Comatose: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You want us to go there?”

  Elaine nodded. “That is where Marin went.”

  “Then she can go. It’s not as if she can get very far, especially not over that,” Sam said, motioning to a pocket of steam that suddenly erupted with a loud hiss. She shivered, despite the heat from the steam drifting toward them.

  “You would be mistaken. Marin is far more resourceful than you give her credit for.”

  “I give Marin plenty of credit. I’m just saying that I have no interest in risking myself going after her. Besides, I still think my time would be better spent going after Tray.”

  “And how do you think to do that?” Elaine said.

  “Well, you’ve taught me to stabilize myself on my staff, so I anticipated just crossing the swamp that way.”

  “How far have you tried going out into the swamp?” Elaine asked, glancing over.

  Kyza. Elaine knew. Sam should know better than to try to be deceptive with her. Elaine had proven that she was far cleverer than Sam gave her credit for, and she had proven that she was more capable than Sam, especially when it came to using her Kaver abilities.

  Then again, Elaine had been captured by Ralun. That was something that Sam had over her. At least when Sam had been captured, she’d escaped. But truth be told, it was only thanks to Alec’s augmentation. So maybe she couldn’t claim that.

  “I might have tried seeing how far I could go.”

  “And how far were you able to make it?”

  “Maybe a half a day,” she said. She would’ve gone farther, but her arms had begun trembling, and without any augmentations, she feared she would end up dropping into the swamp.

  “A half a day is only part of the distance. To cross the swamp, you will need to be able to maintain your balance for at least an entire day, likely more, especially if you don’t know where to take your breaks.”

  “How many islands are there within the swamp?”

  “Not enough. There are maps, as you can imagine.” Sam hadn’t imagined and hadn’t thought to look for such maps, but now that she knew of them, she would figure out a way to find them. “But even with the maps, it’s difficult to navigate through the swamp safely. Most who attempt to do so aren’t successful.”

  “But you said you have done it.”

  “I’ve done it many times.”

  “Without augmentations.”

  “As I’ve told you, if you become too reliant on augmentations, you will only struggle when you don’t have them.”

  Sam stared at Elaine for a long moment. “How? I mean, how?” With as much as she’d trained, Sam still wasn’t able to go very far. She could see herself improving, getting stronger and going farther, but getting all the way across? That began to border on an incredibly high degree of difficulty.

  “I’ve told you that you need to practice,” Elaine said.

  She started off, taking a meandering pace across the rough ground. Sam followed, and as she did, she was all too aware of the heat radiating beneath her, pressing through her boots and making her uncomfortable. Every so often, Elaine would lean on her staff and elevate her feet.

  Sam began doing the same thing and decided that this crossing would be far more difficult than anything she had tried before.

  “Marin couldn’t have come this way.”

  Elaine glanced over at her. She hung in the air on her staff, her body propped up slightly, and she looked casual—almost comfortable—as she was suspended there.

  “And why not?”

  “Because her Scribe wouldn’t have been able to come this way.”

  “Are you certain? I suspect that her Scribe had a supply of easar paper, and between that and Marin’s natural cleverness, they figured out a way to make their way across here.”

  Elaine took off, continuing across the rocky terrain. She moved with a fluidity that Sam wasn’t sure she’d be able to mimic, at least not yet. How much training would it take for her to rival what Elaine was capable of doing?

  Maybe that was the point.

  Elaine brought her with her with an intent. She must have wanted Sam to know just how hard it would be for Sam to keep up with her, though Sam wasn’t sure she needed that reminder. She had seen Elaine in action before and had sparred with her enough times to know that while Sam had skill—and she was continuing to get better—Elaine was a master.

  “How well do you know Bastan?” Sam asked as she caught up to Elaine. She elected to walk as much as she hopped on the staff, preferring to conserve her arm strength for when she might need it more. The rocks were hot but didn’t melt her shoes, at least not yet. There might come a time when she had no choice but to remain balanced on her staff, but if that happened, she would worry almost as much about the integrity of her staff as she would about her boots.

  “Why are you asking me about Bastan?”

  “Only because you seem to have a familiarity with him.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “I’ve seen the two of you together. There is something of a comfort level.” Sam didn’t know how to explain it any better than that. When they had faced the Thelns—when Bastan had fought Ralun—there had been something of a familiarity between Elaine and Bastan.

  “I don’t know that I can claim to know Bastan nearly as well as you,” Elaine said. She perched atop her staff, her legs pinching the top of it as she peered out over the landscape. “I know of him, probably more than I know him.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Bastan hasn’t necessarily kept his presence a secret. He has been well-known throughout the city for his role as someone who searches to acquire power, though he does it in a different way than many.”

  Sam frowned. That wasn’t quite what she was thinking. There was something more to it than what Elaine was admitting, though Sam wasn’t sure that it mattered. “Do you know if he has any rivals?”

  Elaine looked down at her from her perch, and a wry smile came to her face. “You lived in the Caster section for how long and you question whether Bastan has rivals?” She turned her attention back in front of her. “Given the nature of his business, it’s a guarantee that he would have rivals.”

