Poisoned: The Book of Maladies Read online

  “It’s nothing quite like that. He protected me when I still was learning my abilities, concealing me from an attack that sought to overpower me. It was before I truly understood what I was capable of doing. Without him, I would’ve been killed, and you would never have been here.”

  “Why won’t you tell me his name.”

  “His name no longer matters.”

  “What? It matters. How can it not? He was my father. I’d like to know where I came from.”

  “For his safety, I can’t tell you that.”

  Sam took another step back. “He’s… He’s alive?”

  Elaine inhaled deeply. “He lives.”

  “Does he know about me?”

  “I couldn’t tell him about you. Doing so put him—and you—in danger.”

  “Danger? Like the kind of danger that happened when Marin tried to kill you and managed to somehow abuse my memories in such a way that it made me forget my entire childhood? Forget you? The kind of danger that comes from living a life on the streets in Caster, trying to stay ahead of the palace guards, avoiding notice so that I can stay alive? That sort of danger?”

  “No. That’s the kind of danger that kept you alive. What I refer to is an ancient battle, one that has waged between the Thelns and the Kavers for many years. If I had not hidden you—and him—you would have been a target.”

  “You’re not hiding me now.”

  “Because they know about you now. You are a target. Regardless of anything else, you will remain a target. That’s why I am training you.”

  “Why only now? If I have this ability, why wouldn’t you want me to use it? Why wouldn’t you want me to be able to protect myself, and help others?”

  Elaine fixed her with an unreadable expression. “Because I didn’t want another one to die.”

  “Another what?”

  “Another child of the Kavers,” she said softly. “Too many have been lost over the years. It was a mistake getting pregnant. I knew it, but I loved your father.”

  “Loving him doesn’t mean that you abandon him when he’s in danger.”

  “Abandon? Is that what you think I’ve done?”

  “I honestly don’t know what I think,” Sam said. Some of the anger had been extinguished, partly because she struggled with Elaine’s rationale. “Why not keep your Scribe safe, use augmentations on the Scribes?”

  “Scribes have some capacity to receive what you refer to as augmentations, but they don’t have the same innate gifts that allow them to use them the same way.”

  “That’s not the only reason, though, is it?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

  “I fear that telling you will leave you believing you need to do something dangerous.”

  “I think I’ve done a few dangerous things.”

  “Which is exactly my concern.”

  “At least tell me why I need to be concerned about Alec,” she said.

  Elaine glanced back at the door to the palace, before settling her gaze on Sam and shaking her head. “Scribes are particularly attuned to the dark magic used in the Book of Maladies. You’ve seen that yourself.”

  “You mean when the princess was attacked?”

  “Yes. Such as then. Scribes, by their very nature, are at risk. Thelns capture all Scribes that they can and use their abilities. Why do you think so many Scribes have been lost?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t know much about the Scribes, other than my own. Alec doesn’t seem particularly at risk, but I don’t want him to be in danger.”

  “He won’t be, not if he stays at the university. The university was established as an option to counter the Theln magic.”

  “What of you? Don’t you worry about your Scribe?”

  Elaine fixed her with a hard expression. “Every day.” She started to turn before catching herself. “Continue your studies. Continue to work with the physicker and see what Helen can uncover. She is a skilled physicker, and we have much faith in her ability to uncover what you need to know.”

  Sam swallowed and nodded. What else could she do?

  She was caught up in something different from anything she had ever imagined. When she learned from Marin about the Thelns, she had begun to fear their ability to hurt her. That had been bad enough, especially when she didn’t think there was anything she could do to counter their power. They had poison that could kill her. Somehow, she and Alec had managed to overwhelm it. She had survived, and they had pushed out the Theln attack in the city before it became anything greater.

  And they had done it untrained. Shouldn’t that have given her a chance to get the attention of the princess sooner? Shouldn’t they have brought her in, and offered to help her learn her abilities sooner than they had? Instead, they had not come to her until Sam had begun tracking the princess.

  Sam watched as Elaine disappeared behind the door into the palace. She wanted to help, but it seemed as if those who she could help didn’t want her help.

  All she could do was devote herself to her training.

  And she needed to find Alec. She felt empty having not seen him for so long. They’d already learned that they needed to stay better connected, and when they weren’t, both of them felt off.

  Maybe she needed to discover another source of easar paper, as well. That way, they could continue to practice. Elaine had not revealed her source of paper and had bristled the few times Sam had attempted to find out where it was stored. She knew it was in short supply, but there had to be a way to replicate the process, didn’t there? If the Thelns could manufacture it, why couldn’t they?

  If they could find the secret to creating the paper, maybe they wouldn’t have to rely on the source of it outside the city, stealing from the Thelns and attracting even more of their attention. Already, it seemed as if the Thelns were focused on the city, and as she considered what Elaine had shared with her, she thought it might be more than what the Kavers could withstand.

  Had Sam developed enough skill to face them?

  That might be the worst part.

