Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  “It says this individual was unresponsive for months,” Alec said, reading the page, “and never recovered.”

  “I didn’t say that this was going to help you, only that it seems to have similarities to what we’re dealing with now.”

  Alec flipped through the pages, searching for the presenting symptoms. With the age of this record, it was difficult to find because it wasn’t in the expected location. That meant it was even older than he had thought. Even records several decades old still had the presenting symptoms in the same place. He finally found it, though it was near the back of the record. The man referenced by the record was a butcher, which didn’t provide him with much information. By the time he had been brought to the university, he had been unresponsive for several days. Many of the same treatments that Alec tried had been attempted on the butcher.

  “We should set this one aside,” Alec said.

  They’d set aside each record that shared similarities hoping to later compare them for trends, even if there weren’t any obvious ones at first. All he wanted was to find patterns that he could piece together. Would there be enough for him to find an answer?

  The door opened more noisily than it typically did in the library, and Alec glanced over. Beckah rushed in, breathing rapidly. She leaned on the table and looked over at Alec. “I need you to come with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because your patient needs you.”

  Alec nodded to Stefan. “Keep searching.”

  Stefan waved him away, and Alec hurried after Beckah.

  “Which patient?”

  “Kara,” she said, whispering the name.

  “What happened with her?”

  “I don’t know. She started to shake. I was on rounds with Master Julia and saw it. The junior physickers are working on her, but…”

  Alec was thankful that she had come for him. “Junior physickers are working on her when there’s a master there?”

  “The master physickers don’t see this as anything that is needing their attention.”

  “Only because they don’t know how to help,” he said, not bothering to hide his frustration. “If they cared, they would attach their name to this patient.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “It matters because they don’t want to be associated with a treatment failure,” Alec said. “Most of them prefer to be right.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Alec nodded. “I’ve seen it often enough now that it is the only explanation I can come up with.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “It is what it is. Which is why I need to get down there.”

  They raced through the halls and reached the ward. Alec ran toward Kara’s cot and found two junior physickers working on her, one of them holding her down. She was convulsing.

  “What happened?” Alec said.

  Neither of them looked up. One of the physickers—a fat young man by the name of Scott—was attempting to shove a fistful of leaves into her mouth.

  Alec grabbed his wrist and jerked him back.

  Scott looked up and glared at him. “What are you doing? We need to stop the convulsing.”

  “And how do you think to do that with canor leaves?”

  “Canor leaves have many properties that will help with convulsions. You haven’t been a full physicker long enough to—”

  “I know that canor leaves, especially when crushed the way you’re doing them, have both positive and negative effects. Are you intending to stop her heart?”

  Scott frowned. “Stop her heart? Why would I—”

  “Because canor can be especially potent, usually when as fresh as what you’re using. Now, were these dried leaves, I doubt there would have been any danger to her, other than the fact that they likely wouldn’t have worked.”

  The other junior physicker, an older woman named Heather who Alec hadn’t had many positive experiences with, frowned. “What would you prefer?”

  “Prefer or what do we have available?” Alec looked at the table next to the bed. There were a few vials, and there was only one he thought could actually help. He grabbed it and opened the tincture of orphum. It would do little more than delay the trembling, but it would quiet the tremors enough that other treatments could be tried.

  He placed three drops inside her mouth. Within a few moments, the trembling began to slow before stopping altogether.

  “Now. Why don’t you go and find me decoar stone, sezer oil, and gabtan leaves?”

  “All of that?” Heather asked.

  “All of that, unless you want her to seize again,” he said.

  She hurried off, dragging Scott with her. Alec watched until they were out of earshot.

  “Why do they have to be so incompetent?”

  Beckah grinned at him. “Not everybody has the same experience that you have working with medicines. Gods, you know as much as most of the master physickers. I doubt anyone of them would say that to you, but it’s true. When it comes to treatment combinations, you might know more.”

  Alec looked down at the woman, trying to think of what he could do for her. At this point, there might not be anything. If she had begun to seize, whatever process was taking place might have advanced beyond his ability to make a difference.

  “She shouldn’t have seized like this,” Alec said.

  “We don’t know what’s happening within her,” Beckah said.

  “No, but something changed suddenly.” Even the last record that he had read through hadn’t described a seizure like this. Something had to have happened, but what? Why would she suddenly start trembling?

  Alec repeated his exam. He had studied her often enough over the last week that he would have noticed if something was changing, but she had been remarkably stable, much like his father.

  After sedating her, her heart had slowed, and her breathing was regular once more. He looked for changes to her skin, but there weren’t any. When he opened her mouth, he saw remnants of the canor leaves that Scott had been trying to shove into her mouth, but nothing else.

