A Challenge Answered
Third Day of the First Month 294 AC
Rina had not been certain what she would feel the first time she crossed over the Wall, or rather that unseen shadow in the water far below the hooves of the king's conjured shadow steeds. Would it be fear or some dull ache of old scars upon the soul? Worse yet, would it be longing to travel ever further into the farthest north and deepest coldest winter to fall at the feet of Those who had already taken her soul from her once?
Nothing seemed to change at first, perhaps the faint song of ice in her mind was louder, or perhaps she was simply more aware of it, but most of her attention was on the land over which they flew. The Haunted Forest, it was called, perhaps in memory of long ago battles, or else a tribute to lingering evils even during the long peace of these past ages. Beyond the woods lay the jagged peaks of the Frostfangs, lifeless and forever crowned in ice, a grim reminder of Winter's power to all who lived beneath their shadow.
Almost in spite of herself, Rina found that she liked the Thenns. Oh she had no doubt that they could be grim foes and had likely raided and pillaged the lands of the South as eagerly as any other wildlings when the Kings Beyond the Wall marched forth, but they were not savages for all their rough ways. At their hearths survived the songs of the First Men as they were in their days of glory, bronze smithing as fine as any she had ever seen even from the skilled Tyroshi craftsmen, and even something of the secret art of rune-craft. And all that at the edge of the world.
Looking north from the Valely of the Thenns during sunset, Rina almost thought she saw a gleam of baleful blue upon the snowy peaks, and as she fell into fitful slumber enforced by the magic of her ring, she thought she heard the echo of a hunting horn at the edge of consciousness.
***
Sixth Day of the First Month 294 AC
"This ain't a Heart Tree, and never was," Vee huffed, rising to her feet from where she had been crouched over an esoteric collection of carefully carved flint and dragonglass, and scrying sticks carved from the bones of long dead dragons. "It's a trap for desperate travelers looking for a safe place to camp out in the hills, and then somethin' snatches them in the night."
"It does not seem like a very effective lure to me," the Valyrian sorceress said, motioning to the hill on which nothing grew, the pale form of the dead tree, its lower half covered in patches of grey lichen like the scales of some diseased beast, its crown knotted and gnarled, seeming to claw at the sky. "One would have to be very desperate indeed, or very... unobservant to count this a good place to camp."
"It's from before all the folk here fell under Their power and died," Rina interjected, suddenly sure with that cold clarity that marked knowledge stolen from Winter's grasp. She did not recall this place exactly, but... "It's what They do, take the sanctuaries first, the places that should be safe, and make them home of dread and sorrow. Drive men to fear and distrust of their fellows, despair, isolation, hunger... All of them play into Winter's hands."
"So do we carve it up for materials or burn it and sweep up the ashes?" The dragon asked impatiently. He seemed to find dealing with a tree beneath his notice, or maybe it was the fact that a cursed tree did not promise much treasure. Supposedly the Great Dragons of Old were quite greedy, but the only one of that sort she knew well was the king and he did not seem greedy to Rina.
"If we actually wish to exorcise this place as opposed to setting things on fire and calling our task done, then we will have to play into its purpose, at least somewhat," the Lady Saenena interjected. "Wake the old power from the earth, then burn it root and stem."
"We who require no slumber can keep watch," Bahro rumbled good-naturally.
Vee, who had fallen into being their ad hoc leader, with even the dragon following her lead, did not look impressed. "What if they come at us in our dreams? None of us can dream-walk on our own."
"I could do it on my own, I'm bound to get some kind of reaction given what I am," Rina offered without second thought.
The girl looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Are you crazy? You aren't fish bait to get gobbled up to lure 'em in."
"Er... sorry," Rina said, though 'sorry' was perhaps the last thing she was feeling right now. She was unreasonably happy to hear the girl dismiss the whole plan just to protect her.
Stop acting like you really are crazy and come up with an idea, she chastised herself silently.
"What about if I just called... a challenge?" She admittedly did not sound very challenging. "In Their tongue, I mean."
"It's not like they could've missed the dragons or the sky ships," Vee said. "Give it a go."
"I call ye forth, Hollow Ones, Children of the Barren Earth," Rina intoned in Skroth, turning to the false tree. The words came swifter as she spoke, almost as though they had always been there, born of sorrow and rage and trust betrayed. "Lords of Nothing I name thee who have scorned the land that sustained you. I claim dominion over this work of yours, the first of many to come. Answer now or forever forfeit your claim." The words felt like bravado, like a child shouting in the face of the storm to drown out the thunder, yet something about them was
right.
For the space of three long breaths nothing happened. Then the earth shook, the false tree cracked down the middle as though split with some titanic axe, and from it emerged walking, crawling, and thrashing a host of horrors. Empty skulls crowned with pale branches in cruel mockery of a weirwood tree stared back at her while rotting blood pooled and flowed from bodies still covered in flayed flesh, the victims of gods only knew how many generations of treachery and murder.
And then the world was fire, bright crimson and all-consuming eldritch green so bright Rina had to shield her eyes from the fury of dragons of flesh and steel.
"YoU CannOt BURn uS. WE ArE in ThE air yOU BReathE, IN the GroUND yOu TrEaD UPon," a thousand twisting undulating voices called out. When the fire cleared, festering blood was still pooling through the charred earth and clouds of ashes moving through the air against the wind.
A clawed hand gripped Rina's foot...
Moving with the instinct born of countless hours in the training yard with Ser Willem, she brought the weirwood mace down upon it, cracking bone and pulping rotting flesh. The ashes tried to choke her, but the Harbringer swept its great wings into a whirlwind that unraveled magics and pulled apart curses.
Seizing the moment, Rina flung her arms wide and called forth a
frozen wind to cast the accursed ash back into the north, while Vee planted her weirwood staff into the earth and called down a pillar of
cleansing light through it.
Alas, not all of them were doing so well. Lady Saenena was struggling as the rancid blood flowed up her robes trying to get inside through her mouth and nose, Rina knew. The thing in the tree knew it was no match for them all in open battle, so it sought to claim some of their power for its own. That was what they did, twisted and tainted and defiled.
Two of the heralds tried to cast off the blood with their own magic, but it did not seem strong enough for the task, then the lady completed her own spell and it was not what Rina had expected.
A ward against fire...?
Her silent question was answered when both Heralds breathed flame onto the sorceress. A moment later she walked out of the flame untouched.
"If something isn't burning when you want it to, it means you have not used enough fire...
yet." It was not really that amusing a jest.
Even the dragon laughed.
What do you do about Rina and company do with remains of the false Weirwood?
[] Collect them for the flesh-forge
-[] Write in how
[] Finish burning them, they have proven dangerously prone to spontaneously animate
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry this took so long. I'm trying challenges a little different from just fighting monsters. Hope this works. Not yet edited. 
