Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Was that common?”

  “We had people come through here from all sections. Well, at least from all of the outer sections. When they heard that my father was willing to heal and treat without regard for costs, it appealed to many people.”

  Alec pushed the papers back to where they’d been and leaned forward, placing himself in a position that would have been like the way his father had been discovered. How would he have been resting?

  He set his head down on the table, thinking of what his father would have been doing. It was possible that his father had been simply resting. Alec had found him in a similar position many times before. His father often worked late into the night, and often made sure to complete every part of what he considered his tasks before retiring. That would include taking the notes that he thought were necessary so that he could complete his documentation. His father didn’t like to end his day without everything being finished.

  But, if that was what he’d been doing last night, where was the ink?

  For that matter, where was his pen. Would his father have finished and put them away?

  Had Mrs. Rubbles not been in such a frantic state, he could have seen her putting those things away, but she’d not even remembered to lock the door.

  Glancing around, he saw a bottle of ink behind the stack of papers he’d looked through. He hadn’t noticed it when he’d pulled the papers forward to review. Alec lifted it and shook it, and then brought it to his nose, sniffing. It didn’t smell like anything he recognized, and he didn’t recognize the color. It was purple, not a color that his father typically used, and it wasn’t used on any of the pages he’d looked through.

  “What is it?” Beckah asked.

  “Just a few strange things,” he said.

  “You’re looking at the ink. Is it…” She held her hand out and nodded to her palm.

  Alec shook his head. “Not like that. I don’t know why he would have this color of ink, and I don’t see any pages written in it.”

  Alec stood from the chair and stepped over to a cabinet that contained some of his father’s most sensitive items. This was where he had stored the eel venom, and there were other compounds that were equally dangerous.

  Could somebody have attacked his father for these items?

  That seemed unlikely. There wouldn’t be many people who would even have known that his father had them.

  When he pulled the cabinet open, he was surprised to find it empty.

  Beckah stepped up beside him. “You look worried.”

  “Only because I know what was here before.”

  “And what was that?”

  He lowered his voice before answering. “A way to face the Thelns.”

  Could there be anything to that?

  Maybe his father had given everything that he had to Bastan, knowing the man was intent on defeating the Thelns. Or maybe there was another reason. Had Bastan been here, he would have drawn attention. At least, Alec thought that he would. Then again, Bastan had many people who worked for him, and he could just as easily have sent one of them here.

  “I think I need to go to the Caster section.”

  Stefan looked over. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Why not?”

  “I may never have been out of my section, but I at least know the sections of the city. I know that Caster is one of the outer sections, and it’s supposed to be incredibly dangerous.”

  “And our Alec has spent considerable time there,” Beckah said.

  “You have?”

  “I don’t know that I would say considerable time, but I have spent time in Caster. And to get the answers I need, I think I need to go there. But I don’t want to go by myself.”

  “I can go with you,” Beckah said.

  “You could, but I’m not sure that you should.”

  “I want to find him too,” she said with a whisper.

  Alec frowned. As much as it might upset Sam, Beckah was right. She had every reason to be searching for Tray, the same as Sam. She needed to find out more about what it meant for her to be his Scribe. And since they weren’t entirely sure what it meant for Tray to be both Theln and Kaver, Beckah’s connection to him might be dangerous. But she should be allowed to understand.

  “Just… Just try not to antagonize her.”

  Stefan watched, and Alec hated that he couldn’t tell him anything, and hated that if he tried, Stefan probably wouldn’t understand.

  “Let’s return to the university. I want to check on him first.”

  3

  To Be a Physicker

  The hospital ward was nearly empty of staff. Alec arrived late in the day, late enough that most of the junior physickers weren’t even there, having long ago gone for food. There would be a single physicker responsible for ensuring the welfare of everyone in the ward, and even that person was not here.

  Having been out in the city, Alec was more aware of the astringent odor in the air. The ward had a medicinal stink to it, and he was surprised that he didn’t notice it more often. As he took several deep breaths, he was able to pick out the smell of a few different medicines that he recognized. Several of them were ones that he had been using lately. Could it be his fault that the ward smelled the way that it did?

  Alec went to his father’s cot and looked down at him. It was strange seeing him this way, and strange for him to not be able to speak to him. Whenever he’d faced a mystery with healing, his father had always been the one who he went to for answers.

  “I need to know what happened,” he said in a whisper. Alec took his father’s hand and found the skin still warm. It wasn’t sweaty or clammy, just warm. It was as though his father was simply sleeping and should wake up and talk to him—only he didn’t.

  He completed an examination, going from head to toe, looking for anything that he might’ve overlooked before. There was nothing. His father was well, other than the fact that he did not respond.