  She didn’t think that she had. Luck would only carry her so far, and it was possible that she wouldn’t continue to have the same luck.

  And then what?

  13

  The Training Continues

  Sam spun her canal staff, and it whistled through the air with the movement. She’d gotten faster with it over the last few days and managed to strike Thoren twice during their spar. Each time she had, she’d grinned with a vicious excitement, hoping to get past his defenses. He might not be a Kaver, and might not be enhanced, but he was still wickedly fast with the staff, and she considered any time that she managed to get through his defenses a victory.

  Thoren spun, and Sam twisted to counter. As she did, she discovered he wasn’t where she expected, and she swung at empty air. His staff smacked on her arm, then her back, and she staggered forward, dropping her canal staff.

  Sam cursed under her breath, hating losing the staff, but it was better losing to Thoren than to Elaine. At least Thoren didn’t seem to take the same satisfaction in beating her that Elaine did. He was mostly interested in working with her, and teaching, and she appreciated that about him.

  “You have to get up quickly if you fall,” he said.

  “I’m trying, but I don’t think my hand will work.”

  Thoren grunted, and his staff caught her on the backside again.

  Sam swore again to herself and scrambled forward, grabbing her staff and swinging it around in a low arc.

  Thoren jumped, easily missing her attack, and swung down at her, pinning her staff to the ground. “If you’re too slow grabbing your staff, you’ll be easily defeated.”

  He lifted his staff, letting her grab hers, and she jumped back to her feet, stepping into the ready posture that he had demonstrated for her. He waited, letting her attack first, and she feinted forward, before stepping back, slipping back again, and whistling her staff around in a short arc
that caught him on his shoulder.

  His grunt was the only acknowledgment she had that she’d gotten to him.

  He spun and managed to sweep the staff out of her hands.

  Sam jumped toward it, not wanting to let it get too far from her. Thoren was nothing if not annoyed if she failed to learn from her lessons.

  She grabbed the staff and came up in a roll. As she did, she brought it back around, reacting to movement in the air that signaled his staff neared her. They connected with a sharp snap that reverberated throughout the practice grounds.

  Thoren chuckled. “Good. You’re getting better at anticipating. Elaine suspected that you would have an ability similar to hers,” he said.

  “And what ability is that?”

  “There aren’t too many who can anticipate and react to attacks. If you’re anything like Elaine, there’s a subtle sensation she seems to manage that allows her to react even when she can’t see the attack coming. If you have anything similar to that, you will be skilled with the staff.”

  Sam could only nod. She wanted to be more effective when fighting with the canal staff, but so far, she didn’t feel as if she had anything near Elaine’s ability. Her mother managed to flip and leap, leaving Sam staring after her, struggling to react.

  “Now you need to work on your aerial response.”

  “My aerial response?”

  “You’re fighting with the staff. That does not require that you remain on the ground. There are times when it’s better to get above the action so that you can gain a different perspective.”

  To demonstrate, Thoren planted his staff into the hard-packed earth and flipped up, balancing briefly at the peak before dropping back down. He did it again, this time, spinning in a lazy circle, suspended high over her head as he did.

  Sam was reminded of how Elaine had used the staff to flip over her, but what Thoren was demonstrating was somehow a little different.

  “You have to be careful with this technique, as you are placed in a precarious position with it, but it can be advantageous.”

  Sam jabbed her canal staff into the ground and flipped up, attempting to hold her position.

  Her momentum carried her up and over, leaving her to tumble to the ground, her breath forced from her lungs as she hit the hard ground. She got up slowly and tried again. This time when she flipped, she tried to hold her balance, trying to maintain a connection to the position and managed to remain in place for a heartbeat at most. It might’ve been even less, but she had succeeded.

  “Good. That is something you need to practice. It’s all a part of balance. If you manage to succeed in acquiring a sense of balance, you can use it to your advantage.” He kicked his legs up and suspended himself vertically, his head facing down, and bounced on the end of his staff.

  Sam would not have expected the staff to support his weight in such a way, and it flexed slightly, but not nearly as much as she thought it would. He hopped again, and when the staff came down, it flexed, and as it straightened, Thoren flipped up, pulling his staff from the ground and swinging toward her.

  Sam had barely a chance to react. She brought her staff up, protecting her head moments before his staff would have collided with her skull.

  She flipped the ends of her staff, catching him on the wrist, and he grinned at her.

  “Good. Always remain alert.”

  “It seems to me that balancing like you’re trying to demonstrate would put me in a difficult situation. If someone hits the staff while I’m suspended like that, wouldn’t I fall?”

  “Everything comes back to needing to maintain awareness of your surroundings. You need to keep your eyes open, observe everything, and anticipate ways you may need to react. Once you manage that, you will be truly difficult to stop.” He tapped his staff on the ground, a gesture that Sam had discovered meant the lesson was over and bowed at the waist toward her. “You should practice. We will meet again tomorrow.”

