The Mislaid Magician (32 page)

The Royal College has made considerable progress in cleaning up the remains of the Webbs’ ley line network. Aunt Elizabeth tells me that there is considerable debate over the advisability of likewise taking down the older network, the ancient one that Cromwell and his wizards made partial use of for their own. She thinks it unlikely that the effort will be made: First, because a magical spell that binds the country together is no bad thing; second, because now that the Royal College is aware of it, the ley lines will be constantly monitored to make certain that no one is tampering with the spell, so it cannot become a new danger; third, because nearly everyone wants to study the network, which they will not be able to do if they destroy it; and fourth and last, because no one has been able to propose a method of dismantling it that is at all likely to work.

The ancient ley line network is, you see, far more intricate and far more stable than anyone had anticipated. Those spell casters knew their work well—Cromwell’s network required constant watching and adjusting to last a mere two hundred years, but the old network has been in place for several thousand years, at least, without requiring any additional attention. Mr. Skelly has become so absorbed by the investigation that he rarely even remembers to make critical remarks about England.

James is off to London next week to make a final report to the duke in person; after that, I look forward to a peaceful and uneventful summer, enlivened perhaps by the occasional frog. Even a new and interesting magical tutor is unlikely to
completely
deter my twins, after all.

Your contented,

Cecy

For more than twenty years, Patricia Collins Wrede (b. 1953) has expanded the boundaries of fantasy writing. Born in Chicago to a large, literary family, Wrede spent her childhood immersed in the Chronicles of Narnia, classic fairy tales, and L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz—a foundation in imagined worlds that paved the way for her future career.

After receiving a degree in biology from Carleton College in 1974, Wrede completed an MBA at the University of Minnesota, and began working as a financial analyst in the late 1970s. In her spare time, Wrede wrote fantasy stories in the vein of the classic novels she read as a child. Her love of fantasy even fueled an interest in tabletop role-playing games: Lyra, the first gaming world that Wrede invented, was based on the unpublished work-in-progress that would become
Shadow Magic
. In 1980 she became a founding member of a group of Minneapolis-based, fantasy-fiction authors known as the Interstate Writers’ Workshop, or Scribblies, with whom she later worked on the critically acclaimed Liavek shared-world anthology series.

That same year, Wrede sold her first novel,
Shadow Magic
, which was published in 1982. It was the public debut of Lyra, a magical world shared by four races whose cultural differences see them constantly at odds. Wrede used Lyra as the setting for four more novels:
Daughter of Witches
(1984),
The Harp of Imach Thyssel
(1985),
Caught in Crystal
(1987), and
The Raven Ring
(1994). Wrede’s strong prose, sense of humor, and powerful female leads drew special attention to her early novels. Her quick success allowed her to begin writing fulltime.

Though the Lyra novels found popularity with audiences of all ages, Wrede aims her more recent work at young-adult readers, beginning with her four-book Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which follow the adventures of a young princess who becomes apprenticed to a dragon. Her other fantasy series include the Cecelia and Kate novels, cowritten with Caroline Stevermer and set in Regency England; the Mairelon books, which also take place in Regency England; and the Frontier Magic trilogy, based on Old West pioneers.

Wrede lives and works in Minnesota.