  “What do you think…”

  Beckah trailed off when Scott and Heather returned, both of them with the jars that Alec had requested. “Here’s what you requested, Physicker Stross.”

  Alec took them without saying anything more, and he unstoppered the tops and put some of each ingredient into a jar, combining the leaves with the oil before crushing the stone and adding that, ultimately forming a paste. The combination would taste foul, but there was nothing to do about that. He left it in the jar and took a small spoonful and stuck it on the inside of her cheek.

  “This must be done twice a day. Either I can do it, or one of you can. This combination has been proven to soothe seizures. It will give us time to learn what happened.”

  “That is an interesting combination,” Scott said.

  “Interesting in what way?” Alec said.

  “Only that I haven’t seen it used before.”

  “Have you cared for many people with tremors like this?”

  “I studied under Master Carl.”

  Alec watched him, frowning. “I’m afraid I don’t understand the connection.”

  “Only that Master Carl has experience with tremors like that. He is considered one of the foremost experts at the university.”

  Alec hadn’t known that. It seemed there were many things about Master Carl that he didn’t know.

  “And what treatments would Master Carl have attempted?”

  “I don’t know,” Scott said, “but I’ve never seen him use a decoar stone.”

  “It’s an older treatment, and it’s one that can be incredibly effective, especially when used in the right way,” Alec said. “It has a calming effect, and when added to the oil in the leaves, it augments the effect of both. Given that we are concerned with her arousal, we can’t use anything that will sedate her too much.”

  “You added the stone because you didn’t want to use quite as much of the other two.” Heath
er glanced over to Scott and nodded.

  “If we used too much of either of the other compounds, then we’d miss out on our opportunity to try to bring her around.” He wasn’t sure whether there was anything that could be done to bring her around, but sedating her more, leaving her less likely to wake up, wouldn’t bring him the answers he needed. “Now you need to keep an eye on the other unresponsive patient in case there is a similar reaction.”

  Both Heather and Scott nodded, and Alec turned away, leaving them with Kara. There wasn’t anything he could offer beyond what he already had. Beckah followed him, trailing after him into the hallway.

  “You trust that they will do what you asked?”

  “Not really. I’ll probably have to go back to ensure that they do.”

  “Why do you think she had that seizure?”

  “I don’t know. I only hope Bastan brings me information that can give us answers about what happened to her.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Then I will have to use the easar paper.”

  They walked a while longer before Beckah glanced over at him, a deep frown twisting her face. “Have you talked to Sam about it yet?”

  “I haven’t. She has been sending me notes that she is still preoccupied, so I know she’s still in the city.” And he had been sending responses telling her how irritated he would be if she left without informing him. He hoped that she was able to keep that in mind as she made her plans, but if she were to leave now, Alec wasn’t certain he would even be able to go. He needed to help his father before he could even leave the university. Hopefully, Sam understood.

  “What has her preoccupied? I thought she wanted nothing more than to go after Tray?”

  “She does, and she might.”

  “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “Would it matter if it did?”

  Alec reached the entrance to the university and frowned. It was a bright and sunny day, with the warmth of the sun radiating through the doors. He could return to the library and continue his studies, but that didn’t feel like it would get him any closer to answers.

  He needed to take something off his plate. If that meant solving the riddle of what happened with Stacia, that would be what he did first.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I think it’s time for me to make a visit to the Hosd section.”

  “Why there?”

  “Because I need to understand what happened to Stacia.”

  “You could leave that to someone else.”

  “I’ve promised to help her, and if I don’t, I worry about what someone else might require of her.”

  “The junior physickers would help her. She’s a patient in the ward. They wouldn’t leave her to be harmed.”

  “I still feel as if it’s my responsibility.” They reached the bridge leading from the university over into the neighboring sections. Alec glanced over at Beckah. “You don’t have to come with me.”

  “I might as well. What else is there for me to do?”

  “You have your studies.”

  “My studies? I think I learn almost as much by spending time with you, Physicker Stross.”

  “You’re going to be the reason the master physickers regret my promotion.”

  “No. The master physickers will regret your promotion for many reasons, but I am not one of them.” She grinned at him.

  Alec had not been to the Hosd section before, but he knew generally where to find it. As they made their way through the city, he paused a few times to ask for directions, and by the time they reached it, he had begun to have a growing trepidation. The section reminded him of Caster. There was a certain feel to it, and he had that familiar sense of unease that he felt while in Caster.

  “We don’t have to keep going,” Beckah said.

  “If we want to help her, we do.”

  He didn’t even know where to begin. There had to be a seamstress shop, but he hoped there wasn’t more than one. If he failed to find the one where she apprenticed, he could go looking for Stacia’s grandfather.

