The Dream Sifter (The Depths of Memory Book 1)

by Bundy, Candice

  Matriarch Bauleel left her formal reception chambers in such a rush that it took her two hallways and a staircase to notice Journeywoman Camille following behind her.

  She'd resolved to visit with Priestess Parthe today, regardless of the hour. Bauleel had cancelled another appointment with Parthe yesterday due to an emergency council meeting concerning an unexpected spike in the plague victim count in the city's northern district. Bauleel hoped this wouldn't put the Priestess in too sour of a mood tonight, but whether or not; there was no helping it now.

  The location of the Medicinal Vaults and Formulary led them on a long walk down to subbasement two--deep within the bowels of the Temple. She and Camille navigated through the seemingly endless corridors and stairs.

  Priestess Parthe presided over the Medicinal Vaults and Formulary in the role of Chief Pharmacist. Only the Matriarch herself outranked the importance of the Chief Pharmacist position in the Temple. Parthe presided over the creation and manufacture of all of the Temple medicinals. This made her the last line of defense against the Plague in Raven's Call.

  Bauleel approached the Formulary door and passed her hand over a metal plate on the right side. Only Temple personnel could use this entrance. It led into the bottom--and most secure--level of their three-floor high quarters. The Formulary had a second entrance via the Temple's outer wall two floors up where they dispensed medicinals to the city proper.

  The door slid open, and the pungent smell of countless herbs and plants that hung in the air rolled out, overwhelming Bauleel's senses. Several Temple apprentices scurried this way and that, carrying plants or bags of medicinals.

  An apprentice, unknown to Bauleel but identifiable due to her pale, blue-tinged robes, approached them. "If you please, Matriarch, I'll fetch Priestess Parthe for you?"

  "Thank you, Apprentice. I'd appreciate that," Bauleel replied.

  The Apprentice dashed off and was lost amongst the hubbub. Although Bauleel knew her way around this section, it saved time to have Parthe's Apprentice ferret out the Priestess instead of searching for her in this melee of yellow-robed Journeywomen and blue-garbed Apprentices. Much to Bauleel's satisfaction, no beige-robed Novitiates were present in the Formulary--per Temple policy. It was best to keep the untrained out of critical areas. Any mistakes in mixing medicinals endangered the populace.

  Priestess Parthe joined them, accompanied by her Journeywoman. Her deep red robes swept along the ground as she walked, and a crocheted burgundy and gold hairnet captured her dark hair high on her head. As they approached, Bauleel tried to think of the Journeywoman's name. Revon? Klavun? Divun, that was it. The pleasant look on Parthe's face appeared a bit forced to Bauleel, and with the luna berry problem and Bauleel's delay in meeting her, it wasn't hard to understand why.

  "Matriarch Bauleel, I'm so glad you could make the time to meet with me," Parthe said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her flinty eyes and thin lips spoke volumes to her mood.

  Bauleel held her ground. "It is my pleasure to meet with you, Priestess Parthe, as my schedule dictates. However, my apologies for keeping you waiting." A crowd of Apprentices had begun loitering around them, trying to catch snippets of conversation.

  "Let's retire to my offices, my Lady? There we can discuss business in a less hectic atmosphere."

  "Let's do that."

  Parthe and Divun bowed slightly in acknowledgement. "If you will follow me?"

  Bauleel inclined her head. Parthe led them through rows of various bins and shelves to the far wall of the Formulary. This place had always held her in an absolute awe. The responsibility for supplying the entire city of Raven's Call with anti-plague treatments, as well as other standard malady medicinals, was no small order. Without the Formulary, Raven's Call would cease to exist, for there would be no people alive to populate it.

  They approached the far wall and came to two sets of double doors. The leftmost set led to the Priestesses offices. The rightmost led to the all-important Medicinal Vaults. Besides the Matriarch herself, only select Priestess' and Journeywomen had access to open these doors. Keeping the anti-plague supply safe was of paramount importance, so much so that Bauleel required her personal review of every person with access to this chamber.

