Merlin's Crooked Cane

Why doesn't the world give a washed up sorceress a break? It isn't bad enough that Deirdre the Damned blinded Lile, but now the wicked fairy Blackroot is planning to murder her. She needs a Mage to heal her eyes, but perhaps even more, needs to rely on a twisted cane that once belonged to Merlin. Then she may become the pivotal person in an Eonic battle that is rocking 1860 Philadelphia.