The Seventh Magic (Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

shortest route to a serviceable wagon and team of horses, Madra of Far Rossing was already tired.
    "We're not hauling all this stuff ourselves, right?" Chelby asked while hooking up both horses.
    "Of course not. But if you happen to be negotiating for large quantities of food, you might as well fill your own wagon on the cheap."
    Chelby laughed. "Knowing you, they'll pay us to fill the wagon." He turned serious then. "Do you remember the last time we filled the wagon?"
    "Oh, I remember."
    "Do you think we could negotiate for some help unloading?" Chelby asked, looking hopeful.
    "And by unloading, I assume you mean carrying it all the way to the root cellar?"
    Chelby nodded.
    "We'll see," Madra said as only a mother could.
    "It's not like Medrin will be there to help!"
    Both quieted as they turned along the wagon trail leading to Mackey's place.
    "Oh, look! Madra has come. And she's brought her wagon!" Mackey shouted from the barn doorway. Young Jarn peeked from the hayloft.
    "And two horses, pa!" Jarn added.
    "You are a little predictable," Chelby said with a laugh.
    "A wise boy is a quiet boy," Madra said. Chelby laughed again. He was most certainly her son.
    "What do you need a wagonload of today?" Mackey asked, grinning.
    "She probably needs it real bad, pa! Real bad."
    "Not a wise boy to be seen," Chelby muttered.
    Madra ignored them and walked into the barn. Mackey followed. Chelby stayed outside to play ball with Jarn.
    "What have you got that's for sale?" Madra asked.
    "All of it is for sale. Or at least enough to fill that wagon of yours."
    "What if I needed to fill that wagon many times over?" Madra asked while thumbing through bushel baskets of dried corn. "Many many times. How much for all of it? Including what comes out of the smokehouse. All of it."
    "Well . . . I . . . uh . . . What are you feeding? An army?"
    "Yes. That's it. I'm building another army of the infirm to save us all. Do you want to join?"
    Mackey just shook his head and scribbled a number on vellum with charcoal. Madra grabbed them and wrote some figures of her own. Mackey's eyes bulged. "I can't do that! It's just too much."
    "With enough gold," Madra said, "you can do just about anything. I need you to do this for me."
    "I'd have to buy from others in the surrounding areas," Mackey said. "And that would create a shortage, which would make the price . . . Yes. I'll do it. What do I tell people?"
    Madra shrugged and added an additional stack of coins to her deposit. "Tell them whatever you want. Tell them your crop failed or your cows are extra hungry this year. I don't care. Just don't tell them it's for me."
    Mackey nodded slowly, looking half lost in thought. Chelby came through the door, smiling.
    "Oh, that reminds me," Madra said. "I'm going to need some things loaded onto my wagon."
    It wasn't until they were loaded and halfway down the rutted drive before Chelby said, "I notice you left some room in the wagon. Are we going to see our young baker friend?"
    "We are."
    Dancing in his seat while he drove, Chelby urged the horses just a little faster.
    "Don't beat me to death on the way there, boy."
    The dilapidated condition of the trails out this way gave evidence to how seldom they were used. Even these made Madra feel exposed, and she was glad when the aroma of baking bread was all she could smell. Another small farm, this one far more accessible than the last, came into view. A mud brick farmhouse backed up to grain bins, chicken coops, pasture, and fields beyond. Two other wagons, each single horse, were tied beneath the trees. Madra waited.
    "You're killing me," Chelby said. "Can you not smell that? How can you just sit here and wait patiently? We could go in and have a pastry while we wait for every other person with a nose gets theirs."
    Madra grinned and waited. It didn't take all that long before the two local farmers headed back toward civilized lands, as they called them.
    "They're gone," Chelby said. "Come on."
    Waiting