Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  Sam change direction and headed toward the Anders section of the palace. Sam climbed the stairs, keeping her hand resting on the separated end of her staff. When she reached the level, she turned the corner, storming along the hallway, and came face-to-face with Master Helen. “Samara. It was my understanding that you were out with Elaine on an assignment.”

  “I was. We’re back.”

  “Back? Did Elaine happen to complete her objective?”

  “Objective?”

  Master Helen shrugged slightly. “From what I understand, you left the city with a particular objective?”

  “I would say that we left with that objective,” she said.

  Master Helen watched her for a long moment. Sam was left with a slightly unsettled feeling. She’d never felt that way with Master Helen before, especially as the woman had been assigned to help her work through her amnesia, but the woman watched her now with a strange sort of inquisitive gaze.

  “Where is Elaine?”

  “I don’t know. I left her when we returned to the city.”

  “You left?”

  “I did. Why does it matter? I wasn’t raised in the palace, and there are other parts of the city that are just as much home to me.”

  Master Helen studied her for another moment before grabbing her arm and pulling her away, guiding her down the hall and away from the Anders section. When they were down the stairs, Sam tried pulling free, but Master Helen had a strong grip—much stronger than she would have expected.

  “What are you doing? Why are you taking me away from here?”

  Master Helen shook her head. “Not now. Not here.”

  She guided her free of the palace and over to the bridge. Sam didn’t feel threatened—not really. She felt confident she could escape at any point if she needed to, and curiosity kept her from attempting to pry herself free.

  “Why are you taking me to the university?” Sam asked.

  “How long has it been since you saw your Scribe?”

  “A few weeks. Why?”

  “You need to speak with him. There has been a development.”

  “A development? First you asked me about an objective, and then you talk to me about a development? Why speak in such coded terms?”

  Master Helen paused at the door leading into the university. “There are some things that those within the palace aren’t aware of,” Master Helen said.

  Sam frowned. “Such as… Wait. Lyasanna didn’t know where Elaine went?”

  “Lyasanna sent others on a specific task to destroy a particular objective. Elaine had a different approach in mind.”

  That told Sam that Lyasanna assigned others with the task of killing Marin. Likely to silence her. It also meant that Elaine had defied Lyasanna’s orders and gone after Marin herself.

  Sam considered Master Helen for a long moment. “Do you know?”

  Master Helen frowned. “Know?”

  Maybe that was too much to hope for. She needed an ally, and she wasn’t sure if Master Helen was going to be that ally. But maybe Master Helen would be the one to help her get back to Alec. Maybe she would help her have a chance to be better connected to him.

  Once inside the university, Sam looked around, feeling the strangely unsettled feeling that she had each time she came here. How was it that Alec felt so comfortable here? This wasn’t a place that she could ever stay, not for long.

  “Why are you bringing me here?”

  “Because your Scribe needs you,” she said.

  “Why does Alec need me?”

  Sam followed Master Helen as they made their way through the university. She was curious now, though she wanted mostly to get back to the palace to find out what Elaine had done with Marin. Her mother clearly still believed Lyasanna, so she would have likely taken Marin right to her, or at least told the princess of her capture. But then what? Would the princess have her death sentence for Marin carried out in order to keep hidden the fact that she had ordered Tray’s death all those years ago?

  “Master Helen, I know that Alec might need me, but there are other things that need my attention.”

  “Such as you going after your brother?”

  “I haven’t gone after him, not yet. But I intend to.” More than ever, she felt she needed to go after Tray.

  “That can wait, this… This is a more pressing matter.”

  As they continued down the hall, Sam realized where they were. When they reached a set of doors, Master Helen pushed them open and they entered the hospital ward. Sam had been here once before, when Beckah had brought her here to try to identify Marin’s Scribe by his voice.

  The medicinal odor assaulted her nose. She remembered it from before, but it seemed somehow worse the time.

  “Did something happen to Alec?”

  “No. Alec is fine. It’s—”

  Sam’s breath caught. “His father,” she said, hurrying over to the cot occupied by Alec’s father.

  He looked almost as if he were asleep, but he didn’t move. Sam touched his shoulder, and tried to shake him, but there was no reaction.

  “He won’t wake up,” Master Helen said. “Whatever has been done to him prevents him from awakening.”

  “And what is it? What happened to him?”

  “We aren’t sure.”

  “Alec knows his father’s here?” Sam asked, looking up at Master Helen.

  “He knows, and he has been part of the search for answers, but there are no answers, not yet.”

  “How long has he been like this?” Could Alec have needed her, and she hadn’t been there? Everything she had been through made her wonder whether she should have come to find Alec first, long before going with Elaine in search of Marin. If Alec had needed her, and she hadn’t been there, was she now responsible for the fact that his father was like this?

