“I left because of your mother.”
“Mother wanted you to leave?”
“No, your mother was perfectly content to stay at the university.” His father met his gaze, and tears welled in his eyes. “It’s not easy to talk about, even after all of this time. I… I wish it were.”
“What happened?”
“You happened.”
“Me? What you mean?”
His father sighed. “What I mean is, when she was pregnant with you, you were a difficult pregnancy. There was a disagreement among the master physickers at the time about how best to proceed with the delivery. I pushed, thinking that I knew better than several other master physickers, and eventually, they acquiesced. Because of that, I lost your mother.”
He looked down, staring at his hands. “What did you do? Did you try to have her deliver me naturally?”
He shook his head slowly. “I tried to force surgery,” his father said. He looked up, and tears fell down his cheeks. His father wiped them away and swallowed. “I thought the only way to save both of you was to put her through surgery. It was dangerous, and I knew it, but I thought I knew better than several others who had much more experience with surgery than I did. We had you, but they couldn’t stop her bleeding.” His voice trailed off at the end, becoming little more than a whisper. “After that, I left. It was shame that pulled me away. My shame. My arrogance. I settled out here, thinking I would attempt to repay that debt, that I would use my knowledge to help others, that I could find some way of making amends.”
Alec didn’t know what to say. The fact that his father was a master physicker had been surprising enough, but learning that he had left the university because of a decision he’d made that had gone awry was even more surprising. That didn’t fit with what he knew of his father. He was a proud man and incredibly intelligent, but he had never been the kind of person to run away from a mistake.
“You can go back,” Alec said.
“Oh, I suppose that I could. Once you’ve been promoted to master physicker, the rank can never be stripped from you. But I don’t know if I could ever practice in that environment again. Besides, there is value to my work out here. And I have a different responsibility, one that isn’t entirely linked to healing.” His gaze drifted back to the cabinet where he’d returned the eel venom. “That is another part of my penance. Beyond my service to these outer sections, I thought if I could help protect many, it would somehow makeup for the one that I couldn’t protect.”
They sat in silence for a long time. Thoughts raced through Alec’s head. What would his life have been like had his father made a different decision? What if his father had allowed the other master physickers to make the decision about the delivery rather than his father? What would it have been like to grow up with his mother? To have had her in his life through everything he’d experienced?
All he’d ever known was life with his father. It was comforting, but there was a void.
“Is that why you came?” his father asked.
“I came for answers. I guess… I guess I have them now.”
“Are they what you wanted?”
“They are what they are. I wish they were different,” Alec said. “But I… I appreciate that you told me.”
“You deserve to know. It has been long enough.”
“What other secrets are you keeping from me?”
“Nothing else. There would be nothing else to keep from you.”
“Even your role as an assassin?”
His father looked up, and his gaze became harder. “I am not an assassin.”
“If you’re using your knowledge of medicines to harm others, that is what you have become.”
“And what of you? You have used your knowledge of healing to aid your friend as she attacks. Does that make you any different?”
Alec sighed. It didn’t. And he knew that it didn’t. Somehow, it felt different, if only because he wasn’t the one doing the direct attack. Even though it was Sam, did that absolve him? If he was using his knowledge to help augment her so that she could harm someone else, wasn’t he still complicit?
“The person who destroyed your shop is back in the city,” Alec said.
His father’s gaze drifted to the back wall. “So I have heard.”
“And that’s why you’ve collected the eel venom?”
“There has been a request.”
“Who makes such a request?”
His father fixed him with a hard expression. “That, unfortunately, I am not privileged to share with you.”
“Because you want to keep me uninvolved?”
“Because I have committed to secrecy.”
Maybe there was another way his father could help. If he was a master physicker, and he knew enough about the Scribes, maybe he could provide answers that Master Eckerd could not in his absence. “Sam was attacked. She claims that a Scribe—someone who was likely a master physicker—is the one who attacked her.”
His father frowned. “There has been some suspicion that the university was compromised.”
“Suspicion?”
“Nothing more than that. Only a suspicion. It could be nothing more than a misdirection. The Thelns would like nothing more than to create a diversion, to try to find a way to cast suspicion on everyone.”
“The way you said it suggests to me that you believe those suspicions.”
“I do.”
“Sam didn’t get to see him. She thinks she would recognize his voice.”
“And you would like to find a way to get all of the master physickers together so that she could identify him?”
“It seemed a reasonable idea, and just the fact that you came up with it just now tells me it’s not too far-fetched, but Master Helen tells me the only time that all of the master physickers come together is at the promotion of another.”
“That would be one time when all of the master physickers come together.”
“One time?”
His father shrugged. “There would be another time, but it has been rare enough that it has hardly ever happened.”
“What is it?”
“A student may request testing for promotion to physicker.”
