Amnesia: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  Amnesia

  The Book of Maladies Volume 6

  D.K. Holmberg

  ASH Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover art by Rebecca Frank

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  If you want to be notified when D.K. Holmberg’s next novel is released and get free stories and occasional other promotions, please sign up for his mailing list by going here. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

  www.dkholmberg.com

  Contents

  1. A Trial of Venom

  2. An Unexpected Find

  3. Searching the Swamp

  4. Advice

  5. Working in the Ward

  6. A Mother’s Gift

  7. Interrogating the Prisoner

  8. Reaching Theln Lands

  9. Making Easar Paper

  10. A Visit

  11. Healing the Healer

  12. Back to the University

  13. Finding Help

  14. Understanding an Illness

  15. The Apothecary

  16. Closing the Classroom

  17. Searching for a Master

  18. Chase

  19. A Lowborn Section

  20. Kavers Attack

  21. A Friend’s Help

  22. Captive

  23. Capturing the Captive

  24. Working with Royalty

  25. Svuthwuud

  26. Escape from the Kaver

  27. The Palace

  28. The Cells

  29. One More Attempt

  30. The Real Deceit

  31. Gathering Troops

  32. A Kaver Rises

  33. The Master Physicker

  Epilogue

  Names and Terms

  Author’s Note

  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  1

  A Trial of Venom

  The jar containing the greenish eel venom felt warm in Alec’s hand, as it always seemed to, regardless of the temperature of the room. There was something unsettling about that, though he wasn’t sure why.

  He dipped a spoon into the jar, coating it with venom. Holding the spoon over the paper, he let a few drops fall onto it. He had done it a few times, but each time, he had struggled to discover the secret—the connection between the eel venom and easar paper. He was determined to figure out how to make their own. Otherwise, they would be forced to depend on the university and whoever their supplier was to maintain their supply.

  “I don’t think direct application is what is required,” Master Helen said.

  Alec looked over at her. Her gray hair was twisted back in a tight bun, and she wore a gray jacket over her shoulders, keeping herself covered. It was probably for the best as there had been several times when the venom had splattered, and they didn’t know what topical absorption might do.

  “I thought varying the concentration might make a difference,” Alec said. The piece of plain paper he had sourced from Mrs. Rubbles lay on a metal table in one of the classrooms. They were far enough away from where students might pop in that they could experiment without many distractions. They didn’t want someone to spring in on them and begin asking questions. As it was, it was possible someone would notice that he had been spending quite a bit of time with Master Helen.

  “I agree that was a good starting point. Neither the yellowish venom nor the oral venom seems to make a difference, and trying them together…” Master Helen began.

  “Trying them together has been completely ineffectual,” Alec said.

  Alec sighed and turned away from the paper, jotting down a few notes in his journal. He was determined to keep track of their trials, prepared for whatever it might take to understand what went into the easar paper. “If we had a larger supply of the easar paper, we could afford to experiment on it, maybe break it down and determine what went into its construction.”

  “Unfortunately, our supply is limited. We certainly don’t have enough to destroy the supply we already have.”

  Alec understood, but without it, they were stuck trialing it. “What if the eel venom is not a part of creating easar paper?”

  “There is one fact that has managed to come out of the Thelns lands, and that is the eels play a crucial part in the creation of easar paper. We had known about the oral venom, but we had never extracted the yellowish venom you found. Now that we have, I think it’s much more likely that we will find a way to create our own supply of paper.”

  Alec looked at the stack of different types of paper. If they were to be methodical, they would perform the same trial on every single sample. He just wasn’t convinced that it would make a difference. In addition, they would soon run out of eel venom, and he didn’t look forward to going out to harvest more. He could ask Bastan, and Alec was certain the man would help, but he would rather go about it a different way.

  “Your father might know more,” Master Helen said.

  “He might,” Alec agreed.

  “You don’t intend to ask him.”

  “Knowing what my father is, and what he has done, I don’t know if I can.”

  “Your father was once a master physicker. He could be again.”

  “You would have me ask my father to return to the university?” Alec wasn’t certain he would even consider it. His father had been away long enough, and had very distinct feelings about the university, at least he’d led Alec to believe he did. Maybe those feelings had not been real. His father had apparently concealed many things from Alec over the years, enough that he no longer knew whether the man had been telling him the truth about everything.

  “Aelus Stross is a brilliant man. He should never have been allowed to leave. We have needed someone with his intellect, and I think of how much we’ve missed out on because of his absence.”

