NEW: The twisted tree.

 

Nathaniel walked across the early morning moor - the winter sun rising slowly, as birds somersaulted above him, enjoying the big expanse of the new day's sky. He had left his heavy walking boots at the termination of the pathway that had led him onto this cursed stretch of the moor. There were no paths or tracks to follow here, no human ones at least - this was a moor reserved for the shades of men, and he was trespassing.

From now on he would have no path to follow, and he would be in bare feet - nothing must come between him and the ground, and between him and what lay beneath. His feet were cold and damp as he waded slowly through the waves of thick heather that gently swayed between himself and his goal - the sight of the first and of the last sprawling twisted tree that lay before him on the moor.