Tormina: The Book of Maladies Read online

  And here, within the belly of the university, with only Alec and Beckah knowing where she was, she didn’t even have the hope that someone else could rescue her. There was no chance of Elain coming to her rescue this time. There was no chance she would be saved.

  30

  Testing

  Alec looked around the board. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, trying to ignore the nerves, but it was difficult, especially with the way the masters—especially Master Carl—peppered him with questions.

  They had come to him far too quickly, and he hadn’t been able to send word to Sam, but he was hopeful that Beckah had realized he not in his room, or any of their usual study places. Would she presume he’d been summoned for testing? Even if she was aware that the testing had begun, it might already be too late.

  He looked down at the young man on the cot. This was the same one that he had seen when challenged by Master Carl, and he feared this would be the reason he failed his testing. The diagnosis was not straightforward. At least Master Helen had pressured Master Carl to reveal the presenting symptoms. Without that, Alec would have had even less of an idea about what he needed to do to treat this individual.

  And he tried to remain confident, but that felt forced.

  He motioned to the discoloration on the belly. There was a bluish hue, and his father had taught him that such markers indicated a significant abdominal illness. He rolled the man and saw bruising along his flanks.

  When he saw it, he knew immediately that this man was beyond his help.

  “I don’t think there’s anything that can be done for him,” Alec said.

  He tried to ignore the excited look on Master Carl’s face. It was an expression that told Alec that Master Carl believed he was wrong. It was an expression that made Alec question, if only for a moment. Could he be wrong? He didn’t have a lot of experience seeing illness like this, but certainly enough that he recalled a conversation with his father that there was only so much that could be done for someone in this condition. It was a conversation that had taught Alec that there were limitations to his father’s abilities. He recalled all too well how he learned that day that there were times when his father’s knowledge failed him.

  And his father was a master physicker. Whatever else Master Carl might claim, Alec had been learning from a master physicker his entire life.

  Alec looked out around the collected master physickers. It would have been helpful for him to have had at least one friendly face. Master Eckerd was not present, and Alec still didn’t know where he had gone, and why he had failed to return for Alec’s testing. At least Master Jessup had provided some reassuring nods, but where was he now?

  “We will move on,” Master Helen said.

  “I think we have seen quite enough,” Master Carl said.

  Alec squeezed his hands together, wringing them beneath his jacket.

  “You would call for a vote?” Master Helen said.

  “I think we have all seen enough from Mr. Stross to make a decision,” Master Carl said.

  Alec looked at the other masters. There were many familiar faces—many of the master physickers that he had spent quite a bit of time with during his time at the university—but only a few that he could say with certainty might favor him. Far more likely were the number of master physickers who regarded him with skepticism. Master Harrison and Master Helen were among them. Without having an advocate, how would he fare when it came to a vote?

  “We will call the vote,” Master Helen said. She turned to Alec. “Mr. Stross. You may remain in the hall outside. We will call you when we have finalized our vote.”

  Alec nodded, feeling numb.

  All of this had been designed as a way to give Sam a chance to listen to the master physickers, and it appeared that he had failed at that. He hadn’t been able to get word to Sam in time.

  Now, likely because of Master Carl, he would be expelled from the university.

  His testing was a failure on all counts.

  It hurt more than he thought it would.

  Getting expelled didn’t mean he would stop attempting to learn, and it didn’t mean he would stop trying to heal, using his knowledge and gifts and training to help others, but it made it more difficult. He could return to his father, and he suspected that his father would work with him, but his time at the university had been a failure. Alec was not accustomed to failure.

  He made his way out of the ward and paused once out in the hallway. When he did, he let out a deep breath, sighing heavily.

  “Alec,” someone hissed from down the hall.

  Alec glanced back and saw Beckah. “What are you doing here?” he whispered.

  “I brought Sam to see if she could hear which master physicker might’ve been the one who held her after she was attacked by the Thelns.”

  Beckah had come through. “Do you think she heard who it was?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does matter. If we can’t figure out which master physicker was involved, then—”

  “It doesn’t matter because I saw him. It was Master Jessup. He grabbed Sam and dragged her from the room when everyone else was distracted.”

  “You saw this?”

  Beckah glanced over to the ward, her eyes wide. “Sam had hidden me beneath one of the cots. She had moved on, trying to get a better vantage, when she was grabbed. Master Jessup pulled her down, and pulled her from between the cots, keeping her out of sight.” Beckah shivered. “I still can’t believe that Master Jessup would do such a thing.”

  “Maybe it isn’t what it looks like.”

  Beckah arched a brow at him. “Isn’t what it looks like? It looked like he was covering her mouth so she wouldn’t scream and had his arm clamped around her so she couldn’t fight.”

  “But Master Jessup?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, other than the fact that I know what I saw. He’s the one who abducted Sam. I don’t know where he took her, but…”

  Alec’s mind raced. “He won’t be able to be gone long,” Alec said. “Which means he couldn’t have taken her very far.”

