Poisoned: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Does it change your feelings about him?”

  “It changes nothing. He’s my brother. I would do anything for him.”

  “Is that part of what she planned?”

  Sam didn’t know what Marin had planned, or why she had used Sam to connect to Tray. There was no question that she had been used, just as there was no question that Tray had been used. Neither of them had known the truth about the other, which made it all the worse.

  Tray didn’t deserve that, not from someone he thought cared about him.

  Though from everything Sam had seen, Marin did care about Tray. She’d made a point of helping him, getting to him in a way that allowed him safety. She never put him in a dangerous position, not as she willingly did with Sam.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Sam said.

  “It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change your opinion, or doesn’t matter because it’s happened? Or does it no longer matter because you’ve moved on?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said again. “Besides, I don’t even know where he is. Since I’ve learned of what happened, I’ve lost track of him. I’ve searched, but haven’t managed to find him.” That bothered her more than anything else. “And it sounds like Elaine is looking for him.”

  “What would you say to Trayson if you were to see him?” the physicker asked.

  Sam sighed. She’d thought about what she would say to her brother, and how much to tell him, but every answer that came to mind felt wrong. She couldn’t tell him about the way Marin had used him, not without admitting that their relationship was not real. She thought that he would react the same way she had, and that he would want to remain connected to her, but what if Tray didn’t want that?

  What if he would use it as an excuse to separate from her? He’d felt oppressed by her, and though she’d only intended to help him, to protect him as best she could, she had driven him away. With his increasing size from his Theln bloodline, she had to admit that he probably didn’t need her protection. Even if she had augmentations, she might not be able to do much to help him anyway.

  “I would tell him how much he means to me,” Sam decided. That seemed the best answer. After all, wasn’t that all that mattered? Tray deserved that much from her.

  “Tell me about your brother.”

  “What’s there to tell? I imagine he’s much like any other brother.”

  “Yet from all reports, you have a particularly close relationship with him. Is that not a fair assessment?”

  “We’ve been close. When you think you’ve lost your parents, it brings siblings together.”

  “And Trayson believes that he lost his mother as well, doesn’t he?”

  Sam swallowed. Thinking of it always gave her a lump in the back of her throat, one that was uncomfortable, and unpleasant, and left her feeling like there was nothing she could do to keep from losing him. “We both thought we lost our mother.”

  “But in reality, his mother was there with him the whole time, and he didn’t know it. How will he react when he learns the truth about Marin? When he learns that his own mother betrayed him?”

  That was the question Sam knew least how to answer. Not only would Tray learn that his mother still lived, and that they did not share the same mother, but he’d also learn that his mother had been there all along, hidden in plain sight, keeping an eye on him and keeping him safe, but also using him for her own needs.

  Her using Tray was different, though. If she’d used Sam because she was angry at Elaine, there was a certain sensibility to it. But Marin had used Tray for a very different purpose. Maybe it had been because she thought to protect him by bringing him close to someone she suspected would have Kaver blood, but maybe there was another reason to it.

  Could Marin have feared something happening to Tray if he were discovered? Could she have sought to conceal his Theln connection by keeping him close to Sam?

  Short of finding Marin and asking her, Sam doubted she would get those answers.

  “I don’t know how he’ll react,” she finally said.

  The physicker made another note in her journal, leaving Sam wondering what observations she’d made. With Alec, he would let her read what he’d documented. He had such a keen eye that she had appreciated the opportunity to see what observations he might make. There was rarely anything she could add to them, but every so often, she could. She was always pleased with herself when she managed to add to what he’d observed. She doubted this physicker would allow her the same liberties with her notes.

  “I like to think that Tray will understand what was done. I like to think that he won’t react with anger.”

  “You worry about his reaction to Marin?”

  “Not Marin, but me. I don’t know how he will take it.”

  “Why do you fear violence?”

  “Because of who he is. What he is.”

  “And what is that?”

  She considered the physicker for a moment, noting the thick the jowls and the curious intensity in her eyes. How much should Sam trust this woman? She knew very little about the physicker and hadn’t been able to reach Alec at the university in several days. She suspected Alec knew this master, but maybe he didn’t. From what Alec had shared, the masters took turns instructing, but not all worked with the entry-level students. Maybe this woman didn’t work with students at Alec’s level.

  It was difficult for her to find trust. She wanted to, but now, more than ever, she struggled with it. How could she trust these people that she didn’t know when she had been lied to?

  “He’s a young man,” Sam answered. “He’s still trying to understand where he fits in the world. He’s often rebelled against my desire to help him, which has gotten him into trouble in the past.”

  “Such as when he was imprisoned?”

  “That would be a good example.” But Tray hadn’t been the one rebelling then. That had been her taking Marin’s assignment. Tray had been caught by chance. An accident. And held because they had thought him a Theln sympathizer.

  “That’s when you first came to the notice of the princess, I believe.”