  He looked around and pulled a slip of easar paper out of his pocket. He had a single vial of his and Sam’s blood, and he pulled it out, preparing to write.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” a voice said.

  Alec looked up, quickly slipping the easar paper into his pocket. A flush washed over him, and he feared that it was one of the master physickers who shouldn’t see the paper.

  Master Helen eyed him, then looked down at his father. She wore a heavy brown robe, and Alec wondered if she had been traveling outside of the university. He had seen her at the palace before, and still didn’t know what role she had there, though didn’t expect Master Helen to ever share that with him. Her long, graying hair was brushed out and pooled in the folds of the hood of her robe. She sighed deeply for a moment.

  “I haven’t seen him in a long time,” she said.

  Alec ignored the first thought that came to mind. “Why shouldn’t I use the paper?”

  Master Helen looked back at him and frowned. “Doing so without knowing the underlying cause of the illness runs the risk of unwanted effects.”

  “I attempted a healing on the princess without knowing what had happened to her.”

  “You did. And such a healing was more dangerous than you know.”

  Alec frowned. He hadn’t considered that there might be a reason that he shouldn’t attempt healing. It was something that he still didn’t know about his role as a Scribe.

  “He’s completely well, other than the fact that he won’t wake up.”

  “And what would you attempt?”

  “I would work on alertness and perhaps focus on bringing him around so that he could tell me what happened.”

  “And what if your attempt at increasing the patient’s alertness only causes his illness to accelerate?”

  “Why would it do that? Bringing him back around would only help me understand what happened to him.”

  Master Helen stood at the end of the cot and placed her hands near his father’s shoulders. “There are many causes for decreased alertness, Physicker Stro
ss. If you target the wrong one, you run the risk of causing injury. This is a dangerous type of illness without knowing the possible causes to it.”

  “Is this related to the other woman?”

  She frowned. “Other woman?”

  Alec took her over to the other young woman, his gaze lingering on his father for a moment before he finally pulled his attention away. “She came in a week ago. I’ve tried countless different concoctions, all of which should help bring her around, but nothing has worked.”

  Master Helen grabbed the record at the end of the bed, and quickly flipped the pages, her eyes scanning each page more rapidly than what Alec thought he would be able to do. He might have been the first person to be promoted directly to full physicker, but he still suspected that Master Helen was the brighter of the two of them. The only reason he was able to be successful was because his father had trained him the entirety of his life. Without that knowledge, Alec wouldn’t have been promoted nearly as quickly as he had.

  “Yes. I see that you have tried many things. Most of these would only cause a brief awakening.”

  “A brief awakening was all I was aiming for. Without knowing the underlying source, I was trying a lower potency treatment. Anything with more significant potency might have been dangerous.”

  She looked up at him, an accusation burning in her eyes. “Exactly. You’re willing to be cautious with this young woman, but not with Aelus?”

  Alec flushed. He should know better. She was right. He had learned that his connection to the blood magic was tied to his knowledge, and if his knowledge was inadequate, he wouldn’t be able to heal using it.

  “I see what you’re trying to say.”

  “Good, Physicker Stross.”

  “Have you seen anything like this before?”

  “I have not, and that troubles me. Everything that you’ve tried should have been effective. The fact that it was not is disconcerting.”

  Master Helen proceeded to perform her own evaluation, working her way along the woman, checking her heart, her lungs, her stomach, before moving on to lifting her eyelids and looking into her mouth, as well as examining her throat. She had a very similar technique to his father’s, one that Alec hadn’t seen from any of the other master physickers.

  “You knew my father when he was here, didn’t you?”

  “I knew him. Many of us knew him.”

  Alec watched as she continued with her evaluation. “He was one of your students.”

  She looked over and nodded curtly. “He was one of my students. When he left the university, I was angry with him. Many of us were.”

  “Why?”

  “Your father has a brilliant mind. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

  “Is that why I was treated the way that I was?”

  She sniffed. “It’s unfortunate the way that you were treated, Physicker Stross. Many of the full physickers as well as junior physickers saw you as little more than an apothecary. None of them understood who your father was, or the breadth of what he knew, which was to their detriment. I think that was why they were surprised by how much you already knew. Those of us who knew your father were not surprised.” She looked back down at the young woman. “Oh, I suppose some of us were surprised that your father had taught you as much as he had. I think we all expected him to have worked with you, but he trained you as if you were one of his students.”

  “He always let me work with him.”

  “Because of that, you are in a much better position than many of your colleagues. It is the reason that I supported your request for testing.”

  “What do you mean that you supported it?”

  “A request such as you made could have been refused.” She glanced up, studying him, and a small hint of a smile quirked the corners of her mouth. “You didn’t realize that?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Can you imagine what would happen if all of our students began to demand testing? How many of the students do you think believe they know more than the junior physickers?”

