The Winter kingdom

Version 2.0

Dead arachnids lie scattered around, their once-glistening bodies now dull in the muted light. Spider limbs, carapace and intricate, are strewn across the snow, already starting to blend in with the hues of the forest floor.

Brandon moves toward the heart tree where Sara and Ronnel are bound. They seem almost frozen, their eyes wide and searching for reassurance. Sara, with her dishevelled auburn hair, stares wide eyes at the party, as Ronnel continues to wear against his bonds moving away from the ooze that is coating it.

As Ronnel and Sara are freed from their restraints, their bodies relax as they rub their wrists. "Thank you," Ronnel says, swiftly removing the fabric that muffled his voice. With nimble fingers, he unties Sara. Once free, Sara leans into Ronnel burying her head in his shoulder.

The couple takes a moment to bask in the comfort of each other, feeling the heat from one another. The party searched around the area trying to see what was happening there.

As Brandon searches around, he finds small piles of bones of different animals planted all around the tree, things from eagles to fish, to snakes before he arrives at a human skull staring directly at the tree and the couple. Around the bones are shards of ice shattered and yet on the edge of them they are black like they are burned.

"What did you find," Jocelyn asks.

"The remains of a failed ritual. Bones of animals and a human skull, observing death." He mumbles at the end. "I think those two should consider themselves lucky. This reminds me of what Elder Oak once said when we were talking about some forbidden rituals." Brandon says as he looks at the human skull.

"Wow, rituals, like the freaky kind the children of the forest do to flood the neck and make it a swamp." She says looking wide-eyed at the skull.

"Similar, but the forbidden ones are when lives are at stake and they are not to be taken lightly."

Jon takes the lead, urging them back to the village whilst Brandon is quick to gather the remains of this ritual. The forest, quiet in the grove returns its voice as they move away as the birds chirp and the winds rub against their faces.

As they step back into the village, the group becomes an immediate focus of attention. The villagers, spot Sara and Ronnel quickly. A collective wave of relief washes over the crowd, and joyous cheers follow after. Blankets in hand, the villagers greet the returned couple, their expressions a mix of happiness and concern.

Leading the way, the villagers guide the group to Sara and Ronnel's home. The hearth is quickly enlivened, flames dancing in the hearth eager for the return of the couple. The woman who had shown them the couple's house bustles about, efficiently coordinating the revival of the home.

She is quick to fuss over Sara and Ronnel. "Mom, I am fine, just a little cold." Yet, she still tightens the blankets around them. The aroma of a forthcoming meal begins to waft through the air, as the fire finally starts to heat the house.

"You have been out in the cold all night and probably not eating since yesterday, so stop your fussing or I'm pushing it down your gullet for you." She says with a terrifying sweet smile.

"Thank you, travellers, for saving us. I don't know what we can do in return; we have little to offer," Ronnel expresses his gratitude.

"It's alright, Ronnel, all I ask is if I can pose some questions to you, about what happened at the heart tree," he said, causing a slight shiver to pass through Ronnel and Sara.

"Alright, well, it's probably easiest to start at the beginning," Ronnel begins. "It was just our usual evening; we were sitting down for dinner when we heard odd sounds from outside. Curiosity got the better of me, so I went outside to look." This earns him a slap on the back of the head from his mother.

"Idiot! You've heard the stories from the other village about things in the wild. You've been listening to Walton's stories too much. You best not do that again or I'll be the last thing you see instead," she scolds.

He gives his mother a sheepish smile before continuing. "I went outside and found nothing; I only had the moonlight to guide me, but I thought to have a look around. It was when I stepped away from the house that something landed on my back, forcing me to the ground. Something else then came quickly to me, tied me up, and put a gag in my mouth."

When he stops speaking, Sara starts. "When he did not return or say anything, I became a little worried, so I peeked out of the door and saw Ronnel on the floor with one of those spider things on top of him. Before I could do anything, one of them scuttled down from the roof and pushed me into the house. I screamed out while it entered the house. It quickly pushed me to the ground and stopped me from moving. That was when from behind, someone came, quickly turned me around, and bound me up," she says while holding the blanket closer to herself, and Ronnel holds her hand, looking very upset.

Ronnel then picks again. "We were picked up and thrown onto the backs of those spiders, carried through the forest towards that heart tree. We were quickly bound to it, which is when I managed to see who was doing this to us. Though it was difficult to discern in the moonlight, there was no doubt that it was a child of the forest who did it."

His words caused ripples in the group.

"It lines up with the footprints we saw that led us to you," Edric says.

"It does, but it doesn't answer the question of why. There has been peace between humans and the children of the forest for a long time, and nothing has happened," Brandon says.

"The Forest Children have never been nice to us humans. The few times when people accidentally got close, they were often fired upon by arrows or told to leave quickly," Ronnel's mother adds.

"But to go against the agreement so blatantly, to hunt humans in the open and do whatever they want to humans. There is no way an entire community of them would risk that," Edric questions.

"I might be able to help you with what they were doing," says Ronnel. "After we were tied to the tree, it started getting things out while saying words that I don't know. It got a bunch of freshly dead animals. Then he placed down some kind of locket and a crown made of flowers. I think he then said some more words before pulling out two obsidian daggers. That was when he walked towards Sara and was about to stab her in her chest."

Ronnel moves his arm around Sara and holds her close, while she clutches her stomach. "But before he did, he stopped. I am not entirely sure why, but after that, he seemed to get angry before stomping away. After that, he left with some of the spiders and disappeared into the forest."

While Ronnel is talking, Brandon puts down the items that he gathered from around the tree. He sees the bones of all the animals. He finds a couple of obsidian runes but finds no locket or flower crown.

"Did you say that the animals were alive, Ronnel?" asks Brandon.

"Some of them were, I think the fish and the eagle but most of the other stuff was dead or freshly killed," he confirms.

"And yet these look like the bones of something dead for a while," Brandon points out.

"So, we've got a child of the forest performing some kind of ritual using humans as materials but stops halfway. He leads a bunch of half-ice, half spiders, and seems to be our only clue about what weird and odd things are happening around here. Sure, it's a lot to go on," Edric says.

"Brighten up, Edric. We could be going on nothing," Jon adds.

"I've got it, we will call them Ice spiders," Jocelyn adds as she holds her finger up.

Jon smiled as he gestured to Jocelyn. "See, Edric, things are looking better already,"

"Jocelyn, is that all you were thinking about rather than paying attention?" Lyanna reprimands.

"Well, you guys seem to be handling it fine, so I thought it would be fine to think of those spiders," she says, while Lyanna rolls her eyes and shakes her head.