I snapped awake in a momentary panic, every muscle in my body wound tightly. Just another dream, I sighed, noticing the first vestiges of light peeking over the horizon. I had been tossing and turning all night, waking up with strange pains in my body and having vivid nightmares of being hunted by humans. There must have been something in that bear meat I ate, I thought, I don’t usually have dreams like that. I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep, but for some reason my body was ready to wake, so instead I crawled out of my tent. I don't even remember what it was about now, I grumbled.

There wasn’t much water around so I was still partly caked with blood from fighting the bear, but Zoyvrao’er assured me that there would be a river coming up that I could wash myself off in. The combined stench of the corpse, the beast, the humans, and my own body made me glad I could ignore my nose so long as it wasn’t being surprised. Soon enough, the rest of the guards began to get up, and Koyl also crawled out of his tent with a dazed look on his face. After packing the tents, we set out just before sunrise at Zoyvrao’er’s command, not wanting to waste daylight.

Less wildlife approached us than during the first day, probably due to the smell of the entire caravan. As we walked, the ground became less craggy, and more trees started to appear. Before long we were in an evergreen forest, surrounded by hundred-meter tall trees spaced with fairly consistent fiver-meter gaps between them. The branches near the path had been trimmed so many times that they had ceased to grow entirely, and above us the sunlight flickered through a canopy made of millions of green needles.

True to Zoyvrao’er’s word, we came to a wooden bridge that crossed a river, and then took a few minutes to wash ourselves in it. Small eel-like creatures nipped at my legs while I stood in the running water, harmlessly bouncing off my skin but occasionally pulling a hair from its follicle. The blood came off, mostly, but I did want to use some soap once we got to our destination to get the rest of it out of my gambeson. Miraculously, aside from the arm that had been torn when the bear swiped at me, the entire article of clothing was undamaged.

“Okay, we’re going to be taking a little detour here,” Zoyvrao’er declared once everyone was back at the caravan. Several guards frowned, and Koyl glanced at me.

“What detour?” a male guard asked. I looked to the source of the voice and saw the man with the torn breastplate.

“As you may have realized when you applied, some of the stuff I’m hauling isn’t strictly legal in Klehkah,” Zoyvrao’er explained. Koyl winced, and I watched the guards closely. “It is, however, legal in Mehzowrow. The problem is that if we cross the border on this road, we’re going to be inspected by Klehkah guards who will give us trouble.”

“Shit,” Jhaeaal swore, and everyone but Koyl and I began looking back and forth, muttering occasionally. “Did you know about this?” Jhaeaal asked me.

“I wasn’t told explicitly,” I replied.

“It’s not any of our business,” Koyl said. “As far as any of us are concerned, Zoyvrao’er never said anything about this and we’re taking a shortcut.”

“You catch on quick,” Zoyvrao’er smiled. “It’s as he said, I’m telling you this so you know why we’re going offroad, but you didn’t hear it once we get moving again.” Two of the guards, both men, were muttering to each other during Zoyvrao’er’s last few statements. “I’d also like to remind you that your contracts stipulate privacy regarding all conversations about cargo, and that if you say anything stupid you won’t be dealing with me or even Dkehpmz, but the ones who hired him,” he added, shutting the men up quickly.

“Yaytgayao ngaojhaayjh,” someone swore, and I took note of a phrase of profanity that I had no idea of the meaning of.

“Let’s not invite disaster on ourselves,” Zoyvrao’er huffed, before heading back to the front of the wagon to control the beast. Five minutes later we had crossed the bridge and taken a left off the main path, cutting through some bushes and revealing a less prominent but still clearly traveled route going due south. It should be fine, I thought, if anything, we’re less likely to run into trouble off the main road, at least trouble of the human variety.

“Get down!” I hissed, grabbing a guard and pulling him behind the tree I was using for cover just as a rock whizzed through the spot where his head had been half a second before. Screeches erupted from the trees, and another wave of rocks smashed into the wagon, the beast drawing it, and the trees around us. Less likely to run into trouble, I growled, what was I thinking? Not even an hour into travel along the smuggler’s route and we were already fighting again.

“Does anyone have another crossbow?” Koyl asked, peeking out and then pulling his head back before a rock could hit it. “Zoyvrao’er, come on, tell me you have one.” The remains of the first crossbow sat on the ground nearby, the device damaged beyond repair after being struck across the bow by a rock.

“I didn’t expect to encounter a yeydhtao, alright?” Zoyvrao’er snapped back. “I thought the guards were full of shit. One is usually more than enough. Can’t you do something about it?” I ducked down low, then looked out at our mystery assailant. I had a good idea of what it probably looked like from the sounds it was making, but I had to be sure. Judging by the trajectories, it must be somewhere around those two treetops, I thought, then movement in my peripheral made me pull my head back in before a rock smacked the edge of the tree where I had been peeking out, splintering wood all over. Moves fast, I thought, I need eyes on… there it is.

Around thirty meters up and fifty away, crouched on a branch, was a simian of some kind. It had oddly green fur around its body, turning brown along the arms, legs, and tail. Its face looked like a baboon’s, with a pronounced hairless muzzle, but its eyes were much larger than a baboon’s and spaced further apart. Most striking, however, were its arms and hands. The length of the limbs was double what it would have been in a more normally proportioned animal, and the metacarpals of the hand were so long that they looked almost like a third arm section. The fingers and thumb were similarly elongated to facilitate grasping, though to a lesser degree.