  Divun walked ahead, opened the leftmost door to Parthe's offices, and held it open for the three to walk through, bowing as they passed. Parthe's simple conference room included simply a large wooden table surrounded by eight matching chairs. Ordered stacks of paperwork lay on the far end of the table, evidence of Parthe's heavy workload.

  Divun closed the door and Parthe motioned for Bauleel and Camille to take a seat. "Please wait here a moment while I gather the reports." Parthe retreated to her office, where Bauleel watched her digging deep into her desk drawers.

  Divun shifted nervously in her chair while they waited. She asked tremulously, "Can I get you anything?"

  "No, thank you, Apprentice Divun," replied Bauleel.

  "Oh, well ... I better go see if the Priestess needs my assistance." With that, she retreated to the back office.

  Bauleel and Camille looked at each other across the table in silent agreement: a Journeywoman should behave with more decorum. Bauleel remembered seeing Divun once or twice before, and she didn't remember the girl seeming quite so nervous on those occasions. Bauleel remembered Divun had been serving with Parthe since late last year, so apparently, the Priestess was content with her performance or she would have reassigned her.

  Parthe and Divun returned and sat down at the table across from them. Parthe placed a large report down on the table in front of her and folded her hands on top of the report, as if wanting to keep the information hidden or protected.

  "Many thanks for taking the time to discuss this in person. I know you must be very busy," Parthe said.

  "I'm never too busy to look into such matters. My humblest apologies for not attending to this sooner, but I had another emergency on my hands this week." Parthe softened a bit toward Bauleel upon hearing her apology.

  Bauleel took a deep breath. "I guess I don't need to stress upon you how disturbing it is that someone would deliberately taint luna berries. This, in turn, impacts all medicinals in which the berries are used -- most importantly, they are the key ingredient of the anti-plague treatments." Concern reflected from the faces of those present. "My first and most important question: have any other Temples received contaminated luna berries, as we have?"

  "Yes, my Lady. All of the other Temples have also received some of the tainted luna berries." Camille's eyes widened a bit, and Bauleel's face flushed in surprise. The implications were not lost on anyone in the room. In one stroke, someone had threatened Az'Unda's entire supply of plague medicinal -- their only defense against the horrifying disease.

  Parthe quickly continued. "But as I'm sure you're aware, Temple policy requires that older supplies of all medicinal constituents be used before the fresh supplies. We identified and removed the contaminated luna berries from circulation. Hardly any of it has found its way to the public."

  "How did you discover the contamination?" asked Bauleel.

  "A few of the citizens reported some ... difficulties they had with one of our eczema medicinals. We tested the medicinal and all the ingredients used to produce it, and thus found the luna berry problem. Fortunately for Raven's Call, few here suffer from chronic eczema so that medicinal batch was small and few were exposed. Soon after realizing that the taint didn't show up on our normal tests, we shared our testing methods with the other Temple Formularies to aid in detection. Our plan is to continue testing each and every new shipment."

  "If the older supplies of medicinals are used first, how did the newer ones get into the hands of citizens so quickly?" Bauleel asked.

  It was Parthe's turn to blush. "A clerical error allowed some of the fresh supplies to be used in the formulation of the eczema treatment." At this revelation, Divun also grew a bit red in the face, and Bauleel now guessed why the Journeywoman had been tense. S
he may well have assumed this meeting would include punishment for her clerical errors, but Bauleel could care less about Divun's derivation from protocol.

  "No need to concern yourself with that now. The error was fortuitous, as it has helped to protect our people from further harm. Regardless, aren't all goods checked for potency on arrival?" Bauleel said.

  "Indeed they are, but only spot checks. Considering the amount of goods that can arrive, we rarely check every bag due to the time involved."

  "In that case, please evaluate work needs based on testing of every parcel delivered and submit to my office by the end of the week. I will make sure appropriate resources are made available to you." Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Camille nodding her head in agreement. She'd have headcount charts put together today on who might have the available personnel to spare.

