerd leaning over a book on a large table in the center of the room. He thought of that book as he entered, wondering if he’d find it there still.
A pair of lanterns provided light. The massive ornate table he remembered took up most of the room, and rows of shelves lined the walls. Alec immediately turned his attention to the shelves. These were the books he’d never had access to before, but Master Helen would have. Would there be anything here he could learn from, anything that would help him understand what knowledge she might’ve been concealing?
Alec made his way along the shelves, his gaze skimming the names of the books. There was nothing obvious. All of these works were old, some of them centuries old, but nothing here was clearly what he was looking for. It was possible that something useful was right in front of him, but it would take him a long time to discover whatever it was.
What he needed was someone who had spent time here before. He thought about Master Carl, but he was difficult at the best of times. Master Eckerd might help, but Alec had the sense from him that he still wasn’t certain about his role in any of this. Not that Alec could blame him. Master Eckerd was a Scribe, and he had sided with the university council until recently. It would be difficult for him with everything else that had happened.
In the absence of anyone who might help, he needed to find time to do it himself. Since he didn’t intend to join Sam on her journey to find Tray, he now had more time to devote to it, but he couldn’t lose sight of the urgency of the situation. Master Helen wasn’t done with whatever she had planned. Time was of the essence, but he felt overwhelmed.
“Is this your first official visit? I haven’t seen you here since your promotion to master physicker,” Master Eckerd said as he entered behind Alec.
Alec turned and smiled at him, looking a bit abashed at Master Eckerd’s reference to his unwelcome intrusion all those months ago. “With everything that’s been going on, I haven’t had the time. I probably should have, especially since whatever knowledge Helen has would likely have come from something here.”
“I don’t think there’s anything here that would help you with whatever she has planned.”
“Probably not,” Alec said. “Is there anything you can think of that might be helpful? Is there anything here that might relate to Scribes?”
“That information is kept out of even this section. Not all the masters were Scribes, Alec. Only the council would have access to such information.”
They had searched Master Helen’s rooms and had found nothing. Alec believed there was something, if only he could find it.
“Where would that information be kept?”
Master Eckerd shook his head. “Helen was the keeper of such information, and I don’t know where she kept it. She has been secretive about allowing others to access it.”
“And that didn’t raise any concerns for you?”
“What was I to do?”
“You’re a master physicker. You don’t think you should have a greater responsibility because of that?”
Master Eckerd approached the large center table and gripped the edge of the highly polished surface with both hands. “I may be a master physicker, but when it comes to being in any sort of command here, I don’t have any position of authority. Not as Master Helen did. She was the one who was in charge of the university. She was the one who commanded the Scribes. Even if I wanted to mitigate her influence, there would’ve been little that I could have done without sitting on the council.”
“And now that you do sit on the council?”
Master Eckerd straightened and took a deep breath. “Now that I do, I would like to better understand what it is that we are. I would like to better understand the role that the Scribes play in the city. I would like to better understand just what it is that we do.”
“I would like that, as well.”
“Unfortunately, I fear that for us to fully understand what we are, we may have to journey beyond the borders of the city,” Master Eckerd said.
“I have heard from several people that those who go to the Theln lands don’t return. They warned me that the Scribes who venture beyond our borders stay away. Why is that?”
“There is a danger to leaving the city, at least from what I’ve been told. Why the Scribes that have attempted to leave don’t return, I can’t say.”
“There has to be some reason for it that we have yet to discover.”
“There likely is some reason,” Eckerd said. “But none are willing to risk going without knowing exactly what it is that happens to Scribes when they leave our lands.”
Alec stared at the rows of books. If he couldn’t find anything here, and if there were no answers in Master Helen’s rooms, and if they could not come up with what she had done with the records that related to the Scribes when they managed to capture her, did it mean that he would have to risk going to the Theln lands?
Someone would.
For them to fully understand what it meant to be a Scribe, someone would have to risk themselves, and Alec wasn’t opposed to it being him, especially if Sam was going to go there anyway. If they went together, they might finally have answers to all of their questions.
“What happens if we don’t find her?” Eckerd asked.
“We have to find her,” Alec said. “We can’t allow her to be the reason the city falls.”
He just hoped Sam was ready, and that nothing happened to her while she was searching for the missing Scribes.
3
Within the Swamp
The strange trees jutted out of the water, twisting in the darkness. There was a hint of a breeze, something that was unusual for the swamp, and it carried the foulness of the air to Sam’s nostrils. She pushed on the pole, guiding the barge toward the trees, using a hint of an augmentation to do so. Had she trusted anyone else to make this journey, she wouldn’t have been the one to come, but Alec needed her.
“How close to I need to get to them?” she asked.
“Close enough for you to go underwater to the roots,” Alec said.
