Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Come with me,” he said.

  Alec offered the older man his hand, but he shook him off, preferring to cling to the his granddaughter’s arm. They made their way to an empty intake booth, the same sort of place that Alec had gone with Sam. One of the junior physickers caught his eye and frowned. Was he upsetting them with his presence? He suspected they could take it one of several ways. They could either appreciate the help, or take offense to his presence, presuming he thought himself better than they. But the real reason for his presence was something much simpler. All he wanted was the opportunity to know what it was like to be on this side of healing. He had spent quite a bit of time in the wards, but there were certain things that he couldn’t see and experience within the wards, some of which required him to come to the intake and work as he once had with his father.

  Inside the intake booth, he helped the older man to sit down. He turned to the young girl. “Tell me about your vision difficulty.”

  “It started slowly,” she said, her voice taking on a note that indicated she had told her story more than a few times. “At first, it was nothing more than a little blurriness. We thought that maybe I was tired, or perhaps that I needed to visit one of the opticians. I wouldn’t be the first person in my family to need lenses, but they are so expensive…”

  Alec sat with his hands resting on his lap, listening. There was no need for notes, at least, not yet.

  “Over time, the blurriness got worse. It got to the point where I couldn’t see to perform day-to-day tasks.”

  “What sort of tasks?”

  “I am apprenticed to a seamstress.”

  That was a highly desired apprenticeship, Alec knew. And involved tasks that would require clear vision, especially when attempting to thread needles. There were certain tasks that seamstresses did that would’ve been nearly impossible with blurred vision. “How long have you been unable to maintain your apprenticeship?”

  “It’s only been a few days, physicker, but I don’t dare wait any longer. Especially knowing that if I’m not able to maintain my apprenticeship, it will pass to someone else.”

  Alec sighed and nodded. “I understand. Let’s see what we can do.”

  He grabbed a lantern off the wall and brought it close to the girl’s face. With the extra light, he examined her eyes. The pupils reacted quickly, so he knew that her eyes were working to draw in the light. He decided to attempt a different sort of test and pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket and scratched a few words on the page.

  “Are you able to read?”

  The girl nodded. “Been able to read since I was a little girl. My grandfather taught me.” She turned and gave him a gentle smile.

  “Why hasn’t he said anything,” Alec asked.

  “He can’t speak.”

  “Why? Has he always been a mute?”

  “No, something happened years ago. An illness. It took away his ability to speak.”

  “Why didn’t he come for help?”

  “We weren’t able to afford help at the time. Even coming here has taken more than we have to spare, physicker. You understand that the cost is a burden.”

  Alec sighed. “Yes, I do understand.”

  “And we have enough. Please don’t choose not to help me because of concern about my ability to pay. If you can help me, if you can preserve my vision, I will be of benefit to the city. I’m learning a valuable trade.”

  It pained Alec that there were people like this girl who struggled with their ability to pay, and who felt as if they had to justify to the physickers why they should be granted healing. “I’m not concerned,” Alec said. He tapped on the page. “Now, can you read this?”

  “I can see the outline of the letters, but… it’s blurry. I can’t make out what you wrote.”

  Alec glanced at the paper. He’d written in large letters, large enough that he would be able to see them from across the room. For her to see nothing but blurred letters meant that whatever was happening had advanced beyond some simple problem.

  “Let me try this,” he said. He moved his fingers on either side, and waited for her to turn toward them, but she didn’t. There was no reaction. “Do you see the movement?”

  “What sort of movement?”

  “Maybe this wasn’t the right sort of test,” Alec said.

  He decided to try a different approach. He moved behind her and began waving his hands at her sides, waiting for her to notice them, but it wasn’t until his hands were directly in front of her face that she seemed to see anything.

  How bad had her vision gotten?

  “And you were able to see well before this began to happen?”

  “Before this happened, my vision was normal.”

  “Have you had any fevers?” She shook her head. “Have you injured yourself in any way?” She shook her head again. “Have you been sick in any other way?”

  “No, physicker. I’ve been well up until this happened. I need to keep my position with the seamstress. If I can’t…” Her gaze drifted to her grandfather, and Alec thought he understood. There was a reason they hadn’t been able to afford healing before, but could now. It was because of her apprenticeship. Without her income, the old man would likely suffer.

  Alec leaned close to her and brought the light up even closer to her eyes. As he did, he stared into them, studying what might be there. He brought the lantern up, almost close enough to burn her, but he kept it away from her face so that it didn’t. As he stared, he noticed a sort of milkiness in her eyes.

  Alec leaned back. He had seen something similar in others, but only in the very old. That was strange.

  “Have you worked with any chemicals recently?”

  “No chemicals.”

  “How long have you been apprenticed?”

  “I’ve been at my position for the better part of a year.”

  “Has anything changed with your apprenticeship?”

  The girl shook her head.

