Slue’s working holiday

It had been 5000 years but it was here at last. The end of his shift! Slue was almost giddy 
as he waited for Lord Madman to come down and take his position for a day. He had 
been planning his day off for the last 30 years. He was going to check out the new 
continent that had been discovered somewhere south of the Sea.

The day wore on and on and at noon Slue was quite the irritated swordsman. Shouting up 
to the heavens, risking life and limb Slue yelled, “WHERE IS MY DAY OFF? I TOIL 
NIGHT AND DAY FOR FIVE MILLENIUM I HAVE EARNT MY PROMISED 
DAY!”

Blinking a little in surprise, the great Lord Khore looked down upon the 
uncharacteristically impudent Slue. “Little mortal, are you actually yelling at me?”

With a deep breath, Slue calmed himself, “Of course not Lord Khore. I have waited all 
day for Lord Madman to relieve me as he promised 5000 years ago. I have a great desire 
to rest.”

With a small frown Khore replied, “Madman is no more. I’m afraid your holiday is 
unscheduled.”

Staring up in disbelief Slue could only ponder what Khore had told him. “Madman is 
gone? But, who keeps the realm?”

“Lord Tynian, fool have you no awareness what so ever? How did you get this job?”

“I was the only one willing to take such a long shift. Speaking of which, I have holiday 
time and pay. I wish to use them.”

Ruffling through some papers Khore chuckled a little. “Unfortunately Slue, your contract 
was lost to an angry demon. I’m afraid you will have to continue your work until we can 
sort this out.”

Picking up his sword, Slue went back to work, muttering to himself about being cheated 
out of a holiday.

*******************************************************

At that time in another part of the world a small thief by the name of Dixon was sneaking 
about the temple area. She came to the temple of Katrana, the lady of the Hunt. After 
slipping through the door she breathed a sigh of relief at the comforting surroundings.

“That last venture nearly got my hands hacked off you know.” Was the first thing out of 
her mouth when she saw her Mistress.

Katrana looked at her newest follower and decided that perhaps she should know what 
she was talking about before she assumed the worst again, “What are you talking about 
Dixon? Why would anyone want to chop off your hands?”

Dixon found a big chair and slumped into it, relaxing as she thought about the best way to 
describe her day. “Well, I suppose I was lucky. I was running through Midgaard, some 
farmer from somewhere was chasing me with a bloody rake shouting at the top of his 
voice that I had stolen his produce.”

Raising her eyebrow Katrana was almost scared to ask, “Did you?”

“Of course not, he had sold most of it, the gold was much easier!” A nice fat purse was 
flipped into the air whilst the thief smirked. “Anyway, Slue seemed occupied. He had his 
face in the clouds or something but I managed to bolt pass him and jump into the portal 
before he so much as flinched twice. I’ll have to give him a wink tomorrow.”

With a patient sigh “Why are you stealing from farmers in Midgaard Dixon?”

“Well… same reason the others kill people and animals and monsters I suppose.”

“Which is?”

“…. You know, I never thought to ask what the reason is.”

“You should never assume you are justified in your actions Dixon. I do however have a 
task for you, one suited to your ability. We have information that a potential target is 
about to move to Cillidellia. The informant was quite obscure as to whom it was but he 
did say they were evil. I want you to infiltrate the city and figure out who it is. Without 
lifting anyone’s purse, you are a little to young to bring the attention of the Coven or the 
Black Conclave upon your head yet.”

Standing up and dusting her pants off the little elf nodded, “Yes Lady… may I take a bath 
first?”

*******************************************************

The clouds parted and the sun shone down upon the city of Midgaard. A thunderclap 
boomed gaining the attention of all in the city and a ray of light poured forth to 
encompass the market square. Slue blinked at the brightness of the radiance and stood up 
straight not certain what he thought of this show. A short dwarf, dressed in white and 
carrying a pointy stick suddenly walked out of the air about 5 feet in front of Slue.

“You think it’s a bit flashy for an entrance?” The stocky dwarf quietly inquired.

Slue took a closer look at the dwarf in front of him. He had never seen any dwarf dressed 
in white and certainly none of the ones he knew carried little more then a pointy stick. 
“Who are you good dwarf?”

“Shocking, Khore was right someone has hit you in the head once to often. I am Lord 
Tynian, your master and employer what is wrong with you?”

To his credit Slue’s jaw hit the ground just a little after his knees. “My apologies Lord, I 
don’t know what is wrong with me. I had no idea.”

