Poisoned: The Book of Maladies Read online

  As her eyes adjusted, staring into the darkness, she realized what it was that she saw.

  A barge.

  It wasn’t a large one, but it moved swiftly, heading out and away from the city, venturing into the depths of the swamp.

  Could that be the merchant’s attacker? Could they have risked heading out across the swamp?

  If so, why would they have come this way? Unless it really had been the same man who had traded with the merchant to begin with. Unless he really had double-crossed him.

  Sam continued to gaze into the darkness until the shadowed form of the barge faded from view. When it was gone, she turned back, heading toward the palace. She had to tell someone what she had seen, but who? Elaine was gone, and she didn’t know anyone else in the palace well enough to share this with. If Alec were still accessible, she would have shared with him, but he was gone, too.

  Maybe she needed to find Bastan. But what could he do?

  She remained unsettled as she meandered through several sections of the city, before realizing where she was heading.

  Caster.

  It was almost as if her feet carried her of their own volition.

  She wound her way to Bastan’s tavern and slipped inside. She nodded to familiar faces that she came across before knocking on the back door.

  “He’s not there,” Kevin said.

  She turned. “Where is he?”

  “Out.”

  Sam frowned, staring at Kevin for a moment. “That’s all you’re going to give me?”

  “I’m not at liberty to share anything more than that.”

  “Come on, Kevin. Tell me where he went.”

  “It’s an assignment that he hasn’t involved me in.”

  Sam took a seat at one of the tables, and Kevin stared at her for a moment before heading into the kitchen and returning with a tray of food. She smiled at him as she dove into the tray of food that he offered. She wasn’t about to turn it down; Kevin was a good cook. The palace might have good food, but there was something about the cooking in Bastan’s tavern that simply tasted like home.

  When she was nearly done with her meal, the door to the tavern opened and Bastan entered. He surveyed the inside of the tavern quickly before his gaze settled on Sam, and he made his way to her table, taking a seat across from her. “All of a sudden you are visiting more often.”

  “I saw something I thought you should know about.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I’m not really sure.”

  “Why should I know about it?”

  Sam shrugged. “I’m not really sure.”

  Bastan leaned back in the chair and took a swig from the mug of ale that Kevin brought him. “You’re not giving me much to work with here, Samara.”

  “I followed a merchant.”

  “Whose job?”

  “Nobody’s job. I just thought it odd that a merchant would have nearly a dozen guards with him.” Bastan’s brow furrowed. “I trailed him into one of the outer sections, one that abuts the swamp.”

  “Why would a merchant venture there?”

  “I don’t know. But when he headed back toward his section, he was attacked. All of his guards. Him. Dead. Whatever he bought. Gone.”

  Bastan stiffened. “Did you see what happened?”

  “No. It happened too fast.”

  He arched a brow at her. “Too fast for you?”

  “There are things that I can’t do, Bastan.”

  “I wasn’t implying that there weren’t. I’m just saying that you are incredibly capable, Samara. What did you see?”

  “That’s just it. I didn’t see anything. I tried to track where the man’s cart went. I followed it back to where the merchant had purchased the goods, but there was no one there. Then I spotted a barge out in the swamp, but I couldn’t tell who was on it.

  He was silent, watching her for a moment. “Does this have anything to do with Marin?”

  Sam shook her head. “I don’t think so, but…”

  “But what?”

  “There was another merchant who went to the palace the other day, and the physicker I’ve been meeting with dismissed it when I asked about him.”

  “Why have you been meeting with a physicker?”

  “The princess and Elaine think the physicker can help me recover my memories. They believe that if she can, it will unlock something within me.”

  “Do you think you need that?”

  “I’ve lost ten years,” she said.

  “Have you? I’ve known you those ten years. You haven’t lost anything.”

  Sam stared at him, trying to decide if it was some sort of joke or not, before realizing that with Bastan, it wasn’t. “Fine. I didn’t lose those years, but I lost the years before that. Does that make you feel better?”

  “A little.”

  Sam glanced down at her tray and used the remaining hunk of bread to mop the gravy before stuffing it into her mouth. “Will you see what you can find out?”

  “Now you would direct me?”

  “I’m not directing you, but if there’s activity happening in the outer sections, it impacts you.”

  “I don’t control all of the outer sections.”

  “You control enough of them.”

  Bastan watched her for a long moment before nodding. “I’ll see what I can find out, but if it doesn’t have anything to do with Marin and what you’re after, I can’t promise that I will have much to share with you.”

  “Anything you can discover is more than I have now.”

  Bastan watched her for a moment before standing. He tapped the tabletop once, hesitating as if he wanted to say something, then meandered through rest of the tavern, stopping at several of the tables before disappearing into his office.

  Sam turned her attention back to the food, finishing off her meal. She hadn’t thought the merchant incident had anything to do with Marin, but could it?

