Winter has settled thick over a sleepy village near Trottingham, ensuring every farmer and servant is indoors the night a parish priest discovers he's been poisoned. As numbness creeps up his body, he summons the last of his strength to scratch a cryptic sign in the frost.

Following a trail of riddles, hangman Silver Boulder; his headstrong daughter Magdalena; and the town physician's son team up with the priest's aristocratic sister to investigate. What they uncover will lead them back to the Cutie Mark Crusades, unlocking a troubled history of internal church politics and sending them on a chase for a treasure of the Knights Templar.

But they're not the only ones after the legendary fortune. A team of dangerous and mysterious monks is always close behind, tracking their every move, speaking Latin in the shadows, giving off a strange, intoxicating scent. And to throw the hangman off their trail, they have ensured he is tasked with capturing a band of thieves roving the countryside attacking solitary travelers and spreading panic.

note **takes place many moons after the time of Twilight and her friends adventures though references to them will be made**