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« on: February 01, 2014, 01:16:10 pm »
Hydlaa was in an uproar. Somebody had desecrated the garden of Xiosia, the goddess of life. Jardet was kneeling in front of the sacred tree, frantically begging forgiveness for his negligence. The wooden staff he was clutching in his hands was covered in sweat.
"Jardet!" a voice thundered over the murmuring of the onlookers. "What is this madness?" The crowd parted and Jardet found himself looking upward at the double chin of the Octarch. Still on his knees, he quickly turned to face the wrath of the authority which was more terrible than the wrath of his god.
"I didn't know, Your Majesty!" he pleaded and his forehead touched the grass, sweat and dew mixing together.
"You are in charge of this garden. How are my guards to keep the peace when the citizens can't even protect the tiny piece of land they live on? And the most appalling is you were safely in bed when it happened! Who did you leave your garden to? For the street ruffians and pickpockets to congregate in? Not to mention you don't have a house so whose bed did you share? You're a priest, for god's sake, and if you don't know decency and can't take responsibility of the grass, trees and flowers in this garden, I'll just seal it and be done with it!"
Silence fell as the Octarch looked around for somebody to disagree. As no one did, he said in a much calmer voice, "Show it to me". One of the guards lead him to the tree at the back of the garden where a body hung off a branch. A rope cut deep into the fur around the neck of the corpse.
"There was a note was well," said the guard as he handed the piece of parchment to the Octarch. The note read:
"In this place of life I embrace death. I pray those concerned will understand and accept my choice. Live in the name of life."
The Octarch snorted, "Another mad mouse committing suicide. Clean up here and toss the body into the well."
He turned around and left the garden, the crowd parting again to make way. Behind him the wind played with the corpse, turning it around and around on the rope. Both hands and paws were missing and a black glass bead stuck out of the meat of the left cheek. In the trunk of the sacred tree somebody had cut in the name "Morla".