A strange sound intruded into my ears, stabbing into them sharply, like I thought an icepick would. For a split-second, I had no idea just where on Earth I was and when my eyes opened, light flooded into them, causing me to blink the spots away.

Keeping my eyes closed, for now, I focused on the sounds I was hearing and after a second or two, I realised what I was hearing, the sharp, creaking sounds of an axle in dire need of grease, a lot of grease, slowly grinding away far too close to my head and below me.

That gave me a bit of direction, namely down, and I began to process what I was feeling below me. Whatever it was, it was hard and cold, making me think of metal, not the most pleasant of surfaces to sleep on.

With that, if I included the failed attempt to see, I had checked three of my five senses, so I tried the next two together, taking a deep breath, taking in a riot of smells and tastes for me to experience. The air I sucked in was pleasantly chill, like a cool spring-morning, not sweltering hot, as my body was expecting. The smells, on the other hand, were less pleasant, even if I had no idea what most of them were. There was a smell of trees, of forest, rotting leaves, earth and vegetation, but far more overpowering was the smell of unwashed human, a stale smell of sweat with subnotes of blood, urine and feces. It reminded me of the perfume one of my teachers liked to use, only not quite as stinging.

Deciding to brave the sensation of light again, I cracked open an eye, only squinting at first, least the evil, evil sun tried to stab me again, even turning my head away from the light to help.

“Hey you…” a voice disturbed my slow exploration, causing me to hurry a little. The voice was rough, male and adult, not one I had ever heard before.

“They caught you at the border, didn’t they? Just like that thief over there.” the voice continued and I decided to find out who was talking to me. With a little effort, I managed to get into a sitting position, allowing me to get a good look around. The first thing I noticed was that my view was hampered by slightly rusty iron bars, all around me, affixed to the metal floor I had been lying on. A growl escaped me when my mind caught up, telling me that I was caged, like some animal. On the other side of the bars, not in a cage but bound with a pair of manacles, was the owner of the voice, at least he gestured to the side with his head and was looking at me.

It was easy to recognise him for what he was, there were few races as famous as his, even if I had never seen one before, it was obvious that he was a dwarf. Well-kept beard, bald head, combined with a small yet wide stature, it didn’t get any more obvious. Even sitting I could see that he was easily two heads shorter than I was, but then, I was a particularly tall example of my own race. But, just because he was short, I was not sure which of us would weigh more, he looked like he was rock-solid, muscles forged by either hard work or harder fighting gave him the appearance that he might be able to break open my cage with his bear hands. Which was likely why they were solidly bound.

I followed his gesture and there, equally bound, was a reedy fellow, scraggy and unkempt looking, wincing away just from my look.

“Damn you monsters! I should not be here, I’m not like you. If they hadn’t been looking for you, I would have gotten away with the horse, I was well out of imperial territory when they caught me.” he complained in a whining voice.

The dwarf just chuckled, sounding like a rockslide going down hill, before answering.

“It doesn’t matter. Now, we are all brothers and sisters in the binds, thief.”

“Shut up back there!” a voice shouted from the front and for a moment, there was silence.

I took that moment to take further stock of myself. When I tried to move my arms, I consciously realised that my arms were bound together, just like the dwarf’s, and those manacles were the reason for my trouble with moving earlier.

Looking down, I could see that they seemed to be solid iron, or maybe steel and that they seemed to be fused together seamlessly. Magic, undoubtedly. The thought caused another growl to emit from my throat.

Otherwise, my hands looked fine, the backs covered in coarse, black fur with ash-grey stripes and ended in rough and tough nails, not quite claws but what I grabbed, wasn’t getting away. Turning them, I saw the dark, leathery brown skin, tough and calloused from work.

Up my arms, the black fur continued, covering me until it vanished under a coarse tunic, linen or maybe wool, I was not sure what kind of fabric it was, but I was quite sure it was the cheapest anyone could find. At least I was clothed.

Rolling my neck told me that there was a collar around my neck, the idea eliciting another growl.

“What’s wrong with the monster, why is it growling like that?” the thief asked.

“She’s young and unbroken. She must have fought the collar until she passed out. Admirable, but foolish.” the dwarf answered while I slowly raised my hands, hoping to find what I expected there. Luckily, the manacles were not affixed to the cage, simply there to keep me from moving as I wanted. Touching my face, I found my tusks, still intact, still as they should be, thank the Gods. Losing them would have been shameful.

“Where are they taking us?” I asked, finally acknowledging the other two.

“I don’t know where we are going, but the Arena awaits. To fight, to die, for the entertainment of the humans and the glory of their Goddess.” the dwarf spit, before mumbling a curse under his breath. The thief, hearing those words, started to sob.

“No, no, no, that can’t be, why would they want someone like me there? I’m no fighter, I could never fight for the glory of Kallendra. There must be a mistake!”

Again, the dwarf only laughed.

“Say your prayers, maybe cunning Fieth will hear you and let you get away.” he told the thief.

For a few moments, nothing was said. After the wagon rounded a corner, I was able to see a town in the distance.

“It’s Stormhelm. At least I can see some good dwarven craftsmanship, before they throw us into their arena, my ancestor’s helped the humans build the city, long ago. In better days.” the dwarf mumbled, sounding almost pleased with himself.

“Young Orc, don’t lose hope. There will be a time for you to break your shackles and when the time comes, you need to be ready. Believe me, we dwarves know that.” he told me, before falling silent again.

A few minutes later, the wagon pulled through the open gates and I was able to look around. Sadly, it seemed to be early in the morning and there was nothing much to see. I focused on one of the humans on the street, a young looking fellow, judging by the closeness of the adult next to him his son.

“Whoah, those are monsters for the arena!” he exclaimed.

“You need to go back inside, son.” his father told him, taking him at the shoulder.

“But I want to see the monster, up close, before they are tamed.” he whined, trying to get a good look at me.

Part of me wanted to spit at him, for looking at me like some animal in the zoo. But the green aura that surrounded him told me that it would be impossible.

But I would heed the dwarf’s advice. My time would come. After all, I had only just arrived in the world of Irminsol.