The blight reached Aldermere three weeks after Sera's letter arrived, and Elira understood immediately, from Rhosnyn's grim expression as he brought her the news, that this was not the kind of threat a wall of fire alone could answer.
"It started in the eastern fields," Rhosnyn said, spreading a hastily sketched map across her writing desk. "Crops blackening overnight, wilting as though scorched, though no one's seen fire near them. It's spread to nearly a third of Aldermere's remaining harvest already, and Elder Maribel fears it will take the rest within the week if nothing changes."
Elira studied the map, though she suspected the answer lay less in cartography and more in whatever unnatural force had taken root in Aldermere's soil. "Has anything like this happened before?"
"Not in my
