Amnesia: The Book of Maladies

by D. K. Holmberg

  She wasn’t sure whether it would be necessary, but with Elaine appearing in this section, Sam began to suspect that it might be even more important to have his cooperation than she had believed at first.

  “I’m willing to overlook your attack on the apothecary,” she said.

  “You're willing to overlook it, are you?”

  Sam nodded. “I am willing to overlook it. If you attempt another attack on Aelus, then I will not overlook it. Consider him under my protection.”

  “Bastan’s reach does not extend to Arrend.”

  “No. It might not. But mine does.”

  “And who are you?”

  “I’m no one. Nothing but a lowborn.”

  Sam heard movement behind her, and she knew it was time to act, especially if she was going to do anything. She shifted, sliding so that she could see behind her, getting closer to the girl cowering in the corner. She glanced over and realized that the girl was young—possibly six or seven—and she shivered.

  What was the Shuver doing with her?

  “You didn’t come here just to threaten me. You came for something. Tell me, why are you here?”

  “Because there will come a time, possibly sooner than Bastan would like, when he will need those in the outer sections to take action.”

  “What kind of action?”

  “The kind of action that will ensure that the highborns no longer have the same authority they do now.”

  The Shuver smiled. “You would like me to believe Bastan wants to take down the highborns? Let me tell you what I know about Bastan. He has always been content with remaining on the periphery of the city and has always been content with the differential between highborn and lowborn. How else would he be able to steal wealth?”

  “You can believe whatever you want about Bastan, but I’m telling you he will send word. If you don’t want to run afoul of him, then you will answer when he calls.”

  “Run afoul? I think you mistake my concern for Bastan and his—”

  Sam leapt forward and swung her staff, sweeping the man’s legs out from under him. She raised her staff up and brought it down toward his chest but decided not to strike him.

  “Just remember I work with Bastan. I got to you. If you don’t want him to take over your section, then you will answer when he calls. And when he calls, be prepared.”

  “Be prepared for what?”

  “Be prepared for a fight.”

  Sam slipped back, and as she did, she grabbed the girl cowering in the corner and headed toward the door along the back wall. She kicked it open and wasn’t surprised to see two men standing guard. They fell with a quick crack to the skull from her staff.

  “Where’s your home?” she asked the girl.

  “I’m… I’m from the Dorand section.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “I don’t know. I think… I think my father owed him something.”

  Sam glanced back at the warehouse. Was this the kind of person they would need to work with? Was she really willing to risk that?

  But then, what choice did they have?

  21

  A Friend’s Help

  Alec hurried through the university as quickly as he could, the weakness from his illness making speed difficult. He could no longer move nearly as fast as he once had, and as much as he tried, he felt wiped out.

  How was it that he was this weak?

  He needed to find Sam, which meant he needed to get to Caster, but he wasn’t sure he had the strength to do so. A part of him wished he would have gone with Sam when she had left with Bastan, but then, he hadn’t known. And had Master Eckerd not shared, maybe he never would have known.

  That had to be the secret that Master Helen had been keeping from him. It was a secret Master Eckerd had kept from him, trying to prevent him from understanding what it meant for Alec to be a Scribe. But now, he knew the key: Master Helen was the king’s Scribe. Which meant what? Why wouldn’t the king want them to come up with some way to make easar paper?

  And why would Master Helen have attacked him?

  None of it made sense. All of his experiences at the university had led him to think that everyone there was helpful, interested in bringing along the future generations of healers. But having been attacked by Master Helen, Alec no longer felt that way. He no longer felt the university was a safe place for him. And if the university wasn’t safe for him, it meant it wouldn’t be safe for anyone.

  He stopped in his room and grabbed the books he could, stuffing them into his pockets. He would get to Caster, and he would ask Bastan to keep him safe, at least until they made their journey after Tray.

  Yet as he bundled everything up, he saw notes on the table made by Beckah.

  He paused and looked them over. They were notes she had made as she prepared for her testing, preparing to be promoted to junior physicker.

  Where was she? After everything he had been through, he had expected her to return, but the fact she hadn’t bothered him.

  Having collected what he thought he’d need, he stepped out, closing the door and making certain to lock it. The lock wouldn’t stop someone like Samara, but it would stop the average person from getting in. That was all he cared about. He started down the hallway and kept his eye out for anyone who might be dangerous to him.

  There should be no one along the hall. It was late enough that everyone should be in bed—at least everyone except him. Alec had been out at this time of night before and rarely encountered anyone, except a few who chose to study late at the library.

  Footsteps pounded along the tile.

  Why should there be footsteps? Who else would be out and making their way through the university?

  He tried to hurry. He wanted to get to Beckah’s room before anyone came across him. Alec reached the student section. He found Beckah’s door and checked it. He was not surprised when it was unlocked. He stepped inside and quickly surveyed the room. Beckah wasn’t here. And likely wasn’t anywhere in the university. Sam said they had searched everywhere. Had she been on the grounds, he suspected she would have come to check on him.

