On a Roll

They were gaining momentum, picking up enough speed that the wooden wheels were reaching their limit and wearing out fast. The two archers revealed themselves at either side of the dirt path, observing the carriage rolling down the hill. Each one wore a blank mask molded out of clay with an empty expression carved into it, complete with tight fit green flexible cloth surrounding their bodies. With a shared look, the one with long dark red hair hurried down the path, with the shorter figure attempting to keep up. Both readied their bows and shot forward a flurry of arrows, again in an attempt to tie the carriage down as every arrow was held by rope before tied around surrounding trees and foilage. Unfortunately, it brought the same result as before. As each rope was ripped apart, the smaller archer hadn't managed to tied his last arrow down, consequently finding themself pulled behind the carriage instead.

Meanwhile, both Felix and Janette found themselves against a loud Grizzly, roaring at them both with a shocked look on its face. It seems even the bear found the situation to be worth worrying about, as its strength was incapable of stopping their impending crash. Nyitzcha looked ahead to see the jungle growing larger as they came closer to impact.

"We 'ave ta jump, jump now!"

"The-The book!" Janette looked around, realizing it must have slipped her grasp at aome point. Felix looked back to meet a small archer in green climbing aboard before facing him. Both of them felt awkward and uncertain of the encounter, but the archer quickly ran past him and attended the panicked bear. Nyitzcha and Janette looked up to see this stranger walk past them, as if they weren't about to crash and meet their demise any second from now.

The archer pulled at the bears fur, leaning close to shout, "Pull!"

It took a minute for it to understand, but somehow this bear nodded and kicked its hind paw over, attempting to climb onto the deck. As it did, this increased weight took a heavy toll, crushing both front wheels of the vehicle and turning it to its side as it continued on a roll. The sharp turn caused everyone to fall over, with Felix folding his arm over the rail for support and grabbing Janette, who in turn held Nyitzcha up to her chest.

The archer also slipped and fell to his side, turning towards the frightened animal. "Nevermind, let go! Let go!"

It roared back and shook its head, by now they had entered the jungle with far too much speed to handle, the carriage digging through vines and foilage. The archer looked around before running at the bear, jumping forward to which the bear spread its arms apart to hug him, letting go and rolling around behind them, away from sight.

Felix knew it was now or never. "Everybody, jump!"

Janette squeezed her eyes tight, lifting her legs with them as they jumped off and fell. Felix jumped first, finding himself tangled and pulled back hard by low hanging vines, forcing hin apart from Janette. Janette found herself a bit more lucky, hitting a shrub and being covered in twigs and leaves with minor bruising and scratches, rolling until she was still. She stood on her side, agitated yet patiently still until they heard the imminent noise of sudden impact. With her, she stood holding a bag tight to her chest as she opened her eyes and breathed a large sigh of relief, believing the impossible had happened as she was still breathing. Her relief was interrupted as the bag kicked and pulled away from her arms, before she realized it was no bag she held onto.

"Don't ye ever be grabbin' me lik a sac' o' potatoes again, ay!" Nyitzcha fumed, kicking rocks and glancing at the mess of ruins her carriage was left in. "Damn! Blasted thin' ain't cheap, da's ten weeks o' labor gone right down, it was. Who in 'ere right mind comes a wonderin' to crash my carriage!"

As the dwarf cursed and ranted on from a distance, the second archer walked her way down to catch up, stepping lightly over the messy trail of littered crates and belongings they kept. She retrieved a large old book from the ground, wiping its cover and looking to find the Grizzly rolled up tight. Scratching its snout, it looked up to see her and opened its arms, releasing the smaller archer from its safe hug. To their left they could hear a male groaning in pain, approaching him carefully.

Felix looked up to meet the two strangers with a large bear following behind them, himself being a good distance away from tbe crash. Aside from bruises over his body, he caught his arm among the vines which pulled him back when he jumped, and now he found himself unable to move which a sharp pain around his tangled arm. It hurt, and he submitted to their presence as he was in no state to run away or call for help, simply lowering his head as he held his tangled raised arm. Both figured stared at him with the weirdest animal facial masks, who are these people?

He groaned and twitched at the sudden jolt that ran through his shoulder and arm. No bleeding, so why did it feel so agonizingly painful around his joint, and why was his arm limp and lacking feeling of control? The smaller archer reached for a small oddly shaped knife carved from bone, slicing at the vines to free him as his arm fell to his side. Still no feeling of control, of which the taller archer carefully lifted his arm to analyze.

"Oooooooooowwwwwww! Stop-stop-stop stop!" He yelled, feeling like hell pierced him with a thousand blades over his full arm. In no time, Janette and Nyitzcha ran to his aid, pausing when they got sight of the bear. The small archer spoke first.

"She won't hurt you, not unless you hurt her first." The smaller archer spoke in a native tongue to their companion, before it sighed and retreated. Judging by the concealed voice it spoke with under that mask, the smaller archer was male. It seems like the taller archer was bothered or annoyed, after a brief argument the boy waved his arms up and backed away.

"His arm feels flimsy, your friend is under a lot of pain." The female said, with Janette swallowing and stepping forward, despite the Grizzly's presence.

"N-No kidding, gimme." She took Felix's arm to inspect, he would wince and whine each time she turned his arm slightly. "Dislocated, this is going to hurt."

She took hold of his forearm and pulled.

"Ow-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Felix screamed at the top of his lungs, turning away as both archers held him down. Hundreds of birds took flight from their nests, chirping as they flew away. Nyitzcha grabbed her rag and raised it to his mouth, something to bite on. He took it with grateful acceptance, biting hard.

"Hold him, I need to pop it in!" Janette squeezed his hand, pulling hard and ignoring his sharp yells and stifled cries, feeling something meeting his arm as she aligned it back in place.

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!" Felix squealed when at last something popped and like magic all of his pain had fled, disappeared without a trace. He looked up to find Nyitzcha hugging him tight before pulling away without a word, patting herself down and acting like nothing happened.

"There, now quit yer jabberin' ye big baby." She muttered, although slightly relieved that he was no longer in pain. Behind her, both archers and bear awkwardly stood in place as Janette patted his arm and massaged it.

"Who are you?" He asked, wincing at the tender feeling he still had. Both archers looked at each other before removing their masks, revealing a red haired mother and her son, both of elven descent with unique blue eyes. Behind them, the Grizzly huffed before somehow shaking its fur away, removing it like a sort of thick blanket and revealing a large, busty woman underneath. The trio stared as two elves and a Grizzly Monster Girl stood before them, leaving them speechless.

"Haiiii!" Nukka said cheerfully with a dumb smile on her face.