"Comes you this way, Little Oak."

The Trickster was walking through a great wood in the early morning, fog parting with each of his might hooves hitting the ground. Just a wisp of a woman, Little Oak followed suit. She was full grown now; a beautiful dryad of deep green bark and lovely brown hair. Her flirtatious eyes had full lashes and a haunting emerald that echoed her love of the forest.

"Spendsie us too much times in the woods," the god said. "Many years, now. Many, many years. Now I hears this city, The City, grows to the east."

"Another city?" Little Oak asked.

"Yes. Is bads for us, indeed."

"What are wes to do, my Leafy One?"

The Trickster slowed until he walked no more, then looked over his shoulder slowly and extended his hand. The lizard tail that followed him moved slightly out of the way so as to let Little Wood get close to him. Her fingers entwined with his.

"Wes, my little acolyte, will lives in The City."

"How? Is no place for woodsie ones."

The Trickster smirked. "So you thinks. O, the powers you haves that you don't even realize!"

"Powers?"

"Yes, Little Oak. So many powers…"
He started to walk again, still holding the dryad's hand. Now, the fog began to clear and the forest thinned. They stood upon a hill which overlooked The City. In all of Little Oak's life, she had never seen the fortresses that man built. They were nothing more than rumors; rumors that she was forbidden to pursue. But now she saw the reality. She saw the buildings, smelled the chemicals. It boiled her sap-like blood.

"Those manfools!" She screamed, falling to her knees. "They mocks us! They destroys us! How? How is this goodsie?!"

"Yes, yes!" The Trickster cheered, as if taking such joy in Little Oak's upset that it bordered the perverse. "Feels you the pain! Feels you the pain that the Hammerfools burdens us with!"

He knelt beside Little Oak and took both of her hands, staring into her deep green eyes. Yellow tears ran down her cheeks. "Do you knows what the Hammerfools have dones, now?" he asked.

"Yes."

"No, you do not. This, this CITY is but a mere glimpse of the what they do to us! Now, your Leafy One, your Woodsie Lord, I lose my powers to them!"

Little Oak gasped. "What? Lose you your powers?"

"Yes, my dryad. This bes the sad truth. As they cuts down our wood, as they poisions our grass, my strength fades...there is but one thing we can do."

"What? What is it? I will dos it, anything!"

The Trickster leaned very close to Little Oak's face. "Remembers you the stone I spoke of, The Eye?"

"Oh…"

Little Oak closed her eyes, thinking hard. Yes, it was coming back to her. The Trickster told her a story of when he still held complete dominion over the world. Everything was peaceful and the Pagans did not have Hammerites fear, but that changed as technology built up. The modernization grew and grew, and one of the Hammers stole the Trickster's precious gem, The Eye.

"Withouts The Eye," the Trickster said, "I will never beats the Hammers. But, if we ares to finds it, then all my powers of olds will return! This is enough to destroy all of the cities! All of the Hammers! All of the manfools!"

Little Oak smiled. She squeezed his hands. "Then we will dos this."

"It is not so simple, my dryad."

The Trickster let go of her and stood up, looking at The City on the horizon. He furrowed his brow. "Use we our powers to look humans. First, sends you into The City to scout. Learns you the ways of the man fools. Learns you where The Eye is. Then, comes you back to the woodsie land, and we will devise our plans."

"Yes, my Leafy One."


H ammerites are skilled? Compared to the Keepers, the Order of the Hammer was about as slick as the city watch. Garrett made easy work of finding that book. In just three days, he was ready to get back to the Hot Fox and solidify his new fence. Of course, he also looted the chapel for a healthy sum, but clever Garrett knew better than to give Cutty half. After all, the fence had no idea how much Garrett would be able to steal.

The space that Farkus was renting to Garrett was little more than a glorified closet. It didn't matter, though. One day, Garrett would have plenty of money to live well off of. For now, he just needed a bed. And that's literally all he had. Not even a window to peep out of.

With the Hammerite's book concealed beneath his cloak. Garrett left under cover of night to hunt Cutty down at the brothel. It was the first time he had gone there from the new place, and he was still getting his bearings in The City. Things had changed considerably since he was a child, even in such a short period of time. The industrial revolution was growing at an alarming speed.

The path he ended up taking went the long way around. He was further from Stonemarket than assumed.

"Gotta get myself a map," he thought to himself as his feet carried him through a small park. A few trees surrounded a well, and one glow orb gave slight visibility. Standing beneath the streetlamp-like pole was a young woman. She wore a long, thin dress that flowed in the gentle wind. Garrett slowed. He slipped behind the well and watched her. She was staring up at the glow orb motionless.

"Bes this of the Hammers?" she asked in a smooth, soft voice. Garrett looked around to see if anyone else was there, but she appeared to be alone.

Her bare feet started walking and he got a look at her face. Is was beautiful. So young, probably his age, with full dark lips and fair skin. She wore a distressed look.

"Why puts you trees here? Cuts you them down, tears you them up, and then...then plants you them?"

Again, Garrett looked around for a third person, but no one was there. Then, the young woman squat down on the ground and began to cry.

