The Blight of Muirwood (51 page)

Lia shuddered and Seth asked if she was cold. She shook her head, unable to speak through the lump in her throat. The sky was darkening quickly and she could see the light from the kitchen windows. He did not question her again, but left her at the door and sulked into the night, likely wondering if she was harboring bitter feelings.

She yanked open the door and walked inside the kitchen. Pasqua looked over at her worriedly. “There you are. You were gone longer than I expected. Is…Lia, are you all right?”

She still could not speak. Scarseth had found his voice but she had lost hers. Pain throbbed in her leg from the hard walking. Ignoring it, she went beneath the loft and pulled loose the brick that concealed the Cruciger orb. The orb that was left with her as a child. Her father’s orb! She stared at it, already knowing what would happen. In her hunt for Ellowyn Demont, she had always pictured the girl in her mind. She did that with most people, thinking of their face instead of their name. Thinking of them as she knew them.

She stared hard at the orb. She was facing south. Dahomey was to the south.
Find Ellowyn Demont
, she thought fiercely. The orb glowed, the spindle spun lazily around once and pointed at her. Writing appeared on its surface.

Lia – Ellowyn – stared at it as the tears burned in her eyes. She knew it all as the knowledge flooded inside her mind and her heart felt as if it were on fire. It was the Medium, confirming her knowledge. That the girl sailing to Dochte Abbey with Colvin was not Ellowyn Demont –
she
was Martin’s granddaughter instead. A girl the Medium would not respond to. The truth crushed against her feelings relentlessly. Colvin had known of the missing Demont girl as a young boy. He had determined to be the one to find her.

And he had, without knowing it, when he was abandoned on the kitchen steps.

“What is it?” Sowe whispered, looking at her in concern, squeezing her shoulder.

She found her voice at last though it came out a choked sob. “I know who I am, Sowe. I know it. The Aldermaston knows it too.” Her heart blazed with emotions. “He knows it too!”

###

In Blight, the reader gets to experience the rituals of the maston order. Many early readers wondered where the details came from, so I would like to point inquisitive minds to the works of the Jewish historian Josephus. I read many of his works during my master’s program at San Jose State and found his account of ancient traditions to be quite fascinating. He describes the rituals of the Essenes, one of the various Jewish sects of his day, and you will find that I even used the Greek version of their order (
Essaios
) in the book as well. I did try to focus the world-building on ancient traditions that are documented in the sources and in religious texts. All of the oaths Lia makes, for example, come directly from Josephus. The concept of “oath magic” is a theme I have used in my other books as well – that one can harness great powers not through deep study and training but through deep covenants to handle power with restraint.

Of the trilogy, Blight is my favorite for many reasons. It was fun to write, first of all, and allowed me to expand on the relationships explained in the first book. I have always been an admirer of the middle parts of series.
The Empire Strikes Back
is my favorite Star Wars film, and
Elfstones of Shannara
is my favorite novel of all time. Both were the middle stories of a trilogy. I especially enjoyed writing the scenes with Lia and Colvin as their relationship became more complex. There are some moments in the book that were taken from my own life – memories that my wife and I have shared as teenagers – such as running down a hill in Rancho San Antonio County Park in a rainstorm in February our senior year in high school. The monastery there is my own personal Muirwood. Others were more recent, such as a family excursion to Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California, which inspired scenes in Pry-Ree.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Wheeler is a writer from 7-10 p.m. on Wednesday nights. The rest of the time, he works for Intel Corporation, is a husband and the father of five kids, and a leader in his local church. He lives in Rocklin, California. When he isn’t listening to books during his commute, he is dreaming up new stories to write. His website is: WWW.JEFF-WHEELER.COM