  Thoren left her alone in the practice yard. Sam attempted the flipping several more times, but each time, she managed to hold herself upright for only a moment, never much longer than that. She wasn’t certain if that meant progress, or if she should simply abandon her attempts. She’d found that when something didn’t connect for her, a technique that she struggled to master, leaving it for a while would often give her a chance to let her mind approach it differently. Maybe this was one of those times.

  It was also possible that she simply needed rest. She was exhausted from working with Thoren, and her body ached from dozens of injuries, most of which would take time to heal. How would she fare if she had augmentations?

  Yet she understood the need to master fighting without the benefit of being augmented. They had variable durations, depending on the ratio of blood used by both Scribe and Kaver, as well as the technique used in recording the planned augmentation. Thankfully, Alec was nothing if not diligent in how detailed he was with his documentation, recording the amounts of blood they used, and making diligent notes about the various ways they had tried to use it.

  After a few more attempts to improve on the technique Thoren had shown her, she broke down her staff and tucked it away.

  She glanced up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. It was still early in the day. Days like today, she had few other responsibilities. She no longer had to want for food, clothing, or her overall safety, not as she once had. The princess had assigned her various tasks, but most of them revolved around learning to fight, and there were precious few that involved her using her mind, or trying to master the other skills of a Kaver, though Sam wasn’t exactly sure what they were. Maybe they didn’t involve her in such studies because they didn’t think much of her capacity.

  More than anything, she wanted to see Alec. They had been separated for long enough. Since running into Elaine days ago, she hadn’t seen her again, either. Sam suspected she left the city once again, getting the sense that she did so frequently, which was probably part of the reason that years had passed without Sam gaining her attention.

  She grabbed her cloak from where she’d hung it near the entrance to the yard and slung it over her shoulders. She departed the palace grounds, reaching the bridge and nodding to the soldiers monitoring it, before getting waved through. As she always did, she contemplated simply jumping the canal. That might be more enjoyable to do, giving her a chance to flex her skills with the staff, but taking the bridge was a more surefire way of remaining dry and not drawing anyone’s attention.

  The Forlain section adjacent to the palace was comprised entirely of highborns. It was a section with countless massive estates. Sam had always avoided it in the past because when traveling through this part of the city, it was difficult to avoid notice. Now, she had the proper paperwork that made getting between the sections quite easy.

  Sam hurried along the street, heading toward the next section of the city, and decided she wanted to jump the canal. Marin had demonstrated jumping the canals with minimal run up, and had done so without any augmentation, a skill that she thought she should work on, as well. It was not always straightforward for her, and usually she required more of a run before she could leap, but Marin had done it with only a single step. If she was to confront Marin, she would have to learn to mimic what the woman was capable of. Then again, if it were up to Elaine, they wouldn’t allow her the chance to confront Marin.

  She backed up two steps and lunged forward, leaping at the last possible second, stabbing her staff into the middle of the canal and flipping up and over the water. She teetered on the edge, nearly falling in, but caught herself and pulled the staff free.

  Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she collected herself. She didn’t need to jump the canals, so why was she risking it? She had no desire to end up in the water, and no desire to face the damned eels, bloodthirsty things that they were, regardless of what the physicker claimed.

  Yet there was a certain thrill in jumping the canals, one that she didn’t get from anything else that s
he did.

  She continued along the waterfront, heading toward the university section. She could see it from where she was now, barely two sections over, which meant two more canals to jump. At the next one, she challenged herself by taking only a single step and pushed off with even more force than she had before.

  She landed barely a foot within the shoreline.

  Sam grinned to herself and hurried on, racing toward the university. She was determined to see Alec tonight and determined to do so dry. The next canal—the one with the university on the other side of it—was one of the widest in the city. Strangely, according to the map that she had in her head, the university was situated toward the center of the city, rather than closer to the palace as would otherwise make sense. The canal around the palace was wide, but not nearly as wide as what was found around the university.

  She’d attempted to jump this before and failed. And she’d attempted to jump it with augmentation and succeeded. Did she risk it now?

  If she did and failed, she would have to go to Alec sopping wet. She suspected even with her papers that the university would not grant her access. The alternative was taking her papers to the guards, but that meant admitting that she needed her access, that she needed the connection that she now had to the princess. That meant that she had truly allowed herself to become highborn.

  Lowborns didn’t use papers to travel between sections—certainly not to the university section. They were forced to travel at specific times and given only very specific access.

  Sam stared at the canal, watching the eddying current. There were only a few things that made the current move like that.

  She shivered. How could others claim there were no eels in the canal? Sam had felt them. And she had no interest in joining the eels or becoming their snack, but she wanted to see Alec, which meant that she would have to use the stupid bridge and the papers that the princess supplied to her.

  Sam marched along the bridge, reaching into her cloak for the documents that she’d been given. She swore under her breath, hating that it came to this, hating that she had come to this, but recognizing that what she did was necessary if she wanted to see her Scribe. How else could she do it?