  When Alec stepped out of the room, Stefan greeted him in the hallway.

  “Alec? What are you doing in Beckah’s room?”

  “Have you seen her?”

  “What? Beckah? I thought she was with you? She told me she was studying with you to prepare for her physicker exam.”

  “She had been until I got sick.”

  “You were sick?” Stefan looked at him and frowned. “You don’t look sick.”

  “I’m better.” Mostly, but Stefan didn’t need to know that. “Have you seen Beckah this evening?”

  Stefan shook his head. “I haven’t seen her in several days, but then I haven’t seen you in several days. I thought I would share with you that I came across—”

  Alec grabbed his arm and pulled him with him as he continued down the hall. It might be helpful to have someone with him, especially a friend. Stefan and he had grown apart since he’d been promoted to full physicker, but he was still a friend.

  “I need your help,” he said the Stefan.

  “With what? Is there something you can’t figure out? Is there another healing that you need help with?”

  “Maybe,” Alec said.

  “What is it?”

  Alec looked along the hallway. He thought he heard the sound of footsteps, and he wanted to head down, but he needed to avoid drawing any attention to himself or Stefan. He nodded toward the end of the hall, to the stairs that would lead down to the hospital ward. Stefan went with him, and Alec leaned on his friend far more than he thought he should.

  “Alec?”

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  “I don’t think you are. What happened?”

  Alec swallowed, pushing back the dryness in his throat. When the weakness came on, that was when the dryness was worse. He needed to find his father, or Bastan, so he could get more of the eel meat to help take the edge off the illness. “An e
xperiment that went wrong,” Alec said.

  “What kind of experiment? I heard you were working with my grandmother…”

  Alec breathed out. He’d forgotten that Stefan and his grandmother had begun speaking more often, especially since…

  Alec looked over at Stefan. “How well do you know your grandmother?”

  “You’ve seen the relationship we have,” Stefan said. “She can be difficult. I think your friend is closer to her than I ever have been.”

  “My friend?”

  “The girl you often see. I think she and Grandmother Helen are pretty close.”

  Alec sighed. “I don’t think they are, at least not anymore.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I was working with your grandmother, and now she’s disappeared. Do you think you could help me find her?”

  Alec hated using Stefan this way, especially since he had never shared with Stefan the fact that he was a Scribe. Then again, Stefan might not understand. It could be that Stefan had the capability to be a Scribe. Was he aware of that? If he was related to Master Helen, maybe he had the same bloodlines, which meant it was possible he could have the same connection to power as Master Helen.

  As they made their way down the stairs, Alec glanced over to Stefan. “Has Master Helen ever worked with you directly?”

  “You’ve seen the extent of how much she works with me,” Stefan said. “She has always preferred to keep me out of her research and hasn’t given me any more attention than any of the other master physickers. Probably less than most.”

  Stefan sounded bitter, and Alec couldn’t blame him. Having Master Helen’s attention might be helpful, especially for someone like Stefan who wasn’t nearly as naturally gifted as Beckah, or who didn’t have the same experience as Alec. Often, having a master physicker who could serve as a mentor would benefit, but she hadn’t chosen to mentor any of the students. Alec had been surprised and excited when she seemed to be willing to work with him, and in hindsight, that should have served as notice that something was amiss.

  “I was just wondering if, even as a child, you knew much about your grandmother.”

  “Other than the fact that she goes to the palace more often than many master physickers?”

  “Why do you think that is?” Alec asked.

  “Probably because she is the most skilled physicker. Why else would they summon a master physicker?”

  Alec studied Stefan and sighed. “That’s probably it.” They reached the bottom of the stairs and headed to the hospital ward. “Can you help me?”

  “I think I should find you someone to talk to, Alec. If you’re this sick, you need the help of a physicker.”

  “I am a physicker.”

  “Fine, then you need the help of a master physicker.”

  “I’ve already talked to Master Eckerd.”

  Stefan’s eyes widened. “And? What did he say?”

  “He said there isn’t a whole lot that he can do to help.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with you?”

  “I don’t know, and that’s why I need to find your grandmother.”

  No one was on duty in the hospital ward. Alec looked around, looking for even the junior physickers, but there didn’t seem to be anyone here. That bothered him. There was usually at least one, often times two, even though it was late at night. Could they have abandoned their posts?

  Then again, it wouldn’t surprise him. He’d seen the level of attention given to the patients in the ward after hours. The overnight physickers often used that time to relax, and many of them preferred to sleep when they should have been paying attention to the patients.

  “Go wake the junior physicker on duty,” Alec said.

  “I thought you said you didn’t need the help of a junior physicker.”

  “That’s not why you need to wake him.”

  Stefan’s eyes widened. “Alec, I don’t want to get in the middle of something like this. I know it annoys you—”

  “It doesn’t annoy me. It angers me. They shouldn’t be leaving the patients alone like this.”

