The man looked fat, sure—but it was the kind of fat that padded a hollow shell.
Dead weight, really. No resistance when I grabbed him by the collar and slung him over my back like a sack of spoiled meat.
Then—boom—we were gone.
The town was small enough for this kind of thing.
Built inside a valley with a central market strip and scattered housing, it took no time at all to cross from civilization into the jagged wilds surrounding it.
Trees lined the outer border like silent sentinels, watching and judging in their stillness.
These weren't soft trees either.
They were tall and spindly like pine cones, their branches jutting out like knives.
The ground beneath them was littered with broken needles and ancient bark, sharp enough to sting.
I dropped him without ceremony.
He hit the ground with a thud, a satisfying one, the kind that echoed between the roots and leaves.
His groan followed quickly after, a wet, pitiful sound as he struggled to sit up.
