Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  Maybe it was more about protecting himself. Because of what Sam was, and the connections she now had, they put Bastan in a more difficult situation. Alec could imagine that Bastan was more concerned about protecting himself that way than anything else.

  They stopped in front of the doors to the ward, and Alec glanced over at Bastan. “If we’re stopped, I’m going to claim you’re her husband.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Would you rather be her brother?”

  Bastan chuckled. “No, I think husband is a more effective answer.”

  “It’s not always about what’s most effective, it’s about what will attract the fewest questions. I don’t want you to draw the wrong kind of attention here.”

  “Trust me, Alec, I don’t want that, either.”

  Alec pushed the doors open, and they hurried into the room. As expected given the hour, he found no staff. There would be a junior physicker available, and that person would periodically come through, but wouldn’t be here all the time. He wondered if they ever came at all. They were supposed to be the night watch, there in the event of an emergency should one arise. But did they shirk their responsibilities during these late hours, since it was likely they’d not be caught? Something else that he might look into once he became a master.

  “I never thought I would see this place,” Bastan said.

  “If you’re sick enough, anyone can come here for healing.”

  Bastan glanced over at him. “It’s not a matter of sickness, Alec. You know that.”

  “It’s not always about money, either. The master physickers have committed to attempting to heal anyone, regardless of whether they can pay.”

  “It doesn’t sound like the physickers that I know.”

  “Well, they haven’t committed to heal everyone. It’s just that they have agreed that they wouldn’t use ability to pay as the only criteria.”

  Bastan chuckled. “It doesn’t sound as if anything has changed at all.”

  Alec looked around. The ward had been emptier than usual lately, and that in spite of the fact that there was such a line to gain access to physickers. Nothing really had changed, had it?

  “It’s something I will keep working on,” Alec said.

  He guided Bastan to the cot holding the woman. Bastan looked at her, and his eyes widened slightly. “This is her?”

  “This is the woman I was talking about,” Alec said. “Why?”

  “Because I know her.”

  Alec’s breath caught. “You know her? I need to know everything you can tell me about her. She was brought here without any additional information.”

  “There won’t be any.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there’s no one who knows anything more about her.”

  “Why? What happened to her family?”

  “There is no family.”

  Alec looked over at Bastan, watching him for a long moment. “What do you know about her?”

  “Only that she is skilled in ways that remind me of Samara.” Bastan frowned, and he scanned the inside of the ward. “Where’s your father?”

  Alec guided him away from the young woman and over to his father. His coloring had not changed at all. He seemed no different from before, but could his breathing be a little more labored than before? Alec hoped that wasn’t the case, but it was possible that his father’s breathing had changed, becoming more ragged.

  “Do you know how long he’s been like this?”

  “It’s been the better part of a week,” Alec said.

  “And what about Kara?”

  “I presume the young woman is Kara?”

  “She is.”

  “She arrived a few days before my father.”

  “How long do they have?”

  “I don’t know. We can continue feeding them, but I don’t know if there’s anything else taking place.”

  Bastan looked up at him, and he had a question in his eyes. “What more do you think might be taking place?”

  “I don’t know. It’s possible that something is happening internally that we don’t know about.”

  “What of your other abilities?”

  Alec licked his lips. “I’ve been advised to refrain from attempting to use them. If I do, and I don’t know enough about what else might be taking place, I run the risk of harming them.”

  “That’s awfully convenient,” Bastan said.

  “How is it convenient? If there was anything I could do, I would try to do it.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt that you would try, only that it’s convenient that there is nothing that can be safely done.” He looked around the room. “I presume there are others with your similar ability here.”

  “There are. It was one of them who warned me against attempting anything.”

  Bastan frowned. “Could they have another reason to stop you? Might they have a desire to see certain people silenced?”

  “Why? There doesn’t seem to be any connection between them. I mean, think about what happened with Kevin.”

  “Kevin was investigating your father. I don’t know what he might have come across.”

  “And what about Kara?”

  “That will be up to you to learn.”

  “If you want me to help Kevin, I need to have as much information as I can. That might involve you helping me with this.”

  Bastan looked over with a smile on his face. “Is that right?”

  Alec shifted his feet and resisted the urge to look away from Bastan. He knew better than to show weakness to this man. Any sign of weakness would be dangerous, especially with Bastan.

  “I am new to my position. I can’t be disappearing for long stretches of time and maintain that same connection. I’m going to need help from people outside of the university.”

  “And you think to employ me in such a fashion?” Now, there was obvious amusement in his voice, and his eyes practically sparkled with it.

  “I don’t intend to employ you at all,” Alec said. There was a promise in the idea that he would employ Bastan, and he had no interest in subjecting himself to something like that. Already by asking this of Bastan, he placed himself in the other man’s debt. Knowing Bastan, there would be a price to pay. “I’m only asking you to help.”