  “I thought you needed to get help?”

  Alec breathed out heavily. He did need to get help, but at the same time, there was no way he could leave here without correcting this. Something had to be said. “I do, and I will. But, go wake the junior physicker and tell him to come to the ward immediately.”

  Stefan shrugged and started off, leaving Alec standing—barely—in the ward by himself.

  He started toward the closet at the back of the room. It was a set of wide doors that opened into a second room that held rows and rows of shelves, all stuffed with different medicines. He searched the shelves, looking for something that would help keep him more alert, and came up with a few items. All he needed was a little strength, and perhaps something else.

  He grabbed a few vials and stuffed them into his pockets. He wasn’t certain when he would come back, but he needed to have supplies until he was able to get the necessary help.

  When he was done, he staggered back out into the ward and looked around. Stefan still hadn’t returned with the junior physicker. Alec leaned on one of the cots, looking down at an elderly woman lying immobile. He was tempted to grab for the record hanging at the end of the cot but decided against it. He had to trust that the junior physickers were doing something for this woman, and didn’t need to double-check everything, especially since he would be leaving. His insights wouldn’t have any influence over what they might do.

  He waited for Stefan to return, feeling increasingly fatigued the longer he waited. He shouldn’t be this tired.

  When Stefan still didn’t return, Alec frowned and started toward the physicker room. It was a small alcove set off from the rest of the hospital ward, a place where the physickers could go to have a moment of reprieve from their duties. He thought it unfortunate that one of the junior physickers had long ago brought in a cot, which gave them a place to sleep, something he still didn’t think was appropriate—or necessary.

  The alcove was empty.

  The cot looked like it had been slept in, and there was a sheet bunched up at the end of it. The desk had a stack of books, all references from the library he doubted were ever scrutinized nearly as well as they should be.

  Where was the junior physicker? For that matter, where was Stefan?

  “Stefan?” Alec said.

  His voice came out weak, and he coughed, covering his mouth so he didn’t potentially contaminate anyone else here. Could that be from the illness, or was the cough nothing more than his breathlessness?

  Alec needed to shut his mind down, ignore everything else, and focus on getting out of the university and making his way to the Caster section, but he couldn’t.

  There was a light down the hallway. It was a back hall that led away from the hospital ward, and up into the physickers’ quarters, but was also a secondary access to the master physickers’ quarters.

  Could one of the master physickers have come down?

  Alec started toward the light, the weakness almost too much for him. He hated the way he felt and hated that he could barely keep himself up. He wished he had Sam’s canal staff, something to lean on for support, anything that could help him stay upright and make his way more quickly.

  Alec paused at the stairs. Stefan wouldn’t have come here, would he? The only reason he would’ve gone up the stairs would have been if he had seen someone he knew… or if the junior physicker had taken him up.

  Could the junior physicker have wandered away?

  That seemed unlikely, even for some of the lazier junior physickers.

  What was that light for?

  Alec sighed and started up the stairs. If there was a master physicker here, maybe he could ask if they had seen Master Helen. Alec doubted they would have, especially if she had poisoned him. She would have disappeared—at least until she knew he was gone—dead. There wouldn’t even be anything suspicious about her di
sappearance since she was often gone from the university for long stretches of time.

  At the top of the stairs, Alec sank to his knees.

  The effort of climbing the stairs had just been too much. He could no longer hold himself up. And now, he wouldn’t even be able to get back out of the university and get to Sam. His only hope was finding someone like Master Eckerd—someone who might be sympathetic to him. He would take some of the medicine he’d just “borrowed” and hope he could recover enough to get out of the university.

  There was movement. He saw it distantly, and at first, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but then there was the steady thudding of feet along the floor. Alec twisted his head, barely able to look up, and when he did, he saw Stefan.

  “Stefan?”

  He frowned. “Alec, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry, I just need your help.”

  “No. I’m sorry.”

  Alec frowned, wondering why Stefan would be apologizing, and it still didn’t register, even as hands grabbed him and lifted him, too strong for anyone at the university, which meant they were from the palace.

  “Stefan?”

  His friend shook his head. “As I said, I’m sorry.”

  Alec was dragged away from the masters' quarters, to the stairs, and out of the university.

  22

  Captive

  Awaking in a bed, Alec did his best to sit up and look around the room he was in. It was not a cell, though he felt trapped. He was in the palace—he was sure of it—though they had covered his head during the journey here, making it difficult for him to see where they had taken him.

  The room was far nicer than what he’d expect anywhere but the palace. There was a thick carpet, patterned in blue and red stripes, that reminded him of the colors of the Anders, and a dresser along one wall. Surprisingly, paper and a pen were stacked on the dresser. Alec lay back down, his head heavy, his body like lead. Even if he weren’t locked in this room, he wondered whether he would be able to go anywhere. Would he even have the strength needed to escape?