“You can stay as long as you can, but if they come we must deliver you.  I am truly sorry.”  The father said, handing him a blanket.

Hew fell asleep, hoping a day will stay further for enough time to bargain an agreement.

Day broke with the ringing of the bell and the fathers busy walking about.  Hew was still exhausted as if he hadn’t slept.  He heard commotion and noise outside and instantly knew it was the military.

He walked out towards the back, hoping they weren’t there, but the military had surrounded the temple on all sides demanding to enter.

“It is the order of our ruler, Zander, that we must search the premises and retrieve the animal.”  The soldier said.

“We have no animals here.  We are not harborers of animals.”  The father said.

“Is there a man, who claimed to be called Hew?”  Another soldier asked.

“We know no man named You.  Who is he?”  The father said.

“Do you have any newcomers?”  The commander asked as he left his wagon and walked towards the father.

The father frowned before speaking, “yes, we have a newcomer.”  The father said.

“Bring him to us and we will not set your temple on fire.”  The commander said.

The fathers went in to retrieve Hew, but he had already climbed out through the drainage of the temple to the outside running vigorously.  The bell from the wagon rang when they saw him running through the fields.  He heard the soldiers calling out to one another running after him.

Hew was out in the open field in plain sight.  They closed in on him, roping him up and dragging him by his feet that they had tied up.  They had caught their prey,  the wild animal that Zanger ordered to capture.

The animal, was piled up with the other prisoners in the wagon.  A wagon that Hew thought was empty was filled with gagged prisoners, all tied up as they carted them away.  He heard the soldiers speak.

“Straight to the field of the living dead.  Zanger doesn’t want their stench in his city, upsetting the Queen.  We must go at once.  He will see for himself their death.”  The soldier spoke to another.

It took half a day to get to the field of the dying.  It was a bumpy, bloody ride.  Hew barely breathing.  Half of the other prisoners had already took their last breath.  They were just dead bodies, at the start of their decay.