A Biography of a Human

Chapter Twenty:

“We All Fall Down”

“Look, Xan! Look at me!” a youthful yap cried out to me as the light breeze of the steppes tousled my nape-length hair, reminding me that I should have it cut sooner or latter.

There in front of me was the little wolf Prince wearing his little deel robe of navy blue silk, atop a small pony of excellent stock as he gripped the horn of the turquoise-encrusted saddle while he waved in boastful excitement as the stead was being lead around within the small riding pen outside the encampment.

“Careful! Careful, my cub!” a slightly worried, motherly voice called out from a small pavilion arranged adjacent to the collapsible, latticed fence that made up the riding pin.

“Both paws on the horn now!”

“Oh, sorry Mother!”

Looking around, a glaring thing was missing from this familial scene.

The Father.

This was the first time the pup had ridden a horse and his Father was not even here! What in Canis' name was wrong with him? But maybe it was for the best, as if he was here he probably would have made everyone stiff with his imperial status.

I continued to watch the little pup ride his pony until I was waved over by one of the nameless Ursines who emerged from the confines of the small pavilion.

I slightly bunched up the front of my solid oak-green, cross-collar robe, which I was given for my fourteenth birthday by Master and fitted nice over my normal trousers and tunic. He said it was time for me to start looking like I was part of the court now that I was becoming an adult. Though I was disappointed it lacked the split seams in the side, which I knew were in the ones used by wolves, but that was for wearer to be able to mount horses and naturally, as a human I would be forbidden from riding a horse...the wolves of the Alphate don't care for humans towering above them on a steed.

Making my way to the tented booth and passing into it by one of its corner poles, I found two feminine wolves within. Nu, seated on a throne, beckoned me closer as the other one, who I recognized as none other than Ulric’s adult bride, Gao’ao, sat on a smaller, backless bench of rosewood, parallel to her noble mother-in-law's grand seat of silver-leaf with cushioned deer hide draped over it to remind the viewer this was still a hunting tour.

“Greetings to the Virtuous Consort, Greetings to the Crown Prince’s Mate” I replied as Nu waved off me having to preforming a kowtow.

“Come sit!” she responded as a rich folding stool of ivory was pushed behind me.

“Now…” she started, but soon trailed off.

“Come now, what was your name again?” she asked, mumbling possible names to herself in vain attempts to recall it, most of them very wolven, hardly a name for a human, even a human named by a wolf.

“Iskander, my Consort,” her ears lifted as her blue eyes lit up in remembrance.

“Ah, yes! Iskander!” she paused for a bit before continuing on. “I see you recognize my noble daughter-in-law” I nodded my head in response as she gestured to her fellow wolf, who wore a simple dusk-magenta gown that stopped at her breast and was crowned by a delicate, gold circlet dotted with sunstones upon her wolven brow, below which were olive-green eyes that trailed me like prey.

“This is such a breath of fresh air, going out like this! It has been ages since the last time a hunt was arranged like this! Plus, its good practice for my little cub to learn the ancestral skills to be the perfect successor to my dear mate. Don’t you agree, my daughter-in-law?”

“Yes, Mother! You are so wise to think so,” the young wolf replied with surprising humility, for I had heard the she-wolf, Gao’ao was quite arrogant. No, very arrogant, or would haughty be a better word? Either way, I had overheard quite a bit of her nature since she moved in to the East Palace. Mostly from the servants who were in her service often saying that their mistress was quite the sour shrew. I chalked up this current humility as her swallowing her pride in front of her mother-in-law due to her lower status compared to her.

“Say, speaking of my son, I think you would be a wonderful candidate for being his principal human consort, Iskander!”

“S-s-say what!?” I stuttered out, dazed from what was just said in the most nonchalant manner as though she were speaking about the weather.

“Oh, when he is of age of course! Several years from now, of course, but I feel those years can blow by so fast.”

“I, I don’t know what to say!” I countered back, really honest as I had no clue on how even to respond to such a statement.

“My daughter, don’t you think Iskander will be a wonderful choice for you husband’s human bedmate?” the tension was growing thicker and thicker by the minute! Gao’ao looked like she just swallowed a lemon slice and I could swear I saw her muzzle move side-to-side, grinding her teeth.

“Oh yes, my Mother! I think he would be a good choice!” her tone of voice betrayed her true feelings behind the words she spoke clearly. Nu nodded her head daintily as the pearl strands dangled from the wolf-head pins stuck into her petite, kingfisher enamel headdress and kept it in place against her short-furred head.

