Josiah could hardly perceive anything else, the infection was so overwhelming. “Yes, sir. It feels like cold porridge.”
Elkan gave a mirthless snort. “It does, doesn’t it. That’s the immediate problem.” He turned to the man. “It’s called pneumonia. Her lungs are infected, and it’s causing fluid to build up. It probably started as a simple cold, then the complication set in.”
The man stared at the girl, hope and fear warring in his face. “Can you heal her?”
Elkan smiled, but Josiah thought it was grimmer than his usual expression. “From this sickness, yes. Josiah, will you take care of it?”
“Right away, master.” Sar shifted the flow of power from observation to active healing. If Josiah concentrated, he could feel tiny prickles of alien life in the infected lung. They sped to the end of their lives in seconds and died. The girl’s body, its natural healing abilities accelerated by the glow of the Mother’s power, cleared away the damaged tissue and built healthy new structures. In only a few minutes her lungs were clear and functioning normally. At Josiah’s urging Sar spread the Mother’s power through the rest of the girl’s body, clearing it of any lingering invaders and spurring it to optimum health.
But long after the rush of golden light should have done its work, Josiah still felt a vague wrongness. His brow furrowed as he sought its source. “Elkan, there’s something else, and it’s not getting better. It feels like there’s extra fluid”—He searched his memory until he found the correct term—“edema, right? In her arms and legs, and her belly, too. We can move it out, but it keeps trying to come back. And her liver’s got something strange going on.”
“Deposits of fat,” Elkan told him. “Just a few right now, but it will get worse if nothing’s done.”
“Why isn’t the Mother’s power fixing it?” Josiah bit back a protest as Sar ended the flow of power. If it hadn’t healed her already, there must be a reason. More wouldn’t help.
“It can only work with what’s there.” Elkan addressed the man, who was stroking the girl’s fever-free face in wonder. “She doesn’t get enough to eat, does she?”
The man snorted. “None of us do.” Then he broke into a marveling grin as the girl squirmed up to throw her arms around his neck with a giggle. “Dear Mother, wizard! She’s well!”
“As well as we can make her. But she’ll be vulnerable to getting sick again as long as she remains undernourished. Are you her father?”
The man hugged her and shook his head. “Her mother was my cousin. She died when Garla was nine months old. Whatever man sired her was long gone. Since then she’s been passed around the family. For the last month my sister’s been keeping her, but she’s got four of her own that have to come first, so she’ll send her elsewhere soon.” He looked away. “She’ll likely end up on the street eventually.”
Elkan swallowed. Josiah blinked. How could they allow that to happen to a child? At home her kinguild would find her a safe home if her parents couldn’t or wouldn’t take care of her. There must not be anything like that here.
Elkan fixed the man with his hardest stare. “Are you willing to assume responsibility for her?”
The man looked taken aback. “I can’t keep a child. I work sunup to sundown at the docks.”
“But can you take it upon yourself to make sure she gets food?”
He shrugged defensively. “I buy bread for my sister with my wages.”
“That’s not enough. She needs milk, or meat, or eggs, or perhaps beans of some sort. I expect the rest of your sister’s children do, too.” Elkan looked around at the watchful crowd and raised his voice. “That goes for all of you. The Mother’s power can’t make 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 gaped at him. Before he could speak, the first cluster of frantic people reached the carriage. A pale woman sagged between the older woman and young man supporting her. The man swept her up in his arms and staggered toward Elkan. “Please, wizard. My wife had a stillbirth three days ago and now she’s far gone with womb fever. Can you save her?”
Gevan gulped and sat down hard. As Elkan extended a welcoming hand and assured the man that the Mother’s power could deal with the infection, Josiah shot a questioning look at Kev
essa.
Kevessa, too, looked disturbed. She petted Nina with one hand while the other flexed and clenched, as if it were a great strain to hold back a flood of golden light. She gave Josiah a half-smile, her eyes shadowed. “My mother died of womb fever.”
Oh, yeah, she’d told him that. Well, this woman wouldn’t die. They got cases like hers every now and then in the Mother’s Hall, and they were easy to cure. “It’s all right,” he assured Kevessa. “She’ll be fine.”
