Leannan. The kingdom of radiant spring. They say it was once brimming with flower fields and opulent orchards, all carefully cultivated by royals and commoners alike. Some people believe it used to belong to the Fae Wilde during the Age of Saints.

It bordered the kingdoms of Gall and Tesser along the outer edge of the disputed territories. These three had long given up their aspirations for control over the Burial Ground, allowing their slivers of bloody conquest to be devoured by those ravenous few. However, kings are innately bloodthirsty creatures.

The king of Gall hatched a scheme to take Leannan and use its ideal geographic position to re-enter the fight for the Burial Ground. He offered a political marriage between his second son and their first princess, which the king of Leannan promptly accepted in the hopes of avoiding a future conflict with their quarrelsome neighbor.

By tradition, weddings between royals are held in the princess's homeland as a way for her people to bid her farewell in a grand celebration. This made it easy for Gall's army to slip into the kingdom as part of the wedding troupe. They had access to the central towns as well as certain areas of the castle grounds. Over the course of the weeklong festival, they determined their strategies and established their positions. And on the day of the wedding, they struck.

Early that morning, the crown prince of Leannan and his personal garrison took the groom-to-be and his attendants on a hunt in the wild apple orchard just beyond the eastern hills. This was the custom in Leannan; whatever animal the groom-to-be is able to successfully track and slay is said to be a symbolic indication of how bountiful the union will be. But the second son of Gall had no interest in the animals of the forest on this hunt. Once the group had gone deep enough into the orchard, the soldiers of Gall drew their blades and their prince sank an arrow into Leannan's beloved heir.

The celebration quickly descended into blood and fire. Leannan's army was outmaneuvered before the battle even began; the Gallic soldiers knew where they had to be to disrupt their enemy's deployment routes. It was a massacre. And it was over in an instant. The king of Gall claimed the throne room before the sun reached its apex, and he wet the tiles with the blood of both the Leannish princess and her father.

But the bloodthirsty king couldn't enjoy his prize long. He returned to a Gall upended by civil war. The people had grown tired of the corruption within the kingdom and rebelled in his absence. They successfully routed his army on their way home and imprisoned their former king. The Gallic people turned to face their new horizon, forgetting the kingdom sacrificed for their rebirth.

Unfortunately, this left the conquered Leannan in limbo. Those who survived chose to simply flee to Tesser or into the fringe lands; they had no way of knowing about the upheaval in Gall. So the corpse of Leannan began to wither and rot. The fields and orchards lost their caretakers and were soon overtaken by brambles and thorns. Even the bodies of the murdered were left unburied, which allowed disease to fester and made the towns and castle absolutely uninhabitable.

But they say there are things that live in death. Creatures older than the gods, over which the gods hold no dominion. And they say that one of these creatures now calls Leannan home. It puppets the corpses and devours the living. All who venture onto its grounds are sapped of their vitality with each and every step. It's now a kingdom beyond salvation.

And worst of all, there are rumors that these withering brambles are creeping beyond its borders. Whatever this creature is, it's growing. And it's hungry.

*********

The fire had died down to just some smoldering embers and the woods had grown quiet around them, as though even it was listening close to the story. They were all tucked tightly into their bed rolls, eyes wide.

"Damn, 'Dine," Connell said. "How am I supposed to sleep after that?"

Cecily pshhed at him, "It wasn't that scary, Connell."

"Yeah it was! Lor, that scared you too, right?"

"I mean... I guess it was scary?" Lorne conceded. "I don't know. I think it was only scary because we're out here in the middle of the woods in the dead of night, y'know?"

"Exactly," Reith concurred, yawning.

Connell continued to argue, though the group paid him no mind and he soon gave up. All was quiet for a little while, each of them drifting closer to sleep.

"It is scary though," Heraldine murmured.

"What do you mean, 'Dine?" Lorne asked.

"Because it's real, Lor. Leannan exists."

"That's what I was trying to say..." Connell grunted.

"And I know here in Dorser we're distanced from the violence of the clashing kingdoms, but have you ever looked at a map?" Heraldine's tone was ominous. "We're in the fringe lands just outside of Leannan."

"Oh," Lorne mumbled.

"Yeah... And if the rumors are true..." Heraldine stopped. She didn't want to think about it.

Reith got up from his bed roll, "Welp, I'm gonna go find a nice tree to water. Come on, Connell."

"What? Why do I have to go?" Connell complained, "I just got warm."

Lorne expected to hear Heraldine take a shot at him for being a scared little baby, but to her surprise, she said nothing. Even though Connell had been complaining, he got up anyway and went with his friend. As their footsteps faded in the distance, Lorne heard the muffled sound of Heraldine pulling her hammer closer to her bed roll. She always felt safe with her near. And apparently so did Cecily as she had begun to snore, the rhythm of which started to lull Lorne to sleep as well. That is, until she heard the sound of the boys' boots pounding against the forest floor at a much faster rate than when they left.

"GIRLS, WE GOTTA GO!" Reith called ahead.

Heraldine was already on her feet, hammer readied, "What's wrong?!"

"Smelled smoke!" Reith huffed. "Connell climbed tree, fire!"

"Where?!"

Lorne steadied her still half-asleep self against Heraldine's shoulder, not quite registering what was going on. By the time her mind caught up with the conversation, she heard his chilling response.

"Dorser!"