In its left arm, the monkey carried a bundle of rocks, each roughly round and about five centimeters in diameter. Its right hand held a rock much like the others, gripping it between its fingertips. Locking its strange eyes onto mine, it drew its arm back above its head and swung it forward, using every mechanical advantage of its limb to launch the rock in its grasp at an extreme speed. I dodged out of the way in time to see the rock impact the head of the man who I had pulled behind my tree, cracking his skull and knocking him out instantly. I hastily pulled him behind the tree, hearing the monkey whoop out more calls into the woods.

“Is he dead?” Koyl asked. I looked at the man, whose wounds were healing slowly, and sighed.

“No,” I replied, “but we need to either kill that thing or get out of here.”

“Can’t you just throw something at it?” Koyl asked.

“Not at that range, not accurately enough,” I replied. Rustling from the trees drew my attention and I saw that a second smaller monkey had joined the first with more rocks. A resupply, I hissed, we need to get out of here, fighting them just isn’t an option. A whoop to my right came, and before I could even look a rock smashed into my ribs on my right side, causing me to stumble out of cover. I had just enough time to look back up at the pair of monkeys and see the larger one’s arm come down, then I heard a crunch and my vision went black.

“You just left them there!” Jaeaal was yelling when I came back to my senses. My head felt like it was splitting open slowly, and I let out a reflexive groan. “Oh good, the one you did save is up,” she snarked.

“You can shut up,” Koyl snapped back. “I didn’t see you volunteering to run out and grab anyone.” My eyes were open, but all I could see was a bright light. Pupils are too dilated, I thought, I just need to… of course, I can’t just contract them, I have to wait it out. As the room gradually darkened, I noticed that I was bouncing around, and realized I was in the back of the wagon.

“What happened?” I groaned. Koyl pulled the fabric aside on the back of the wagon and hopped in, sitting on a crate across from me.

“Looks like you’re mortal after all,” he chuckled. “You took a pretty bad hit. Well, a bad hit, and then about four more hits before the yeydhtao figured you weren’t getting up. Lost your left eye, but it came back in fine. Spilled a bit of brain fluid too, but I think everything’s still in there.” Brain fluid? I thought, I shouldn’t have- I snapped to alertness, painfully, and everything came into focus. My left hand went up to my eye, prodding it to make sure it was functional. Everything seemed to be in order, and Koyl looked at me curiously.

“My skull was split?” I asked. He scoffed, then took a breath.

“Oh yeah,” he joked, “I thought it was too thick to be broken, but it looks like I was wrong.”

“Did you see it?” I asked, “Split open, I mean. Did you see the inside before it healed?”

“I think everyone saw it,” Koyl remarked, “that was what convinced the rest of the guards to use the wagon for cover and get the beast running. You should have seen the looks on their faces. I’m pretty sure the guy who got hit during the escape had shit himself.” He’s not acting unusual, I thought, so… I guess I’ll just come out with it.

“It looked normal?” I asked. Koyl once again looked at me curiously, narrowing his eyebrows and trying to pry my thoughts out with his eyes.

“What do you even mean?” he asked back. “There was blood, and your eyes were open all creepy-like, if that’s what you mean.”

“You didn't see anything... unusual in my skull?” I asked quietly.

“No…?” Koyl replied hesitantly. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” Some tension left my shoulders, and I exhaled. My splitting headache was showing no signs of subsiding, but I felt better.

“How did you even escape?” I asked. “We were under heavy fi- bombardment. I can’t imagine the-” I paused, suddenly having trouble remembering the name of the animal.

“Yeydhtao, specifically theytyeydhtao,” Koyl prompted. Monkey is yeydhtao,” I said to myself, why am I having trouble with that?

“I can’t imagine the monkeys losing the fight, and this wagon isn’t very fast,” I finished.

“Oh that’s simple,” Koyl shrugged, “once they took down the third guy they climbed down from the trees and dragged him and the first one off. They probably would have done the same to you if I hadn’t managed to drag your giant ass up here into the wagon.”

“With help,” one of the male guards said.

“With help,” Koyl repeated. So he saved me, I thought. A strange feeling appeared in my chest, and I looked away from Koyl for a moment to make it stop. Stupid body, I thought for the first time in a while.

“Thank you,” I said, then looked back at a shocked Koyl.

“Uh, yeah,” he muttered, “I have to get back out there. Also, Zoyvrao’er wants you back out once you’re able to walk.” He hopped out and left me alone to my thoughts inside the wagon. The wagon sent new tendrils of pain out from the left side of my forehead every time it bounced on a rock, but aside from that, I felt fine. I ran through a few memory exercises to make sure nothing was out of place and found no issues. Maybe Koyl didn't notice anything because he doesn't know what a brain looks like, I thought, or maybe I really do have a human brain in my skull. The thought was amusing, but became less so the more I recalled my recent experiences, in proportion to how much it explained the strangeness of my current body compared to my previous ones.

A minute later I stood up in the back of the cart, then sat back down again, frustrated. But how can it be a human brain? I wondered, It’s not possible, but it's either that or it's some kind of wetware that looks exactly like one. My mind swam with possibilities, and my thoughts were drawn back to the time I had met my operator before waking up on the beach. The dream-like quality of the environment that I didn't recognize at the time, the strangely human-like way it communicated, and the subtle hints in what it said. This body… it’s not just like a human body, it is a human body, completely, I was forced to admit, I don’t know how, but it has to be. But if that’s the case then… I found myself holding my breath, gripped with a strange fear. Just what kind of being sent me here?