"Impossible!" she sobbed.

A feeling deep in Garrett's gut made him want to help her, give a word of comfort, but he didn't know what comforting words were. He felt the emotion but he did not know how to convey it. Instead, he watched like a helpless coward as she cried and cried.

"You Hammers," she wept. "You Hammerfools!"

The word reminded him of the book he held close. Cutty would be impressed with how quickly he had worked, so Garrett needed to get a move on. Implementing all of his stealth skills, he snuck out from around the well and slipped away from the woman and the park, but she looked up.

"Who bes there?" she called out. Garrett froze. She stood up and walked right towards him, clearing her throat. "Who is there ?"

He soundlessly held his breath and tried to step back very, very slowly into a darker shadow, but clearly this young lady could see him.

"Oh, it's a man. Where...dids you come from?"

"I…"

She smiled. "Why do you hide from me? I look normal, right?"
"Uh…"

"I think you aren'ts like the others. Manfools are loud, they destroy, they yell. But you, you move silent like a fox."

"How…"

"I heards you because my ears hear everything." She pointed to her ears and smiled. "Don't you hide from me. Come out."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the light. Garrett was so surprised by this behavior that he did not react, he simply followed her tugging motion. Once they could see each other's faces clearly, the lady paused. She gazed back at him, dark lips parting slowly.

"The face of a man," she muttered.

"Well...yeah…"

Her cheeks grew slightly red, as did Garrett's.

"What do you dos so late at night like this?"

"None of your business," he said, looking away. "Leave me alone."

"Wait!"

Garrett ran away and the girl did not pursue him.


"I misjudged you, Garrett," Cutty declared when he was given the Hammerite text. "And how much else did you swipe?"

A bag of silvers and a few tiny trinkets was handed over as well. Garrett plopped down onto the stool beside Cutty and gave a tired sigh.

"It was really difficult," he lied. "I almost got caught a few times, so...I didn't get a chance to steal much."

"That's okay, you did great, especially for someone your age. I'm impressed! Here's your cut."

Garrett took his pay with a snide grin, thinking about the better selection of loot he had stowed away under his bed.

"I'll get another job for you soon," Cutty promised. "I didn't expect you to come back so soon, especially not with the task completed! I want to hold onto you, Garrett! Heheh."

"The feeling's mutual."

"I think we're building a valuable relationship here."

"I agree."

"Drinks on me."

"Won't turn that down."

Anna behind the bar gave them two ales, which Garrett was happy to have. He needed to relax after that strange encounter at the park. Who spoke like that, anyway? He had to be more careful, too, because had that been dangerous he could have been in serious trouble.

"Oh, Mr. Cutty!"

Ms. Cherry's voice chirped from the top of the stairs. More creaks and she was at the bar right away. "And Mr. Garrett! What a surprise!"

"Hey," said Cutty, "You fancy a go this time?"

Garrett looked at Ms. Cherry. Her cheeks were bright red, probably where she got that name from. She leaned up against Garrett and put her head on his shoulder. He flushed. He twitched. He wanted it, but...he didn't exactly want to tell Cutty that he was a virgin. Looking at the payment in his gloved hand, he nodded to Cutty. Talking to women in the real world was way more terrifying than he had expected, but if he was going to pay for sex...well, it'd be much easier, wouldn't it? That could take the edge off and he wouldn't be so anxious. A whore wouldn't care if his social skills weren't up to par.

"Go for it," said Cutty.

"Come on, Mr. Garrett! We're gonna have fun!"

She went upstairs and motioned for Garrett to follow, which he did, albeit rather slow and timidly. They went to the second floor and took the first door into a little, crappy bedroom. Someone had tried hard to make it look good but it was still pretty worn out. A bed that had seen so many rolls in the hay that it didn't know which direction to wear out was beneath a poorly curtained window. Garrett slowly stepped over to the bed and sat down, looking up at Ms. Cherry with nervous eyes.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Well uh, okay...don't-don't tell Cutty, but this is my first time."

Ms. Cherry gasped. "No way? Oh, sweetheart, you don't need to pay for sex like this. You should be out meeting some pretty little thing at the Downwind Thieves' Guild!"

"No thanks," said Garrett.

"Whatever, money is money."

Ms. Cherry gave a small shrug, then sat down in Garrett's lap and put her arms around his shoulders. His pants firmed up in an instant. He didn't know what to do.

"Oh, I knew it! I knew you were hung. Heheh."

"R-right."

Mr. Cherry rubbed herself right up against his crotch, gasping softly. "That's nice, isn't it?" Garrett didn't answer. His face was bright red. He didn't want to touch Ms. Cherry. It was so awkward, but it felt good.

"Do you like that?"

No answer.

"You don't have to speak if you don't want to."

Apparently, Ms. Cherry was picking up on Garrett's poor social skills. She slid down to the floor and performed oral on the young man, which he quickly realized was AMAZING. He leaned back and enjoyed himself.

Well, that was easy. He could pay for a good time like that and not have to worry about saying the wrong thing. In theory, he didn't need a relationship. He could just get money and pay women to suck him off.