  "Many thanks, my Lady." Parthe replied. "I must also note that the tainted berries were evenly distributed amongst all of the Temples. We found each Vault received four bags. We use one bag per batch of anti-plague treatment. Four full batches of contaminated treatment would affect most of the population for about a month's worth of doses at each city. If the other Temple's followed the normal usage patterns and had usual amounts of luna berries on hand, I'd estimate that the tainted berries would have been incorporated into formulas within a matter of two to three months from now." Parthe left unsaid the likelihood that this was not a simple mishap or random corruption.

  "I understand the implications, Priestess Parthe," Bauleel answered, trying not to sound too distressed." This was an act of genocide, hitting each of the colony's three cities at once. But by whom?

  "Have you been able to determine what the luna berries have been contaminated with?" asked Bauleel.

  "It's most curious, Matriarch. Some kind of heavy metal was ..." Parthe struggled for the right word. "... infused into the berries themselves. The metal isn't common on Az'Unda, and it's not healthy to ingest in any quantity. The amounts are so minute. There's no detectible difference to the berries themselves. It causes irreparable and irreversible nerve damage to the recipient, directly proportional to the amount one has eaten."

  "Infused? How is this possible?"

  "We don't know, my Lady. It's something we've never seen before," Parthe replied.

  Though Parthe's words troubled her, Bauleel experienced a moment of boundless pride for Parthe. She'd handled the situation brilliantly, having first discovered the contamination and a way to detect it, then alerting the other Temples' Formularies, keeping the entire crisis quiet in the process. She'd made a fine choice in selecting a Priestess of Parthe's fortitude for this role.

  "Were only those treated at our Temple for the eczema exposed to this poison?" Bauleel asked.

  "That's correct."

  "How many ill, and what effects have they suffered?" She had to know.

  "Eighteen individuals were exposed to this medicinal, all had differing levels of illness depending on the amount of tainted medicinal consumed. An older man who succumbed to the poison had the worst case, because he had ingested the highest amount of the contaminated treatment. Before we identified and retrieved the poisoned medicinals from the other seventeen, another four had ingested enough to cause death. Seven others had minor exposure, but will not experience long-term problems or effects. Six are still under observation in the hospice."

  "What is their prognosis?"

  "They will most likely survive, but with varying degrees of nervous system damage including reduced motor skills, tremor, and the loss of sensation in the extremities." Parthe held a mournful look upon her face.

  Bauleel closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine what that would mean for these unfortunate souls. Could they still pick things up with their hands? Could they still do their jobs? Even as these questions haunted her, she knew it could have been so much worse.

  I am their Matriarch, thought Bauleel. I am their mother, and their protector. I have failed them. Though it was a struggle, she managed to maintain her composure. At least since this was limited--only eighteen people--and not at all similar to plague symptoms, the city folk wouldn't panic thinking it was a plague outbreak.

  "I will visit the hospice and witness the effects myself, Priestess Parthe. Please do keep me informed on their individual progress. I am saddened to hear of their suffering, but also glad others will not have to face this fate," Bauleel replied, heart aching for her charges.

  "As am I, Matriarch."

  "If I remember correctly, Priestess Parthe, luna berries grow only in swampland..."

  "That's correct, Matriarch," interjected Divun. "There are only three sources of luna berries in all of Az'Unda. The swamps west of our city, south of Resounding Cliffs, and northwest of Kiya's Grace." Icy stares caused Divun to flush with shame. Even lowly Novitiates knew that interrupting the Matriarch was never appropriate. She shrank back in her chair.

  Bauleel took it in stride. "Thank you, Divun. Have you been able to ascertain which of these locations the tainted luna berries originated from and who shipped them?" Bauleel knew of a handful of Septs that specialized in trading goods. Each tended to cover different territories and types of products. It shouldn't be too difficult to identify the location.

  "The Kiya's Grace swamplands, as far as we can tell," replied Parthe. "All the tainted berries have appeared in shipments originating there. All deliveries occurred within the past month. All were shipped via the Durmah Sept." Parthe paused, waiting for Bauleel's response.

