Dawn brought a strange sight to the inner bailey of Lothian Manor as dozens of people gathered around a caravan of wagons and carriages.
Everyone who had come had their own reasons for being here. For Baroness Tosha, it was her last chance to see the Sacred Sapling, the shimmering tree that glittered in shades of red and blue and green as a cold winter breeze gently ruffled its leaves. Lady Ashlynn had promised that there would be other opportunities in the future, but for Tosha, the tree had come to represent something indescribably precious.
At first, she'd taken it as a true miracle, bestowed by the Holy Lord of Light to rescue them from the darkness of the Lothian Throne and the tyrannical rule of the Lothian family. That alone made the Sacred Sapling worthy of veneration. But when she'd learned that Lady Ashlynn was a Great Witch, the Mother of Trees, the sapling became something more in her heart.