  “I thought I knew more than the junior physickers.”

  “Because you do. Your father saw to that. I think had he never left the university, you could have been brought in as a junior physicker, not even needing to serve as a student.”

  “I don’t think my father would’ve wanted me to have things quite so easy.”

  “No. I doubt that he would.”

  Master Helen replaced the record at the end of the bed and turned to leave. “Master Helen?”

  “Yes?”

  “If these are related, why would that be? What do you think caused my father’s illness and this young lady’s illness?”

  “I told you that I don’t know.”

  Alec looked around, but the room was still empty. “Could it be related to the Book?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I pray that it is not.”

  “You pray?”

  “Only at times like this.” She glanced over to his father’s cot. “Don’t attempt to save him without knowing more about what happened.”

  She started away, and Alec called out to her again. She paused and turned back toward him. There was annoyance on her face, but Alec ignored it. “I need someone who can help me understand what it means to be a Scribe,” he said.

  “I think you’re managing well enough on your own.”

  “I don’t know that I am. I understand some of my abilities, but I don’t know nearly as much as I think I need to in order for me to help Sam.”

  “You believe that it’s all about helping her?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  She frowned. “It is not a one-sided relationship.” She made her way over to him, getting close enough that she didn’t have to speak too loudly. “It is not all about the Kaver. The Scribe has an equally important role. If you don’t know that—and if you don’t believe that—then there is very little I will be able to tell you that will be of use.”

  “What is it then? If it’s supposed to be a partnership,” he started, uncertain how that would work, especially since Sam seemed to be the one who gained the most benefit from their pairing. “What can I do to better understand what my role means?”

  “You are doing it.”

  “What? Learning what it means to be a physicker?”

  She shook her head. “You already know enough about what it means to be a physicker. You wouldn’t wear that jacket if you did not. It’s the asking of questions.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s not it. That’s the beginning.”

  “How can I learn more if I don’t have someone willing to work with me?”

  Master Helen sighed. Had he upset her? He had thought the master physickers who were Scribes would want to work with him, and that they would want to help him understand what it meant for him to do the things that he did, but so far, none of them had expressed any interest; no one seemed willing to train him.

  “You must be patient, Physicker Stross. Your understanding will come in time, but unfortunately, when it comes to learning what it means to be a Scribe, it requires that you observe, and that you document, the same techniques that your father has taught you.”

  “Why can’t you simply tell me?”

  “If I were to simply tell you, you wouldn’t understand. There are things you can learn through telling. There are things you can learn by reading. And there are some things that you can only learn by questioning and discovering them on your own.”

  She turned away from him then and left the ward.

  Alec breathed out and returned to his father, looking once again to see if there was anything he could discover, but there wasn’t. Whatever had happened to him remained a mystery. It was a mystery that he would have to solve, but it wouldn’t be one that would be solved through his use of easar paper.

  Thankfully, his father was stable, which meant that he had time.

  Hopefully, Sam would respond to his request, and hopefully, she would be willing to go with him t
o the Caster section, but even if he didn’t hear from her, he would have to go. Bastan might not know what happened to his father, but he was a man who knew many things, and Alec would have to see if there was anything he could learn from him.

  4

  An Uncomfortable Ally

  The Caster section made Alec somewhat uncomfortable. He tried to hide the fact that he felt that way, but there was no concealing that he felt as if he shouldn’t be here. It was almost as if the section of the city wanted to push him out, to prevent him from spending any time here. When he’d first come here, Sam had been the one to guide him, and having her with him—someone who belonged—had made it tolerable. Without her, he acutely felt like an outsider.

  It didn’t help that he was dressed the way he was. He had discarded his university jacket, leaving it behind when he and Beckah made their way to this section, but he still knew that he was overdressed, especially compared to others who were here.

  “You could’ve waited until we found her,” Beckah said.

  “I could have, but I don’t know how long she’ll be gone. Her training often takes her away for long stretches of time.”

  “She leaves the city?”

  He knew she went to the swamp, but not more than that. “Maybe she doesn’t leave the city, but her training takes her throughout the city.”

  “I still think we could have waited for her.”

  Alec wasn’t sure whether Beckah was right. Sam would be upset if she learned that he had come to Caster without her, especially if she discovered that he had come to meet with Bastan without her, but he wanted to know if there was anything he could discover about his father.

  “I don’t know how much time my father has.”

  “You said he was stable.”

  “He was stable. He is stable. But I’m not sure whether he will remain stable.”

  It would have been better had Master Helen known something. When she had appeared in the ward, Alec had hoped that she might be able to provide answers, but she had not.