  “It’s not just business rivals,” Sam said. She jumped up on her staff and mimicked Elaine’s posture, perching next to her. As she looked in the direction of Elaine’s gaze and took in the rocky landscape that stretched out toward the lowest level of the mountain. She was trying to see what Elaine might be looking at. She saw nothing but rough, volcanic rock, and pockets of steam rising in places. Sam swiveled, looking behind her, and saw other pockets of steam rising behind them. She understood then what Elaine had been doing. She perched here so that she could choose their course. There would be no maps of this area. It was all steam and fire and danger. “Bastan was attacked, and I intervened.”

  “You shouldn’t intervene. Anything you do in the city only raises suspicion.”

  “I’m not going to let Bastan get brutalized by nearly a half-dozen men.”

  “Bastan can manage on his own. And I’m sure he was not in danger of brutality. From what I know of Bastan, I would suspect he had plenty of men keeping an eye on him.”

  Sam frowned, following the direction of Elaine’s gaze as she stared out over the pockets of steam bursting from the ground. At any given time, another pocket erupted. How were they going to cross this? Sam had thought crossing the swamp was impossible, but crossing something like this seemed even worse. At least with the swamp, she only had to worry about falling in the water and eels devouring her. Here, she had to worry more about the steam and what it might do to her. One misstep, and she could have half her body burned.

  “That’s just it. Bastan didn’t have anyone watching him. A couple of his men joined him later, and I think they cleaned up the mess, but they weren’t there when he was attacked.”

  Elaine glanced over and smiled. “Have you thought about why that might be?”

  “I doubt that Bastan would allow him
self to be attacked intentionally.”

  “I don’t know about that. Bastan is clever, so it’s possible that he would have used himself as bait to draw out potential attackers.”

  Sam shook her head. “He said there was a rival within the city.”

  “There are many outer sections that don’t have the same lawfulness that many of the inner sections have.”

  “Yes. I’m well aware of what we lowborns have in the city.”

  Elaine glanced over. “I said nothing about lowborns. You have a tendency to make up many things about your position. Haven’t you seen that you are more than where you call home?”

  “Maybe,” Sam said. She knew that she sounded petulant, but she didn’t care. She had been isolated at the palace, and there was something about her status that she still wasn’t comfortable with. She might not truly be lowborn, but she certainly wasn’t a highborn.

  “The outer sections are more difficult to patrol. The Anders only have so many resources, and they are supplemented by the merchants in the inner sections.” Elaine glanced back down. “Yes, wealth does buy protection, but it’s not protection that’s offered by the crown. It’s protection offered by those who have the ability to afford it, which is not that much different from what Bastan does, I would say. Bastan has his own means of protection, and he offers his services to those in his employ, which I seem to recall included you.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that you agree with it?”

  Elaine shrugged. “There is only so much that can be done.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s right.”

  “No, but you’re not asking the right question.”

  “And what’s the right question?”

  “You have asked why the Anders don’t have resources to protect some of the sections within the city.”

  Elaine leapt off of her staff and ran forward, flipping into the air as she went before coming back down.

  Sam had been following long enough to know that she needed to follow quickly and hurried after Elaine. She caught up to her and kept pace, staying right behind her. If she didn’t, she knew that another pocket of steam might burst, risking injury.

  “Why don’t the Anders have enough resources to protect everyone in the city?”

  “What do you think the Kavers do?” Elaine asked.

  “Apparently, we fight the Thelns,” Sam said.

  “Do you think that’s all we do?”

  “No. I’ve seen that you make a point of harassing me almost as much as you do anything else.”

  Elaine shook her head and vaulted into the air before coming back down on the other side of a large crater. Sam followed, uncertain whether she was making a mistake in doing so. As she landed, steam burst from the crater, and she staggered forward, not wanting to get caught by it.

  Elaine grabbed her and helped her back up. “What you see as harassing, I see differently. I’m working to train you, though I will admit that you are one of the more difficult people I have attempted to work with.”

  “Thanks. I think that I’ll take that as a compliment. Besides, Bastan would tell you that I’m nothing if not wonderfully difficult.”

  “Don’t worry, I have asked him.”

  Sam frowned, but Elaine jumped off, vaulting into the air once more. When she landed, a massive pocket of steam started simmering. Sam couldn’t go over it, not without getting caught, and debated going around, but even that posed challenges. There were several other pockets of steam all around her. She climbed on top of her staff, perching as she had seen Elaine doing, and quickly surveyed the area in front of her. She found a narrow pathway that she thought she could follow and hurriedly flipped forward, taking the path so that she could join Elaine before heat and fire engulfed her again.

  “What have you asked Bastan?”

  “I have asked him whether or not you were trustworthy. I have asked whether or not you were someone who could be worked with.”

  “I can only imagine the kinds of things Bastan would say to those questions.”

