Sam stared at the paper. If what Marin told her was true, maybe she never would have been able to reach the Theln lands on her own. She thought she could cross the swamp—at least, she thought she could learn enough where she could eventually cross the swamp, even if she had so far not managed it—but finding a way through this forest? There might not be an easy way through without having access to the map the Kavers had developed.
“If we find your records?” Sam asked.
“If you find them, it is only a partial reference. You might need more in order for you to safely cross the forest.” Marin held her gaze. “I can see that is what concerns you the most, as it should. I’m being honest when I tell you that my records are incomplete. But, if you had the Kaver guide…”
It meant that Sam would have to somehow find it.
Bastan tapped her arm and guided her away. “Samara. I don’t think it’s wise for you to allow Marin to convince you to break into the palace and steal a Kaver guide.”
Sam cast a glance over at Marin. If she augmented her hearing, she could hear what they were saying, though why would it even matter? Marin likely knew the debate they were having even without attempting to listen in. “I don’t have to break into the palace. I have access.”
“You might have access, but you told me about how they followed you. You told me you weren’t certain that your mother was interested in you going after Tray.”
“She wasn’t interested. She actually warned me against it.”
“So, for you to gain access to this guide, you would need to break in. All I am saying is that I’m not sure that is the best idea.”
“Then what is?” Sam turned her attention back to Bastan. “If we believe her, and I think that we should, what other option do we have?”
“You could ask your mother.”
“My mother. The woman who has made it abundantly clear that we shouldn’t go after Tray.”
“The woman who is happy to have you returned to her. The woman who would have searched for you for a decade, angered about what Marin had done. The woman who—”
Sam shook her head. “The woman who has continued concealing things from me, even now that I have returned to her.”
Bastan huffed a frustrated sigh. “I can see I’m not going to change your mind.”
“Do you want to?”
“I want to ensure that nothing happens to you. I want to help you if I can, but mostly, I want to make sure you don’t do anything too stupid.”
“Thanks, Bastan.”
“Don’t thank me. Not yet.”
“And what if I can’t find the guide?” she asked him.
“If you don’t find the guide, then we have to rely on Marin. Even if you do find it, we probably have to rely on her. I’m just saying that I don’t care for that. I would rather that we not need someone like Marin, someone who is just as likely to betray us the moment we reach Theln lands as not. She has her own agenda, Samara, and you shouldn’t ever forget that.”
“I am aware that she will have her own agenda. Just as long as it coincides with mine, I think we will get along fine.”
Bastan grunted. “And if it doesn’t?”
Sam smiled slightly. “If it doesn’t, maybe we leave her in the forest.”
Bastan considered her for a moment. “Now who’s being the bastard?”
9
Making Easar Paper
Alec stood over the pot in the classroom. It stank. There was simply something awful about the combination of ingredients. If he was following the recipe correctly, mixing these ingredients together would allow him to create paper, though he struggled with how. Then again, he had enough experience with mixing various concoctions to know the outcome of mixtures often had little to do with what they looked like when mixed together.
All he wanted was to do a test run. If he could successfully create paper, he could vary the recipe to determine which combination of ingredients yielded the best quality paper.
Where was Master Helen?
He had expected her by now, thinking she would have come to work with him, wanting to know more about the overall process. This wasn’t something he intended to keep from her, not needing to conceal his methods. Rather, he would prefer to have someone assisting him, especially someone as bright as Master Helen.
How long would he be able to keep this room concealed? The odor had to be noticeable out in the hallway. Then again, the classrooms were used for purposes like this all the time. Maybe people simply didn’t notice it. Or maybe Alec was only attuned to it because he had his nose stuffed over the pot while trying to work through this process.
It was tedious. Mixing the wood pulp took a long time, and he wasn’t entirely certain he was doing it correctly. It might’ve been far easier—and better—for him to find someone in the city who actually had experience with this. Maybe then he could simplify the steps, shortening the amount of time required for him to experiment.
Better yet, he would find someone able to translate the book. If he could do that, then he wouldn’t have to worry about whether he was making paper according to the Theln manner. That, he suspected, was the most important part.
Alec looked at the book. He’d come to a realization that he hadn’t needed to recognize every word in the book. He could integrate the information he read about the process in the other two books with the things that he understood from the Theln book. At least that was what he was calling it. It may not be a Theln book, but for now, it was how he saw it.
Within the book, he had discovered a few lines of words he recognized. They were similar enough to words he used, names of woods and various leaves and even a few oils, likely of medicinal property. Nothing he found would make sense in a healing concoction, so he suspected that rather than a healing treatment—or poison, though he hadn’t ruled that out—it had to do with the process of papermaking. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed more likely than anything else, especially considering the pictures in the book.