  Alec turned his attention to the next piece of paper. “Well, he’s not here, so you can either continue to work with me, or you can pine for my father.”

  Master Helen looked over at him sharply. “Pine? I’m only suggesting that he might have insights that you lack, Physicker Stross.”

  “I have insights from my recent experiences. I think that’s enough.”

  “You have insights from experience, but fail to have the necessary understanding of context, something that can only come with time.”

  Alec turned his attention back to the paper. “If you would prefer that we finish for the day, we certainly can,” Alec said.

  “If that would be easier for you, we certainly may, but I would be interested in continuing our research,” Master Helen said.

  “I’m not sure what else we can try. If we continue to reproduce these experiments on the different types of paper, it might help, but it might be that the paper itself isn’t the key,” Alec said.

  “You think it is something more than simply adding the venom to paper?” Master Helen asked.

  “I don’t know, but it could be. It could be that the venom needs to be a part of creating the paper, not adding it to already milled paper.”

  “That would be unfortunate and would be much more time-consuming.”

  “But it could be more efficient. Think of it, Master Helen. If each page had to be treated, that would be a very slow process. But if making easar paper was no different from making regular paper, it could be incredibly efficient.”

  “Perhaps it would be more efficient, but it is much less efficient for us as we try to understand how to re-create the paper.
If we have to go through the entire process of making it, it will take a significant amount of time.”

  “I can work with it and see what I can come up with,” Alec suggested.

  Master Helen straightened and wiped her hands on her jacket. “I had hoped this would be an easier process. After your discovery, I thought…”

  “No discovery worth anything is easy,” Alec said.

  Master Helen snorted. “I suppose not. That doesn’t change the fact that I wished it were. Will you keep the venom safe?”

  Alec nodded. He had refused to allow her to take the eel venom, especially as he had been the one who had harvested it. There had been some argument about it, but ultimately, she had conceded.

  Master Helen left, and Alec collected the various pages, stuffing them into his satchel. He needed to destroy them, not wanting to risk anyone getting exposed to the venom. Enough people had already been harmed because of the eel venom.

  He put the cap on the jar and left the classroom. He debated going to the hospital ward. He always found some satisfaction in seeing the patients there and treating anyone that he could, but right now, he had no interest in that. He wanted to understand how to create easar paper so that he could better help Sam so that they could head to the Theln lands.

  And maybe Master Helen was right. Maybe he needed to go and speak with his father, to move past the issues that they had. But doing so was difficult, at least for Alec. In the time since he had restored his father, he had not spoken to him much. He simply hadn’t wanted to.

  It was time for him to change that.

  Alec made his way from the university, keeping his satchel with him. It was better that he kept the satchel and the jars of eel venom with him than to leave it behind in his room. The rooms were lockable, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t break in. There had already been enough strangeness within the university for him to know better than that.

  It was a bright, sunny day, and Alec made his way from section to section, walking quickly. He felt a sense of urgency. How long would Sam give him before she made a run for Tray? He was surprised she had delayed as long as she had, but that was partly because of Marin, and he didn’t think she would wait much longer. Not when it came to finding Tray.

  And Alec didn’t disagree with her desire to search for Tray.

  He wouldn’t tell her about his interest in seeing what those who went to Theln lands—other Scribes—knew. There had to be something, especially since so many were compelled to remain behind when they went there. What reason would there be for that?

  He would not suffer from a similar temptation. He knew himself well enough to know that while he might be able to learn something from them, there would be no reason for him to remain behind. That and the fact that were he to stay behind, he would miss out on having time with Sam. He wouldn’t do that to her. He wouldn’t betray her in such a way.

  When he reached the Arrend section, Alec slowed. Everything here was familiar and comforting. He enjoyed his time here, even if it was something that he had outgrown. When he passed Mrs. Rubbles shop, he looked over at it fondly, remembering all the times she had helped him, along with the times that he had helped her. She was a friend, much like so many of the people in the section. It was why it was hard for him to return. Leaving for the university meant that he would never return here, and it meant he would never be able to help these people—people who were essentially part of his family—quite the same way as he once had.

  His father’s shop was closed, and no lights were on inside. Alec checked the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. He stepped inside, noting the jingle of the bells as he always did, and took a deep breath, savoring the smells within the shop. Everything about it was familiar, even if it wasn’t the same shop as his childhood home.

  “How can I help… Alec.” His father stepped out of the back, his hair standing wildly, and a smudge of ink on his cheek. “I haven’t seen you since you healed me. I thought you were disappointed with me.”

