by Tahlia

New Beginnings

CHAPTER II

The Slave Girl

I was forced awake by a large blast that shook the thick stone walls around me. The rumbling in the air penetrated to my very core. I was startled and confused. My eyes snapped opened, yet I couldn't see. I panicked for a moment before realizing that a piece of cloth had been wrapped tightly around my head. Despite being blindfolded, I moved my head frantically from side to side. I was desperately trying to make sense of what was going on.

My heart was beating painfully in my chest. I struggled to breathe. Something had been bound tightly around my upper body, forcing my upper arms against the sides of my chest, but something was wrong. I could feel something on my chest being pushed in. It was uncomfortable and restricted my ribcage even further. The best I could muster were short and shallow breaths. The bindings creaked as I forced my chest out as much as I could. The more I pushed the more I felt my oddly misshapen chest flatten and spread out, even squishing against the sides of my arms.

I found myself thinking of what I had seen before I lost consciousness. The sight of my shadow twisting, the feel of my muscles stretching and the sound of my bones snapping. I had become some sort of monstrously deformed creature.

I tried to steady my breathing, knowing I needed to calm myself. I concentrated on each inhale and exhale, gradually slowing my pace. A piece of cloth kept tickling my nose as I inhaled, pulled in by my now forward facing nostrils. A sack had been placed over my head, as if being blindfolded wasn't enough. However, what worried me more was how different my face felt. My nose and lips seemed to stretch further away from my face than before, and I could feel long thick hairs growing out around the now swollen area between my nose and lips.

With the fabric pressing against my nose, I felt suffocated. I tried to open my mouth to catch a better breath. But as my teeth barely separated, I felt another leather strap wound around my face. It dug into the bridge of my elongated nose and under my jaw, just behind my chin. I scrunched my nose and twisted my face in a vein attempt to free my mouth. As I did, I felt felt as though my teeth themselves were locking my jaw in place. Long triangular canines interlocked with my other teeth, making it impossible to shift my jaw from side to side.

Another series of blasts shook the fort and rattled me. A loud clacking sound soon followed and hurt my ears, making them fold back against my head. That gave me another shock, my ears had moved to the top of my head. Not only that, but they could twitch, swivel and fold as well. When the ringing in my ears subsided, I tried to see just how well I could control them. They twitched and swiveled about randomly as I tried to understand how my ears worked. As I toyed with them, they rubbed up against the cloth sack which revealed to me that they were completely covered in short velvety hairs on the outside and tufts of longer hairs on the inside. As I moved my ears around, I also noticed just how different my hearing was. I could orient my hearing with them just as I could orient my sight with my eyes. I could hear prisoners shouting and men in heavy clothes or armor running down the halls.

Despite what had happened to me, there seemed to be something far more serious happening outside, and I didn't want to be around to find out what that was. I tried to move my legs to stand, but I found that they too had been bound. I tried to force them apart, grunting in a strangely soft yet bestial tone as I pushed as hard as I could. I felt the straps straining against my knees and ankles. I somehow felt that my hips and thighs had thickened as well. I had lost quite some weight in my time here yet with the way the bindings dug into my body it seemed like I suddenly gained a layer of fat or muscle there.

I tried to free my hands next, but they had been forced into tight fists, pulled behind my back and bound together at the wrists. With my arms pulled behind me it forced my back into an arch. I swung my torso from side to side, but my movement was severely limited. I tugged at my arms and I could feel it pulling at my spine for some odd reason. I felt it curve uncomfortably and reach far beyond anything I had felt before; I had a new appendage. My spine looped back up onto itself, slid between my bound wrists and my back before continuing on its trail up to my neck, the tip of it curling away from head. I could feel things with it as I could my arms and legs, like buckles on the straps around my chest which were nestled between my shoulder blades. Just that sensation of a new feeling limb made me feel dizzy. I couldn't imagine how much I had changed, but I knew I didn't look much like human anymore.

I struggled violently against my restraints, thrashing my body from side to side. I was afraid and desperate to find out what they had done to me. In my struggle I lost my balance and fell to my side. I hit my head hard against the floor. I felt so powerless in that instant that a desperate rage began to well up inside of me, tears forming in my eyes. There was nothing more that I wanted to do than to scream, curse and punch the walls until my fists were bloody stumps. Why had this happened to me? Why destroy my body only to keep me in these excessive bonds? I still felt like I was locked inside my old cell, was this simply to punish me further? Were they afraid that if I could see what I had become that I would try to take my own life? Why would they want to keep me alive? The more questions I asked the more confused and helpless I felt. All I could do was cry.

