42
To his credit, Karsten was there to see them off. He indicated a pile of oilskins by his front portal. “A storm is coming in from the sea. You would be advised to carry these, unless your plans require you to return soaking wet.”
Alembord asked, “Your house emblem is not to be found on them?”
“Credit me with a minimum of intelligence.” Karsten indicated a wooden wheelchair waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “This was my late mother’s. It should serve you well enough.”
Dally quailed at the attention this would draw her way. But Edlyn said, “This is perfect. Again, our thanks.”
“Weapons are expected of house guards these days.” He pointed to the long staves stacked along the front wall. “These are the sort of pikes used by most city militia. You’re certain you know where to find my family’s healer?”
“I was stationed here for five summers,” Alembord replied.
“House Laman.”
“The count was a good man, and a friend.” Karsten’s scowl deepened as a line of empty wagons and carriages trundled through his front gates. A dozen household guards were saddling horses as Gert stomped about the side yard and shouted at all who came within range. Karsten said, “It is a shame I am now forced to share his ignoble fate.”
Dally cut off any response Alembord might have made by stepping between them. “I and the next queen of the realm offer our heartfelt thanks.”
His gaze remained locked upon the pending departure from his home and heritage. “And I’ll thank you not to make this peril to myself and my family a vain effort.”
The healer used by the banker’s family was located at the point where the city began its northern curve around the harbor. As they left Karsten’s compound, Alembord explained that the physician’s location was ideal, as it granted them a reason to walk through the city’s heart. The chair’s wheels squeaked and clattered and announced their passage to everyone within hearing range. They took the most direct line, which kept them to fairly crowded lanes. They crossed a small market where some of the stalls were already closing down, as though racing the sunset. They were inspected by a number of patrols and household militia. Some glances were given to the size of Dally’s team, but even this was not too unusual for such fearsome times.
The healer used by Karsten’s clan was a potbellied man who clearly cared very little for his appearance. He wore a formal shirt whose right sleeve was stained with ink and a broad belt that did nothing to keep his gut under control. He peered at Dally from beneath a bird’s nest of cotton-white hair. She liked him at first sight. His home was cheerful, the two apprentices who served him intelligent and anxious to please.
His inspection lasted all of ten minutes. “Wasting disease,” he declared.
Edlyn was the only one of their group who had accompanied Dally into the healer’s quarters. “You are certain?”
“No question. None whatsoever.”
“And a cure?”
“None that work, madam. Nor even that might offer a small hope.”
“We were told otherwise.”
“One of those hawkers by the outer gates, no doubt.” He made a note in his ledger, then used his cuff to blot the notations dry. “The healers they serve mix potions with gold dust and rare herbs. They bleed their patients and insist on daily steam baths in chambers filled with noxious odors from burning weeds. All this does no good whatsoever. A number of my unscrupulous colleagues have grown rich as a result of this disease.”
Dally asked, “The ailment is widespread?”
“I see a dozen patients like you each day, my lady. More, now that the hill roads are free from the threat of snow.”
“Do you know of anyone who has been healed?”
“Not even among those who have the gold and the influence to visit the royal family’s own physicians. No doubt you heard that the Port Royal healers possess secret magical powers. I am sorry, my lady. I can offer something to ease discomfort. Nothing more.”
Dally persisted, “Have you ever known an illness before when no one recovers?”
“No. And that’s a mystery, I do admit.”
Edlyn said, “So there’s nothing you can do.”
“We do not even know what it is, nor where it comes from, nor why it chose this particular time to attack. This city is as clean as it has ever been. There is no infestation of rats. Nor any ailment brought upon a plague ship. The water supply has been deemed pure. The air, the flocks . . .” He used both hands to sweep back his hair, leaving a blue stain upon his forehead. “I dread the numbers of hopeless cases that will arrive with the high summer. I’ve heard some towns now hold more afflicted than healthy.”
“And yet some regions remain untouched.”
“Aye, so I’ve seen with my own eyes. One town is filled with people who can scarcely drag themselves through another day, and the next contains not a single afflicted. They claim it’s because of better air, lives better lived, they claim this, they claim that. I think . . .” The healer paused.
“Go on,” Dally urged. “Please.”
“There’s a few ancient texts that speak of regions protected by convexes of hidden powers. Orb havens, they were called. What that means, I have no idea. But there are towns and even whole regions that remain untouched by the scourge.”
“Orb havens,” Edlyn murmured. “Now that is truly a marvel.”
Dally asked, “What happens to such as me?”
The doctor’s eyes glittered birdlike beneath his unruly hair. “My lady, it is not pleasant.”
“I want to know.”
“Very well, then, I will tell you. The plague’s name says it all. The afflicted waste away.” His expression was grave and sympathetic both. “The body’s energy gradually slips out, as though it’s sucked from the body. Some endure great pain, others none at all. Some have fevers, others . . .”
“Lie down and do not get up,” Dally said, thinking of Hyam.
“Those who remain conscious lose all interest in food. They must be forced to even swallow liquids. And yet they do not die. They become half alive, entering a state that is neither asleep nor awake.” He shrugged his confusion. “And then there are the most curious of all. Some of the afflicted begin to act and speak in a manner that is entirely different from anything they have ever done before.”
“Angry,” Dally said, thinking of the Ashanta elders. “Hostile. Treating others as though they were enemies.”
“You have witnessed this?”
“From a distance, yes.”
“This manner of affliction seems mostly to attack those in power, which is worrisome indeed.”
Dally caught Edlyn’s hand signal and said, “Thank you, good sir. You have been as helpful as possible, and more honest than most.”