Most of the items he had been able to readily find. The only thing he hadn’t was something called svethwuud. He suspected that was the pulp used in the papermaking process, but what tree was used? It would be something found in Theln lands, but as he had no way of knowing what would be found in Theln lands, Alec had no idea what type of tree to try first. So, he decided it was necessary to try many different trees.
Surprisingly, there was nothing about the eels required for the process.
That was unexpected. After what Master Helen had said, Alec had expected the eel venom would be incorporated at some point, but she wasn’t from Theln lands herself, so she could have been mistaken.
There came a quick knock and the door opened. Alec looked over as Master Helen stepped inside. She wore a long gray jacket, the marker of a master physicker, but in this case it had another purpose. She had begun wearing it for protection ever since they’d started experimenting with eel venom, and even now chose to where it to protect her skin from any splatter from their various concoctions.
“You sent word?”
“I did. I thought you might want to be here as we try this,” he said.
“What are you trying?”
“I’m trying to mix the paper.”
“I thought you didn’t know anything about making paper.”
“I found a few books, once of which might be Theln, and discovered something that might help us,” he said. He decided not to tell Master Helen about his mother.
“Theln? We haven’t found anything that would be Theln.”
“Maybe it’s not Theln. It’s written in a different language—”
Master Helen shook her head. “Then it could be anything. We do have ships that travel extensively, Physicker Stross.”
“Then I’m simply experimenting,” he said. “I don’t know whether it will make a difference or not, but if I can understand the process for paper, maybe we can see what the eel venom will do.”
“Where is your recipe?”
; “I have it memorized,” he said. It was better that way. He also thought it best to keep the books hidden in his room, than to have Master Helen ask questions about where he might have come into possession of such books.
“What is the recipe?”
“There are several necessary components,” Alec said. He started listing them, beginning with the first few that he had discovered, matching them with what he identified from the books he could read. When he reached the svethwuud, he hesitated. “Have you ever heard of anything called svethwuud?”
Her mouth pinched in a frown. “What is it?”
“I suspect it is the name of the tree used in this. The wood pulp is what forms the paper, but it’s not any tree that I know of.”
“Then we should just choose any tree.”
“I’m not sure any tree is the right solution. If we’re trying to match the Theln recipe, we need to use what they would use.”
“And what makes you think that this svethwuud is part of the Theln recipe? I thought you said the book was simply written in another language?”
Alec sighed. What would it hurt to tell Master Helen? His father respected her, and Alec should trust her with this, especially if it could help them. “My father told me about my mother.”
“What about your mother?”
“He told me she wasn’t from the city. He told me that she was a collector of various items. I managed to find a book I think was hers.”
“And you believe that your mother was from Theln?”
“I don’t know if she was or not, but it seems as likely as anything else.”
“I knew your mother, Physicker Stross. She could not have been from the Theln lands.”
“How do you know? Weren’t you the one to tell me that we’ve had Scribes go to Theln lands and disappear? What if she was a Scribe from their lands?”
“She would not have come back here. We’ve lost our Scribes, but they have never come the other direction.”
“Why?”
“Without risking ourselves going over there, I don’t know if I can say with any certainty.”
“What do they do to the Scribes?”
“We don’t know,” Master Helen said.
“Do they still live?” She nodded. “How can you know?”
“Because Kavers have detected them. That’s how we know.”
Alec sighed. That made sense. If he were to perform an augmentation now, Sam would notice, and she would be influenced by it. If some of the Scribes left the city and went to the Theln lands, and remained there, they might perform augmentations that would remain. If they had access to easar paper—possibly unlimited access—there would be many things they could do. The only limitation would be the access to the Kaver blood.
“I don’t know whether she was from the Theln lands or not,” Alec said. “All I know is what my father said about her. If she was, then it makes sense we might be able to use something she had to help us make easar paper.”
“And this recipe, you are certain it’s the accurate one?”
“I can’t read the language in the book, Master Helen. What I have done is correlate what I was able to determine from the book, words that did make sense to me, with what I was able to tell from the other books. Combining them together has allowed me to come up with what appears to be a workable recipe.”
He leaned toward the pot and took a deep breath of it. “Only it smells terrible.”
“From what I understand, papermaking has a horrible odor.”
“Do you have some experience with it?” If she did, then they could work together with it. Maybe Master Helen would be a better help with the entire process than he had realized.
“I don’t, but my family does.”
“Your family?”
She came up to his side of the table and leaned in, taking a deep breath of the pulpy mixture. “My family has tried many things over the years. Not all were successful.”
“I don’t really understand why anyone would try making paper. From what I understand from those who sell it, paper isn’t necessarily all that profitable, not unless you have perfected the technique over a period of years.”