Suddenly, I realized I could hear a roaring crowd of soldiers coming from outside. I did my best to choke back my tears to hear better. I tried to listen carefully to determine who they were. But before I could hear much, there was a distant crackling, like many logs popping in a fire at once. That was quickly followed by more blasts rocking the solid stone structure. I heard as if stones were crumbling which was quickly followed by some panicked shouting by the guards. "They've breached! They've breached!"

It wasn't long before I could hear them fighting inside the fortress. I only hoped that who ever was attacking the guards would take pity on me and my grotesque form. Maybe I would be rescued and I could find a way to return to my normal self. I knew it was wishful thinking, but hope was all I had.

The fighting inched closer and closer until I could hear the attacking soldiers more clearly. I still couldn't understand what they were saying, but I knew what language they were speaking. They were felian. I felt the blood in my veins run cold as my hopes shattered. I was surprised it was them, I had heard they were nothing more than savage beasts that attacked vulnerable villages with stolen human weapons, if not just sticks and stones. All my life I'd learned they were unintelligent wild animals that needed to be tamed and made docile to serve humanity. But from what I had experienced with the felian prisoners I was kept with, I knew they were smarter than I was led to believe. I felt that they were closer to humans than animals. But I knew that if the felians found me they wouldn't be merciful, I was just another human to them. The best I could expect was a swift death.

Fairly quickly, the fighting seemed to be right at my door. The scent of blood was so strong it was as if it was right up against my nose. I could hear suffocating and gurgling cries before the heavy limp steel clad bodies fell to the floor with a metallic clunk.

Then, things went quiet. I could hear the felian voices speaking just beyond my door, it seemed as though they had made short work of the guards in my cellblock. After a few more moments, I could hear them opening a few of the heavy cell doors nearby. The felian prisoners moaned and cried in joy and agony as they were liberated.

I started to shiver uncontrollably with fear. It felt painful, as if my sore muscles were forced to constrict and pulsate against their will. I'd never felt such a thing in all my life. I didn't want to die, but I was certain that my end was near. When I heard the heavy iron bar get lifted from my door it made my fear feel more intense. I couldn't even feel my heart beat anymore. The door swung open and suddenly the sounds got much clearer, and the smell of blood and fire much stronger. There was a pause and time seemed to slow as I awaited my fate. There was nothing for the longest time before I heard a felian at door shout out into the hall. His voice sounded panicked or excited. It was as if he didn't dare enter into my cell. Was he horrified by what he saw?

A group of men rushed to see. I wondered what the felian had shouted out. They all seemed to just stay near the doorway, until one brave soul pushed passed them, daring enter into my cell. As soon as he saw me lying on the floor he rushed over to me and knelt at my side. At that moment I was expecting to feel something get thrust through my side or into my chest, but instead his large broad steel clad hands went for my neck.

He tugged at something there, as if a collar had been placed around my neck. He was quite gentle, but eventually gave up as he instead simply untied the bag from around my neck and pulled it off with one swift motion. I could feel a mess off hair fall out of the bag and spill onto my face and shoulders. He seemed to freeze for a moment, I could hear his breathing getting heavier. I felt tears well up in my eyes, I was afraid to find out what had been done to me. He spoke softly and calmly to me, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

He removed his gauntlets and pulled me off the ground and back into a sitting position. He spoke some more, some of it sounded like he was repeating himself, but I didn't respond, what could I say? All I knew is his voice was strangely calming and comforting.

He moved to my front, still kneeling, while his hands moved to the back of my head to remove the blindfold. My heart was still pounding, I was afraid yet I wanted nothing more than to see. As I felt the blindfold loosen over my face it was quickly swiped aside. When I opened my eyes I was met with a golden gaze. A large felian man clad in bright golden armor loomed over me. He had a soft smile on his face and in his eyes. For some reason I found my eyes shifting from those golden eyes peering at me from his broad tawny face to the mighty hick brown mane that framed it. He brought one of his large pawlike hands to cup my cheek and he spoke again, brushing away a tear from my cheek with his thumb. There was a moment of silence as he seemed to be waiting a response, but upon sensing that I hadn't understood a word he became visibly discouraged.

"Speak human?" he spoke again, obviously not in his native tongue with his thick throaty accent. I nodded and his smile seemed to return, though not as bright as it was before. His thumb brushed my cheek once more before it slid down to my elongated face. I followed his hand with with my eyes and I felt my heart stop for a moment at what I finally saw. My nose was stretched out from my face just like his. I could see speckled golden fur trailing along the wide bridge of my nose leading to a pink fleshy tip.