  “He wouldn’t need to be present at the vote,” Beckah said.

  “He wouldn’t need to be, but his absence would raise questions, especially among those who know the Scribes. He had been one of the master physickers who supported me, if only peripherally. His absence would be noticed.”

  And Alec thought he knew where to look. Master Jessup had shared it with him, maybe without meaning to.

  He glanced over at the closed door leading into the wards. If he left now, he wouldn’t know the result of his testing.

  But if he didn’t, he would run the risk of something happening to Sam.

  “Can you stay here and watch? If they come out for me, let them know…” Alec tried to think about what he would have Beckah tell the master physickers. What was there to say that would be unlikely to raise the wrong kind of questions? There wasn’t anything. His absence alone would raise questions. “If they come for me, let Master Helen know that I haven’t abandoned my testing.”

  “Alec—”

  “I need to do this. I might be the only one who can help her now.”

  Beckah glanced over at the ward before nodding. Alec hurried off, heading to the end of the hall and then down the stairs. Master Jessup had mentioned having a place where he had gone when he had been a student, a place that was a storeroom that he and his friends had gone to study. It was the kind of place where Alec suspected he could take Sam.

  He tried to remain hidden as he went, prepared to duck off to the side and hide if he saw any sign of movement. At one point, he thought he did, and he slipped into a doorway, waiting. A moment passed, and then another, and as he was ready to step back out, someone hurried past.

  Alec waited, counting silently until he reached ten, before poking his head out.

  Could that have been Master Jessup?

  If it was, he didn’t have much time. He raced along the hallw
ay and slowed as he studied the doors. This was a remote part of the university, and hidden deep enough that noise wouldn’t carry beyond this floor. He listened, focusing on where he might find Sam, but didn’t hear anything.

  Worse, he didn’t have any access to a combination of their blood to help her. So, he couldn’t even try to augment her remotely.

  That had been a mistake. When he saw her last, he should have collected more from her so they would have been prepared for this. Now, he had to find her in order to help her. If there was anything—or anyone—with her, he knew he wouldn’t be able to help free her. He had no natural fighting ability.

  He began opening every door along the hallway.

  Most of them were storerooms, and he was able to ignore them quickly. As he neared the end of the hallway, he began to lose hope. Maybe he’d been wrong.

  And then he found one that looked like it had been used, and recently.

  When Alec pushed it open, the room was dark. He hesitated in the doorway and tried to peer through the darkness, before it cleared for him.

  Someone was sitting in a chair.

  Not only sitting in a chair, but tied—restrained—in a chair.

  Alec hurried forward, and crouched in front of Sam. He removed the gag over her mouth first. “What happened?”

  “Alec? I thought you were being tested?”

  “It was over.”

  “And you left?”

  “To find you. Beckah said that you were with her, and she saw Master Jessup drag you away.”

  “Bushy brows. Yeah, he pulled me away. That’s Marin’s Scribe.”

  “Are you sure it’s the same person?”

  “I didn’t recognize his voice, not at first, but there is an edge to him. He hides it well.”

  Alec didn’t want to believe that Master Jessup could do that, but perhaps that was the point. It was a clever deception, and had kept Alec from questioning too much.

  He untied the bindings around her wrists and ankles, and she jumped up.

  “You have a knife?”

  Alec frowned. “Why?”

  “I want us to be prepared. Do you have a knife?”

  Alec slipped a small knife out of his pocket. He kept a pair of vials with him, but hadn’t expected to need them. It had become habit having them on him. She held her palm out, and he jabbed at it gently, drawing enough blood to halfway fill each of the vials. He did the same to himself, wincing at the pain as the tip of the blade poked him. There had to be an easier way to use their magic, but they hadn’t discovered it.

  Sam glanced at the vials, and Alec handed one of them to her. A relieved smile crossed her face. “I’d rather have you be the one doing the documentation, but if something happens and you’re not with me…”

  “What might happen?” Alec asked.

  “I don’t know. It wouldn’t even have mattered this time. This Master Jessup—bushy brow—didn’t give me a chance to react. I wouldn’t have been able to make any notes.”

  “But I could have,” Alec said.

  Sam looked over his shoulder. “We need to get you back to your testing. If they finish and you’re not there…”

  “I know what might happen,” Alec said. “It was a risk I was willing to take.”

  Sam stepped in and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you for coming for me.”

  “You had to know that I would.”

  She stepped back and breathed out. “We need to get moving. If he was willing to grab me here, it means that whatever he intends is escalating. I don’t know how much time we have left.”

  Alec guided her back out, and they reached the area outside the ward. The doors were still closed, but Beckah was missing. Alec frowned. He cracked the door, peeking inside, and saw the master physickers all still there, speaking animatedly. Master Helen seemed to be pointing at Master Carl, and Alec wondered what they were saying to each other, and whether there was anything he could do, but he needed to find Beckah. He searched for signs of Master Jessup, but he wasn’t there.