Kevessa ducked her head. “I want to help,” she whispered. “What good does it do to have the Mother’s power if we can’t use it? There’s so much need. You and Elkan can’t handle it alone.”
“It’s just for a little while.” Josiah patted her hand. Before he could say anything else, another group pushed out of the crowd. The man in the center was gaunt-cheeked and pale. His breath came in ragged wheezes. Josiah grabbed for Sar and called, “We’ve got this one, Elkan.”
Elkan glanced up from where he was concentrating on the golden glow surrounding the woman’s lower abdomen, gave a distracted nod, and bent back to his work.
Josiah climbed down from the carriage and had the guards clear a space on the ground so the man could lie down. The friends accompanying him described how he’d become weaker and weaker over the past few months, his breathing growing more and more labored.
The problem jumped out at Josiah as soon as Sar sent the Mother’s power flowing through the man’s body. There was a big tumor in one lung, intruding into his windpipe so much Josiah was surprised he could still breathe at all.
Josiah settled into a more comfortable position as Sar started reversing the thing’s growth. Tumors were fairly straightforward to deal with, but they took a lot of energy. Especially when they’d spread to other parts of the body, as this one likely had. It would take a while to get everything put back to normal.
At least an hour passed before Josiah pulled his stiff hand from Sar’s back and shook sweaty curls out of his eyes. He breathed hard as the man sat up, put a wondering hand to his chest, and joined his friends in exclamations of joy.
Back at the Mother’s Hall in Elathir Josiah would have taken a long break after such a difficult healing. But there were a half-dozen more people waiting, and Elkan was deeply engaged with a child in its mother’s arms. Josiah rubbed his eyes and beckoned for the next patient to be brought over.
Kevessa appeared at his side and pressed a leather flask into his hands. “Here’s water. Some of the guards went to get food.”
Josiah gulped thirstily, then held the flask for Sar. It was awkward, but they managed to get a fair amount of liquid into the donkey’s mouth. Josiah gave the empty flask back to Kevessa and knelt beside the next patient, a woman covered with bruises in various stages of healing. One eye was swollen and dark. She blinked at Josiah without seeming to see him, then turned away and closed her eyes.
A lanky teenage girl shifted from foot to foot and glanced around nervously. “She—fell. And hit her head. It happened during the night. She’s been woozy all day and keeps falling asleep in the middle of whatever she’s doing.”
Josiah felt sick. It was obvious the woman had been badly beaten, and not for the first time, either. He started to insist the girl tell him the truth, but caught himself. What good would that do? The girl was clearly terrified of whoever had done it.
He turned back to the woman, to find that Kevessa had sunk to the ground and gathered the woman’s head into her lap. Nina perched on her shoulder, leaning against her neck. She shot Josiah an anxious smile. “Do you think her brain is swelling the way Elkan’s did?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Kevessa was taking a big chance, but he had to admit he would be glad of her help. “Hold her head still while we look.”
He hovered his hands over the woman’s face and Sar sent gold light flowing to envelop her head. More joined it from where Kevessa’s hands supported her. He hoped any onlooker would be oblivious to her involvement.
Sure enough, the tissues of the woman’s brain were badly swollen. Blood pooled under the spot where a blunt object had impacted her skull, and pressure was building to dangerous levels. Josiah let Kevessa and Nina take the lead in the healing. It was clear they remembered the techniques they'd used to save Elkan after the assassin Tharan had injured him. Nina eased the excess fluid away before beginning to repair the damage. Sar added his and Josiah’s strength after the most delicate portion was complete, and the rest of the healing was accomplished quickly.
A quick scan of the rest of the woman’s body revealed numerous partially healed wounds, including several broken ribs. Josiah would have set the Mother’s power to work on them, but Sar demurred. We need to save our energy. They’ll heal on their own.
Reluctantly Josiah conceded that he was right. He waited until Kevessa’s light faded before pulling his hands away. The girl helped the woman to her feet. The girl was happy, but not overjoyed the way others whose family members had been healed were. The woman just seemed resigned.
Josiah leaned close to them and spoke in a low voice. “Who do we need to report this to?” At home the Watch would take the man responsible into custody. “If evidence is needed, we can open a window to show the appropriate authority what happened.”