  And if it did, what would Marin be after?

  10

  A Study Group

  Alec sat in the library, poring over the book that he’d pulled off the shelf, but his mind wasn’t on his studies. He wanted nothing more than to see Sam, to share with her what he’d been learning, but she had not come to the university. That had been their agreement and one she hadn’t fulfilled. When he’d tried going to her, he had failed.

  The other tables in the library were all full of students, and he was thankful that he had his own space, a booth that he could stay in, where he could be left alone with the books he’d borrowed.

  A figure appeared in front of him, and Alec looked up, expecting Beckah, but it wasn’t she. It was Stefan. He was a tall man and had a long face and gently sloped eyes that made him look like he was always a bit sad. “What are you studying?” Stefan asked.

  Alec glanced down at the book. “Our last lecture was on healing broken bones. I thought I would review the various types of splints that we’ve been taught.”

  Stefan smiled. “Do you need to study the splints? I thought your experience with your father had given you hands-on training.”

  It had, but there were different types of splints, for different types of injuries. Alec thought about the author and imagined he had a sort of fascination with injury. He described various fractures with a loving sort of detail.

  “The things I learned while with my father haven’t always been applicable,” Alec said.

  Stefan nodded to a chair and waited for Alec to give him permission before he took a seat. “No? I think from what I’ve seen, the things you know always seem to have some sort of applicability. It may be nontraditional, but it definitely seems to connect with the different masters. Especially with Eckerd.”

  Alec glanced down at his book. “I got lucky with Eckerd. I noticed the spots on the fingers and recalled something my father had once taught me.”

  “You don’t have to downplay it with me. I don’t have a problem with you being the smartest student the university has seen in a gener
ation.”

  “I’m not the smartest person in a generation,” Alec said.

  “No? That’s the way I hear you described by many of the masters.” He looked over at the book and shook his head. “Your father studied here?”

  “Apparently. I didn’t discover that until recently.”

  Stefan started to laugh before he seemed to realize that Alec wasn’t joking. “You didn’t know that he had studied here?”

  “No.”

  “And I suppose you didn’t know that he was once considered the brightest mind in his generation,” Stefan said.

  That Alec didn’t have a hard time believing. His father was a natural with healing, and his near-perfect memory made him even more skilled. “I didn’t know anything about my father’s training, or his time at the university. It’s not something he talks about often.”

  “I’ve been looking through the old rosters, and every time I come across your father’s name, there is another comment about how smart he was, or all the things that he knew, or even the fact that he managed to discover a new way of treating a specific injury.”

  There was a lot there for him to work through. “You’ve been reading through the rosters?”

  Stefan shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

  “Why?”

  “Most students have some connection to someone in the university. I thought I would see what yours was. Then when you said your father was an apothecary, I thought that maybe he wouldn’t have any connection to the university, but he does.”

  “What about you? Do you have a connection to the university?”

  Stefan flushed. “My grandmother. Master Helen.”

  Alec couldn’t help himself, he started to smile. “Master Helen is your grandmother?”

  “She is, but that doesn’t mean I get any sort of special treatment,” he said.

  Alec wasn’t surprised. Helen didn’t seem the sort to give anyone special treatment. She was well-known for being quite difficult. Alec had little experience with her so far, but the longer he stayed at the university, the more likely it would be that he would have some exposure to her.

  “I think, if anything, I’m a bit of a disappointment to Grandma Helen. She would much rather have someone like you in the family than me.”

  “I’m sure that’s not the case,” Alec said. “I’m sure she’s just happy that you’re here, and that you’re willing to study.”

  “You really haven’t had much time around Master Helen, have you?”

  Alec shrugged, grinning. “No. I really haven’t. Tell me more about your time with Grandma Helen, and what I should expect.”

  Stefan grinned. “You know, you’re nothing like your reputation.”

  Alec’s smile started to fade. “What reputation is that?”

  “I don’t know. Most people think that you’re too studious to have much of a sense of humor.”

  Alec chuckled. That was exactly what Beckah was working with him on to change. She wanted to ensure that he didn’t come across as too uptight and that he didn’t come off as unapproachable. He still wasn’t certain why she cared, but was glad that someone at the university cared about him, and cared about making certain that he fit in.

  “I’ve tried to hide it. I don’t want to overwhelm everybody with how amazing I am.”

  “And humble, too.”

  “It’s not easy to be humble when you’re as…” Alec shrugged, flushing slightly. As much as he wanted to come across with the same sort of cocky arrogance that he could have around Beckah, it just didn’t fit him around someone like Stefan. It didn’t fit him at all. He was studious. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with that, but he felt as if that tendency of his predisposed him to getting mocked by the other students.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Stefan said. “I’m just happy there’s someone here who can challenge some of the masters. Grandma Helen tells me that, too often, the masters will just go on dumping on us what they’ve done for years, and often they stop studying, and when they do, they stop learning.”