“It is no matter, I’m sure it was bound to happen after such a long shift and so much 
abuse on the skull. You were asking about a holiday though?”

Slue nodded dumbly.

“I’m afraid that I am unable to give you time off right now Slue. I can however swap you 
to a new location. Give you some time over in a different setting. Call it a working 
holiday.”

“That sounds a most reasonable and generous offer Lord. Where would I be stationed?”

“Cillidellia, I heard you wanted to see my Southern Continent. There’s as good a place as 
any to start. I shall bring the Sprites that infest that tree to the city to replace you for a 
week.”

“A.. a week, a whole 10 days off? I was expecting merely a day this is incredible, thank 
you Lord Tynian!”

“Now don’t go and start crying now or I’ll hit you in the head myself!” With that and a 
flourish of his stubby hands, the light and the dwarf were gone. The clouds moved back 
into position and a light summer rain started coming down.

From the sky a great menacing voice boomed with great theatrics, “YOU HAVE ONE 
DAY TO PREPARE!”

*******************************************************

Flaming red hair bounced lightly around a very content face. Bliss had been fed well 
today, many of her followers had showered her with chocolate gifts and as usual she had 
eaten them up as fast as she possibly could. Now with an aching tummy and a satisfied 
grin she was taking it easy. Lounging around her Lair, letting her immortal tummy 
recover from the abuse she had once again put it through.

In a corner Neodis sat muttering, disapproving of the mess she had left behind. Dirty 
plates, tumbled mugs and candy wrappers were scattered everywhere. Maurice of course 
was snickering at him, even though he was the broom he never seemed to do any actual 
work.

A soft splash announced the quiet arrival of the cutest Elder on the Coven congress, Zip, 
the enchantress, as she walked through the waterfall. The little red outfit and pointy hat 
seemed to love her as she skipped across the floor to hug Bliss and Neodis before 
plopping down upon the rug before the fire.

“Well, it’s done. They have the information. We can only sit and hope it works out 
properly.” Zip poked at the fur on the rug, “Neodis, she got chocolate sauce on the fur 
again.”

“BUT I JUST CLEANED THAT!”

Hiding a soft snicker behind a humble blush Bliss looked over to the entrance, “Oh look 
Azeworai is here.”

Zip giggled and Neodis started cleaning the rug yet again as Azeworai came through the 
waterfall with Judge following him shortly. Clearing his throat Azeworai got straight to 
business.

“They will never suspect it was us Lady Bliss. No one noticed Zip slip the informant 
through. Seven of us were chasing down their spy’s keeping them quite busy… which 
reminds me….”

With that, judge dropped three corpses, more blood on the floor, the faces of three 
hunters rolled over; their lifeless eye’s making the idea of cleaning the blood off of the 
ground not such an arduous task.

*******************************************************

Outside the gate of Midgaard an army was massing. Little fluttering sprites had gathered, 
roughly 200 of them were waiting for the Mayor to open the gate. As the day wore on 
one of them spotted him on the wall of the town peering down at them uncertainly.

Looking down at them he shouted “I am the Mayor of Midgaard, what for have you 
gathered here?”

Looking baffled and confused the Sprites stared back at him like he was an idiot. Looking 
to his fellow one of them asked, “You know why he’s babbling in that horrid noise for?” 
Shrugging, his companion turned back to the city wall and shouted back.

“Why don’t you speak words so we can talk together? Or better yet just open the gate!”

As he didn’t speak elven, the Mayor blinked back at the noisy little critter and was 
deciding if he had been insulted or not. At that moment he got a tap on the shoulder. 
Turning around he saw Slue, with a backpack over one shoulder.

“Slue, thank god you are here, I need you to chase off some rabble that’s floating out my 
western gate!”

“No can do Sir, I’m on my holiday. By the way, that rabble is going to replace me while 
I’m gone. I’ll see you in about ten days. Now please, open the gate… before I kill you!”

With that, the gate was opened, Slue took off and before he had made three steps that 
familiar bright ray of light shot down and he vanished from sight. With shock and 
surprise, the Mayor was then overrun by angry sprites’ wanting to know where the 
cooking Golem was, not that he knew what they were saying.

*******************************************************

Dixon had made good time to Nydia. According to what she knew, it was a good place to 
start. Her next move was to book passage down the Tiber to Safe Haven. If she couldn’t 
learn anything there it was on to Cillidellia itself. Secretly she was hoping to get to see 
the giant tree city although she also wanted this duty to be over. She was a little 
suspicious as to why she was doing this.