  “What of Samara?”

  “Sam can help, but…”

  “She intends to go after Tray.”

  “Eventually. I think she will hold off for now, but there will come a time when she will go after him, so I need to be ready and able to react when she does.”

  Bastan studied him for a long moment before nodding. “For Kevin, I will look into this. I don’t make any promises about what I will discover, and I may require more from you depending on what I find.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “Just as long as we’re on the same page,” Bastan said.

  Alec looked around. There was sound near the back of the room, and he motioned to Bastan. It was time for them to go. When they reached the door, Alec glanced back. He thought he saw Master Carl but couldn’t be certain. If it was Master Carl, there would be other questions, and he had no interest in trying to answer them. The other man didn’t care for Alec, and though he had allowed him to be promoted to full physicker, it didn’t change the fact that they weren’t on the best of terms.

  When he escorted Bastan back outside and returned to the ward to check on his father again, he saw that he had been right. It was Master Carl.

  “Physicker Stross,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back and thrusting out his enormous belly. His hair had been slicked back, and his cheeks were ruddy even in the faint light of the lanterns. “It’s awfully late for you to be visiting the ward.”

  Alec looked around. “It is, but with my father here, I thought I would check on him.”

  “Do you believe that the junior physickers are incapable of alerting you if there’s a problem with him?”

  “It’s not that they are incapable,” Alec said.
“It’s more a matter of me wanting to know the moment something changes.”

  Master Carl watched him briefly before his gaze flickered to the door. He had seen Alec, which meant that he might have seen Bastan, which meant that there would be questions.

  “You must be careful not to extend yourself too much. The temptation for many full physickers is to overextend themselves, and you wouldn’t be the first physicker to find yourself struggling with your role.”

  “Thank you, Master Carl. I will take your advice to heart.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Master Carl glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on Aelus and then drifting to the young woman, before he turned his attention back to Alec. He pressed his lips together in a tight frown, and Alec thought that he might say something more, but he didn’t. Rather he strode off, keeping his hands clasped behind him. When he was gone, Alec breathed out. There wasn’t anything for him to do, and antagonizing Master Carl wouldn’t help. Besides, there was something that Bastan had said that left him troubled.

  Could there be a connection between these illnesses? And if there was, what did it mean for his father? What did it mean for Kara? And would others come to the university with the similar symptoms?

  11

  First Assignment

  The canal staff jutted out of the water, and Sam perched on top of it, trying to remain motionless. It was difficult to hold the posture, but if she didn’t, she would do more than simply fall into the water, she would fail at this task. She was determined not to fail.

  Water swirled around her. Every so often, she could swear she felt pressure on the canal staff and tried to tell herself that it was only imagined. There was no way the eels were harassing her, chomping at her staff.

  She had lost track of how long she had been here, though it had been morning when she started, and it had to be noon at this point. The sun was well up in the sky, and her stomach rumbling told her that it had been long enough. When would Elaine come for her?

  She was tired of all the stupid training. Did she think that forcing Sam through training like this would prevent her from going after Tray? Once she had made her preparations, she fully intended to go after him.

  It wasn’t as if she didn’t know where he was heading. Theln territory. Sam needed to learn more about it before making her way and possibly risking herself.

  “How are you feeling?”

  She opened her eyes and saw Elaine standing on the shore. From here, situated this far into the swamp, she was small. “I feel fine. But I’m hungry. It’s time to eat.”

  “You need to learn to suppress those urges.”

  “Suppress the urge to eat? After sitting here on this Kyza-forsaken staff, I don’t know that I can suppress anything.”

  “Then you will never be able to cross the swamp.”

  Sam jumped, flipping toward the shore, balancing on her staff as she went. The balancing gave her increased control over the flipping, so that each movement was easier. It was much easier than when she first learned to use the staff in this way.

  “I don’t understand why I have to cross the swamp using the staff,” she said as she landed on shore. “The stupid barges do well enough.”

  “Those stupid barges aren’t always available. And often, you can’t find a captain willing to pole you all the way across the swamp. You need to find your own way, and it’s likely that once you cross, you’re going to need help returning.”

  Sam suppressed her irritation. It was just Elaine trying to prevent her from chasing after Tray. Why would she refuse to let her go after him? The princess would want her to chase Tray, especially now that Sam knew that he was the princess’s son.

  “I can’t cross the swamp on my staff. Not if my Scribe is coming with me.”

  “Your Scribe cannot go with you,” Elaine said.

  “Why not? If I go without him—”

  “Trust me that your Scribe can’t go. If the Thelns manage to capture him, they will have more power than they already do.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that the Thelns would love to grab a Scribe, especially one who is connected to one of their own.”