  “I think I would like your Grandma Helen,” Alec said.

  Stefan shrugged. “She’s not as bad as most claim she is.”

  “No? I heard a rumor that Master Helen made one of the junior students spend three straight weeks in the library trying to find an answer to a question that didn’t have an answer.”

  Stefan grinned. “You got to admit, that’s actually sort of funny. So many of the students are determined to impress the masters that they don’t stop and think of whether or not there actually is an answer to the question. With healing, there still are questions without answers.”

  “I am quite aware of that. My father loved nothing more than to make me look up illnesses that he knew had no known cure. I think it gave him a twisted sort of satisfaction.”

  “Either that, or he wanted you to get used to searching for questions that needed an answer.”

  “Isn’t this nice, two young students sitting at a table, getting along.”

  Alec looked up and saw Beckah approaching. She carried a stack of books, and he skimmed the titles, recognizing several of their most recent topics. He wondered what she would test him with this time.

  “You know, comments like that make me realize that you’re probably one of the two smartest students at our level,” Alec said to Stefan. “I realize there are others who wish they could be at our level, but they have to work too hard at it, and they just really aren’t as smart as they think they are.”

  Beckah took a seat and stuck her tongue out at him as she did.

  She grabbed the book from Stefan and pulled it toward her, turning it around so that she could look at the page. She scanned it, grinning slightly at Alec as she did, and made a face at him. “Why are you reading this?”

  Alec only shrugged. “I’ve got to stay ahead of you, don’t I?”

  Beckah grinned. “You do have to stay ahead of me, but I don’t see that happening. Especially if you keep grabbing books like this, those that have no bearing on what the masters are asking of us.”

  “The masters aren’t asking anything of us. All they want is for us to study. They’ve made no demands other than that.”

  Stefan leaned toward them and lowered his voice. “There’s a test at the end of the year. That’s how they determine whether we progress.”

  “What kind of a test?” Alec asked. He glanced from Stefan to Beckah and realized that both of them seemed to already know about the test. If they had family that were a part of the university, it made sense that they would know about it. That put him at a disadvantage. Even more than he already was, given that he came from his father’s apothecary.

  “It’s not one you have to worry about,” Stefan said. “You’ve already proven that you deserve to be here. I think even Master Eckerd will vouch for you, and he vouches for no one.”

  “What happens if we don’t pass the test?”

  Beckah and Stefan shared a glance.

  “Do they ask us to leave?” Alec asked.

  Beckah shrugged. “Nothing quite so terrible as that. Most of the time, they give the students longer to prove themselves. But there’s a stigma to it, and if you are one of the slower students, you’ll never progress far.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” Alec said.

  “That means that you would never be considered for full physicker level if you fail your first time. It means that any connections you hope to gain from your time at the university will be limited.”

  Alec glanced down at his journal containing his notes. He wasn’t entirely certain what he wanted from the university, but now that he was here, he wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

  He’d already invested himself, planning to devote himself to his studies, and had been almost fanatical about it, but maybe he hadn’t done enough.

  Beckah watched him, a worried expression on her face. “What is it, Alec?” she asked.

  Alec forced a smile and shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s… contin
ue with our studies.”

  11

  Neither Alive Nor Dead

  The lecture hall was dimly lit when Alec arrived. There was a medicinal odor in the air that seemed determined to mask something else, though he wasn’t entirely certain what it was. A single lantern was set at the front of the room, and he realized a cot was there, as well, with a person lying on it.

  He paused as he entered, glancing around the room briefly before his gaze settled on Beckah. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead, and Alec wondered if he’d missed an announcement, but their instructor for the day hadn’t yet arrived.

  He turned his attention back to the figure lying on the cot, looking to see any signs of why it was there. Often times, there were easy ways to determine what the masters wanted from them, but he couldn’t tell from here in this case. Was there an injury they were asked to assess? They had been studying injuries so it wouldn’t be surprising for their instructor to bring someone with an injury to them, but it was unusual to bring patients to class.

  Alec took a seat, not able to determine anything from a cursory glance. “What do you think we’re expected to see today?” Alec asked.

  Beckah shook her head and raised a finger to her lips. She tipped her head toward the far corner, and Alec looked over, realizing that their instructor was already here.

  Master Carl was a heavyset man, with an enormous gut that flowed over his pants, forcing him to belt them below his stomach. He was a stern master who was widely considered one of the brighter minds at the university, but he could be difficult and seemed to take particular joy in tormenting the students.

  After a few more minutes ticked by, Master Carl looked around and stepped forward. He clasped his hands behind his back, marched toward the cot, and stopped next to it. He slapped his hand down on the side of the cot, the sound drawing all eyes that might have been ignoring him before.