  Alec tapped his lip, trying to think through what else it could be. “I will need to look into this more. I don’t have an answer for you at this time, but I promise that I will find an answer and get back to you.”

  “We won’t have money to make a return visit,” she said.

  And if she had to return, she ran the risk of losing her apprenticeship. There was another option, but Alec worried it wouldn’t be viewed as a serious enough injury.

  “Then you will stay here until I have an answer,” Alec said.

  “Here? In this room?” She looked around, and her gaze drifted to her grandfather.

  “Not here. The university has a healing ward, and that’s where I would have you stay.”

  “What of my grandfather?”

  “I’m afraid he won’t be able to stay, so I hope there is someone who can help take care of him.”

  The girl breathed out in a sigh. “I suppose that Nestor can stay with you, Grandfather.”

  He nodded and reached toward her, grabbing her hands and squeezing them.

  To Alec, the message was clear. He wanted her to do whatever it took to get better.

  “I will do all that I can to help her,” he said to the old man.

  The man turned toward him and smiled. When he did, Alec realized why he was unable to speak. A portion of his tongue was missing.

  What had happened to him? What kind of torment must he have been subjected to for him to miss a chunk of his tongue?

  And yet, that wasn’t why they were here. They were here for the girl, but even if they had come for her grandfather, there wasn’t anything Alec could do for him. There were limits to healing, short of his attempting to use easar paper, and he wasn’t even sure whether easar paper would make a difference when it came to someone who had lost a portion of their tongue.

  Yet… it might be valuable for him to know. What would happen if something like that happened to Sam? Would he be able to assist her in any way, or would she be left with an injury, forever maimed?

  “What is
your grandfather’s name?”

  “Why?”

  “In case I need to send word to him,” he said.

  She looked over to her grandfather before turning her attention back to Alec, almost with a suspicious glance. “His name is Rynance Vold. Most who know him call him Ryn.”

  “What section of the city are you in?”

  “We’re in the Hosd section.”

  That was an outer section, though not quite as far out as Caster, still it was one of the sections that was known as lowborn. More than ever, Alec wanted to help this girl and her grandfather. He suspected Sam would approve of him attempting to use easar paper in such a way, even if it meant they’d have less paper for their own needs. Eventually, he would need to find more paper, but so far, he didn’t know where to start. Their supply had been pilfered from the university, so he wasn’t even sure if there would be more paper available for them. Those were more questions for him to ask of Master Eckerd when he had a chance to do so.

  “If anything changes with her status, I will send word to you, Rynance,” Alec said.

  The old man nodded. He looked over at the girl and smiled. It was likely he believed that Alec would be able to help, and he was determined to try. He would find a way to restore her vision, even if it meant using easar paper on her.

  He guided them back out and led the old man to the entrance of the intake room, where he offered him a chair, before turning to address the young girl. “I will have someone send word to your section and to Nestor that he is here and waiting.”

  The girl nodded. “Thank you.”

  Alec patted the man on the arm, giving him a warm, encouraging smile, then guided the young girl toward the ward. He found an empty cot and motioned for her to lie down. While she got settled, he made notes in the blank record, placing her name, age, and a few other details about her, but omitting the name of her section. If there were any junior physickers who believed too much in the highborn versus lowborn philosophy of healing, he wasn’t about to limit her opportunity to receive treatment.

  As he was making his last notes on the record, he saw that there was a master physicker in the ward. Alec wasn’t entirely surprised to see Master Harrison here, but he was surprised to see him alone, without his usual cadre of students. He nodded toward Alec and began to make his way over to him. Alec hurriedly finished his notes, wanting to keep the girl here, and worried that Master Harrison might find some reason for her to be dismissed.

  “Physicker Stross.”

  “Master Harrison, I have admitted a young woman with an abrupt visual change—”

  “You may admit whoever you feel is appropriate,” Master Harrison said. “We require that the junior physickers get the permission of a full physicker or higher before admitting someone, but we don’t require the same for you. As you have been promoted to full physicker, you do not require anyone’s permission.”

  Master Harrison grabbed the record and quickly scanned it. As he did, he looked up at Alec. “This will be a difficult treatment.”

  “Because of the rapidity of her symptoms?”

  “Because visual symptoms are difficult to treat,” Master Harrison said. “There are few treatments that are very effective.”

  Alec noticed the girl watching, and he guided Master Harrison away, keeping her from overhearing the rest of their conversation. “That’s my fear, but I was hopeful there might be something that could be done to assist her, though I’m not entirely sure what that might be. I’ll admit that I don’t have much experience with changes in vision.”

  “I would say that few master physickers have much experience with that, either. It’s reasonable that you would like to investigate more, but I caution you that you will likely not be as successful as you would hope in restoring her eyesight.”