  “Tray is not one of their own.”

  “He’s close enough for them. Most of them would view him as one of their own, which is why you need to view him the same way.”

  Sam couldn’t view Tray as a Theln. That wasn’t who he was to her.

  But should it be?

  “Your Scribe needs to stay at the university for his protection as much as anything,” Elaine went on. “Why else do you think Marin’s Scribe remained at the university?”

  Sam hadn’t given that much thought. Alec believed he had stayed behind mostly to uncover secrets that might be found, but she wasn’t sure. Maybe there was a different reason. Maybe it was as Elaine said, that the Scribes put themselves in danger when they left the university.

  “You’re just saying that so I don’t bring Alec with me when I go after Tray.”

  “I am. Because I know what could happen if you take him along. If you go, and if they capture him, he will be used against you. He will be used against us.”

  “Alec wouldn’t do that.”

  “Others have said the same. And others have failed to resist the temptation.”

  “Temptation?”

  “There is a certain appeal the Thelns have that allows them to use a Scribe against you.”

  Sam couldn’t imagine Alec working against her. They were more than Scribe and Kaver. They were friends, and if the shared connection meant anything, it was possible they would be more than friends. With all of the training they had been going through, Sam hadn’t had time to think about it, and she suspected Alec hadn’t, either, especially as his training was equally rigorous, if only in a different way.

  Then again, maybe there would never be a good time.

  “Then I have to go after Tray myself,” Sam said.

  “You’re not ready.”

  “What happens to my brother then?”

  Elaine watched her for a long moment before speaking. “I’m not sure what will happen with Tray. All I know is that if he’s gone to the Thelns, he won’t be the same person you have known. It’s possible that he’s not even Tray anymore.”

  “He’s still Tray.”

  “But is he still your brother?”

  Sam sighed and looked out over the swamp. She was tired of trying to understand everything that had happened with her brother, and tired of wondering whether he was the same person she had known growing up. To her, he would always be her brother, regardless of what connection actually existed between them. How could he not be?

  “He’s still my brother,” Sam said softly.

  “I hope so. For all of our sakes, I hope that he is.”

  “Did you come here just to harass me about Tray?”

  “No. I came because I need your help. I think you might be the best person to assist me with my next task.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Finding Marin. There was a sighting.”

  “A sighting?” Sam laughed softly. “I thought you said she left the city.”

  “As far as we knew, she had. Now, we’re getting word that maybe she hasn’t, and maybe she’s here. If that’s the case, we need to discover why.”

  “There’s got to be something she wants.”

  “Or there’s a reason she can’t go,” Elaine said.

  “What reason would that be?”

  “There are probably many reasons, but most likely it’s because she realized the danger her Scribe would be in if he went with her.”

  “She would’ve known that already, wouldn’t she?”

  “She would have, but knowing Marin, I imagine she thought she would be able to keep them safe from capture. If she chose to remain in the city, it was probably because she was threatened somehow.”

  “Are you saying the Thelns have remained in the city?”

  “No. I do
ubt they would have stayed.”

  Sam looked around the swamp. The air had a foulness to it, and it was humid, unpleasantly so. Sweat soaked through her clothing, leaving her saturated. “Where are we going?”

  “Out of the city.”

  Sam turned her attention northward, and beyond the borders of the swamp.

  “Not that way,” Elaine said.

  “You’re only doing this to keep me from going after Tray.”

  “No. You’re a Kaver, and I am asking you as a Kaver to assist in this task. Are you telling me that you have no interest in helping?”

  “You know that I am willing to help.”

  “Then why are you arguing with me?”

  “Will Alec be allowed to come?”

  “This is not a task for your Scribe.”

  “I thought you were only concerned about the Thelns.”

  “It’s not that I fear for his safety, not where we’re heading, it’s just that there are places he may not be able to reach.”

  “Great,” Sam said.

  “And what does that mean?”

  “It means that you intend for me to use the stinking staff to hop across some stupid distance, don’t you?”

  “You’re a Kaver, Samara. What else would I ask of you?”

  12

  Out into the Steam

  The southern edge of the city loomed before them. Sam had rarely been to this side of the city. Most of the southern edge was a shallow rock shelf that let out into the sea, making it difficult without having a barge or some other transport. To the west were the steam fields, a wide expanse of emptiness that ran along the entire western side of the city. It wasn’t quite like the swamp, but the land was nearly impassable, nothing more than jagged rock that stretched farther and farther before eventually leading to the mountainous volcanic peak in the far distance.

  The landscape was inhospitable, covered by fields of steam, and anyone who had tried to navigate through them usually failed. Caster was close to the steam fields, and she had seen people attempt to cross often enough. Whether it was from the heat or the occasional steam bed, crossing beyond the western border of the city was a death sentence.