But before I had time to lose my mind, and before the felian could remove the binds from my mouth, the fort was rocked with yet another explosion. But this was different, rather that being from something striking the outer walls, this one felt like it came from deep inside the fort. The felian's men seemed a little panicked as they shouted and motioned in a way that clearly meant they needed to leave as soon as possible.

Before I knew it his hand had slid down to my back, reaching out to grab my shoulder and pull me towards him. His other hand slid beneath my thighs just bellow my bound knees. I was pressed into his armored body and plucked from the ground. I was still shaking in his arms, more afraid about dying a fiery death than anything else. Thankfully, I looked enough like a felian that they mistook me for one of their own and now they seemed quite willing to rescue me. Still the way the large male looked at me was strange, it was oddly warm and comforting and made me feel a little strange, but I couldn't describe it.

Once pulled into the hall I felt like I was hit by a wall of heat. There was smoke lining the ceiling and an ominous orange flickering glow at a distance down the hall. Thankfully, the felians were carrying me down the opposite direction. As I bounced in the male's arms I felt an odd shifting sensation on my chest. Looking down I could see the thick leather straps on my chest that had been placed over the old tunic I had been wearing. It was strange because despite feeling the straps were squeezing my torso in, it still looked like my chest was puffing out. Looking a little lower I could see the lower half of my spotted furred thighs that looked rather plump for someone who, last I could recall, was near starving to death.

The men started to pick up the pace, the air steadily heating more, the air growing more acrid. With my difficult breathing I started to feel like I was running out of air. It felt like my nose was burning and the burning air was clawing its way down my throat and sinuses. I needed relief and shoved my face into the large male's mane. It did make the burning feel less intense, but what was more striking was how good he smelled to me. I felt embarrassed, but his scent calmed me slightly, my shaking weakened. In fact, I felt a shiver coursing up and down my spine, making my how body tingle as a soft rumbling slowly rose out from my chest.

My moment of peace was abruptly ended as we came face to face with guards who were also trying to escape. The felian carrying me couldn't do much, though he did let out a loud and impressive roar that made me shiver. It was loud and terrifying, yet it just made those pleasing tingles course through my body even more. He kept his distance along with some of the other freed felian as his men stepped forward to fight back. The humans were outnumbered five to eight and it didn't take too long that the guards had been skewered and tossed to the ground.

We could hear small pops of something exploding behind up in quick succession. Made me realize we might not make it. But the men were quick to pick up the pace. We were almost out, I could feel it. Strangely I could already smell the grass and the trees just waiting for me outside, that was despite the strong scent from the blood and the fires.

I buried my face back into the felian's mane and closed my eyes. Then, there was a curtain of cool air that washed over me. I looked up and we were outside. I couldn't believe it, I had made it out alive. For so long I was just waiting to die in that wretched place, but now I was free. I started to tear up again, as I took in as deep a breath that I could. Fresh clean air filled my nose and gave my lungs what they had craved for so long. There was such a strong sense of relief as I made the realization that I'd finally be free. But I in a way it felt bitter sweet. I might get freed, but I was still trapped in this strange foreign form.

I was carried across the battlefield, the other felian men who followed us were spreading out a little more. Looking around it seemed like most felian was pulling back while others were covering us with their bows at the ready. Seems like everyone was in a hurry to get as far away from the fort as they could. As human soldiers ran out they were almost immediately struck down by arrows. It seemed I was right that if they knew I was really a human that they would have either killed me or left me for dead in the inferno.

We were running back towards the felian line where I saw they had large brass tubes lined up and pointed straight at the fort. I knew they were cannons, but I had never seen them in person. They were a fairly new weapon and I remember my employer was quite interested in purchasing some. I couldn't fathom how felians got their hands on six of them when most human leaders hadn't even heard of them.

My pondering was cut short as the loudest explosion yet manifested behind us. The male carrying me fell to his knees with a painful grunt, bracing himself with his arms as to not crush me as he covered me. Large stones were thrown in every direction, I could hear a few sizable chunks hit against the large felian's armor. Even after it seemed to have subsided we could still hear the heavy dull thuds of stones falling back against the grassy field.

I had closed my eyes in the panic, and as I opened them I was met with those golden eyes again.

"Hurt?" he asked, grunting in pain himself. Despite the roughness of the fall in my bindings I shook my head. He smiled and grumbled as he pushed himself up in a kneeling position. With the way my head was positioned I could just barely look behind him back at the fort. It looked like more than half of it was just gone. I had never seen anything like it. I never knew anything could be so powerful. Was this the felian's doing, could cannons cause that much damage? Yet none of the cannons had fired and the soldiers seemed just as surprised and confused as myself.