“And Jalen did this?” She couldn’t imagine the prince—well, now the king—going underwater, especially in the swamp. He wasn’t a Kaver, which meant that he didn’t have the same ability to place augmentations, though he had pretended to be a Kaver for a long time.
“He went, but then again, remember he had armor on.”
Sam fingered the fabric of her cloak. It wasn’t thick enough to avoid the biting jaws of the eels, so she doubted it would be all that effective at keeping her safe were she to fall in. What kind of armor would Jalen have used? She had never seen him wearing armor, though to hear Alec tell of it, he had it on at all times, and it must have been thin enough that Alec wouldn’t even have known he wore it. Armor like that would create the appearance of an augmentation.
“I hope we can find some way to find this elsewhere,” Sam said. “Otherwise, we’re going to have to keep coming into the swamp to harvest the roots of the trees.”
“It’s not only the roots I need,” Alec said. He stared at the trees, and he had a darkness to his eyes that went even deeper than the depths of the night.
Ever since he had been poisoned, Alec had retreated. How much of that was because of the illness and how much was in his head? Sam didn’t know. Some of the fatigue probably was real, but she suspected that not all of it was. She suspected he wasn’t nearly as sick as he believed himself to be. Then again, what did she know? She wasn’t the one who had been poisoned. She wasn’t the one who relied on eating eel meat to to stay strong.
“You want me to grab a few eels on my way back up?”
Sam didn’t like the idea of grabbing one of the slimy eels, but for Alec, she would. She would do pretty much anything for him.
“You don’t need to. Bastan has his men coming in here often enough to harvest that I don’t need to worry.”
Bastan. Now that the palace had fallen, a
nd now that authority in the city had shifted, however subtly, Bastan was more open with his intentions to gain power. It wasn’t even about power; it was about consolidation of his influence. He remained in the outer sections, preferring to stay in Caster. She suspected he would be able to move toward the highborn sections, though Bastan had no interest in that.
She was thankful for his willingness to continue to provide eel meat for Alec. Without Bastan, someone else would have to harvest them, and while she was willing to do it, it would take considerable time away from other things that she needed to do.
They reached a cluster of trees, and Sam slowed the barge.
It was a small barge, not quite as large as the ones used by the merchants to transport goods throughout the city, navigating the canals. This one was used for other reasons, little more than a way of maneuvering to and from the larger barges, though she rarely saw it used like that. Then again, maybe it was used in sections she didn’t frequent. Bastan had little trouble finding the barge and had little difficulty arranging for her to have access to it. If it was meant to be something more secretive, it seemed to her he would have hesitated to give her access to it.
Sam grabbed some of the branches of the tree, holding on to them to slow the barge. When it came to a complete stop, Alec stood and looked at the tree, though she couldn’t tell what he saw when he stared at it.
“You need a section of root?”
Alec nodded. “Only a small section.”
“Wouldn’t a larger section allow you to make more easar paper?” They needed to make as much as possible, especially since she suspected Helen and the others with her had a significant supply.
“I want to perfect the recipe and determine exactly how much to use, so as not to waste what we harvest. I don’t want to damage the trees any more than is necessary.”
Sam sighed. She didn’t either, but she wanted to have an adequate supply of easar paper, mainly since it would be their best way to combat Helen. She had to trust him on this and not get too controlling.
“Hold the pole,” she said.
Alec took the pole, and she took a deep breath, readying herself. While she did, she focused on the augmentations needed when she went underwater. She needed to make her skin impervious, not wanting to be bitten by the stupid eels, and she needed to have enhanced eyesight in the darkness. She didn’t necessarily need strength, though it might help her tear free a section of the root.
Alec could help—with the small supply of easar paper that they now had, he could use that to place some augmentations on her—but she needed the practice. When the time came that she would confront other Kavers, Sam needed to be ready; she needed to be able to overpower them, even without augmentations gifted to her by Alec.
She felt her augmentations washed over her, starting deep within her and moving up through her body before rolling through her chest. When they set, she jumped.
The water was warm, almost unpleasantly so. She sank to the bottom and tried not to think about what other creatures might be in the water with her. Sam didn’t know everything about the swamp and had never ventured in this far until recently.
But if Jalen had been able to do this, she was determined to do the same. She wouldn’t allow the king to be more daring than she was, especially not in front of Alec. He already thought quite highly of the man, though she couldn’t blame him. He was impressive, especially given that he was primarily a Scribe, and soon would be testing for master physicker level.
The trees jutted out of the bottom of the water. The ground around them was mushy, and small weeds grouped around the roots. They were propped up on something like stilts, and she reached for the root of the nearest tree.
When she did, something slithered against her hand.
Sam jerked her hand back, knowing she didn’t need to. The augmentation she placed would protect her, and she didn’t need to fear the eels, but she couldn’t help it. The stupid things could bite, and she didn’t want to have one of them latch on, even if it couldn’t puncture her skin, thanks to her augmentation.