“That would be quite true. If you are right, and if you manage to create easar paper, you will have done what no master physicker—and no Scribe—has done before.”
“And I’m not even sure how necessary it is,” Alec said.
“Not sure? How else can you place an augmentation on your Kaver?”
“Sam has come up with some way of augmenting herself even without needing easar paper. The only benefit I see for the easar paper would be to help others.”
“Or to harm others,” Master Helen said.
Alec looked over to her. “I don’t think that it makes sense to create another Book of Maladies. I think the one volume—that which the Thelns possess—is enough.”
“Are you certain that is the only one?”
“I don’t know anything about the Thelns and what they do with their Book of Maladies. It’s possible there are others.” All he knew was that when Ralun had come to the city, he had possessed a volume, and it had been used on Lyasanna, to poison her. Sam was convinced that she could find the Book and come up with some way to use it to reverse the effects of her amnesia. There had to be something that could be done, though in order to do so, it would involve finding the page that Marin had used to wipe Sam’s memories. Marin might reveal that, but then again, she might not.
Though, how would Marin have used it?
Alec hadn’t given it much thought, and perhaps now wasn’t the time, but Marin wasn’t a Scribe. Could Jessup have used it?
The Kavers held him at the palace and questioned him. Maybe Alec should suggest to Sam that she go question Jessup too. If there was anything that he might be able to reveal about what happened to her, Alec knew she would be thrilled to discover it. She was tired of not knowing, though he didn’t know whether it would make a difference if she discovered the truth or not.
“I still believe eel venom is necessary to create the easar paper,” Master Helen said.
“There was nothing about eel venom in the recipe,” Alec said. “Maybe it’s not the venom that grants the power to the easar paper. Maybe it’s the svethwuud.”
Master Helen leaned over the pot, stirring slowly. “Interesting.”
Each time she swirled it, the stench seemed to waft up to him even more. The solution suddenly splashed, and Master Helen released the spoon, dropping it in with another splash. She stepped away and wiped her hands on her jacket.
Master Helen patted him on the shoulder. “You are really quite clever, physicker Stross. Let me know what you come up with.”
She strode from the room, leaving Alec alone.
He tried to suppress his disappointment. He had hoped that Master Helen would stay longer and help him with this, but maybe she felt much like the junior physickers did with the dirty patients. Maybe this was something she believed was beneath her, requiring him to work on it by himself, so that when he was finished, she could swoop in and see the end result, not needing to endure those intermediary steps.
But had Alec not done this, he wouldn’t have known everything that was involved. He didn’t know whether it mattered and didn’t know whether this concoction would even create paper, but he had a feeling he was on the right path. Especially since the recipe seemed to mirror what he found in some of the books he could read.
He continued to stare. The odor burned his nostrils. It hadn’t done that before, but maybe he it had to do with the duration of exposure to the mixture.
He went to the door, needing to ventilate the room.
He opened it and took a deep breath.
His head began to swim.
Was it too much exposure to the stink of the pulp mixture? Or was there something else? Was there something about the creation of the easar paper that was harmful? He took another breath. His eyes continued to burn. His throat felt like it was closing.
Somet
hing had happened.
Easar paper. He needed to get some easar paper and try to reverse the effects. He knew everything he had put into the mixture and thought he could counter it, but the effect would be delayed.
He staggered forward, practically stumbling along the hallway until he reached the staircase. He had to drag himself up, weakness beginning to overwhelm his body.
What had happened? What had he done?
Could he reach the easar paper in his room?
He needed to be strong. He needed to get there, and then… then he could write down the necessary combination that would be required to counter what was happening to him.
Alec fell.
He tried standing, and tried dragging himself up, but he wasn’t strong enough.
No. He willed himself along. He needed to get to the easar paper.
He collapsed again. This time, he couldn’t get himself back up. He tried calling out, but his voice didn’t seem to work. His throat had closed up.
Worse, not only had he poisoned himself, but if anyone else happened upon that mixture, they would be poisoned as he was.
He had been a fool, and now others would suffer because of it.
10
A Visit
How long had it been since she had been to Marin’s home? Sam tried to think about when she had last come here and couldn’t come up with the timing. It had been months, probably longer, and much had changed for her in that time.
The home was nicer than most in the Caster section, and rose several stories high, made of stone and decorated with an ornate style not found on many of the more centrally located buildings. Caster was older than most of the city, something she suspected was important but still had not determined the reason why, and Marin had claimed one of the more impressive buildings within the section.
She tested the door and found it locked. That didn’t surprise her, and it didn’t present much of a barrier to her. One of the earliest skills she had learned from Bastan was how to break into locked doors. Once again, she was thankful for his tutelage.
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