Tormina: The Book of Maladies Read online

  Table of Contents

  Back in Caster

  Search for a Contact

  Finding Tray

  The Patient

  Waiting for Samara

  The Captor

  Return to the Palace

  Fatherly Advice

  The Scribes Converse

  Return to the Attack

  Practice

  With the Royals

  Search for the Master

  To the Swamp

  Understanding the Lesson

  A Friend Visits

  The Assignment

  Treatment Plan

  Confronting the Kaver

  An Old Friend

  Late Night in the Library

  The Apothecary’s Secret

  A Father’s Grief

  Bastan’s Test

  The Attack

  A Request to the Masters

  Last Visit

  Search for the Traitor

  Recapture

  Testing

  The Princess Answers

  Return to the Swamp

  Reaching the Island

  Attack on the Thelns

  Finding Marin

  Test Results

  Names and Terms

  Author’s Note

  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  Tormina

  D.K. Holmberg

  ASH Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover art by Rebecca Frank

  All rights reserved.

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  Contents

  1. Back in Caster

  2. Search for a Contact

  3. Finding Tray

  4. The Patient

  5. Waiting for Samara

  6. The Captor

  7. Return to the Palace

  8. Fatherly Advice

  9. The Scribes Converse

  10. Return to the Attack

  11. Practice

  12. With the Royals

  13. Search for the Master

  14. To the Swamp

  15. Understanding the Lesson

  16. A Friend Visits

  17. The Assignment

  18. Treatment Plan

  19. Confronting the Kaver

  20. An Old Friend

  21. Late Night in the Library

  22. The Apothecary’s Secret

  23. A Father’s Grief

  24. Bastan’s Test

  25. The Attack

  26. A Request to the Masters

  27. Last Visit

  28. Search for the Traitor

  29. Recapture

  30. Testing

  31. The Princess Answers

  32. Return to the Swamp

  33. Reaching the Island

  34. Attack on the Thelns

  35. Finding Marin

  36. Test Results

  Names and Terms

  Author’s Note

  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  1

  Back in Caster

  The Caster section was unique compared to the other sections in the city. It was old and run down, in a constant state of disrepair. Most of the stone buildings had crumbled, and there had been little effort made to restore them. Those that remained were elaborate and ornate, a reminder of better times years ago. Tall wooden buildings had replaced those that had crumbled, now towering above the rest. They were often times painted in garish colors, compared to other areas within the city and created in a mishmash of styles.

  Caster was home to many thieves. Poverty was rampant here; Children begged in the streets and people sneaked through darkened alleys, doing whatever they felt necessary to survive. There were good people here, too, those who tried to come by their earnings honestly. Most of them worked in the fishing trade, signing on with the massive fishing barges, disappearing for a few days at a time before returning with a bit of coin in their pockets. It was dangerous work, especially as those barges went out to sea, ill-equipped for heavy storms.

  Sam paused when she crossed the canal back into this section. She breathed in, taking in the faint scent of rot that mixed with other odors, those of wet earth and the sweaty funk of hundreds of bodies. It wasn’t a pleasant aroma, but it was familiar to her.

  Taverns lined one of the streets, and Sam made her way past most of them until she reached the one tavern she knew the best. She stepped inside and looked around. It was dark in here, the way Bastan preferred it. It was better for him to do his kind of business.

  Sam glanced at the people inside, quickly taking stock of tonight’s patrons. There was a certain type of person that frequented Bastan’s tavern. Most of them wanted nothing more than the affordable ale or the decent food found here. Bastan was well-known for hiring people who could actually cook, and the food was often good. A few kept themselves hidden in the shadows, and it was clear that they wished to go unnoticed. Most likely, they were here to meet with Bastan about one of his jobs.

  And then there were the people who worked here.

  Sam smiled at Kevin has he stepped out of the kitchen carrying someone’s dinner order. He gave her a quick smile and nodded to an empty table nearby. Taking his hint, she made her way to the table and threw herself into one of the chairs, happily anticipating the food that Kevin would surely bring. He always made sure she was well fed. She sat quietly for a while until Kevin returned and set a plate in front of her.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “I haven’t seen you here in a while. There have been rumors that something happened between you and Bastan.”

  “You know what they say about rumors,” Sam said.

  “That they have some basis in truth?”