Was it an eel?
Even with her enhanced sight, the water was dark, practically murky. She tried not to think about what else was in it, or what made it quite as murky as it was, thinking only of the need to grab the root. She reached for it again, wrapping her hand around the slimy wood, and pulled.
It came free easily.
That surprised her. It shouldn’t come free quite that easily, should it?
With the root in hand, she swam toward the surface. This time, she was sure something slithered against her. She grabbed the edge of the barge and quickly threw herself up onto it. She set the section of root down next to Alec and then squeezed the water out of her clothing.
“That was… disgusting.”
“We might have to come up with a different way of harvesting it,” Alec said.
“Anything we can do where I don’t have to go underwater like that would be better.”
“I could bring Jalen.”
“Could you?” she asked. “Do you think the king wants to come out in the swamp and jump into the water again?”
“He’s already done it once.”
“I was kidding,” Sam said. “Besides, if you bring him instead of me, how will you and I be able to spend time together?”
Alec glanced down to the root before sliding over and grabbing her hands. “I’d rather have a different time with you than this.”
“I’m not sure, not anymore. It seems the only time we get together is when something has to be done.”
“Sam—”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t blame you. I know you have your responsibilities, especially now, but I keep thinking things will slow down, and we will be able to have…”
But have what? What did she want? It was difficult for her to admit her feelings, let alone to accept what it was that she wanted out of the time she had with Alec.
“I guess all I want is for us to have more.”
“I want that too.”
They stood in silence, Alec holding her hands, and her covered in the filthy water of the swamp. Sam shook her head, feeling ridiculous at what she had said and the way that she felt. “We should head back. I’m sure you have other things you need to be doing.”
“You wanted me to see if I could make more easar paper,” he reminded.
“I think we need to have as much of a supply as we can collect,” she said. “Especially if Helen has a supply of it.”
They didn’t know how much Helen had taken from the palace when she escaped. Considering that she would have known more about the palace’s supply, she likely would’ve taken everything she could. And they had been distracted, focused on what had happened to the king, so they hadn’t even known to go looking for Helen. They hadn’t known what they were missing out on.
“It’s a slow process,” Alec said. “I’m trying to expedite it, but that doesn’t change how long it takes to make even a single sheet.”
“There has to be a way to make it more quickly. The Thelns seem to have that down.”
“Without going to the Theln lands—”
“You’re not going to the Theln lands,” Sam snapped.
“You intend to go, but you don’t want me to go?”
“I intend to go so that I can bring back Tray.” She kept telling herself that, but the longer it took for everything to settle down in the city, the more she began to wonder whether she would ever go to get Tray. The longer that she avoided it—or was kept from it—the less likely it was that Tray would even listen when she went for him. He was her brother, but did he view himself the same way?
She no longer knew.
Sam took a deep breath. Rather than saying anything more, she began to push the barge back toward the city. It had taken nearly an hour to make their way to these trees, and it would’ve taken longer had she not known the direction, but she had traveled out into the swamp enough times now that she had a pretty good sense of directi
on. For those who hadn’t been out in the swamp, they could get lost and easily struggle finding their way back. It protected the swamp in some ways, keeping out those who might otherwise learn its secrets.
The city came into view. From the water, there was something almost peaceful about it, especially at night. Candles glowed in windows, and none of the sections appeared any different from any others. There was no class system, not at night, not in the darkness. Everyone was the same.
Alec slipped his arm around her, and he stood next to her, saying nothing as she continued to push them toward the city. She moved with less intensity, no longer motivated to pole them quickly to their destination. She wanted to have another moment or two with Alec, even if they were borrowed moments that she wasn’t sure she deserved.
When the barge ultimately reached the city, they started into the canals leading between the sections, and tension settled back into her. It started slowly, but it built, making her shoulders ache from it. There was just so much to do.
They remained silent as she pulled up next to the university. Alec hesitated, taking her hands for a moment and squeezing. “You could come in. You could see how the easar paper is made, and we could…”
Sam smiled sadly and shook her head. “You have your responsibilities, and I have things that I need to do.”
Alec stepped off the barge, and she watched him until he made his way into the university. He paused at the door and looked out, though she doubted he could see much in the darkness.
She poled the barge over toward the palace. There was a time when she would never have even dreamt of visiting the palace, and a time only a short while ago when she wouldn’t have imagined coming so openly on a barge like this, but since the attack, much had changed.
Sam tied the barge up on the palace side of the canal and jumped off. She headed across the lawn and was greeted at the door by a pair of now-familiar soldiers who barely nodded as she entered.
When she made her way inside, Marin stopped her in the hallway. “Samara. I’ve been looking for you.”
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