Immediately on their return, Rellick was placed under arrest and his possessions taken from him. With his stags gone and his energy sapped by the quest, he was unable to fight back when he was bound and thrown in the dungeon. The next day a trial was held, though the queen was absent while the king presided over the trial. Many of the charges were old, things he'd been rumored to do, but never confessed to. Some of the charges, such as attempting to kill the king, forcing the queen into an affair, or leading the ents to destroy the old capital, were well off base, but Rellick knew that it didn't matter to this court.
It didn't much matter to him either. He had failed two of his charges, and without his protection against her husband, he had little doubt that he would soon fail his third charge. He was sentenced to execution at the conclusion of the trial, and left in his cell for the night, subject to jests from the Midas witch in the cell next to him as she claimed his body would make a lovely statue, and even offered to help him escape if he touched her. But even if he want to try, he could not reach.
The next day, death came alongside dawn. The queen was found dead in her bed chambers, and the public story was that Rellick had escaped and killed her for revealing their affair. It only made the public all the more willing to cheer on the executioner as his axe severe Rellick's head.
The next time he woke was as a god, his mortal body indeed being turned to gold for the witch to escape by. Supposedly, after she died his statue was recovered and placed in the temple in honor of his contributions, even before they knew it was a statue of one of their gods. But that severance was a scar that would never fade, no matter what body he occupied, and that alongside his trusty stags prevented him from ever fully losing himself to his godhood.