  Sam stuck her tongue out at him before taking a spoonful of food. It was smoked fish and delicious. There was something about the way that Kevin managed to smoke fish that she had missed. She would’ve expected the palace to have had better food, but that wasn’t the case. Or maybe it was simply that the food served at the palace wasn’t as familiar to her. They seemed to try too hard to make it fancier than was needed.

  “Nothing happened between Bastan and me, I just…”

  “I’m just glad to see you, Sam,” Kevin said.

  She smiled at him. “I’m glad to be here.”

  “He’s here, if that’s why you came.”

  “It is, but I figured I would talk with you first. Maybe get something to eat, maybe…” She shrugged. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t go directly back to Bastan. She wasn’t afraid of Bastan. She had worked with him far too long to fear him, not the way that so many others did. Maybe that was a mistake. The only thing that had bothered her about Bastan in the past was that she was indebted to him. He gave her jobs and paid her well for doing them. But she’d had no choice. He’d manipulated her in a way that she was forced to serve him. Now that she had a sense of independence, she no longer felt quite the same way.

  She no longer needed Bastan as she once had. But she couldn’t deny that it was because of Bastan that she had been able to keep herself—and Tray—safe. Without him, she didn’t know what would’ve become of them. Maybe she would have been lost on the streets. Maybe she would have been pulled in by the palace guards and placed in the prison. If that had happened, maybe she
would have gained her mother’s attention sooner.

  “What have you been up to?”

  “Not too much,” she said.

  Kevin shot her a look of disbelief, which she ignored. “Not too much? You haven’t even been in Caster. Where have you gone? Have you figured out a way to get yourself in with the highborns?”

  Sam paused in between bites. “I found my mother,” she said.

  Kevin studied her for a moment before taking a seat across from her. He had always been kind to her, and as much of a friend as she had in this world. “I thought your mother was dead.”

  “I thought the same thing, but it seems that she’s not.”

  “Why do I get the sense that you aren’t as excited about this as I would’ve thought you’d be?”

  “You ever search for something for a long time, and when you finally get it, you realize you might have been better off not finding it?”

  “Sam—”

  Sam shook her head. “It’s not quite like that,” she started. “It’s just that… I thought it would be different. Losing my mother when I was young—thinking her dead—I’ve always had a need to know more about who I am. With no one to ask, and no memories of my own, I have always felt… adrift. When I found my mother was alive, when I actually met her, I thought that I would finally begin to understand myself. Maybe find out more about where I came from and what I was supposed to do. Instead, it’s left me with more questions than ever.”

  “About your mother?”

  “About everything. My mother is not at all what I thought.”

  “Which means that you’re not what you thought?”

  She looked down at her plate and took another bite of food. “I don’t know what I am, not anymore.”

  “So, not a thief?”

  “I can still complete a job, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Kevin grinned. “I wasn’t challenging your capability. You’ve proven yourself too often for me to do that. But I’m guessing from the way you’re talking and the fact that you haven’t been seen recently that your mother is highborn.”

  Sam flushed. That was something of an insult in this section. And as much as Sam had wanted to be out of this section for as long as she could remember, now that she had connections to the palace, she wasn’t sure what to make of them or even what to do with those connections. It was people like Kevin that she missed. They were people who had always looked out for her. Even Bastan had looked out for her, though he had done it in his own way. Caster could be hard; the life of a lowborn was never easy, but it was the people who had made it livable.

  She looked around the tavern, seeing other familiar faces, and realized maybe that was what had troubled her the most. There wasn’t the same sense of family near the palace as there was in Caster.

  What did that say about her that the family she identified with was a bunch of thieves and lowborns?

  “I don’t know if she’s highborn, but she has connections with them,” Sam said.

  Kevin chuckled. “And that’s a bad thing? I seem to remember that your friend was highborn, or close enough not to matter.”

  “Alec doesn’t count.”

  “Is that right? Things have soured between you?”

  Sam flushed. “That’s not what I meant. All I’m saying is that he doesn’t view the world in terms of highborns and lowborns.” That was what surprised her the most. Alec wasn’t from a true highborn section, but close enough that he was protected from the poverty found in the outer sections. Yet, Alec never made that an issue. Not that Sam would expect him to. It just wasn’t in him. That wasn’t the way Alec thought.

  “No. He certainly wasn’t as snooty as most of the highborns who end up coming through here.”

  “There aren’t any highborns that come through here.”

  “A few. And more than you would expect, especially how far out we are, but I think Bastan draws them.”

  “Don’t tell him that,” Sam said.

  “Oh, Bastan doesn’t care if we talk about it, but he’s not interested in the highborns, other than what art they might have for him.”