  Bauleel considered this new information. During the hundreds of years the Az'Un had used luna berries as an anti-plague treatment, never had there been such a contamination. She couldn't blame the Durmah for the tainted luna berries just because they'd shipped the product. Neither could she seek to blame those Septs that farmed the swamplands. She knew the Durmah were not very fond of Temple practices. They were in a position to notice things, but might not be willing to report what they saw.

  "Priestess Parthe, you have proved your value threefold, and your record will reflect commendations for your efforts." Parthe accepted the compliment gracefully. "I have the utmost confidence in your abilities and initiative, and I encourage you to continue researching as your intuition guides. With that said, I want to caution against jumping to conclusions. We don't know what the cause is. There are many farmers who harvest luna berries. It's possible some new fertilizer or ground treatment is to blame. We must first assume the cause is completely accidental.

  "Kiya's Grace is where we must begin our investigation. Camille, I need any information you can get me on the farmers in that region. Start with farms that have changed management over the past cycle or two. In addition, I want to know all of the trade routes that the Durmah have used in that region over the past few cycles. I'm specifically interested in any instance in which the Durmah have changed from one trade route to another, especially where food and plant shipments are involved." Camille furiously wrote it all down in her tablet.

  Bauleel addressed Parthe. "For now, continue accepting luna berries from Kiya's Grace." Divun appeared shocked at this, but Parthe nodded calmly. "Test every luna berry batch you receive from anywhere, twice, for contamination. Do not speak of this matter to anyone outside the Temple, for any reason. Assuming it is an intentional poisoning, whoever's doing this probably doesn't think that any of the Temples have discovered the contamination. This assumption can work to our advantage. The longer they continue shipping poisoned berries, the longer we will have to track them down. I want weekly reports from each of you on this. Complete reports, mind you. No detail is too small.

  "Camille, draft a message to all Matriarchs and their respective Chief Pharmacists, informing them of our findings. Make sure they are all 100% proficient in administering the luna berry test, and tell them, as I've told you, not to speak of this to anyone outside their respective Temples, and as few as possible within the Temples. Have it ready for transmission within the hour."

  "Beggi
ng your pardon, my Lady," Parthe broke in, "I'm afraid a number of my staff already knows about the contamination."

  "That's alright, Priestess Parthe. I'm doubtful it's someone from the Temples responsible for this. After all, they'd have to have access to all of the tainted bags, which couldn't happen with the Temples so far geographically removed from each other. I'm sure if we stifle the rumors now things will quiet down. Perhaps it is best to spread the rumor that only one bag was contaminated by some unusual swamp mold?"

  Nods served as replies all around.

  "Are there any further questions?" All were silent. Bauleel rose to leave, Camille in tow. "Then I must visit the hospice ward, where I can witness the damage firsthand."

  "Many thanks, my Lady, for your attention to this matter. We trust in your wisdom and value your guidance." Parthe and Divun bowed deeply.

  Bauleel left the room without further comment. Once in the corridors on the other side of the main Formulary floor, she headed in the direction of the hospice.

  "Camille, I'm sure you have plenty of reports to catch up on. I'll be in the hospice if you need me."

  "Yes, my Lady. I will bring you that letter within the hour, as requested." Camille bowed and left without another word.

  Bauleel's heart ached. Was someone trying to kill the entirety of the Az'Un population? Hadn't life always been precarious enough for them on this planet without some maniac working against them? Who could possibly want to make things any harder? A desperate laugh escaped her lips, accompanying the tears welling in her eyes.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Rai, Stoi and Laan shared a palpable sense of relief when the walls of Kiya's Grace materialized through the haze that permeated the low-altitude areas of Az'Unda. The Guardian had left them a few minutes before, much to Stoi's apparent delight, but with her eyes fixed on the rising walls of the city, she scarcely noticed their escort was gone.

  Rai knew this journey was likely her last and the thought troubled her. She knew she'd be working at the Waystation for as long as Jesse and Chieftess Kait wanted her there, likely the rest of her days. She surveyed the land around them, knowing that it might be the last view she would ever have of Kiya's Grace, from outside it at least.