  “I am.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I can be mad at you and still care about you,” Alec said.

  His father stared at him for a long moment. “I… I thought that maybe you would have decided otherwise.”

  Alec looked around the shop. Though it bore all that was familiar from his father’s old shop, each time he came, there was an increasing sense of strangeness for him. No longer did this feel like his shop. Now it was his father’s. Though it had always been his father’s, Alec had been a part of it, and this had been his place, just as much as it had been his father’s. So much had changed over the last few months.

  “Can we talk?”

  “You are always welcome to come and talk with me,” his father said.

  Alec made his way to the back of the shop and took a seat on one of the hard chairs. His father typically used them for assessments. The cot looked like it had been recently used, and there were sheets that were thrown back, leaving Alec to wonder who had recently come through here, and with what illness. He looked around, knowing that his father would have left a sheet of paper with notes, and maybe that was what he had been working on when Alec came into the shop. He found it on the table near the cot. The ink remained unstoppered, and the pen he’d been using rested across the page.

  “Have you seen any interesting cases lately?”

  His father glanced over toward the table. “There’s always someone who comes in with an interesting case, you know that, Alec.”

  “Sometimes, there are surprisingly interesting things,” Alec said.

  His father shrugged. “We don’t get to choose who we treat.”

  Alec dragged his gaze away. The question he wanted to ask—that he needed to ask—came to his lips. “Did mother know?”

  His father stared at him for long moments. After a while, he got up and made his way over to a small hearth, where he pulled a pot from atop the flames. He poured steaming water into cups and handed one of the cups to Alec. Alec took a deep breath, recognizing the heady scent of the tea his father preferred, much stronger than what he could find at the university.

  “I was a physicker when I knew your mother,” his father started slowly. He remained standing, pacing slowly as he started to talk. Alec had seen it many times before and had long ago grown accustomed to the way his father felt the need to pace in order to think. Sam was much the same way, though she had a little bit more agitation to her when she paced. “It wasn’t until I left the university that I learned her other calling.”

  “Calling?”

  His father nodded. “There are many uses for the knowledge we have, Alec. I have tried to use my training as best as I can, wanting to take the lessons I was taught when I was a physicker so that I could help as many people as I could. And I have. You may think less of me, but over the years, we have helped a great number of people.”

  Alec sat back in the chair, his eyes drifting closed. It was difficult to see the side of his father. This wasn’t the man Alec had thought he was. His father had always been the healer, the ideal that he wanted to live up to, so for him to learn that his father might be something else—and someone else—it was difficult. Painful.

  And yet… Alec couldn’t deny that they truly had helped countless people over the years. Alec had seen it time and again. People who came to his father often had no one else to go to, and they had been desperate. His father had willingly offered his services, not charging nearly what the university would have charged.

  Even recently, Alec was able to think of people his father had helped, like the woman who was laboring, her baby in breach. Had his father not offered his help, would that baby have survived? The child certainly wouldn’t have made it had the mother gone to the university for help. Even if she had tried, would the university have been willing to help? And if they offered, could they have even helped her?

  “Why?” Alec asked softly.

  “You know why. You know there are costs to do wha
t we do. From the supplies to the medicines to the ingredients I harvest. Everything I do is expensive. Why else do you think the university charges what they do?”

  “So, you have become a poisoner in order to help others?” Alec opened his eyes and looked up at his father. “You have abandoned everything that you know so that you can claim you’re helping others?”

  “I haven’t abandoned everything I know. The entire purpose behind what I have done was to work with those treatments. Don’t conflate the two.”

  Alec looked at his father with incredulity. “How can I not? You’re trying to convince me you have some altruistic reason behind the awful things you have done.”

  “Tell me, Alec, what have you learned in the time since you went to the university?”

  It was a strange shift in the conversation, and his father stopped only a few paces from him, his arms crossed over his chest, the mug of tea resting on his arm. It steamed, sending little trailers of smoke toward his face.

  “I’ve been learning healing. I have studied with the masters, and I have—”

  His father shook his head. “No. You’ve learned that at the university. What I’m asking is what you have learned in the time since you left for the university.”

  Alec frowned. “Do you mean Marin?”

  His father shrugged. “Marin. The Thelns. The likelihood of other attacks. All of that. You have learned that there is a different threat within the city than you ever knew.”

  Alec leaned back, breathing out heavily. There had been a time when he would have believed the city was completely protected. Isolated as they were, with the ocean on one side, the mountains with the steam fields on another, and the swamp to still another, it was incredibly difficult for anyone to reach them. They were protected.