  “He’s been like this for a little while. He is not the only one.”

  “How many others?”

  “There are now three.”

  “Three?” She looked around the room, but she didn’t have the same appraising eye that Alec had for determining whether people were injured. He was able to take a single look at someone and make a diagnosis, which was something that Sam often wished she shared with him. Instead, what was she good at? She could fight, and she had proven that she had the ability to do some other things, but there were times when she thought what Alec was able to do—his knowledge and skill set—were more impressive than what she was able to do with her Kaver abilities.

  “Come with me,” Master Helen said.

  She guided Sam to another cot, and she looked down, realizing that she recognized the person lying there.

  “Beckah?”

  “She was with Alec when this happened.”

  “Was he… Was he harmed?”

  “I told you, Alec is unharmed.”

  “Where is he?”

  Master Helen frowned. “He has been here fairly diligently the last few days, especially since his father came. And then when Beckah was afflicted, he remained here, unwilling to leave. I’m surprised that he is not here now.”

  “All of this is strange,” Sam said.

  “There is something else,” Master Helen said.

  “What is it?”

  “I think that it is somehow tied to a man you know quite well.”

  “What man?” Sam asked.

  “Bastan.”

  Sam stared at Master Helen. Of course it would be Bastan. “Has Alec gone to see him?”

  “I don’t follow the comings and goings of physickers, Samara.”

  “Yet you follow them enough to tell me that he has been involved with Bastan.” She looked around the room. “Is he in his room now?”

  “Perhaps, but his room will be in a different location than what you probably knew.”

  Sam followed Master Helen along the hallway until she climbed a set of stairs that led to a section of the university where she had only been a few times. Down one way, she saw the student section, where Alec o
nce had his quarters. Master Helen continued, guiding her away from there, not bothering to stop.

  The hallway widened, and there were more paintings hanging on the walls, along with a few sculptures, and sconces glowed with bright lantern light. Everything about this section was much nicer than where the students spent most of their time. She remembered the room Alec had been given when he first came to the university, the way that it seemed cramped. There was something cozy about it, and she knew Alec had never minded the size. He was never one to need much excess, though it seemed silly to her that given the enormity of the university, the students were given such small rooms. Then again, there really wasn’t a need for anything larger. With the library and other places like that for them to go, the students were rarely confined to the rooms; they had many other places that they could spend their time.

  “Promotion brings privilege,” Sam said.

  “Why should it not?” Master Helen asked.

  “Do the physickers really need much larger rooms?”

  “It’s not a matter of need so much as it is a matter of demonstrating value.”

  “Value?”

  “There is value in having full physickers. Just as there is value in promoting some of those physickers to the rank of master physicker. In time, I suspect your friend will be able to reach such a promotion, though it will take work on his part.”

  “You don’t think Alec is able or willing to do the work?”

  “It’s not his ability or willingness to work, but more his interest in remaining at the university.”

  “I think all Alec wants is to stay here and study.”

  “Does he?” Master Helen glanced over at her as they strolled through the hallway. All of the doors along the hall were closed, and they seemed to be the only ones moving about this early, though Sam was sure others were up and about. It was possible she simply hadn’t seen anyone yet. “He continues to disappear from the university from time to time, putting himself in danger.”

  “Danger? You know exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it.”

  “Just because I know what he’s doing doesn’t mean that he should be doing it.”

  “Even though he’s a”—Sam leaned toward Master Helen and lowered her voice—“Scribe?”

  Master Helen glanced at her. “Just because he has the ability to document in such a way does not mean that he has committed himself to the university. There are many who have gained that ability and have abandoned it.”

  “Why would they abandon it? Alec sees the university as his way of understanding everything that he needs to know about what he can do.”

  “Because the university is not designed to teach everything that he needs to understand that particular ability. He can learn what it means for him to treat and heal the human body, and he can learn to have an inquisitive mind—though I suspect he already has that—but he will not be able to learn what it means to be a Scribe. That is something that must come from himself, and he must determine what he wants to do with his ability.”

  Sam frowned. “Why won’t you teach him? I’ve been learning from Elaine and other Kavers so that I understand what I can do.”

  “Your ability is more of a physical one. You must have it demonstrated to fully grasp the extent of your talents. What your friend is capable of doing is quite a bit different, and that is why certain things cannot be completely taught. Some grow frustrated by this and leave.”

  “Where do they go?”

  Master Helen continued down the hallway, saying nothing.

  “Where do they go?” Sam asked again.

  Master Helen paused and looked back. “They leave for a place where they feel they might get answers. They leave our city and abandon us, placing us in greater danger.”

  Sam stared at her. Could Master Helen be saying what Sam thought she was?

  “The Thelns. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? I already know that they want Scribes, but I didn’t realize that the Scribes willingly left here and went to serve them.”