The large felian places his hands on my muzzle and carefully slid the strap from around my face. "You have name?" he asked as he pulled me back up to a sitting position. He leaned to the side to look behind me and undo the buckles to my bindings. I wasn't too sure what to answer. I could give him my name, despite it being a very human name. I could always pass it off as being the name given to me by a human master. But as I was about to say my name I realized nothing was coming up. My mind was a blank. I couldn't remember my name. I tried not to panic, with everything that happened it's perfectly normal that I'm unable to remember something so simple. I just need to calm down and it will come to me.

Suddenly, I felt the restraints around my torso fall to my waist, but along with it was a strange bounce and weight that shifted on my chest. Looking down I could see my tunic was being pushed up on my chest in two distinct round mounds topped by my nipples which were poking up and tenting the fabric a little further. I froze and my jaw dropped as I looked down at myself. This couldn't be what I thought it was.

Leaning just a little further I could see my thighs, still bound together. The bottom of my tunic draped over them and made a distinct indented Y shape where my inner thighs met my pelvis. I knew the fact the shape was dipping down rather than tenting up meant something was gone, but I didn't want to believe it.

My panic must have seemed odd to the felian who put his hands on my shoulders and shook me slightly to get my attention. I looked terrified, and he looked concerned. "Hurt?" he asked again, sounding both worried and confused. I seemed fine and exceptionally well for someone who had been a prisoner in that awful place for months on end. I didn't even have a scratch on me.

I had to pull myself together, I couldn't just give into the fear. I needed to pull myself together and get through this. There was a way I could fix all of this, there had to be. I just needed to find someone who could make me a human again. I knew the felians wouldn't be the right people to ask, so I knew I needed to run away from them. Humans probably knew more about what happened to me anyway. Again, I tried to steady my breathing and I shook my head. "Who... who are you?" I asked, my own voice was so soft and feminine that I couldn't help but stammer at the sound of it.

"Name?" the felian asked and pointed to his chest, "I am Kithari Domar Kara, son of Chief Nasshiro Draka Kara. I take you home, make you safe."

"Home?" I asked confused.

He nodded. "Yes, you home is not human home. The human only take for slave, we take slave back home in Chathara." He smiled softly before moving to untie my wrists behind my back.

I went quiet for a moment. I knew where Chathara was geographically, and if he was really talking me where I think he was then it would be quite the long journey. Worst of all is if they did bring me there I would really be deep into the beast's den, so to speak. There would be no way I could go back to being human there, and even if there was a way I would have a very short lived life.

Once my arms were completely free I felt Kithari grab both of my hands into his and pull them out in front of me. It pulled me out of my thoughts as I looked down to our hands. They looked much more like paws, or at least a cross between the two. His hands were much larger than mine, the black pads in his hands felt rough in contrast to mine, which were soft and pink. They were the large hands of a warrior with the dainty hands of someone who seemingly had never seen a day of labor in their life, at least that was technically true with these hands.

He squeezed my hands, his gaze going back to mine. "I tell my name, you have name?" he asked again.

I didn't know what to say, I could have just said no but for some reason a name popped into my head and I just blurted it out. "Maisha". Maisha? That was the name of one of the slaves that worked in my town's granary. Why did I remember some random slave's name yet my real name is still a blank.

Again, I was pulled away from my despair by Kithari, who suddenly stretched out one of my fingers and squeezed the tip where I saw a clear curved claw spring out from the fur while attached by a pink fleshy sheath. The male let out a sigh of relief. "Maisha, human not take claw?" He seemed to smile just as soon as saying that name.

I wasn't sure, I didn't know what it felt to have claws until he forced one out of my finger. Looking down at my opened palmed hands I flexed my fingers. I could see the tip of a claw poke out of each of my digit. It was an odd sensation, but it seemed to please Kithari.

He chuckled. "Ah Maisha, you strong shasha. No claws plucked, fur still soft and bright and flesh soft and fair. Never see such things with one born as slave." He seemed quite pleased, though his smile faded when he noticed I was still quite worried. Obviously I wasn't so thrilled about finding myself with fur and claws.

"Excuse, I only happy find you safe." he said, lowering himself to undo the final bindings around my knees and thighs. As he did I thought about what I should do. I figured that soon as I had my chance I should just run. I needed to stay as close as human civilization as possible if I was to change back. It was the only way I could find my humanity, and my manhood, once more.