Walking past some dirty child she casually plucked his candy before slipping out of the 
city giving the guards a sweet smile. Munching on the sticky treat she strolled down a 
short path to a well maintained dock.

Looking around she could see a boathouse, inside a large display of some fairly standard 
sailboats and canoes and one old man. He looked up at Dixon and smiled. “Didn’t expect 
anyone to show up today, rainy day’s only good for fishing, all those interested in fishing 
have their own boats. How can I help a lovely elf maiden today?”

Smiling her charming smile and looking sweeter then a puppy Dixon replied, “I need to 
book passage to Safe Haven, do you know of anyone leaving shortly?”

“I’m afraid you have us confused with a large port town my dear. The best you’ll do here 
is to buy yourself a sailboat and head down the Tiber on your own.”

“I see. I don’t have much experience with that sort of thing.”

“It’s not that hard, the current will pull you along, just keep the nose pointed in the right 
direction. Keep an eye out for the rapids. There is a path to the east you can take to get 
around them but you’ll have to haul yer boat.”

Although she was less then pleased about the idea of lifting any of the crafts here, Dixon 
managed to swindle the old man into practically giving her a boat. Of course he didn’t 
know about the refund she helped herself too.

Jumping in the boat and immediately regretting it, Dixon pondered if trying to get to 
Cillidellia via the vortex was a viable option yet. She moved out into the Lock then 
following the drift she found herself picking up speed as she was swallowed into the 
Lower Tiber.

A few hours later, a soaking wet and miserable Dixon flew into Safe Haven bay. She flew 
up to the dock stole a mug of hot chocolate and made straight for the inn to get dry and 
spend a night in a soft bed.

*******************************************************

On a deserted sandy beech, surrounded by towering cliffs and infested with seagull nests, 
a ray of bright light once more caressed the earth. From the light Slue emerged, all stupid 
grins and wide eyed enthusiasm. The light vanished as he looked about his new setting.

Letting his pack fall to the ground, Slue had barely sat down before he spotted an Elf 
making his way out of an opening in the side of the cliff. A huge stone door was set into 
it. The Elf approached closer with an indifferent expression on his face.

“You are the new guard Slue I suspect?”

Slue nodded, not so happy with this host.

“Follow me please, I shall show you your duties and what routes you shall be 
inspecting.”

Standing up, Slue looked at the Elf. “I assumed I was to be permitted a day to become 
accustomed to the city.”

“You were wrong human. The Sprites have departed already; you are required to 
commence work immediately.”

As Slue followed the snotty little elf into Cillidellia he noticed an inscription upon the 
surface of the stone door, ‘Welcome to Cillidellia'.

After traveling through a long narrow corridor the two came to a small chamber. “This is 
the store from which most of our enchantments are sold. The ones we choose to sell at 
any rate. Follow me.” Almost without stopping he continued on past the door.

Shortly the elf led Slue into a chamber with two other exits, each seemed to have a 
glowing haze beyond it. Turning right, the elf walked right into it before he started to 
gently rise up into the air. Fascinated, Slue stepped into the chamber uncertain what to 
expect. Almost like the bounds of gravity had been cut, Slue started to rise into the air, he 
was for some reason surprised at the lack of movement he actually felt, he could see the 
walls moving down around him, but he felt like he was stationary and they were the ones 
moving.

Looking over his head he saw the Elf step into a door. The haze around here was reddish 
and as he got through the door he almost had to run to catch up to the impatient elf as he 
turned and left the small chamber.

In this room stood a golem and an oven, shelves and racks and scents of all sorts made it 
clear this was a kitchen. Closets and a nearby fountain all looked like they had grown 
from the walls which were seemingly seamless wood. Curved almost as if they had been 
grown there, they had and the realization that he was inside the great legendary tree of 
Cillidellia suddenly hit the human.

Smiling the elf turned to Slue and seemed to have adopted a whole new personality, 
“Amazing isn’t it? Takes everyone a second to understand where they really are. We are 
so small beneath her branches.”

Slue nodded quietly to the elf.

“This is the kitchen and will be your central area. Through the corridors past the fountain 
and the other way past the chamber you will find gardens that the Sprites normally guard. 
You may travel anywhere you like. Just remember the red haze is where you should 
always start. The column you came up in will always raise you to higher levels within 
Cillidellia; the northern column will take you down the same way.

