Exsanguinated

by D. K. Holmberg

  “How long do we need to wait?” Bastan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Alec said. “I thought that with the augmentation…”

  Bastan nodded. “We just have to be patient. She’ll come back to us when she’s ready,” he said, sounding like he was convincing himself, not Alec.

  Alec hoped that was true, but what if she didn’t? What if she wasn’t strong enough to pull through this? What would he do then?

  17

  Awake

  Sam awoke slowly. Everything was a blur. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, and she couldn’t focus when she tried to think. Her mouth was dry, and her eyes felt like they were gummed closed. It took a moment for her to remember what had happened, and when she did, she jerked. A medicinal stench filled her nostrils.

  “Easy, Samara.”

  Samara? She recognized the voice, but she shouldn’t have.

  “Bastan?”

  He patted her hand. “I’m here, Samara.”

  “How?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Bastan made a strange, strangled sound that in anyone else Sam would think was a sob. Not from Bastan. He wasn’t the type to cry.

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in the apothecary shop.”

  That explained the odor. Now that Bastan mentioned it, the smell was familiar. She’d been here often enough to know what it was. “And Alec?”

  “Sleeping next to you.”

  “Sleeping?” She managed to pry her eyes open and rolled her head to the side. Alec rested with his head on the cot, and his hands were gripping hers. She wouldn’t let him go. Never again. “What happened?”

  “He saved you. He took blood from himself and gave it to you.”

  “How?”

  Bastan shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. He is quite an impressive young man. When he was done, he used blood ink and the easar paper, though I think he used most of his own, and less of yours.”

  Bastan took a deep breath and sat up. He rubbed a knuckle into his eye, and Sam frowned. Was he crying?

  “What’s wrong, Bastan?”

  “We thought you were dead, that’s what’s wrong, Samara.”

  Sam looked over to Bastan. “Dead?”

  Even as she said it, she knew what he meant. She remembered the way that she felt, the way that everything had gone black, and she had thought she was going to die. Lyasanna had intended to bleed her out, to use her blood for… What? What purpose did Lyasanna have for her blood? What would she gain from it?

  The better question was what would Helen gain from it?

  “If they have my blood, they can do—”

  Bastan pulled a bucket out from underneath the table. “They don’t have your blood. I grabbed the two buckets when I brought you out.”

  Sam frowned at the buckets. “Why would Alec not have used that? He could have given my own blood back to me.”

  “We were concerned about whether it was safe to do it. There’s something in the blood that likely contaminated it.”

  “What would be in the blood?”

  Bastan frowned. “It wasn’t safe, Sam, and Alec is particular about how he does things. Considering that you still live, I think we should allow that, don’t you?”

  Sam tried to chuckle, but it came out as a cough. “We need to find Lyasanna. Now we know she is part of whatever Helen is planning.”

  “There is no doubt they are working together. I learned that much from my captors before I escaped.”

  “Why would they talk around you?”

  “Because they had no choice,” Bastan said.

  “What?”

  “I gave them no choice but to tell me what they were planning.”

  Sam would have shivered, but with what Helen had attempted on her—at least, what Lyasanna had done to her—Sam had a hard time mustering the necessary empathy. “What did they share?”

  “They believe the Kaver blood is key to some sort of plan to overtake the city.”

  “Not the city. They intend to overthrow the Thelns,” she said, remembering what Lyasanna had shared.

  “Why the other Kavers are going along with it is beyond me.”

  “What if they’re not all going along with it?” Sam asked.

  She was beginning to feel a little bit better, not strong—not quite—but better than she had been when she first woke up. If this were all about an augmentation, even with the easar paper, it would take a while for her to feel back to normal, if she even could. After losing as much blood as she imagined she had, her recovery would be slow.

  “About the Kaver we found. Camellia. What if they aren’t all going along with it?”

  “The other two I escaped from didn’t have any difficulty with sharing what they were a part of,” Bastan said.

  Sam’s head throbbed. She had a hard time thinking through things in any way that would allow her to come to a solution. “I feel like I need some eel meat.”

  Bastan grunted. “It just so happens that Alec has a supply.”

  He shook Alec, and he awoke with a start.

  Alec glanced from Bastan down to Sam, and seeing her awake, his eyes widened. “Sam. You’re back.”

  “Thank you. I feel like I’ve been beaten in a way I haven’t in a long time, and my head throbs and I feel rundown and…”

  Alec could only nod. “But you’re alive.”

  “I’m alive.” She glanced at Alec’s jacket. “I understand you have eel meat with you?”

  Alec nodded. “I have to keep it on me. It’s the only thing that keeps me going sometimes.”

  Sam sighed. “Can I have some?”

  Alec reached into his pocket and pulled out the jar he always carried, and when he popped the top, the familiar bitter stink emanated from the jar. He pulled out a chunk and handed it to Sam. She took it gingerly. Her wrists throbbed from where Lyasanna had cut her. She would have to have that healed at some point too. An augmentation would make short work of her recovering from that injury.