  At least it was midday, and there wasn’t the concern that they might be robbed. Alec had taken his jacket off, but that did nothing to conceal the fact that they didn’t necessarily belong in this section. They looked like outsiders, and Alec felt like an outsider.

  “We need to see if we can find a seamstress shop,” he said.

  “This section doesn’t look like it would have a seamstress shop,” Beckah said.

  “I thought there were the same sorts of shops all over the city.”

  “There aren’t. Alec, every part of the city has their own particular way of doing things. Not all sections carry the same goods. Why do you think there are sections that are so predominantly one merchant or another?”

  “I haven’t given it a lot of thought. In my section, we had pretty much everything we wanted.”

  “You had many things, but your section is more self-contained than most. Especially compared to some of these outer sections, it isn’t typical for them to have all the merchants.”

  “I still need to find where she worked.”

  “What if she wasn’t telling the truth?”

  “Why wouldn’t she tell me the truth? She wanted to be healed, and it makes no sense for her to not share everything about her, especially if it reduces the likelihood that I will be able to help.”

  “I think there are probably lots of reasons why somebody wouldn’t be honest with a physicker, especially if they were doing something they weren’t supposed to.”

  Could that be it? If Stacia was involved in something illegal, she might’ve concealed it from him. He knew that Sam would have done the same thing were she in that situation. Especially when she was working with Bastan, she most certainly would have concealed the nature of her job.

  “I need to find her grandfather, then.”

  “Do you think that will make a difference?”

  “If he were able to speak, maybe it would.”

  First, he had to find the man, and then he could see if there was something he could do about helping him speak. If he couldn’t, then perhaps Alec would have to use the easar paper, so that he could discover what he needed to help Stacia.

  “I don’t even know where to start,” he said.

  “I imagine you go to where the people are. Where do you think the people in the section would be?”

  Alec looked around, but most of the shops looked dilapidated, and few of them had signs hanging out front revealing what they sold. People made their way along the street, but they did so with a certain cautiousness to them.

  Where would he go if he were in Caster? He would go to Bastan. And Bastan operated a tavern, for the same reasons. He could get information, and it wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

  “I think we need to visit a tavern.”

  “I’m not sure that now is the right time to sit down and have a drink,” Beckah said, smiling at him.

  “I thought you would be open for a drink at any time of day.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Only that my report of you is that you tend to be a little heavy with your ale consumption.”

  Beckah shot him an irritated expression. “Your report of me?”

  “I thought I should have one ready in case you decided to report on me.”

  They reached a center street within the section, and Alec found what appeared to be a tavern, but he hesitated before entering. The building was just as rundown as many others in this section, though the door appeared stout and freshly painted. There were no windows, something that was uncommon in his section, and uncommon more centrally within the city.

  “We can go in and hurry out,” Beckah suggested.

  “All we need is to find out what we can about Stacia. I need to understand what she might’ve been doing so I can help her.”

  “You know, you could always ask her. If she knew that you’d come to her section, how would she react?”

  “
I don’t know. If she’s trying to hide something from me, she might not react well.”

  Alec stepped into the tavern. It was dirty inside, and the floor was packed earth. A few tables were scattered about the room, most with people sitting around them. Some played games while others talked, all had a mug or two of ale sitting in front of them.

  One group of men glanced over when they entered, and watched as Alec and Beckah made their way toward an open table. He knew from his time with Bastan that it was best simply to hurry into situations like this, and at least feign confidence, even if he didn’t feel it.

  They didn’t have to wait long before a waitress came by, and she leaned forward, a lopsided smile on her face. Her clothing was dirty, and the dress was far too baggy, as if she had either lost a considerable amount of weight, or it had belonged to someone else before her. Alec didn’t see any signs of skin folds that would indicate lost weight, and saw no signs of any glandular issues, so he suspected that this was nothing more than a hand-me-down.

  “Not too often that we get highborns in here,” she said.

  “I’ll take a mug of ale,” Beckah said with a smile.

  “And you?”

  Alec nodded. “I’ll take a mug, also.”

  The waitress left them, and Alec scanned the room. “Bastan’s place is quite a bit nicer,” he said.

  “I get the sense that Bastan is a little bit more than what he appears.”

  “I don’t know whether he is more than he appears, but I’m certain what we see is exactly what he wants us to think he is.”

  “You think that Bastan is a lowborn who wants people to think he’s more mysterious?”

  “I think Bastan is a skilled businessman in his chosen profession,” Alec said.

  Beckah grinned and accepted the mug from the waitress when she returned. He took his, and looked up at her, deciding that he could ask his question. “Do you know Rynance Vold?”

  “Why?”

  “I’m looking for him.”

  “Why are you looking for him?”