The Blight of Muirwood (Legends of Muirwood 2)

Pen-Ilyn pressed a blood-soaked rag to his nose. “Why did you hit me so hard?” he complained to Lia.

She ignored him.

“It is broken, to be sure. I need a healer.”

“You did not leave me with many choices,” Lia pointed out. She raised her arm. “That way, Colvin. There is the Brent. We made it before dark.” She consulted the orb, asking for the direction of where Dieyre and his men were. They were farther behind.

“You are not used to rowing,” Pen-Ilyn said with his muffled, nasaly voice. “Let me row. I do not have any fight left in me and this boat is my livelihood. Let me steer in these waters. I do not want you breaking it on a rock.”

Colvin nodded, his face slack with exhaustion. “By all means,” he said. “But I will not be as generous as Lia if you betray us again.”

Pen-Ilyn scowled. “I know it is not an idle threat. There is a shortage of honest work these days. A man must feed his family, even if it is a brood as large as mine. Here, let me have the oars.” He settled onto the bench and began rowing. “Ugh, the Bearden Muir. I suppose we will get lost in there.”

Lia studied the flow of the water. They were rowing against the current, which would make things difficult. The snarl of oaks and willows blotted out the fading twilight sky. If she used the orb, it would give them both direction and vision. But it would also make them visible to Dieyre’s riders.

“What are you thinking about?” Colvin asked her, gazing into the gloom.

“Trying to think clearly with so little sleep. We need to deliver Ellowyn to Dahomey. This little boat will not get us that far. Not across the open seas. If we can get to Muirwood, we can warn the Aldermaston about the Blight and the ships in Pry-Ree. That would give other helpers a chance to escape too. We can get provisions there and maybe horses to ride across the land to another port city. Dieyre will be expecting us to go to Muirwood. If he is smart, he will not try and follow us, but instead, get between us and Muirwood. If we try and get through his line, he will collapse on us from both sides.” She shook her head. “There is safety there. And supplies. We cannot make a journey as far as Dahomey without equipping ourselves. It is the closest safehaven we have…if we get there first.”

Colvin touched her arm. “How do we know Muirwood has not already fallen?”

She had been dreading the question. “I think Edmon is there.”

He looked at her pointedly. “Is the Aldermaston?”

Lia looked down at her hands. But he was right. Before risking the journey, they needed to know. She turned her back on Pen-Ilyn and withdrew the orb. Ellowyn nestled next to her on one side. She was afraid of what it would say. Closing her eyes, she thought of the Aldermaston’s stern face.

The Medium soared through her, flooding into her soul. In an instant, she could see it all before her. It was the Gift of Seering. The Abbey stood proud against the fading sunlight. The Aldermaston was crossing the grounds to the kitchen, where Sowe was nursing Edmon on a cot, his face feverish, with bloodstained bandages wrapped around his waist. The Aldermaston stared at the Tor, his eyes fierce and defiant. It was as if she went along his sight and could see from his perspective, could share in his knowledge. The Medium was brooding on him heavily. The Queen Dowager was coming. She would be at Muirwood by dawn. Then he would die.

Lia opened her eyes and saw the spindles pointing towards Muirwood.

“He lives?” Colvin whispered.

Lia’s heart spasmed inside her and tears pricked her eyes. “Yes, but the Queen Dowager is coming and he is not strong enough to defend it. Not by himself.”

“Can we reach Muirwood before dawn?” Colvin asked.

She nodded. “If we reach the Belgeneck, we can follow it to Muirwood. It will be faster than going by land.”

“Then we go by boat,” Colvin said.

Ellowyn squeezed her shoulder. “If I must go to Dahomey, I want you both to go with me. I do not see why the Medium needs me to do it. I have no power. I am nothing.” She was quiet for a moment. “But I will try. If you are both with me, I will do my best not to be afraid.”

Lia turned and gazed at her, seeing the courage in her eyes. “I do not understand it either. Why that Abbey? Why you? I do not know the answers. But I do know that it is what the Medium wills. I know it with certainty.”

“So do I,” Ellowyn said. “I felt it as he was talking to you. I could not understand the language, but I felt it in my heart. I do not know why.”

Colvin’s voice was patient. “It is because of who your ancestors were. The Medium could rely on them when there was a difficult task to be done. I think I can explain it. There is a pattern in the tomes. It has always repeated itself. Before the Blight, there is a warning. A warning to those in danger that their thoughts have become corrupted. When I heard what the Aldermaston told you, that is what came to my mind. This is the warning to Dahomey. And to the rest of the lands. It is the Abbey where the children of all the rulers study. It is the place where king-mastons and queen-mastons are crowned.”