  Sam chewed on the piece of meat. As she did, a sense of warmth washed over her. Strength gradually returned, and she let out a heavy sigh and propped herself up on her elbows. She looked around the apothecary. Other than Bastan and Alec, there was no one here.

  “Where is your father?”

  “He went to see what else he could learn about these markings. I told him where we came across the books in Helen’s house, and he thought he would go and take a look.”

  Sam took a deep breath. That was a good idea. “I don’t know how Lyasanna escaped.”

  “I do.” Alec told her about the opening in the cell, the way the markings had been pressed through from the other side, augmentations placed on the stone that either weakened it or turned it into some sort of doorway.

  “We’re dealing with someone who is incredibly intelligent, has knowledge we don’t have, and is using Kavers for some horrible purpose we can’t figure out.”

  The door to the apothecary opened with a tinkling of bells. Sam looked over and saw Marin race in, carrying her canal staff. She stopped abruptly in front of Sam.

  “Samara. You’re alive.”

  Sam nodded. “A refrain I’ve heard several times.”

  “I was warned you might not pull through.”

  “I’m still not clear how I got here, but Alec managed to bring me back from the edge of death.”

  Marin sighed. “Lyasanna did this?”

  “She did. She was augmented, and she taunted me, gloating that we could not hold her. Then she slit my wrists and watched as I bled out.”

  “When she recalled all the Kavers to the city, we knew she was planning something.”

  “But it’s not that she is using them in any way that would make sense. I thought she would use the Kavers to attack, but that’s not it at all. She just wants their blood. As she wanted mine.”

  “I don’t understand why she would want Kaver blood without a living Kaver.”

  “She claims it doesn’t matter.”
/>
  Her strength faded. Could the benefit of the eel meat fade so quickly? Sam sagged back down onto the cot. How much longer would she be able to stay awake? With what happened, she needed to get up and get moving; she needed to begin her search for Helen and the others, but with the way she felt, she wasn’t sure that she could.

  “We need to discover where the tunnel from the cells leads,” Marin said.

  “The tunnel Lyasanna escaped through?” Sam asked.

  Marin nodded.

  “And what it doesn’t matter? What if she has enough Kaver blood and doesn’t come back? She plans to go after the Thelns. We need to stop that.” She looked at Marin, wondering how much Marin knew of the connection between the Thelns and the Anders. From what Lyasanna said, only those on the Scribe Council knew.

  Sam now knew there was only one way for them to really find the answers.

  “We have to leave the city,” Sam said.

  “Sam, you’re not in any shape to even think about that now,” Alec said.

  “Maybe not now, but I will get stronger, and when I do, we need to go and see what it is that Helen plans with the Thelns.” She looked at Alec and then to Marin. “You’ve been there before, so we will need your help. And Alec, I think you need to come, regardless of the warnings we’ve heard about Scribes not returning. We need to understand just what the Scribes in the Thelns lands know. There’s something there, some reason they do not return when they leave.”

  And maybe it was all about being invited to remain. If what Lyasanna had said was true, then the Scribes had been exiled from the city. But perhaps they didn’t have to be exiles. Maybe they hadn’t been allowed to return, and if that were the case, then it would explain why Scribes never came back.

  “Who will guard the city if we all travel to the Thelns land?” Marin asked.

  Sam turned to Bastan. “You will, won’t you? You’ve always been willing to look out for the city. Kevin told me exactly what it was that you do.”

  “Kevin would not have shared anything like that with you.”

  “Fine, he didn’t tell me exactly what you do, but he did say you have a larger role than what most know. It’s a role you chose for yourself.”

  “I only intend to ensure certain other undesirables don’t make it into the city.”

  “If you can do that, then you can help keep the rest of the city safe. You can keep an eye out for Helen and the others while we travel to the Theln lands for answers.”

  Bastan breathed out. “I don’t care for this, Samara.”

  “I don’t care for it either, Bastan, but what choice do we have? We need to have answers. Everything seems to be pulling us toward the Theln lands. Not only because I want to find Tray, but because all of this seems to have started after Lyasanna returned from her brief fling with Ralun.”

  “I don’t like that you will be leaving and I am not accompanying you.”

  “I will be as safe as I can be,” Sam said. “And I won’t be going alone. Marin will be coming, and Alec, and—”

  “And Jalen will need to come,” Marin said. “If we are going to face any sort of opposition, I would prefer to have someone along who can place augmentations on me.”

  “That means no Anders will remain in the city,” Bastan said. “That puts the city in danger if there is an attack.”

  “You can stay in the palace, and you can ensure that the city is protected,” Sam said.

  Bastan snorted. “Samara, you have an awfully high belief in my abilities.”

  “When have you ever given me a reason not to?”

  Bastan stared at her, and then he nodded. “If you do this, everything changes.”

  “Everything has already changed, Bastan.”

  Bastan watched her for a long moment before sighing. “Indeed it has, Samara. Indeed it has.”

  18

  Out of the City

  The barge was a narrow one, just wide enough for the four of them to travel on. Marin used the barge pole, pushing them deep into the swamp at a quick pace. Trees jutted out of the water on either side of them. Could they be svethwuud, the same trees used to make the easar paper? Maybe they were something else.

