THE BURNING GROVE

Film· 2026· 5 min· Fantasy, Action, Adventure

A king has been taken and buried in a maze of stone beneath a fortress in the pine forest. Two sisters come for him at the last dark before dawn. WREN, the elder, cannot enter the walls - her power lives in the ground. When she lays her bare palm on the earth she travels through the roots and wakes inside an animal, and its eyes turn amber. SABLE, the younger, walks in through a service door wearing whatever face she needs. A bear breaks the gate. An eagle maps the towers and passes a window where Sable is waiting - one small nod, a signal they agreed on days ago. A viper strikes the guard who works out what she is. A mouse finds the cell. She frees him, and on the run for the gate three crossbows fire from the wall. With what is left she pushes the king clear of the line before her legs give. At sunrise Wren finds him alone, kneels, presses her palm to the ground the way she has done all night - and nothing comes.