As for the clone, as he would not be executed under the new government, he instead was used as a sword-holder, and was well-beloved by the soldiers. A mysterious person donated to his electoral campaign, and he was accepted into parliament easily.
In his first speech, the clone, who was formerly the eunuch’s asshole, flattered the citizens greatly, calling them brave, calling them strong, and saying they were blessed by their gods, who were dead. In the asshole’s second speech, he praised them on behalf of their heritage and their history for overcoming adversity. In his third speech, he lambasted those citizens who did not participate in the wars, and asked that they be executed for treason. In his fourth speech, he questioned the allegiances of certain, impure citizens. In his fifth speech, he demanded camps be built. Our hero and the dwarves were placed into camps for their rehabilitation. Their fellow citizens tried to gas them, but our heroes had smelled worse odors. The dwarves were used to the smell of deceased bodies for centuries. They could only be locked up and starved.
This was our hero’s chance for losing weight and getting abs, yet he felt unfulfilled in this situation.
Many creatures of the forest were arrested too. The doe had been captured. She entreated our hero to touch her stomach. He felt a kick, and immediately understood. He petitioned the doe to be gassed first, but, alas, the paperwork was not processed quickly enough and a half-calf half-boy was born. The clone hailed this as a triumph of humanity and exalted the doe and the boy as icons to the supremacy of their blood. They were not to be executed. However, being deer, they still had to live in the camp.
As the state unfortunately could not give each of the detainees what they desired i.e. death immediately, they set them on certain useless tasks until they could be processed. Our hero and the dwarves made weapons that no soldier used, they made goods that no one consumed, and they made many lamps out of the corpses of their fellow inmates. These had great potential value among the citizens, but as our hero’s business could not in some way redistribute these goods in an efficient way they instead laid in an enormous stockpile, kept under guard by a watchman, who because of the superiority of his blood felt he could sleep most hours of the job and work the last hour by eating his sandwich.
The doe asked our hero to wipe the calf, the doe asked our hero to rock the calf to sleep, the doe asked our hero to watch the calf as she joined her friends in her book club. This proved too much for our hero.
Our hero, receiving his weekly allotment of venison, noticed the tatters of a baby’s clothing tangled in his fork. He said nothing, removed the shreds, and continued eating. When the doe inquired after their child, he felt inadequate at answering the question.
The boy was eventually found. He had removed his clothing, cantered to the butchery, remarked how sharp the knives were, cantered to the ovens, remarked how hot the fires were, cantered out, and tripped on a fallen blade. The animals made relics of the boy’s lower half and the citizens made relics of the boy’s upper half, and so, with their respective martyrs, the two species went to war.
Our hero took advantage of the pell-mell. The dwarves crafted pickaxes, and they dug their way out of the camp. Soon thereafter, the animals broke from the camps and released themselves, and the doe demanded a divorce. They were to finalize their divorce by the pope of the forest.
© 2025 Justin Lee