  “It wasn’t intentional. I was trying to find a way to reach Tray.”

  “You thought that you could reach your brother and break him out of prison?” the physicker asked, cocking a brow up as she did. The movement created a rippling effect on her face, and the fat shifted amusingly.

  “I was willing to do whatever was necessary to help him. You know what they do to thieves.”

  “I thought you said your brother wasn’t a thief.”

  “He’s not. But he was found helping me when I was doing something I probably shouldn’t have been. And they believed him a Theln sympathizer.” Would the physicker reveal any knowledge of the Thelns?

  “Do you have a brother?” she asked the physicker.

  The physicker shook her head. “No brother, but I have a sister. She’s a little older than I am. Why?”

  “What would you do if her life was in danger?”

  “I would pray for her,” she said.

  Sam waited for her to laugh or make some sign that she was speaking in jest, but she didn’t. “Prayer won’t help in many situations. Sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands.”

  “In a situation like that—if my sister were foolish enough to find herself arrested—I doubt I would determine that risking my life to save her and risking ending up in prison alongside her would be the appropriate course of action.”

  Sam met the physicker’s gaze and forced a smile. “I guess that’s where we differ,” she said. “When Tray was captured, I was willing to do whatever it took to free him. If that involved breaking into the prison and risking my life, I was more than happy to do it.”

  The physicker studied her for a few moments, tapping the pen on her cheek, before turning and making a few notes in her journal. The pen scratched along the surface, and Sam stared at her, wondering again what she was documenting, and what notes she made on the page.<
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  After a while, the physicker looked up, an ink stain on her cheek. “Let’s talk a little more about your brother.”

  Sam sighed but nodded. She wouldn’t refuse, not if this had a chance of helping, though she didn’t know exactly how it would. Maybe she would never get those memories back.

  9

  Following the Kaver

  Sam kept her distance as she followed Elaine through the city. She moved quietly, staying to the rooftops, maintaining a position behind her so that Elaine wouldn’t realize she was being followed. Would her mother even notice?

  They passed through a section of the city that Sam had never been in. It was a merchant section, and much like most of the merchant sections, massive estates occupied its center. Warehouses lined the waterfront, and barges stopped at them, loading and unloading before moving on.

  For a moment, Sam thought that Elaine would stay here, but she didn’t. She moved on, heading toward an outer section.

  As she went, Elaine turned quickly ahead of her, and Sam lost sight of her.

  Kyza!

  Here she thought she could keep up with Elaine, but the other woman was quick.

  In the time that she’d been training with her—and others—she had struggled to keep up. It angered her that there might be more that she could do—more that she could be—that was hidden from her, stolen by what Marin had done. All Sam wanted was to have that part of her mind unlocked.

  She meandered, making her way through the merchant sections as she spiraled back toward the center of the city and the palace. Now that she had documentation, she didn’t need to worry about reaching the palace, though she preferred to jump, taking her canal staff and leaping across the water. One thing her training had done was improve her jumping. Working with Marin had begun to help, but she had never managed to draw out the same capabilities that could now, training with Elaine and Thoren—a man assigned to train her with the staff—and others who worked with her at the palace.

  As she neared the center of the city, she caught sight of another merchant trailed by a dozen guards.

  Two such sightings in just as many days? What was going on?

  She decided to follow, keeping a safe distance. She imagined what Alec would say if he were with her, but Alec had been busy—far too busy for her. He would have warned her not to follow and would have told her that doing so would only get her into trouble.

  She realized they were not continuing toward the center of the city as the other merchant had but heading away from it.

  Where were they going?

  The merchant was dressed far too formally for one of the outer sections. He would be too easy to identify as a merchant, and certainly better-dressed than the lowborns found in these sections. There had to be a reason for his coming out here.

  Curiosity drove her forward. She stayed in the shadows, wishing that she had her cloak, but since training in the palace, she’d left it behind. There was something almost deceptive about wearing a cloak like that, and Elaine had preferred that she dress for the palace. She had thought that the merchant was out of place, but with her clothing, she would be just as out of place as he was.

  He reached an outer section that she wasn’t familiar with. In the distance, she could see the beginning of the swamp, the stink of the water carrying. It was a smell that she had noticed when they first reached this section, but she hadn’t known what it was. Sam rarely came to these sections, rarely spending much time so close to the swamp. Caster was nearer the steam fields than the swamp, and even there a certain odor hung over everything.

  She stayed near a building as the merchant came to a stop at the end of a road. He waited, and after a while, a man came out of one of the nearby buildings, dragging a heavy cart with him. They spoke softly, and Sam wasn’t close enough to overhear what they were saying. She needed to get closer, but she didn’t want to risk being seen.

  The merchant handed over a bag of what Sam suspected were coins and took the cart from the other man.

  He nodded toward his guards, and they started back toward his section.

  It was nothing more than a simple transaction.