The woman looked at him blankly, the girl with scornful anger. “Authority?” the girl said. “No one cares if some Beggars’ Quarter brute takes out his rage on his woman.” She scowled, and glanced around again. “But that’s not what happened. She fell.”
“Yes, wizard,” the woman said in a low voice. “Please don’t say anything different. We need him. My children have to eat.”
Josiah bit his lip and glanced at Kevessa. She met his gaze with troubled eyes. Then her eyes moved behind him, and she plastered an empty smile across her features.
Josiah turned to see a large man with a jagged scar across his cheek push out of the crowd. Kevessa addressed the woman in a bright, cheerful voice. “The wizard’s healing should help with the clumsiness you’ve been experiencing. But remember, it’s worth lighting a lamp when you have to get up at night. A few pennies worth of oil can save you a lot of pain.”
“If we’ve got the pennies to spare.” The woman turned to the man. “Look, Rone. The wizard fixed the bump on my head from where I fell.”
Rone grabbed her arm. “That was far too small a hurt to bother the wizards with,” he growled. “Next time leave them to care for those who really need it.” He nodded curtly to Josiah. “Our thanks, wizard.” He dragged the woman away. The girl hunched her shoulders and followed.
Josiah rounded on Kevessa in a whisper. “What was that about? You made it sound like we believed them!”
Kevessa glared at him, though her mouth remained fixed in a smile. “It was the best I could do. If he thought we knew the truth, he’d beat her more.”
Josiah clenched his fists. “There’s got to be someone who can help her.”
Kevessa sighed. “This isn’t Tevenar.” She turned to the next waiting patient.
No, it wasn’t. As Josiah worked with Kevessa on the rest of the desperate cases, he couldn’t escape that truth. He’d wanted so badly to see what lay outside the small, safe world he’d been born to. But now he was here, he wanted nothing more than to go home.
He’d steeled himself to face people dealing with the ravages of things only the Mother’s power could heal. But he’d never dreamed he’d see so much suffering that could have been relieved without the Mother’s power.
Two, or even three, wizards could have only a small impact on the first sort of problem. But if the people and government of Ramunna weren’t already trying to deal with the second sort, Josiah feared the wizards could do nothing about them at all.
Four
The Matriarch glared at Elkan. “I expect to be obeyed. You were ordered to attend me immediately, not linger on the road. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Elkan met her gaze with equal anger. “I answer only to the Mother.
She doesn’t permit me to ignore those in urgent need of her power. If you can’t accept that, my apprentice and I will be glad to excuse ourselves and take up residence elsewhere while we devote our energies to healing those whose lives are in danger.” The disdainful sweep of his eyes up and down the Matriarch’s obviously well-fed and vigorous body made it clear she didn’t fall into that category.
Josiah wished Elkan would take a more conciliatory tone. Or at least leave Josiah out of it. They were surrounded by dozens of the Matriarch’s soldiers, and more guarded the doors of the grand audience chamber. If she had a mind to, she could order the wizards seized and imprisoned. Though Sar pressed close to his side, he didn’t think the Mother’s power could hold off the many guards with their deadly weapons for long. And if they managed to separate him from the donkey, they’d both be helpless.
The Matriarch’s eyes narrowed. “You’d forfeit the agreement Ambassador Gevan made with you.”
Elkan didn’t back down, but his attitude became less belligerent. “I’ll only do so if I have no other choice. I’m ready to see your majesty now. No matter how severe your difficulties, treating you won’t take all our time and energy. As long as you don’t seek to prevent us from serving the people of Ramunna as the Mother commands us to serve all in need, there’s no reason we can’t both get what we want.”
The Matriarch studied him for a long moment. Abruptly she gestured toward a door behind her. “Very well. I don’t care what you do when you’re not attending me. If you choose to gift the people of Ramunna with the Mother’s power, why should I object? As long as you spare no effort towards achieving our primary goal, you have my permission to heal whoever else you wish.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” Elkan inclined his head to her. “As agreed, I’ll examine you now. But also as agreed, I expect you to order the shipments of food for Tevenar to be sent immediately, regardless of what I find.”
She regarded him for a moment, then nodded briskly. “Ambassador Gevan, you have the documents detailing the payment for Master Elkan’s services?”
Beyond the Boundary Stones (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 3) Page 4