I watched him closely as he loosened and slid the straps down my curvy legs and over my pawlike feet. Before he had time to even look up at me I sprang up, ready to run for the woods and as far as I could. Unfortunately I was still quite weak, and with a fundamentally new body structure I wasn't able to get far. In fact, as soon as I tried to stand on two feet I started to fall back, and instinctively I tried to turn myself around to land on my hands and knees rather than hard on my back. I felt my tail whip around as I twisted my torso, and then my face and chest met with the ground. I never knew how painful it could be to have your breasts suddenly hit something very hard. It practically knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't move for a moment.

Kithari was shocked and hurried to me "Not stand fast, you need stay calm and slow." he said concerned. After the pain subsided I just felt like a fool. Of course to make things worse the breeze brushing against my bare legs and rump as my tunic had also been pulled up let me know that I was presenting myself to the world. Kithari was kind enough to pull it back down and cover my shame, but not before a few surrounding men got an eyeful of what had happened to my manhood.

I just felt like crying again, that hopeless feeling creeping back up on me. Kithari brought his left hand to my waist and his right hand to my right upper arm. He guided me up slowly to stand, which I did without much resistance. Once back on two legs, and leaning against the large felian, I couldn't help but feel how much my legs were trembling, it was as though I had never walked a day in my life.

Slowly he helped me walk further away from the ruins of the fort and closer to the line of carts that the felian were loading up. There were some wounded lining the ground and being tended to, while others were taking armor and weapons from the human dead and loading as much as they could onto empty carts.

Kithari called out and motioned to someone at a distance. A dark furred felian perked his head up and came forward. He glanced at me with an awkward smile before turning his gaze to Kithari, his expression quickly correcting itself into something more stoic. They exchanged a few words, though I did hear "Maisha" being muttered.

Then, Kithari looked down towards me. "This name is Samar. Samar born slave like Maisha. He speak human."

The dark furred felian looked towards me, the smile slowly creeping back onto his face, though it seemed like he was trying to make an effort to keep it subtle. "Pleasure to finally meet you miss Maisha. You won't have to worry about a thing anymore. We've got plenty of freed slaves that will be happy to help you adjust to your new life."

I was still visibly concerned, but something he said really bugged me. Finally meet me? What did he mean by that? But before I could ask Kithari interjected. "I leave Maisha with Samar so keep safe. My duty now with my men. Samar take you to camp. I meet you again in camp." he said.

Slowly, Kithari started walking me towards a half empty cart where Samar guided me to sit down on its edge. Once seated, Kithari knelt before me and looked up to my eyes before taking one of my hands. "I make promise. You see Chathara soon. I keep Maisha safe."

Despite not wanting to go with them, and feeling somewhat forced to go along with them, I still felt a smile spreading across my face as I saw that large maned felian kneeling before me, pledging to be my protector. It was odd, but it made me feel important and noble and that's always a nice feeling. But there was something else, that tingling feeling. Something about the way his voice sounded was just calming. Maybe it was just how deep and gruff his voice was.

I was just staring in silence before Kithari stood, and before he was about to leave I let out a "Thank you". I didn't even realize I said it when I did, but I just felt that I needed to say something, anything. He smiled with a deep growling purr before turning tail.

Samar cleared his throat a bit in order to get my attention. "We should get going soon if we want to make it back to the camp before dawn. You... you might want to scoot back a little more, not safe to keep your legs hanging off the side like that you know." He spoke much more timidly while trying to be more lighthearted. It was quite clear he was nervous.

For now, I had given up the idea of running away. After all, if the camp was close enough that they could make it by dawn I wouldn't be too far gone. Maybe a rest and some food to build up my strength, then I'd run away. Just thinking of having a bed of hay to lay in was like a dream compared to the hard slab of rock I'd been forced to use.

I pulled myself back enough so I was fully in the cart, my back pushed up against some crates. Samar moved around to the front to take the reigns. While he did so he seemed to shout an order to the men around us. Some carts were loading up the last of the supplies and others, the last of the wounded. Slowly, the carts that were ready lurched forward and followed one another in a line. Soldiers were also following on foot among them to guard them and ensure a minimum of protection.

I was left alone in the back of that cart, looking behind as it seemed that most of the soldiers were still standing around the few remaining carts, though I did notice a group going back towards the ruined fort which was now rubble under a large plume of white moonlit smoke. I found myself clutching my spotted tail as it naturally draped itself over my legs. I was trying to calm myself, but feeling that I now had a tail, and the breasts on my chest that bounced with each shake of the cart made it hard to ignore that I was not who I used to be anymore.