“I will take your pack to your room and come get you when it is time to rest. A few of the 
students have agreed to take watch and Savah has approved them as mature enough for a 
few hours of duty.”

Hefting his sword Slue passed his pack to the Elf and began his watch in the Kitchen of 
the tree of Majesty, Cillidellia. Looking down a corridor, he set off to learn the secrets 
and twists of the paths that any misbehaving inhabitant would already know.

*******************************************************

Unknown to Slue, a few misbehaving adventurer’s were already in Cillidellia. Up a few 
levels in the chapel, Vex, Mael and Lins sat quietly, still and unmoving. Unseen you 
would not know they were there unless they decided you were their target. They waited, 
death poised to strike, patience in plenty.

Then fell asleep.

Slue paused at the chapel to pay his respects then moved on to a quick audience with the 
Queen.

A little while later Vex snored and Lins leaped up into the air irritated that he had fallen 
asleep. Kicking the other two he gave them scowls that they mostly ignored as they woke 
themselves up.

Blinking a little and checking his weapons Vex glanced over to Lins, “Has anyone shown 
up yet?”

“Not that I have seen. Mael, you see anyone?”

“I don’t see anyone. They will come though; Katrana won’t give up the chance to ambush 
the one she thinks is moving in.”

*******************************************************

The clerk in the Cillidellia Magic store was less then open with his help. Dixon couldn’t 
believe how much she had to spend of her “own” gold to get anything out of the guy. She 
didn’t much like the idea of trying to get her own refund either, he was just creepy.

It was no matter; she had finally found the entrance to the fabled city. Before her stood a 
huge stone door set into the cliff side. After reading the friendly inscription she felt a 
touch on her shoulders that sent her leaping into the air.

The heart stopping scream ripping touch was from Guido. He smiles as Dixon gathered 
her nerve again. “Hello Dixon, didn’t expect to see you here. Are you ready to make 
another deposit?”

“Do that to me again and I‘ll find business elsewhere”

“Unlikely, we ensure our monopoly remains ours.”

“Well, whatever, you are not immortal. Back to business, I am not here for you. In fact I 
didn’t even know you came here and how did you get so close anyhow?”

“I have always handled this city’s business. Merrick’s too busy to get down here on his 
routes.”

Waiting a little longer Dixon decided that Guido had not heard her second question. “And 
about getting so close to me like that?”

Grinning a little Guido turned about and started heading off, “Well doesn’t look like we 
have business here today, until next time Dixon.”

Muttering under her breath Dixon put Guido out of her mind and started into Cillidellia to 
start a new experience much like Slue had before her.

*******************************************************

Slue had wondered about for a long time now. It has taken him a day or two to learn the 
place but he had already chased down 3 students that he had caught stealing from a bin 
on the upper floors. There bodies were now examples for the rest of Cillidellia. Everyone 
was scared to death of him!

Right now his face was drawn in a frown as he held the Elf before him up by his shirt, his 
face all bloodied and bruised form the beating he had just received. Slue would not be 
disrespected by this one again. Slue’s appreciation for elfweave seemed to grow each day; 
it never tore or even stretched no matter how long he held up the beaten and exhausted 
elves by their collars.

“I’ll have to see if Viento can make me an outfit of this stuff.”

As Slue was admiring the outfit of his latest victim of justice a pair of wide curious and 
somewhat stunned eyes looked on from the shadows. Dixon could not believe what she 
was seeing. The pixies were gone but the elf could simply have been telling her a story 
about them. But Slue here in Cillidellia; she had just seen him the last time she had past 
through Midgaard how could he be here? WHY would he be here?

Despite all her questions her first thought whenever she encountered him was to stay out 
of sight. She had always been able to do that, mostly. The last few days in Cillidellia had 
been hard; she needed to learn blind spots, dark corners and little used holes fast.

Slue had been on a rampage, digging into every corner he could find. Dixon had to call 
on her Lady for help more then once to stay hidden. It was becoming easier. Slue was 
sticking to his old methods, just doing it in an odd manner. He always had a grin on his 
face, he always seemed to be admiring the surrounds, rather then scrutinizing it. Dixon 
decided that if any of her questions were to be answered at any time she would probably 
ask about that first.

Until then she needed to move on. Slue had turned a corner and Dixon need to get to the 
vertical tunnels to check out the gardens again. She had discovered where all the popular 
places were. Elves were a little too predictable that way. When she thought about it 
though, the only real danger here was Slue, other then that no one seemed to be worried 
about watching their backs.

