***FLASHBACK 13 years ago***

The ship stank.

It was all my six-year-old mind could think about. This large boat that the crew had taken smelled like death, blood, and a privy. The Dwarf had told me to help him find creatures on board that were still alive. The rest of the crew was busy cleaning out the dead bodies of the bad men on the deck. I had heard someone say that these were traffics, or at least that’s what I thought I’d heard.

There was a beautiful blue and green feathered bird that was as big as I was in one of the cages. I poked the sleeping bird with a stick I’d found, but it didn’t budge. I poked it a little harder, but it still didn’t wake up. That wasn’t what the Dwarf was looking for.

I pulled the blanket off the cage next to it. As soon as the blanket came off, the puppy inside hit the bars and began growling. I could see its ribs and it was breathing hard. It had some owies on its side too. It laid down on its side and started whimpering.

“You're out of water.” I could see that the two bowls tied to the edge of the cage were both empty. “You’re probably hungry too.” I needed to tell the Dwarf that I’d found an alive one, but he was upstairs and I could help this puppy first.

“Where is your food..?” I looked around the cramped storage room. There were a lot more boxes with blankets on them. People didn’t keep dog food in a wooden box. They kept it in a bucket. I didn’t see any food, but I did see a five gallon bucket of water in the corner. I ran over to the bucket and tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy. I wrapped my arms around the top of the bucket and started dragging it pull by pull towards the puppy’s pen.

I’d spilled water all over me by the time I got to the pen. I tried to tip the bucket over enough to fill the water bowl, but the heavy container slipped out of my hands and splashed water all over the floor.

Everything was wet, but I puffed out my chest. The water dish was full.

The puppy limped over to the water dish and began lapping up the water.

“Is that what you wanted?” I reached out my hand to pet it, but stopped when the puppy started growling. It didn’t want to be touched. “It’s okay. You’ll be safe now.” I looked around, but I still didn’t see any food. “I’ll be back when I find you something to eat.”

I started walking fast through the cages towards the stairs. The Dwarf kept telling me not to run, because that’s how you went for a swim. I didn’t know how I’d end up in the water inside the boat, but I didn’t want to lose dessert again, so I made sure that I was only walking fast.

I took a turn, but the stairs weren’t where I remembered them being. Instead, there was a little boy my size with black fur that was chained to a wall. There was a collar around his neck, and a band around each of his four arms and two legs. The boy had a face that looked like a cats and growled at me as I got close. His clothes were torn and one of his eyes was almost swollen shut.

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“Let me GO!” the boy growled as he pulled against the chains.

“Why are you chained up?” My heart was hurting as I looked at him.

“The bad men said they were going to make me into a belt.” He pulled against the chains.”I don’t want to be a belt!”

I looked around, but I didn’t see any keys.

“I’m going to go get my Dwarf. He’ll know what to do.” I touched the other boy’s hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

“Don’t leave me!” He started crying.

I started to stay, but I knew that if I stayed, I couldn’t get the boy free. I had to find Mister Garm. He’d know what to do.

“I promise, I’ll be right back.” I smiled. “They killed all the bad guys. You’re okay.”

The other boy had tears running down his face.

I needed to hurry. I took off running. Dessert didn’t matter right now. I had to find the Dwarf.

“MISTER GARM! MISTER GARM!” I was trying to remember which way among all the cages was the way out.

“What is it?” The jovial Dwarf looked over at me as I turned a corner and ran into the bull-man.

“Sorry.” I looked up at the big man, who just snorted. I took a step back and looked at the dwarf. “I found a boy! He’s my age and got black fur and four arms and looks like a cat!” I pointed the way I’d come from. “He’s chained up and needs our help!”

“Camadt…” Mister Storbek pushed me aside as he headed off in the direction I was pointing.

I had to run to keep up with them as they hurried to where the boy was chained up.

“Get your welp out of here.” The bull-man took out his sword. “He doesn’t need to see this.”

It got hard to breathe. “Don’t hurt him!”

The Dwarf grabbed me by the shoulder and stopped me from moving. I strained against the firm grip, but I couldn’t break it.

I looked up at the dwarf. “You can’t let him hurt him!”

“Nobody is getting hurt.” Mister Garm took out his ax and stepped in front of the bull-man.

“You can’t be serious.” Mister Storbek pointed his sword at the other boy. “Those things are all killers! I was at Fort Chie. I saw what they did firsthand. They didn’t care if someone was a civilian or not, they killed everyone they came across. If you don’t get rid of him now, he could kill hundreds or thousands when he grows up.” He gave the dwarf a nasty look. “Do you want that on you?”

“Nothing is born evil.” Mister Garm chopped off one of the chains from the wall. “I reckon with the right teaching, he’d make a fine man someday.”

“You can’t be serious.” Mister Storbek put away his sword.

“Never attack something just because you think it might be bad.” The Dwarf finished cutting off the chains and wrapped the boy in a hug. “There are a lot of good things around here once you look past the reputations.”

“You’re crazy. There’s no way that thing is ever a good person.” The bull-man started stomping away.

“I’ll take that bet.” Mister Garm pulled the boy back so he could look him over. “I’ll turn this lad into a respectable person.”

The bull-man didn’t say anything as he walked away.

“That settles it.” Mister Garm laughed as he motioned for me to get closer. “Sectum, come over here and meet your new brother!”