The Scourge of Muirwood (Legends of Muirwood #3)

Lia saw a speck in the distance – in the night sky the direction of the Tor. There was something burning on the crest of the hill. With a sickening dread, she already knew what it meant.

Closing her eyes, she fell deep inside herself. She journeyed through her memories to a night, long ago. It was after her ninth name day, the night of the great storm. She remembered the smells from the kitchen. The plop of the water seeping in from the roof. The Aldermaston and Pasqua were there. Sowe was asleep in the loft. The storm – the flooding of the cemetery. She remembered the sound of lightning, the torrent of rain that had lasted for days. The mud and grass she had tromped in earlier that day. The ring she still wore around her neck, its hard edge still a reminder of that night. A storm. A great storm. A storm greater than any Muirwood had endured for hundreds of years. That was what she desired. Water to put out the flames, the quench them once and for all.

Come to me! she commanded. I invoke a storm to purge the Abbey. To cleanse it from this defilement. Lifting her head, she opened her eyes, her hand up in the maston sign. “Be it thus so. May storms always come to defend this ground should any seek to ruin it again.” She made the sign of the irrevocare sigil.

Someone had seen her. She heard the cautious footsteps approaching.

“Lia? Is it…is it you?”

She turned and saw Duerden, clutching a cider cup. He gaped at her, his eyes wild with astonishment. He looked older. Worse, he looked a stranger to her. There was something more serious in his eyes, an expression of a much older man and not a boy her own age. As she looked at his face, she saw it clearly through the Gift of Seering. He was infected with the plague.

“Oh, Duerden,” she murmured with a throb in her voice. “What have you done?”

“It is you!” he said, his voice plaintive yet his expression was wracked with guilt and confusion. “But look at you. Where is…Lia…the baby? Where is the baby?”

She saw it on his face with her hunter’s gaze. There was a dab of rouge on the corner of his mouth where a woman had kissed him.

“You wanted to become a maston,” Lia said, her heart breaking. “Instead, you helped destroy them. What are you talking about, Duerden? What baby?”

His face twitched with spasms, his voice choking with emotion. “You were sent away to another Abbey. To keep it secret! You were with child. The Aldermaston’s child – the baby. The child. You…you were with child. What…but…were you not with child, Lia? Like Reome?” His eyes were desperate and helpless. The cup dropped from his hand.

“No, Duerden,” she said, shaking her head violently. “That is a lie! You were deceived by the Queen Dowager. Duerden, do you not understand? The Aldermaston was murdered. He was not a traitor. It was not an execution. He was murdered. Demont was murdered!”

Duerden shook his head in a daze. “No, he fell sick. He was poisoned by Pasqua.”

“No, Duerden! He was murdered. All of the mastons have been murdered. The Abbeys are no more. When, Duerden?” She gave him a fierce look. “When did you begin listening to the Queen Dowager? You are hers. I can smell her on your clothes. Her stain is in your blood as well. When, Duerden? When did it happen to you?”

His expression was haunted, his voice quavering. “Before…Whitsunday. She spoke to me while I was walking in the gardens. She…oh, Lia, what have I done! She was so friendly to me. She did not tease me. She…Lia…she…what have I done!”

“You are infected,” Lia said, shaking her head. “The Blight. You are infected with it. She kissed you. She kissed you again tonight.” Lia’s heart broke with pain. “You cannot leave these shores. You will die, like everyone else. I am so sorry, Duerden. You will be sick. You will be very sick, very soon. Leave Muirwood while you can. A storm is coming. If you stay here, you will die tonight. Go as far away as you can, but you can never return. Go!”

Duerden began to sob like a child, overwhelmed by his despair. He was devastated. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Go!”

Lia felt the Myriad Ones surround her. Their mewling sounds and hisses filled her senses with loathing and animosity and pure hatred. They were drawn to her, wheedling at her mind with their thoughts. She turned around slowly and there was Pareigis, the Queen Dowager, in a gown as dark at the night, the silver fringe glittering. Her eyes glowed silver and the wind rustled her hair. Her fingers were curled like talons.

“He is not yours to command,” Pareigis said with an imperious voice. “You spurned him, girl. Remember? A broken heart is easily seduced.”

Lia grit her teeth but did not back away. “I broke your hold over Seth. I will break your hold over him. I do not fear you. I know who you really are.”