*******************************************************

Lanfear had her own reasons for going places. It was no one’s business and that’s just 
how it was going to stay. Despite the fact that the sprite before her had 20 buddies behind 
him, she was unconcerned. The fact that they were all scowling at her dark skin didn’t 
bother her. What did bother her was that she was in Midgaard.

“You have no business here drow, be gone before we drag you out in pieces!”

“That’s awfully rude little butterfly. You have permission to speak to me let alone tell me 
what my business is.”

“We are in charge around here and we don’t like you. So get out of our town”

On the side of the street the mayor was trying his best to find cover. Everyone had 
boarded up their houses and bolted their doors. The Sprites were crazy but the drow was 
Lanfear.

As the sprites gathered their courage, Lanfear mutter a few arcane words and vanished 
from sight. Confused the sprites took off into the air looking everywhere but not traveling 
too far from the group.

An unseen smile preceded the sudden loss of wings on the highest flying sprite. Evil 
laughter followed him as he fell screaming to the street. Another sprite had a sword 
protrude from his chest as he ran to his companion’s aid, the two died side by side on the 
street.

By this time the sprites could see an unfavorable trend emerging. They took off, fleeing 
as fast as their legs or wings could take them. Up in the air over the centre of the street a 
dark figure appeared. Not quite as happy as the evil laugh would have suggested. Lanfear 
landed, turned about, and continued on her way, to finish her own business.

*******************************************************

Moments later the Mayor came out, great relief flooding his face that nothing would need 
repair this time. A city guard came running up to him panic and frustration evident upon 
his face.

“Mayor, the taxidermist has been killed by the Sprites.”

Blinking in shock the Mayor asked, “What? Why? When? How?”

Thinking a little the guard paused raised his hand and ticked off the answers, 
“Taxidermist is dead, don’t know, not long ago, with the candlestick!”

“…. Huh? Never mind lets go!”

They ran down to the taxidermists shop and entered a room full of scattered debris, 
stuffed corpses half destroyed and even one sprite corpse that was burnt. Lying in a 
spreading pool of blood was the corpse of the Taxidermist.

Standing around with fury still on their little faces the sprites turned to the Mayor and 
started yelling at him pointing at the burnt corpse of the spite. Not quite understanding 
the Mayor walked over to it and had a closer look.

Although it had been burnt it was quite evident that the sprite had been stuffed before its 
cooking. Glass eye’s, now marked by smoke and fire sat in the skulls eye sockets, cotton 
stuffing lay burnt in a hole in the skin.

The Mayor looked back to the little sprites and wondered what other hell he would have 
to deal with that day.

*******************************************************

“That’s IT? She sent no one else at all?”

Bliss was terribly disappointed. The only hunt they had found in Cillidellia since the day 
they had leaked some information was a small thief by the name of Dixon. This evil plan 
was not working out and she had not been given any chocolate since breakfast.

“Why isn’t she dead then? Certainly you can deal with one pitiful thief can you not?”

Looking back at his Mistress Mael said nothing. He knew her moods and understood that 
he was not the real focus of frustration.

“Can’t we send more information to the Hunt somehow?”

“Not really. Anything else we send will more then likely ruin the effort we have gone to 
thus far. It is merely bad luck that Dixon showed up. Lady Katrana is probably using her 
to flush any traps out or to confirm the news we gave her.”

“If that’s the case then we can’t let Dixon report back to her mistress. Perhaps Katrana 
will send us something more interesting to kill if she doesn’t ever hear from her little 
thief.”

“If we attack her it could get out that we are there in force.”

At that moment Novis walked into the Lair, “Then don’t kill her. Kidnap her. We keep 
her asleep and unknowing. She will awake after all is said and done thinking that she has 
not even moved.”

Bliss nodded at her little devil and plans were made to enrich the previous plan, hoping 
that everything would plane out smoothly.

*******************************************************

Two days later Neodis slipped into his hometown looking for a thief. Spelled up from 
Vex to help him find her he spent quite a bit of time sneaking around his own home 
before he spotted her.

Of all the places in Cillidellia that he though she could get to the hidden passage was not 
one of them. For a thief however nothing else was more suitable. No one ever used it and 
only a few even knew about it.

At that moment she was already sleeping from a day of dodging Slue and peeking at 
elves. Curled up in a corner Neodis couldn’t believe how easy his job would be. He 
reached into the back of his glove and took out a small pin.