“Students can request testing?” Alec hadn’t heard of that. As far as he knew, promotion required that students pass through a series of classes and experience with patients on the ward. Considering his experience with Master Carl, Alec didn’t like his chances of promotion anytime soon.
“As I said, it’s not common, but it has happened. When a student makes a request, the master physickers all gather for the testing. That’s why it rarely happens. Few students are confident enough in their abilities to force the testing. Fewer still are skilled enough to be promoted in such a way.”
The bell above the door jingled again, and his father stood and made his way to the front. He said something quietly to whoever entered, and then returned. “Alec, I’m afraid that this will take me a bit longer. You are welcome to remain, but my visitor requests privacy.”
Alec looked toward the front of the shop, but saw no one. It was unusual. His father usually was willing to include him in all treatments. Maybe this person was the one who was involved in the use of the eel venom.
“No. I’ll be going,” Alec said.
His father studied him for a moment, but said nothing. He clasped Alec on the arm as he passed, and when Alec reached the rear door, he glanced back, looking to see if there was any sign of the other person in the room, but wherever they were, they had elected to remain hidden. Out of sight.
When he stepped out, he took a deep breath. He now knew another he could gain access to the master physickers, but doing so would be risky. And he didn’t know anything about what would happen if he failed. Would they expel him from the university? Or would he simply return to his position?
For Sam, he would risk that. Didn’t he have to?
24
Bastan’s Test
Water lapped along the canal.
It was a moonless light, and few lanterns were lit, their reflection off the water not offering nearly as much light as Sam was accustomed to. She crept silently along the street, padding as softly as she could over the stones. She kept her canal staff gripped in hand, her other hand slipped into the pocket of her cloak, fingering the vial of her and Alec’s blood. She had a scrap of easar paper, hopefully enough for her to add an augmentation were she to need it. She didn’t want to need it, not if she could help it, but she feared that she might.
Bastan guided her, moving with more confidence than what she felt. He was dressed in all black and carried a sword as well as a crossbow, walking with a swagger that would scare anyone else away. Sam smiled to herself as she watched him. If nothing else, having an opportunity to observe Bastan was as valuable an exercise as any other. She knew so little about how he operated. All she knew was that he had some skill. But even with a sword and a crossbow, it mattered little against Ralun. And the three armed men with him would probably be of little help, either.
Sam glanced at those men. She recognized one of them. Colin was a solid man. He had a sharp chin and deep-set eyes, and she knew he was somewhat skilled. She’d seen him tossing people from Bastan’s tavern often enough to know that he was strong, but against the Thelns, strength often wasn’t enough. The Thelns were naturally strong, and they were fast, but they had some magical ability, as well. That was something that Colin was unlikely to counter.
The other two were more of a mystery to her. They were of average height and build, and they had cloaks that were somewhat like hers, with the same shimmery fabric that seemed to deflect the light, wrapping shadows around them. For that matter, Bastan was dressed in similar fabric. Neither man appeared armed, though she hadn’t examined them thoroughly. There was something almost unremarkable about both of them.
Sam wasn’t familiar with the sections of the city they were going through. They had used the bridges as they crossed, Bastan having some way of getting them past without raising question. And most of the bridges had been unguarded, something that was unusual at this time of night. She suspected he had connections that he’d used, and that the guards who normally would be here had been turned away. She couldn’t deny how impressed she was that they moved so easily from section to section.
Normally, Sam would be forced to jump the canals. It wasn’t something she minded, especially now that she knew how to flip across the canals, but regardless how they crossed, their presence would still raise questions. If Bastan was connected to the guards, they would be less likely to raise those questions.
Sam tried not to think about what would happen if Elaine caught her out here. How angry would her mother be if she discovered Sam working with Bastan, trying to find out information about Ralun, something she had expressly told her not to do?
Did Sam even care?
If it meant that she would be able to help Tray, she didn’t.
They passed a series of empty shops. None of them were remarkable in any way. One looked to be a seamstress from the sign hanging outside the window, but the others were less obvious. Farther down the street, homes rose on either side. The air was still, and it held the typical stench of the canal, but nothing else. Sam expected something of filth, especially in an outer section like this, but there was none. This place was likely lowborn, but it didn’t feel lowborn.
“How much farther?” she whispered.
“Quiet,” Bastan said.
Sam leaned toward him and tried to catch his eye, but Bastan made a point of keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead of him. Sam had tried to figure out where they were heading, but had not been able to discover anything. They headed in a generally northerly direction, crossing nearly a dozen sections on their way. Eventually, they would reach the edge of the city—and the swamp.
As they trailed along the canals, Sam could make out the distant sight of the edge of the city. It had come upon them much faster than she expected. They reached the swamp, and paused along the shore, staring out into the darkness. The canal that circled around the outer edge, that formed the farthest barrier here dumped into the swamp.