  “Bastan was quite complimentary of your skills as a thief.” Elaine glanced over, and there was a hint of disdain on her face as she said it. “Had he not been, I don’t know that we would have been quite as willing to work with you.”

  Sam frowned. She hadn’t realized that Bastan was the one responsible for ensuring that she had a chance to train as a Kaver. “I suppose I should thank him, then.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t dismiss him quite so freely,” Elaine said.

  “I don’t think that I’m dismissing him freely at all. I’m just fully aware that Bastan is only concerned about Bastan.” Even as she said it, Sam knew that wasn’t entirely true. Bastan had already proven that he had a soft spot for her. She didn’t need to hear it from those who worked with him, men like Kevin or another of Bastan’s men like James.

  “I’ll be sure to share with him your assessment of his priorities.”

  Sam shook her head. “It’s not my assessment of his priorities, it’s me being realistic about the kinds of people that I have spent my days with. I know them. You might know of them, but I know them.”

  Elaine stared at her for a long moment before nodding once to herself and jumping forward again. She made a series of quick leaps and turned back, motioning Sam to follow. When she reached Elaine, she paused. They had only been at it for a short while, and already, she was tired.

  Where would they even pause to rest for the night? There wasn’t anywhere safe that Sam could see, and if they intended to pursue Marin across this steam field, Sam couldn’t imagine how long they would have to go before finding her.

  “Are you sure that Marin is out here?”

  “What do you see?”

  Sam frowned, looking around her. It was difficult to make out anything, especially as the steam continued to rise all around them, bursting free in certain places. “I don’t see anything,” she said.

  “Because you’re not looking, not really.”

  “I thought I was.”

  Elaine frowned, looking over. “You haven’t had your Kaver abilities for very long, and yet already, you’ve become so dependent upon what you call augmentations.”

  “I know, I know. You want me to master my abilities so that I don’t require augmentations to face my adversary.”

  “No. I want you to realize that there are other abilities that you have been born to.”

  “Such as what? I am unaware of any other abilities.”

  “How many others do you think can balance on the staff like you are?”

  Sam glanced down at herself. She had been sitting on top of the staff, trying to peer out over the steam field much the way that Elaine now did. Sitting in this way, with her legs bowed out, she swayed with the soft breeze, keeping a balance as she did. Heat swirled all around her, though it wasn’t intolerable. It wasn’t a pleasant heat, either, but elevated above it, Sam was able to tolerate it much better than she would have were she on the ground.

  “I learned to balance from you and Raylene.”

  “Did you? You have certainly improved since you first came to me, but you had a certain level of ability even before you came. That is something you’re born to, not something you can be taught. It can be honed, much like anything can be honed, but imagine if your Scribe were to attempt to balance on your staff the same way. Would he have a similar ability?”

  “Alec has trained for something else his entire life.”

  “No. Alec was born to something else.”

  “So, you’re saying that I can only do this because I was born with the ability? I’ve seen other people who have good body control. Kyza knows that working with Bastan has brought me into contact with plenty of others who have similar abilities.”

  “Working with Bastan has brought you into contact with his type of people, but while they may be able to manage themselves in a fight, they do not share the same ability as you.”

  “Why does it even matter? What’s the point of you telli
ng me this?”

  “The point,” Elaine said, “is that there are things you need to learn about your natural Kaver ability that you cannot learn when you’re depending on augmentations. When you faced Marin, do you think she was augmented?”

  “Yes.”

  “And yet, how long did her augmentations last?”

  Sam tried to think back to when she had last faced Marin. It had been a while. Long enough that she wasn’t sure that she remembered it quite clearly. “I don’t know, they seemed to last the entire time we fought.”

  “And how about your augmentations?”

  “Alec wasn’t able to provide too many,” Sam said.

  “You wouldn’t have been able to defeat Marin without some supplementation. You weren’t trained well enough at that point.”

  “And now I am?”

  “I doubt that you would be able to defeat Marin without augmentations yet. She is gifted. She has always known how to use the full potential of her Kaver abilities.”

  “And what are those abilities?”

  “You think that you depend upon your Scribe for everything, but that simply is not the case. Your Scribe has been helpful, but you do not required his help to do many of the things you think provides through augmentation.”

  “So, what can I do without a Scribe to help?”

  “The more you practice, the more you’ll begin understand your abilities and realize that there are many things you can do without augmentations.” Elaine scanned the horizon and fixed on a spot in the distance. “Think of how you believed that you needed augmentations simply to cross the swamp. Do you still believe that?”

  “Maybe. It certainly would make it easier.”

  “Easier doesn’t mean that it’s necessary. You have now sat on your staff for long moments without so much as needing to move. That has not required any augmentation. I’ve seen the way that you are able to slip across the steam field, and I’ve seen you in the swamp. You do not need augmentations for that.”

  Sam glanced over at her. How much had Elaine been watching her? If she’d seen her in the swamp, then maybe she had followed her, which made Sam uncomfortable. She didn’t like the idea of Elaine following her without knowing that she did.