The Winter Tree: Tales of Borschland, Volume 1

In 1642, the great explorer of the Dutch East India Company, Abel Tasman, commissions two of his most trusted captains, Willem van Noos and Henrick Lojren van Borsch, to investigate a previously unknown land in the South India Ocean, whereon the future nation of Borschland will be located. The two adventurers separate and quest along separate coasts, coming upon two sets of indigenous peoples who tell the same tale: a tree, blooming in the dead of winter, will provide glorious treasure when found, including a pair of silver skates. But beware that which guards the tree, say the natives. When the Dutchmen arrive at the tree, uniting their separate journeys, what they find is even stranger than the legend.