Soon afterwards the carriage lurched to a stop. The guards walking beside the cage stopped as well, turning towards me with weapons drawn. I pulled myself into a knot of fur and muscle, prepared to attack as soon as the door opened. An orcish woman quickly raced out to the cart smacking both of the guards on the side of the head, yelling at them in orcish. They cringed and tried sheepishly to explain themselves. This just made her angrier, she screamed and shouted until they were more shameful than I had ever seen. Of course, I was still scared out of my mind. She sternly said something to them, and one of them went to open the cage door. I pressed myself against the opposite side of the cage, and he reached his hand in. I, seeing my chance, raced out of the cage. He grabbed me by the scruff once more and lifted me to face level.

“Don’t even think about escaping.” He growled. Still scared out of my mind and powered by adrenaline, I raked my claws down his face until he let go. His screams were deafening. He held both of his hands to his face, thick green blood running in between his fingers. The other guard walked over and held the point of his sword to my throat, making sure I was very far from his face. The orcish woman reached for me, thought for a second, put on a metal gauntlet, then picked me up.

“I like your spunk,” she chuckled, looking over at the wounded guard, “perhaps you won’t be a meal.”

“But miss-” the unharmed guard started,

“Enough! Toss him in with the slaves.” she replied, “With the way he fights, I think that he’ll last a little while.” She cackled, I kicked and screamed until she took her other hand and knocked me out.

According to Grandma Ponki, I was dragged off and tossed into a pile of dirt. She was the only one who took care of me. She was my only teacher, my only protector, she was my only parent. She pulled me out of that dirt, she dragged me over to her hut. Even at that age, I was much larger than her. She pulled me over to the small hut she had created and kept me safe. Soon, I rose back to consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, holding my aching head. The first thing I saw, was a small, elderly tengu woman. She looked me in my eyes and said, “Good. You’re finally awake.” Naturally, I screamed. “Bah!” Pongki exclaimed, “Maybe too weak to help Ponki.”

“Ponki?!”

“Yes. Ponki. Ponki needs help from you.” she said in broken common

“Are… Are you Ponki?”

“Yes, but no more questions! Ponki needs help! You go and find parts, and Ponki teaches you the arts.”

“The arts?” I asked, a curious glint in my eye

“Enough! I need parts. You find, I make new helper.”

“Alright. What do you need?”

“I need two arm, two leg, and three head.”

“Of like, an animal? Or like made out of clay, or maybe-”

“From dead body. Like over there.” she pointed to one corner of the hut, and to my horror, there was a large amalgamation of corpses. Sewn together with what looked like hair. I screamed again, to Grandma Ponki’s dismay.

“I thought cat boy strong! I saw you make guard bleed! Now, you scream at beginning of flesh golem?! You either help, or you leave!”

Still panicking, I knew I had to say something “Apologies Miss Ponki.” I stuttered “I will help you to the best of my ability, how will I be getting these parts?”

“You will take from body pile.”

“Where exactly can I find the body pile?” Grandma Ponki quietly walked to one end of her patchy cloth tent and pushed the curtain (she called it a door) aside.

“There.” she spoke, pointing to an enormous pile of bodies. I could smell it from where we were standing. The stench hung in the air. It was almost tangible. I turned around, eyes wide, and started gagging.

“No! No! Do not vomit in Ponki’s house!” she shouted, shoving me out of the door, “Vomit gets in dirt! Hard to get out! Go, get parts and come back!” And with a hard shove, I was out among the other workers.