  Alec sighed. It was one more thing to search the library for. Not only did he have to find some way to help the people like his father and the young woman in a similar state, but now he would need to search for something to help this young girl? At least with her eyesight, he thought there might be an easy restoration if he dared use it.

  “How much was she willing to pay for this healing?” Master Harrison asked.

  “I didn’t contract for payment,” Alec said.

  “You understand the reasoning behind charging what we do,” Master Harrison said. “I was under the impression that you have had that conversation with Master Carl.”

  “We have had that conversation, but there are certain times when I think we need to have compassion.”

  “All of us have compassion, Physicker Stross.”

  Alec glanced back, thinking of the young girl and everything that she had been through, and thinking about how her family depended on her as well as depending on her apprenticeship. Without her apprenticeship, what would become of that family? Would they be forced into something less than reputable? Would they be forced to work with someone like Bastan? The girl deserved better. Her family deserved better. And if Alec had anything to do with it, he would ensure that they were able to afford something better.

  “Of course, Master Harrison. I meant no offense, it’s just that I recognize there are times when some who aren’t able to pay might present conditions that could be of interest to the physickers and teaching the students. Thus admitting them to our care shows our compassion and interest in their care while also providing us with valuable documentation for future cases. In this case, I don’t have much experience treating visual problems, and I thought that having a case to learn from would be of benefit to me so that I can see what impact I might have on restoring her vision.”

  “Ah. Yes, well there are times when physickers must make exceptions so they can continue to learn and become the best physickers they are able to be.” Master Harrison looked around the room. “I have not yet congratulated you on your promotion. I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. You have done well from the moment you arrived, so there are few of us who have spent any time working with you who expected anything less. Perhaps we didn’t expect it quite so quickly, but we are all pleased that you have joined our ranks.”

  Alec wasn’t certain that all of the physickers were so pleased, but it was nice of Master Harrison to make that claim.

  He went back to the cot and smiled at the young girl. “I will keep you here. You will be provided with food and water, but your time will be incredibly boring. I will see what I can find about what happened to you, and I will restore your eyesight as quickly as I can.”

  “Thank you, physicker,” she said.

  “Don’t thank me until I’ve succeeded,” he said.

  9

  Failure

  Failure was frustrating Alec. He continued to struggle with how to help his father and the other injured woman, but so far hadn’t come up with any ideas. There had to be some answer, something that would explain what happened to them, but so far, he’d found nothing.

  He pushed the books away from him and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The library was dark at this time of day, other than the light from his lantern. The librarians had long ago left, and he seemed to be the only one remaining. He had become accustomed to that role. Over the last few days, he’d spent as much time as he could studying in the library, searching for answers that he had not yet found. Alec was convinced that they would come—eventually. For his father’s sake, he needed to find those answers.

  The door to the library opened, and Alec glanced up before returning his attention to the next book. He was focusing on those that detailed changes in level of alertness. All of these were previous records of illness, and he had stacks of them to work through. He was searching for patterns, anything that would help him find a way to help both his father and the other woman, and so far, he had found some similarities in past cases, but none of the cases spoke of conditions where the person simply seemed in a permanent state of sleep.

  “Alec?”

  He looked up to see the tall, slender form of Stefan. “You don’t have to
be afraid to join me, Stefan.”

  His friend sighed. “It’s been difficult.”

  “I can see that,” Alec said. “It doesn’t need to be, but I can see that it is.”

  “I haven’t known what to make of the fact that you are a full physicker.”

  “To be honest, I haven’t known what to make of it, either.”

  Stefan chuckled. “I’ve been waiting for you in your room, but you haven’t returned.”

  His quarters were quite a bit nicer now than what they had been when he was a student. They were nicer than the junior physickers had, and those were quite a bit nicer than the students’ quarters. They didn’t feel quite right, not feeling quite like they were his, but he did his best to make them his own. At least now, he had a way of locking his door and was able to prevent those who might think to break in from gaining access to his room. That hadn’t really been an issue before, other than with Beckah. And Alec wasn’t sure he could stop Beckah entirely this way. It was possible she would find some way in, regardless.

  “I’m determined to figure out some way to help my father,” he said.

  “If anyone can find it, it will be you,” Stefan said.

  “I tried talking to your grandmother about him,” Alec said.

  “You did? What did she say?”

  “She hadn’t seen an illness like this before. She wasn’t able to help.”

  “Oh. She’s seen everything,” Stefan said.

  That was what Alec feared. If Master Helen hadn’t seen it, and if she had no way of helping, there might not be anyone who could help. She was the most capable master that Alec knew. Between her and Master Eckerd, there was a significant amount of knowledge. He hadn’t approached Master Eckerd, but if Master Helen didn’t know, Alec didn’t have great hope that Master Eckerd would. Besides, Master Eckerd continued to work with the students, and he would have been aware that Aelus was lying sick in the university.

  “So, I’m now searching through centuries of records, all of them with some similarity.”