  Even though it was probably nothing, there was strangeness about the transaction that still struck her. Why come all the way out here? Most of the time, merchants preferred to have others come to them, especially someone as well-to-do as this merchant obviously was. And why so many guards? Did he worry about the part of the city he visited? It was possible. She had no idea what was in the wagon.

  There was something she didn’t fully grasp. Sam didn’t know what it was, but she needed to understand, so she continued to follow the merchant, staying close.

  They crossed a canal bridge, and Sam gave them space, not wanting to follow too closely. She jumped instead, soaring over the water and landing on the other side. When she did, she heard the sound of fighting.

  She froze, holding on to her canal staff. Without any augmentations, she wasn’t sure that she could risk joining in any confrontation, but she needed to know what was taking place.

  The timing was odd. It seemed far too coincidental that it would happen while she was following the merchant.

  Could it be that someone had attacked the merchant? With nearly a dozen guards, such an attack would be suicide, unless whoever was risking the attack had come with even greater numbers.

  It wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out in some of the outer sections of the city, but it was uncommon for people to attack merchants. Doing so risked the attention of the city guard, and even Bastan knew better than to do something like that. He was careful. He had no problem stealing from merchants, but he had no interest in attacking them openly. It was better to keep others from realizing what he was doing.

  Sam crept forward, keeping her staff ready, and rounded a corner, expecting to see the attack, but when she reached it, it was already done.

  What had happened?

  The dozen guards were down, and most of them weren’t breathing. Dead.

  The merchant moaned, and Sam raced forward, reaching him. “What happened?”

  He looked up at her, a question in his eyes.

  “What happened?” Sam demanded.

  “An attack.”

  “I see that. But why? What were you transporting?”

  “For. The palace.”

  “I’m with the palace.”

  The merchant stared up at her, but his eyes became glassy.

  He took a gasping breath and then no more.

  Kyza!

  Sam stood and looked around, searching for the direction that the attackers would have gone. The cart was missing, so whatever it was the merchant had was valuable, but who would have risked taking something from a merchant who was transporting it to the palace?

  She used her staff and jumped to the nearest rooftop, searching for signs of activity. It was still early in the evening, certainly not late enough that she would expect the streets to be as empty as they were, though an attack like that might be enough to drive everyone back inside. The people in the outer sections were smart enough to recognize when the streets were dangerous.

  If that were the case, then all she had to do was find movement.

  As she raced along the rooftop, she thought she saw them.

  They were heading back toward the swamp.

  Could the man the merchant bought the goods from have sabotaged him?

  It would be underhanded, and yet, not completely unheard of. There were plenty of people who were foolish enough to attempt a double-cross, especially in the lowborns sections.

  Sam was forced to jump down to continue following them and used her staff to leap the canal, tracking the sense of movement. When she reached the street, she looked for signs of movement but saw nothing.

  Once again, she climbed to the roofs. From here, she scanned the streets. There had to be something, anything, that would help her understand what had taken place, but she found nothing.

  As she continued to search,
she tried to see through the growing darkness, wishing for an augmentation that would allow her to see more clearly. If she had some sort of augmentation, maybe sight or hearing, she would be able to see more than the shadows.

  But there was nothing. Even the sounds in the street were quiet.

  There had to be someplace they were going. She decided to retrace her steps, going back to where the merchant had made the initial transaction. When she reached the street, she found the building the man had come out of, but it was empty.

  She swore under her breath. Bastan had buildings like that. Empty shells. Being the owner of multiple properties made him appear reputable. He would arrange meetings nearby, in the open, and then manage to disappear through one of his buildings.

  It was possible that there were buildings connected, but she wasn’t willing to search through them, especially not at this time of night and in a section that she was unfamiliar with.

  Sam stepped back out on the street, listening. Wind gusted, and she felt the evening chill coming on, once again making her miss her cloak. She made her way toward the edge of the section, toward the waterfront that would lead out to the swamp. Beyond here, it was pitch black. She’d visited the edge of the city a few times, and had seen the swamp, and had smelled the putrid odor that radiated from it. There was no way of crossing the swamp. Barges would often drift out, heading away from the city, but be forced to return. From what she’d heard, it was difficult to navigate, if not impossible. More than a few barge captains who thought to venture through the swamp were lost. Sam had a hard time finding sympathy for men like that. All it took was one look at the swamp to know it wasn’t a place that anyone should go. It was imposing, almost as dangerous as—

  A splash caught her attention, and she turned, looking toward the north. The sound had come from there.

  What was it?

  Sam raced along the shore, looking to see if she could find any sign of movement, but there was nothing. Just the splash.

  When she reached where she’d heard the sound, she stared into the darkness. As she did, she realized that there was movement out on the water. It was too large to be any sort of creature. The swamp was rumored to be the home of strange animals, and the eels that Sam knew to be in the canal water had to be found in the swamp, too.