Narhus trundled down a road that in his humble opinion barely counted as such. He had seen the streets in the Sauldern he was heading to, now those were roads. Nice, stable cobblestone that warmed under the sun making it pleasant to walk over. Not the quagmire that he was in, last night’s rain had turned the entire road into a trap that seemed purposely designed to keep hard-working farmers from getting their tithes to the Saul on time.

Deep furrows outlined in the mud proved he wasn’t the only one with this problem.

Still, it was approaching mid-day, and while the sun beat down on him it also dried the road. This had the unpleasant effect of making it feel like he was pulling his load through a river of manure, but it was getting easier to pull the cart, and once the road dried the journey would be far more pleasant.

Deciding he had earned a respite he pulled his burden to the side of the road and started fanning his face with his hat. The wide-brimmed reed cap was meant to keep the sun off and it did a good enough job. When his hind arm tired he switched to his foremost arm, the appendages drastically different. While the burly hind arm was fairly normal with its short-covering of fur and six fingers the upper arm was like a tree trunk but only had three fingers on each hand.

As the midday heat intensified Narhus moved the fanning of his hat and aimed it to his three long ears that stood tall upon his head.

The end result made for an appearance that looked like that of a gorilla that had an extra pair of arms topped off with a rabbit’s head plus a little extra.

Just like any other Dhorri. Though the farm work had bulked him up a little.

He rubbed his hind arms over his upper hands, knocking the dried mud free as he flexed the large digits. Long travel was murder with a heavy load. He felt it was especially bad in this dry heat.

As much as he would have liked to sit there and complain all day he needed to get back on the road. If the Saul didn’t get the tithe his whole village would be in dire straits. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t complain while he walked.

“Stupid road, why aren’t you dry yet? Is it just so you can impede my travel. Don’t blame me if I’m not exactly gentle with my steps.”

He grumbled, lightly punching the ground with every step.

Soon he came to the intersection he knew so well, it was hard to miss considering it was actually paved. Narhus only wished that the road to the Sauldern didn’t cut through the Forest of Starwater. He would have preferred the open fields and farmlands, but there was no going around this time. To avoid it would add an entire day to his travel and because his brother had conveniently come down with stomach pains at the last possible moment, so the job had been handed to him and he had a late start.

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“Idiot younger brother. I bet you swallowed dirt to get out of this, didn’t you. I showed you that trick when we were just boys and this is how you use it? To betray me like this! Fine, I will make certain you get a full course when I return, you are courting death little brother!”

Narhus was practically roaring at this point, but immediately silenced himself and looked around the forest. He had tried to avoid looking at the forest as much as he could but making noise like that was a bad idea. The animals of the Starwater forest were vicious and even if there were regular patrols, you often heard stories about lone farmers disappearing and meeting unfortunate ends. It was rare, so it probably wouldn’t happen to him.

Still, didn’t hurt to pick up the pace.

“I swear brother if this trip kills me I will haunt you till the end of your days!” He muttered to himself as he moved as fast as he could with the cart weighing him down. The forest had looked so beautiful when he was young, with the deep purples and blue hues dying the world in rare vibrant colors. The glowing starwater dripping from the trees made for such pleasure to listen to, but that was before he truly understood what dangers it muffled the sounds of, drawing out the footsteps of-

What was that noise?!

Narhus tried to freeze in place as he heard something coming from the forest. His three ears worked in tandem to locate the source of the sound. To the right! six Yi from the road, AND IT WAS COMING CLOSER!

Looking between his cart and the road, Narhus desperately began sweating. He needed to RUN dammit, but if the tithe didn’t get delivered everyone in Han Bo would pay the price. As the paralyzed peasant stood a war waged between his cowardice and sense of duty. In that short time, whatever was coming had nearly reached the road.

Oh, Ancestors please protect this unworthy son of yours! Please let it be a lone Molzolian, that I can handle!

His hearts nearly leaped from his chest as a lone figure stumbled from the treeline. It was too tall for a Molzolian, and none of the pests wore armor.

His eyes went wide as he took in the bleeding, mangled figure before him. There was no question in his mind what it was, and if he was guessing correctly, HE was badly injured.

He was looking at a Jeru. One of the most reclusive races known to the Sunlands.

The noble three-eyed lupine head that the Jeru were known for turned to him. Only one eye was open, the center was shut tight and the right eye was slashed in a nasty cut.

So not a High Jeru then.

Narhus’s panicking mind floated that thought idly as the rest of him tried to shake off his surprise. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at.

Armor, this Jeru was armored like the grandest of warriors he had ever seen, and he was badly wounded.

Three of his four arms were missing, and one of his legs seemed badly hurt. How bad he had no way to tell. The Jeru warrior spoke in a racking wheeze.

“Rakam…. Selut… Massah.”

At Narhus’s incomprehension, it seemed to search for words that weren’t Jerish. He seemed to settle for simplicity.

“Help.”

At that, the warrior collapsed to the cobblestone.

The farmer took a beat to react, then rushed to the fallen man.

“Hey! Are you alright?!”

Narhus felt like a fool the moment the words left his mouth. The man was missing half his limbs!

To his relief, the man still seemed to be breathing, but he was in a bad way. He quickly placed the fallen warrior in his cart, hiked up his roughspun blue-breaches, and ran like the wind. He had no idea what had happened to this man. He also had no intention of waiting around for whatever did it to do the same to him.

The Cobblestones bore him and his cart as he quickly came into view of the Saulderns gates and started hollering for the guards.

The unconscious Jeru did nothing but bleed into the sacks of grain and mutter the same words, over and over.