  “There are many things that we do not like to speak about. That is one of the most difficult.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, Samara, if your friend leaves here, he will find the answers he seeks.”

  Master Helen turned away from her and hurried down the hallway, leaving Sam staring after her, wondering why that sounded ominous when it was exactly what Alec would want.

  22

  Captive

  The building was run down. One of the walls seemed to be practically caving in, letting in some of the smells from the night. Alec noted the stench from the swamp most prominently, though there were other smells—those of rot and filth that he tried to ignore.

  They had brought him here, depositing him in a chair and not bothering to tie him up or bind him in any way. Did that mean they didn’t view him as a threat?

  Then again, he wasn’t a threat, not really.

  The large man stood at the doorway, blocking his only way out, unless he attempted to push through the wall. Considering the way it sagged, it was possible he might actually be successful if he attempted it, but that wasn’t something he thought he could do.

  In the faint light given off by the two lanterns hanging on either side of the door, the man didn’t appear nearly as large as he had in the darkness. Maybe that was the effect of the shadows. He had a plain face, other than a rather sharp-looking jaw. His eyes were flat, but they seemed to take in everything, sweeping around the room as if to catch someone trying to break in—or break him out.

  Alec had long ago given up on attempting to engage him in conversation.

  He had spent the time returning to this section attempting to talk to two men, but they had said nothing other than they had need of a physicker.

  He wasn’t entirely certain which section they had brought him to, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was Hosd, if only because of the proximity to the swamp. Wherever it was, the buildings of this section were quite run down, even more so than in Caster.

  How long would they hold him here without telling him what they wanted?

  He had tried to come up with what he would say, but even that probably didn’t matter. Until he knew what they wanted, there was no way for him to prepare how he would respond.

  After a while, the door opened, and a solid-looking man entered. He had gray hair that reminded him of Bastan’s and deep blue eyes that quickly scanned the room before settling on Alec. He was dressed in a jacket and pants that appeared far nicer than anything one would wear in such a run-down section. He seemed to be unarmed, though Alec had learned from Bastan that those perceptions could be easily mistaken.

  “You are the physicker,” he said in a deep baritone voice.

  “Why do you have me here? There are plenty of other physickers, and you could simply go to the university—”

  The man smiled at him. “Go to the university? I think not. Even if we could gain access, there are places that even I don’t dare go.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m the man you came looking for.”

  Alec’s eyes widened. “Ryn?”

  “Why were you looking for me?” He stayed near the door, near enough to the large man that he seemed prepared for Alec to attack. Even if Alec knew enough to fight, he was not only outnumbered, both Ryn and the other man were quite a bit larger than he was.

  “I was taking care of someone at the university, and she mentioned your name.”

  “She did, did she? That is a shame. She should know better than to invoke my name, especially outside of this section.”

  “Her vision is fading, and she wanted to get help. I don’t think she intended to tell me. It was her—”

  “Her grandfather. Yes. I am quite familiar with him.”

  “Then he can tell you that I have offered to help her. I came to this section trying to find more information about her and what happened to her.”

  “Is that right? You came here looking for i
nformation, but why did you go to Caster?”

  Alec tried to steady his breathing. Anything he said now would potentially cause trouble. How would he explain his connection to Caster?

  “I helped someone else from there. I went to check on them.”

  “Really? Is that standard practice for physickers now? I didn’t realize they cared so much that they’d leave the university to look in on those they have healed.”

  “I haven’t been at the university very long,” Alec said. “And—”

  “You haven’t, yet you are a full physicker?” From the way he asked it, it seemed as if he understood what that meant. Which meant that Alec had to be even more careful. If Ryn understood the distinctions between the physickers, he needed to ensure he didn’t say anything that might run counter to what he knew.

  A different thought troubled him. Might Ryn be the one responsible for what was happening to his father and the others? He still didn’t know how the four poisoned were connected. How would they have interacted with each other? Or with Ryn, for that matter.

  “I’m a full physicker,” Alec said. “And I care about those that I help. That’s the reason I offered to help Stacia, even though she didn’t have money to pay for her healing.”

  “Unusual. Most of the time, the physickers are most concerned about getting their money first. Why are you different?”

  “Not all healers feel that way,” Alec said. “There is a growing movement for us to take care of those without the means to pay.”

  “Indeed?”

  Alec nodded. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  “What you have been trying to tell me is that you went to Caster to check on one of your patients. What is their name?”

  “I’m not able to discuss that.”

  “No?” Ryn asked, a smile coming to his mouth. “What do you think will happen if you do?”

  “We take an oath not to share such information with people outside the university. If we did, it could cause problems, raising concern unnecessarily. Some people don’t want others to know when they’ve been ill, certainly not if they’ve been ill enough to need the help of the university.”