Read Beyond the Boundary Stones (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 3) for Free Online Page B

your children healthy if they’re starving.”
    A hostile grumble answered him. The man clutched Garla and scowled at Elkan. “Do you know how dear meat is? And milk!” He laughed bitterly. “Believe me, wizard, we wouldn’t be living in the Beggars’ Quarter if we could afford to eat like aristocrats.”
    Elkan bit his lip. He looked around at the guards and pointed at the young one they’d healed. “You! What sorts of food are cheap and easily available at the market?”
    The young guard jumped and looked from Elkan to the surrounding crowd, who hung on every word. “Ah… bread, like he said. Yams, turnips. Cabbage, lentils, onions—”
    “Lentils,” Elkan said. “That will do.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Buy your sister lentils and make sure she feeds them to her children at least a few times a week.”
    The man spit over the side of the carriage. “Only pigs and Dualists eat lentils.” At Elkan’s cold stare, the man deflated, clutching Garla close. “Are you sure that will keep them from getting sick?”
    The crowd leaned close to hear Elkan’s reply. He sighed. “It will help. They’ll still get sick sometimes, just not as often or as severely.”
    A low murmur ran through the crowd. Josiah thought it sounded discontented, even hostile. These people had dreamed of wizards working miracles. And when one really came, he told them to eat lentils. No wonder they weren’t happy.
    Yet, looking around, Josiah saw a lot of children with the same puffy cheeks and bellies as Garla. If their parents listened, and Elkan was right that lentils would provide what they lacked and improve their resistance to disease, his words might very well be a bigger miracle than all the flashy displays of the Mother’s power the two of them could produce.
    A bent old woman in the crowd shook a gnarled fist at Elkan. Josiah recognized the effects of crippling arthritis. She must suffer constant pain. “Lentils won’t cure this, wizard!”
    “Nor this!” A man thrust an arm covered in open sores toward the carriage. Others took up the cry, displaying or describing their ailments. Their voices became a roar. They shoved toward the carriage until the guards could barely hold them back.
    “Stop!” Elkan shouted. Tobi sent a burst of golden light flaring from his hand. The crowd quieted and fell back.
    “Is anyone else near death?” Elkan asked. The people in the crowd looked at each other. Most of them turned away with shrugs and abashed looks. In a few scattered places, wildly waving hands or frantic cries sought his attention.
    “Those who are, come forward. The rest of you, go home. My apprentice and I will return tomorrow morning and begin addressing your needs. We’ll see the most severe cases first. Those with minor problems will be turned away, so save your effort and let your neighbors who are truly suffering come first. But I promise, we’ll help as many as we are able, to the full extent of what’s possible with the Mother’s power.”
    Elkan breathed heavily as the crowd stirred and started to break up. He pressed his hand into Tobi’s head and watched as the handful of desperate cases worked their way forward.
    Gevan leaned toward him with a scowl. “It’s dangerous to promise them what you won’t be able to give. I doubt the Matriarch will permit you to return, certainly not as soon as tomorrow. There could be riots.”
    Elkan whirled on him. “I don’t take orders from the Matriarch. I’m here to save the people of Tevenar from starvation, but her people are going hungry while she sends shiploads of food across the sea to buy herself a child. If she dares speak one word against Josiah and I offering our services to those her incompetent governance has harmed, she can go to the end of the line and wait her turn like everyone else.” He dug his fingers into the fur at the nape of Tobi’s neck. “It’s stretching the Law to the breaking point as it is to place her needs first.”
    Gevan