  The swamp had a strange humid stink to it along with the familiar scent of rot. “Do you notice that?” Sam asked.

  “Notice what?” Marin asked, her gaze sweeping over the darkened swamp. They chose to leave at night, thinking it would draw less attention, but now that they were out here, Sam wished that maybe they had chosen to come in the daylight. It would have been easier to navigate. She had considered placing an augmentation to improve her night vision, and even Marin’s, but knew it was best to conserve their strength.

  “There’s a smell,” Sam said.

  “There’s always a smell in the swamp,” Alec said.

  “This is one I haven’t noticed before.”

  Alec wrinkled his nose as he took a deep breath. He was dressed in a cloak that matched Sam’s, and the shadows drifted off of it. Marin and Jalen each wore one as well. Bastan had found them, and she didn’t want to know where he had come across them. Madame Fornay had provided clothing, and Sam was now dressed in much nicer garb than she had been before.

  “I don’t smell anything,” Alec said.

  “Maybe it’s just me,” she said. Since awakening from her near-death experience, she smelled everything a little differently. Then again, she had been consuming more of the eel meat, believing she needed to in order to have the necessary strength to continue with their plans. Her plans.

  “I smell it as well, though I have smelled the swamp like this before,” Jalen said.

  “Maybe it’s always been like this,” Sam said. “I just haven’t noticed it.”

  They were making good time, but Sam still wished they could move faster, wanting to reach the edge of the swamp and then… Then they needed to pass through the forest, and on the other side of the forest was a dense plain.

  “What is it?” Alec asked.

  Sam shrugged. “I’m just thinking about what we have to face before we can get through this.”

  “I might have been exaggerating a bit about how difficult the terrain would be,” Marin said.

  Sam glanced over. “What do you mean exaggerating?”

  “I didn’t want you to leave the city before I managed to get free. I thought if I presented a challenging enough passage, you would bring me with you.”

  Sam grunted. “So, there’s no dangerous forest beyond the swamp?”

  “Oh, there is a dangerous forest, but it’s not quite as dangerous as it would appear, and there are ways to safely navigate it, especially when you have a Scribe with you.”

  Sam shook her head. “So much deception.”

  “I am sorry. Truly,” Marin said. She looked at Sam, and she met her gaze, holding it for a moment. “I wish I could have done things differently. I wish Tray didn’t need such protection, and that his mother wasn’t interested in seeing him dead, and I wish…”

  Sam shook her head. “I wish you hadn’t stolen my memories.”

  “You blame me, but it was never my intention to take that much from you. I just didn’t know what I was doing. When I came across the Book, I used it on Tray, but I didn’t know it would carry over to you.”

  Sam stared out at the swamp. Hearing for the first time that Marin’s stealing of her memories had been nothing but a mistake left her numb. There’d been a time when she wanted nothing more than to understand everything that Marin had stolen from her. She’d wanted her memories back, memories of a time before she had lost her mother and father, of a time when she wasn’t an orphan and destined to run the street, but so much had changed for her that she no longer felt the same way. She no longer felt she needed to have her questions about her past answered. And even if she were to recover those memories, would they provide any of the answers she sought? It was possible the only answer that was relevant was that the life she lived was the one she was meant to live.

  And would any mem
ory she regained change anything?

  “While we’re here, we should harvest a few eels,” Jalen said.

  “We shouldn’t delay,” Marin said.

  “Alec might need us to have eel meat. And I…” He shook his head. “I might need us to have eel meat.”

  Marin looked at him, and there was almost something of irritation on her face. “We don’t know what it will do to you long term,” she said.

  “We know it enhances focus. With where we’re going, all of us might need enhanced focus. And Alec might need the simple benefit the eel meat has been providing.”

  Alec pulled the jar out of his pocket, and he tipped it over. “I have some left, but depending on how long we’re gone…”

  Marin pulled the pole out of the water. “Fine. We can stop long enough to replenish Alec’s, but none for you,” she said to Jalen. “I don’t like that you’ve allowed yourself to become reliant upon it.”

  Sam suppressed a smile. Seeing Marin like this and seeing how she was harassing Jalen about the eel meat amused her. And she didn’t entirely disagree. If Alec didn’t need the extra support of the eel, she might have felt the same way.

  They drifted into a cluster of trees. Sam didn’t bother to ask Marin how she knew eels could be found there. When they reach them, Marin handed the barge pole over to Sam. “Keep us steady,” she said.

  “I can do this, Marin.”

  “That might be, but I don’t know how fatigued you are. I think it’s best if you continue to recuperate.” Marin stood at the edge of the barge and jumped in. There was a soft splash, and she was gone for a few moments before she jumped free of the water and flopped two eels onto the deck. She looked over at Jalen. “You get to clean them.”

  Jalen cocked his head, and there was a hint of a smile on his face. “Gladly.”

  He withdrew a belt knife and started to cut open the eel. As he did, Alec crouched down next to him and joined him, making quick work of cutting out the eel flesh.

  “What do you think we should do if we come across Helen?” Sam asked.