Prologue

An inky darkness swirled about the grotto. The stench of rotting sea-life permeated everything. The Moon stared balefully down upon the vaporous mists as they streamed eerily across the surrounding crags. Hags swayed and chanted in a circle around a large cauldron, its contents bubbling over blue and green flames.

"Water from the Great River's source, plucked from the sea." Meertz, eldest of the Hagarathan, led them.

"Water from the Great River's source, plucked from the sea." the hags echoed.

Meertz poured a precious drop from a small vial she wore on a thong around her neck. "Blood of our queen, stolen from us."

"Blood of our queen, stolen from us."

Meertz shoved several long, stringy, green, leafy branches into the fire below the cauldron. "Locks of a Willow to summon its spirit."

"Locks of a Willow to summon its spirit."

A screeching wail pierced the night as the dryad of the offended Willow tree, unwilling yet untouched, slid to the center of the circle. Before the dryad could give voice to its complaints, Meertz blew dust from a pouch she carried into the dryad's face. The dryad's eyes lost focus and the tree spirit fell limp to the ground.

Swiftly the hags bound the dryad in ropes made of thistles and creeping vines. Two of them picked up the dryad and carried it to the cauldron.

"Spirit of the willow, bound and subdued." Meertz chanted

The two hags lowered the dryad into the boiling cauldron. "Spirit of the willow, bound and subdued."

The dryad sank immediately from sight and dissolved into the bubbling mixture.

Meertz pulled from her pouch a hairbrush. Carefully she teased a long hair from it's teeth. "Golden hair of the youngest, arboreal she shall be."

"Golden hair of the youngest, arboreal she shall be."