From a ritual they had crafted years ago, they had created a pin, through magic and herb 
lore, it would render its victim limp, sending them into slumber. It was also marked.

Dixon would be taken to the Lair where through another ritual he would link her mind 
with his own. At that point Mistress Bliss would send Neodis to sleep. The link would 
pull Dixon into sleep for as long as Neodis was there.

Smiling, he pricked Dixon’s neck with the sharp pin and pushed it into her artery. A few 
mumbled words and Dixon’s partial awakening quickly turned into quiet breathing once 
more. From the shadows, more Coveners appeared; they picked her up and with a few 
arcane words Neodis portaled them all out of Cillidellia.

*******************************************************

Back in the hunting lodge Katrana frowned, she had not heard a prayer from Dixon in the 
last 12 hours. It was terribly unusual for her to remain quiet so long. She would have to 
send someone else to look up on her. Despite the danger of being caught with forces in 
Cillidellia. She had heard nothing of the new resident of Cillidellia. Dixon thought it 
might have been Slue but Katrana new better.

With growing suspicion and concern she had summoned Solaron. The elf made ogre 
stood before her now waiting for her to speak. She looked at him; any ogre is an 
imposing sight, from a mortal’s perspective anyway. Solaron had a good reputation; a 
well earned one for survival.

“Solaron, Dixon has not prayed to me for too long. I sent her to Cillidellia to investigate 
something.”

“Perhaps she has nothing to report?”

“I doubt it. Slue has been transferred into Cillidellia and she has needed assistance in 
order to keep from his sight. Although she has become more familiar with the city, she 
would have asked my aid before now.”

“I shall follow her.”

“Yes, discover what her fate is. I hope she is not in trouble.”

With an unconvinced expression Katrana dismissed Solaron. He would attract a lot more 
attention then Dixon and any chance of stealth would probably be lost but she cloaked 
him in her spells anyway on the chance that he might be able to slip in quickly. Hopefully 
there was no other immortal involved in these events.

*******************************************************

“We have waited far too long! Finally a real target has walked into the trap!” Vex was 
excited. He could hardly believe that Katrana’s own ordained had wondered into 
Cillidellia.

Across the room Azeworai stood, weapons in hand, “Are you sure? Look again! No way 
would he come here its too obvious!”

From a dark shadow Judge grinned, standing next to him Azuroth, Lins, Mael and Novis 
stood, weapons ready, eager to hand out the curse of the Hex.

“It’s him, this will be very sweet!” Vex closed his eye’s and sent his will out. At the other 
end he found his target, getting a firm grasp the will tried to resist but Vex had caught 
him by surprise. Hauling with all his might Vex summoned Solaron into the sleeping 
quarters that the Coven had sealed off.

Leaping into the battle, Coven weapons raised high, mages chanting spells, Solaron’s 
protection was torn to pieces in the mystical chaos, his eye’s glazed over and power 
ripped through his body. Then the weapons fell.

*******************************************************

It was dark, peacefully and comfortably though. She had been here a long time, uncertain 
how long though but she was becoming rather uncomfortable. She had a name she knew 
that but it didn’t occur to her to remember it. She floated, becoming uneasy until she felt 
the presence of someone else.

He had always been there but she just now noticed him. She knew it was a man, not why 
she knew though. Then he was floating before her his blue hair floating about his face 
wildly. He looked back at her and the mark under his eye flashed.

At that moment Dixon woke. She was in the room she remembered falling asleep in. A 
throb in her head and a stiff back suggested to her that she had been asleep to long. She 
sat up, immediately regretting it as her headache spiked. Unsteadily she made her way to 
her feet and sent a thought to her Goddess asking for some relief.

“Dixon? You live? Where have you been? Why have you not prayed to me in 3 days?”

“Three days?”

A door in the secret passage opened, in crawled Slue, “hmm a secret passage, 
interesting!”

Dixon stared wide eyed at Slue while Katrana hammered her with questions; she could 
only stand there fighting back the pain and confusion as Slue came closer.

“Dixon? What are you doing in Cillidellia, hiding in here? No doubt you are up to 
something nefarious!” Grabbing her by the arm he dragged her out.

“There’ll be no running off this time youngling! You have crimes to pay for and only two 
hands!”

Moments later, yet another stain of blood sunk into the great tree of Cillidellia followed 
shortly by screams of agony, Slue is no surgeon!

The End