  There was a time when Sam would have laughed about that, but that was a time before she knew Bastan wanted only to defend Caster. And that was before she had been outside the section to realize there was a certain appeal about being home and staying with what was familiar.

  “Thank you,” Sam said.

  “What are you thanking me for now? I don’t think that what I’ve given you here is that exciting. Food is fine tonight, but the fish… Well, that isn’t quite as good as it usually is.”

  “No. Thank you for your friendship.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for that. Besides, having you around has sort of kept Bastan calm.”

  “Calm?”

  “Well, it’s not something we talk about much, but before you came around, and he began to train you, Bastan was a lot different. He was harder. When he started working with you, he softened. Not a lot, but…” Kevin shrugged and stood. “Anyway. Good to see you, Sam.”

  He nodded behind her, and Sam turned to see Bastan watching. How long had he been standing there?

  She got up and followed him into his office. He said nothing until they’d gone inside and he’d closed and locked the door. Sam looked around his office, taking in the painting of the canals. Given what she knew of Bastan, she wondered if he had painted that himself. She was glad to see it back up on the wall, along with his other paintings. She’d not been back since the night Tray had brought her here after Marin had poisoned her with her staff and thought back to what had happened here. Tray being attacked and left for dead. Bastan’s art treasures tossed about, but not taken. It seemed like forever ago now.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, taking a seat in his chair. Bastan had a massive desk, and stacks of paper sat on top of it, a few jars of ink on either side with a pen resting in the middle. He crossed his arms and leaned forward, looking at her.

  “I can’t come visit?”

  “Since you disappeared, you haven’t come to visit that often.”

  “I came when you needed my help.”

  “And I’m thankful for that,” he said. He studied her. “You look well. They’ve been treating you the way that you deserve?”

  “And what way is that?”

  “Like someone deserving respect,” Bastan said.

  She shifted under the weight of his gaze, twisting the ring she now wore that signified her place at the palace and granted access that papers couldn’t, signifying she had a place with the royals. After everything she had been through, Bastan was as much family as anyone, a fact that felt strange to realize. “They have been treating me well enough.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that they have been treating me well enough. It’s sort of the way that you treated me when I first started training with you.”

  Bastan smiled. “A little tough love? Well, I can’t say that I disapprove. Sometimes, you have to learn the hard way.”

  “I think my mother would agree with you.”

  His face clouded for a moment. “Why are you here?”

  “Are you so eager to get rid of me that you keep pressing that?”

  “You know that’s not the case. Just as I know that you wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t need something.”

  “I shouldn’t only come when I need something,” she said.

  “No. You really shouldn’t. You should come as often as you want. Gods, if you want a job, I’ve got plenty of them.”

  Sam smiled to herself, thinking about what Elaine might say were Sam to resume thieving again. What would she do with that knowledge?

  Then again, there was so much that Sam wanted to do, so much that she felt she needed to learn, that taking a job didn’t feel quite right. Not only didn’t it feel right, but with what she had been learning, she didn’t think it was much of a challenge, either.

  “I wanted to see if you
might’ve heard anything about Marin.”

  “I thought you said Marin was taken care of.”

  “I said that Tray took Marin away. I don’t know that that means she’s taken care of.”

  “What do you think Tray might try to do?” Bastan asked. “Do you think he would do anything that might harm you?”

  Sam paused before answering. There was a time when she would’ve said no immediately. There was a time when she would’ve done anything for Tray—and probably still would. Learning that they didn’t have the same connection they believed had changed that, if only a little. Now, she no longer knew quite what to think. Even with what Tray had learned, when it came down to it, he helped Marin escape after the fight with Sam. And she had no idea where he was now, and if he was still with Marin. If she could only have some time with him, she might be able to ask him what he was thinking.

  “What do you know?”

  Bastan studied her for a moment. “I’ve heard rumors,” Bastan said. “Nothing more than that, but…”

  Sam frowned. It wasn’t like Bastan to be so hesitant to answer. “You know something. Why aren’t you sharing it?”

  “I would say the same to you, Samara.”

  She glared at him. “I’m not keeping anything from you.”

  “No? I would argue that you’re keeping a great deal from me. Maybe it’s for the best. Getting involved with dangerous highborns isn’t really what I want to take on, certainly not in a way that might draw attention to my business dealings.”

  “Business dealings?” Sam asked with a laugh. “I don’t think anybody believes you have real business dealings.”