  When he closed the door, Alec turned back to Sam. “Beckah is missing, and Master Jessup hasn’t returned,” he said.

  “He’s taken her.”

  “Why would he have taken her?”

  But Alec thought he knew. Master Jessup must’ve discovered that Beckah was Tray’s Scribe. And if he had discovered that, then they needed to find her before something else happened.

  31

  The Princess Answers

  Sam scanned the grounds of the university, looking for signs of movement. Years spent as a thief had trained her to identify movement, but it might be her Kaver training that was the most valuable now. She saw nothing.

  She glanced over at Alec. “I don’t know where he would have taken her.”

  She felt helpless. With all of the power they possessed, and all of the abilities they had, an old man had managed to capture her—twice—and now had taken Beckah away.

  She didn’t want to worry about Beckah, and probably wouldn’t were it not for the fact that Beckah was tied to Tray. If Ralun discovered that, and if he managed to use Tray, then both of them might be in danger.

  There weren’t many places she could go for help, but it seemed like now was the time to ask.

  “Come on,” she said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To talk with my mother.”

  She stormed off toward the bridge and thrust Alec’s hand forward before realizing that he didn’t have the ring.

  Kyza!

  The guards watched her, glaring at her with their arms crossed over their chests. It was unlikely that they would allow her to pass, but somehow, she had to get across the bridge and over to Elaine. She still had her canal staff—for some reason, Jessup hadn’t taken it from her, likely because she was not much of a threat when he had her confined—but she wouldn’t be able to jump the canal with Alec.

  She briefly entertained the idea of placing an augmentation that would grant her strength and allow her to jump over the canal while holding him, but they needed to conserve their strength, and might need to rely upon an augmentation later. If they wasted it now, they might not have time when they actually needed it.

  “I need to get past,” Sam said.

  “You don’t bear the mark, and—”

  Sam pulled out one end of her canal staff and swung around, smacking the two men quickly with it, knocking them down. She would have to apologize later, but she wasn’t about to be slowed by the guard when she needed to reach Elaine.

  She grabbed Alec’s arm and pulled him forward. They hurried across the bridge, and when they reached the palace grounds, she heard a shout behind her. One of the guards was already up and chasing her.

  “Kyza!” She dragged Alec after her, hurrying toward the palace entrance. Once inside, she raced along the hallways, and found Elaine’s quarters.

  “What if she’s not here?”

  “Then we go after him on our own.”

  “We don’t even know where to look.”

  “We don’t, but there might be someone who can help,” she said.

  “Who?”

  “I’ve asked Bastan for help a few times recently. If Elaine isn’t here, I will have to see if Bastan might be able to help us.” She remembered her mother’s warning not to involve Bastan in this any further.

  She didn’t like the idea of needing to run through the Caster section to get to Bastan, but she also didn’t like the idea of waiting too long, and allowing Ralun to have access not only to Tray, but to his Scribe. If he had them both, there might be no reason for Tray to remain, and no reason for him not to go with Ralun. She would lose Tray entirely.

  Sam wasn’t about to lose her brother, not like that, not for good. She would find a way to keep him safe, regardless of what it took.

  She knocked before quickly pushing the door open.

  The room was empty.

  Sam stormed back out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She hurried towar
d the princess’s quarters. If Elaine wasn’t in her rooms, the other place she might be would be with the princess, though since it was the middle of the day, it was possible she wouldn’t be there, either.

  At the princess’s quarters, Sam knocked, waiting.

  “Whose room is this?”

  “This is Princess Lyasanna’s room.”

  Alec paled.

  Sam knocked again. When the door opened, the princess looked out and glanced from Sam to Alec.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Elaine.”

  “I’m afraid your mother is not here. She is off on an assignment for me.”

  Sam breathed out heavily. If Elaine was gone, and on an assignment, it could mean that she was outside the city. There were times when she would be gone for days at a stretch before returning.

  They didn’t have that kind of time.

  “I need your help. We figured out who Marin’s Scribe is, and he has gotten away.”

  Princess Lyasanna pinched her mouth together. “What do you mean you figured it out? Did your mother ask you to do this?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then why would you have gone searching? You are still in training, are you not?”

  “I’m still in training,” Sam said. “But I also was the only one who had encountered him. We figured out a way to determine who he is.”

  “He would be a master physicker. We are well aware of that.”

  If they were aware, and if they were doing nothing, then Sam coming here would not change anything. Could they have hoped to use the Scribe to try to draw Marin out? It wouldn’t work, especially not since Tray had her—at least, he once had her. Sam no longer knew whether he did.

  It was time for a different type of question.

  “He told me that Tray is descended from the Anders.”

  Princess Lyasanna looked both directions down the hallway then grabbed Sam and dragged her into a room, motioning for Alec to follow.