Humid winds gusted out from deep within the swamp. They carried the now-familiar odor, that hot, bitter scent that reminded her of her escape just days ago, and the torment of the eel as it chased her.
Sam shivered.
Bastan looked over at her. “I would never have pegged you as someone afraid of the swamp.”
“I thought you wanted me to be quiet.”
“Now that we’re here, we have less need of complete silence,” Bastan said.
“Why the swamp?”
“Because this is where there was rumor of activity,” Bastan said. “It’s not passable—at least not easily passable. Only a barge can cross through here.”
“Not only a barge,” Sam said.
Bastan frowned. “There’s only one way to get through the swamp, Samara.”
“Trust me when I tell you there is another.”
“Trust you? You haven’t necessarily given me reason to trust you.”
Sam shook her head. “Fine.”
She screwed the two halves of her canal staff together and flipped out over the canal, ignoring one of the men’s shout for her to stop. When she landed, she balanced on the end of the canal staff. She hesitated and then launched herself up, pulling the staff free and flipping it back out, heading across the canal. She made a small circle before returning to the shore and landing next to Bastan.
She tapped the water free of her staff and fixed him with a hard gaze.
“Training?”
Sam nodded. “Training.”
“Well. That was… unexpected. How many are able to travel quite like that?”
“More than you would expect,” Sam said.
Bastan frowned, staring out into the water. “That answers a few questions for me.”
“What kinds of questions?”
“The kind that would be answered by someone able to perform some acrobatic maneuvers as they jump across the canal.” He looked over at her. “How far out into the swamp can you go?”
“I haven’t tried to see how far I can go, but I’ve heard from someone who claims they can cross the entire swamp.”
His eyes widened slightly. “The entire swamp? The thing stretches for leagues, Sam.”
Sam shrugged. “I’m not saying that I can, only that I know of someone who claims that they can.”
“And who is this someone?”
She smiled at him. Should she tell him that it was Elaine? He already knew that she was a Kaver, and it wasn’t that she didn’t trust Bastan. Well, it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him completely. She trusted him, but he had his own motivation, and as long as she was aware of that, she was able to work within his expectations. She had no interest in revealing more than was necessary. With Bastan, any knowledge was power, and she needed to ensure that she didn’t give up too much power to him.
“What activity did you hear about in the swamp?”
“Only that there have been smugglers moving through here.”
“Smugglers? That’s what you’ve heard about?” She laughed, but the sound faded as it drifted into the swamp.
“I fail to see your humor.”
“Only that I find it interesting that you’re offended by the idea of smugglers moving through here.”
“You understand what impact smugglers might have on my business?”
“I understand that you would like to be in control of every person who moves in and out of the city. I also understand that it’s an enormous city, and your influence goes only so far.”
“Does it?”
She frowned. “How far does your influence reach?”
“Far enough that having smugglers in my city runs the risk of impacting me and my business.”
“That’s all this is about?”
“Not all. It’s the fact that they are moving through the swamp that intrigues me the most,” Bastan said.
“Most things move in and out of the bay, so having something coming off the swamp is unusual. It attracted my attention, which means that it raises questions. If someone’s willing to risk coming across the swamp, and risk the highborns identifying them, I would like to know why. I would like to know what they think to find risking this.”
Sam could think of many things that would prompt someone to risk coming across the swamp. But it was something Elaine had said that made her most suspicious. If the Thelns were found on the other side of the swamp, this might be where they were coming through.
But Sam wasn’t entirely certain that was what would be found on the other side. She didn’t know enough about where the Thelns came from or how they even reached these lands. What if there was another way that they came? What if there was some other access?
And how would the Thelns have suddenly been able to cross the swamp?
“What kind of smugglers have you been hearing about?”
“As I’ve said, the kind that influence my business,” Bastan said. “It’s enough of an impact that I need to involve myself.”
She could tell from the way he said it that he wasn’t accustomed to involving himself in this way.
“You know what they’re moving?”
“No. And that frustrates me even more,” he said.
“Why all the muscle?” Sam asked, looking at the other three with them. They had stood off to the side, giving her and Bastan space as they talked. There was something almost coordinated about the way they stood away, almost as if Bastan had warned them about getting too close to him. But why?
“The muscle, as you say, is because I intend to move on the source of the rumors.”
“You know of this place?”
“There is one place that seems to be the epicenter of most of the activity.”
“And where is it?”
“In another section nearby. I wanted to make sure that you were ready before we moved on.”
Sam frowned at him. It was more than him wanting to make sure she was ready. He had convinced her to come, and he wouldn’t have shared with her any of this had she not come with him, but a part of her felt as if he had manipulated her into coming. Why would he have done that? What would it benefit him?
Tormina: The Book of Maladies Page 21