Chapter 1/Prologue

The night was still, the air was soft, the autumn moon shown down on the bounty of the world, and upon the deep green forest of evergreen kings. The wind caused the needles to whisper as they softly caressed one another. The forest was dark and still. No animal dared make a sound for they would not disturb the slumber of the trees. However, beneath the viridian vaults, at the base of the dark columns of spruce, hidden in the shadow of the forest, lay three sisters of evil. They waited for the eyes of the moon to wander beneath a cloud to move from tree to tree. They all breathed heavily. They were powerless, for they could not bring their charms or their staves for fear of being discovered by Luna.

They crept stealthily towards the center of the forest, for there they would find the treasure. Not just any treasure, but the greatest treasure of the forest, the treasure that gave the enchanted woods their magic and their power, and once claimed by the sisterhood, would give them unlimited power to exercise against all that is decent and good. They three alone of the Circle of Witches knew what appearance it took and how to steal it. They crept on.

They eventually came upon the clearing. All was calm and bright, the moon’s motherly glow enveloping the treasure, protecting it with her pure and cool light. The three watched and waited. They saw a cloud, sent by their other sisters approach. Luna would be alerted by the cloud so they would have to act fast. They waited and as the last light disappeared behind the cloud, in the darkness they did their terrible act. In an instant the moon’s rays returned upon an empty clearing. The wind picked up, the whisper of the needles turned to a moan of despair as the woods awoke to the horrible truth. The three had fled from the clearing to a concealed cave.

There was a flash of light as the three figures emerged from the cave. The leader was the only one’s whose face was visible. Her face gleamed with electricity and power. The woods had discovered them, the wind was fierce and angry, branches snapping and hurling through the columns landing all around. The entire scene was lit by the lightning in the sky, and the forest seemed like one giant monster facing off against the haggard hag. The animals and elves fled, the woods raged and the hag shrieked her cackle to the storm torn sky. Raising her hands above her head she called upon her new found power.

In that instant most of the forest was surrounded by a ball of red and blue glass, which spun around it slowly. Everything within it stood still, then the glass shattered, and it was as if the woods before had simply been a picture that was now gone. All the remained was scorched earth, black stumps, and the small patch of silver where the treasure had been. The three looked on the scene with a trio of cackles. They had done it. They were all powerful. But what they didn’t know was that they were also cursed.

When Manchineel, their young new sister had relayed to them the location and method for extracting the treasure she had failed to reveal one thing to them. The ones who stole the treasure ensured power for the entire sisterhood, however they would be forever fallen and dreamless, turned to stone. The leader who had reveled in her magic and squandered her share that would have protected her longer was first to see her fingers slowly begin to petrify. She shrieked flying back to the pedestal to undo the curse. However the treasure was gone! She fell by the pedestal as a statue of a mourning aged woman.

The second witch thought she could outwit the curse. First, she tried flying away from the now barren land, only to fall from the sky into the ocean. Standing up she thought to cross the sea by walking, and became a giantess, dressed in long flowing robes and with a crown upon her head. However, by using her magic so frivolously, she also turned to stone, a colossus guarding the path to the pedestal. She did get a chance to warn her sisters before she was petrified. She called to them in a dream, telling them that the entire order was cursed until the treasure was returned or the Circle all became statues.

The last one had hidden the treasure and carried it to the mountain where the elves were. There she revealed herself to have been an elf in disguise, sent to rescue the treasure. What became of the third sister no one knows. The elves could not set foot upon the land, impure as it was. So they took the treasure beyond the reach of Manchineel, the new leader of the order. They hid it in hopes that one day the chosen one would restore the treasure to the pedestal and in doing so restore the forest and hopefully stop the ice.

Ice began to spread from the pedestal and eventually the entire land was covered with the cold hard water. The peoples left for the surrounding lands, but some of the elves under their new queen Skuld the Fearless returned and became the Ice Elves. The Snow Trolls also migrated there, and made their home in the south and many a battle were waged between the two. Then Manchineel came to the continent, and the elves and the trolls became her vassals and she the mistress of ice and snow. The proud Witch then erected over the pedestal a great silver tower, to rule the ice lands. All feared the silver tower, and even more so the Silver Witch.

However Manchineel the Silver feared something even greater, her own fate. For as long as she and her sisters did not use too much of their magic they would not benefit from the sins of their sisters, and so they would not be under the curse, however, if ever they used too much magic the curse would begin to spread among them as well. So Manchineel the Silver Witch sent her sisters to search the lands and find the treasure before they were all destroyed.