“Oh, wonderful! When my pup comes of age you will get to have a harem brother, just like me and my harem brother, Jao!” Nu’s eyes slanted shut a tad and a slight upwards motion in the corners of her maw along with the playful twitches of her long tail and the tapping her gold encrusted claws on the arm of her throne, showed to me that she was greatly amused with this all. She made me feel so gobsmacked and made Gao’ao simmer with a silent rage that she could never show in front of Nu, lest she get in massive trouble for the act of offending her higher-up.

That damn she-wolf and her mind games! How we were just amusing puppets to her! Toys to be pitted against one another for show and her own benefit! When Ulric becomes Alpha, Nu would pit us against each other, leaving us both too busy fighting one another to challenge Alpha Dowager Nu’s power. Already, Nu was planning far ahead for herself and her harem clique.

I pity Gao’ao now, despite her grave flaws and her deeds. She was simply put, a shallow-minded wolfess incapable of anything more complex than her own noble vanity. Not worth being even compared to her savvy mother-in-law, Nu or even Jao for that matter! They had brains in the end.

A great hunt was arranged on a sun-kissed morn. Soon, a horde of horse-riding wolves would rush out of camp with their small, compound bows made for horseback archery. I mused to myself when Master Gernan was getting set up in his tent, taking out his prized heirloom bow, clawing at the string to make sure all was well with it.

“Why did the Alpha even come if he cannot ride on the hunt!?” Master looked over to me as he adjusted his sable-trimmed hunting outfit, patting down the lapel flaps of his collar with his sandy paw-pads.

“What do you mean? He is coming to this hunt,” I looked back at him perplexed and a tad shocked, recalling what happened during the horse-riding a few days earlier when I was told by trusty Dillian that Wuffrim could barely move that day and was downing copious bottles of medicine.

“I just saw him this morning before you woke up! He was up and about and ready to ride!” Gernan replied after seeing my look of questioning.

“But his…his...that day, he missed...” I stuttered out, confused at all of this.

“He was probably tired from the trip, we are both old wolves, pup! Things like that get to us now!” he chalked up in a humorous tone that had a slight undertone of being unsure in it. Maybe he was in denial or maybe he was just trying to convince himself all was well as to not to cause me any worry, but I got the feeling he knew and was not telling me.

It was strange though, an illness that one day paralyzes your nerves so much you can’t even move and then the next day you are filled with energy and able to do things. My mind immediately thought of the faceless Jao and poison, but then it seemed odd if Jao wanted do such a thing, one would think he would make sure he was completely effected. But I still could not rule out Jao in the end. Maybe the medicine was merely lousy?

I pushed these thoughts out of my mind as I walked over to Master, my head now reaching up to his upper chest.

Turning to my side, I picked up from small traveling table, a beige, domed cap with a ridged, wide brim from which a ribbon was strung from one side of it to the other.

“Here, Master, let me put on your hunting cap,” I said kindly as I lifted the thing up, aligning the triangular holes in its dome with his ears before lowering and making sure the ribbon was pulled under his muzzle.

Stepping back, placing my hand on my hips as I looked him over to make sure every thing looked right. I smiled, giving my approval.

“Well, Master! You look like an Alpha of a horde of wolves ready to pillage the country side!” the older wolf chuckled as picked up his bow and slung his leather quiver over his shoulder.

“Don’t say that to someone like Beta Rustem! He might frame it as treason!” he said jokingly as he referred to that crony of Jao.

“Master! We came here to get away from politics, not talk about it!” I piped back, tapping my foot on the carpeted floor of our tent.

“You must be jesting! One can not escape from the court, it will follow you everywhere!” he said as he fondly rubbed my chin before exiting through the flap of the tent, leading into the crisp morning air.

Following him, throwing the flap behind me, I watched him walk away towards a gathering of wolves all dressed in their hunting garb, top members of the court all ready to go on a hunt with their leader, a murmuring chorus of rumbles germinating from them all.

“Be safe, Master! And have a good hunt!” I yelled back at him as he threw up one of his paws in a wave back to me.

It was evening and I, Pantaleon and Elyk were wiling the night away in Master's ger. We had just gotten finished with our dinner, that of fire-roasted boar, that was hunted from one of previous hunts by the servants sent out to fetch food for the camp. We were only given a portion of it, which was delivered to us when night fell. It was far from a prime cut, being as we were mere servants, but it was quite delicious nonetheless.

Elyk was quietly playing a game of chess with his Father on a travel board which was brought along with us. It's game pieces were just simple discs with their names marked clearly on their tops.

Never bothered playing myself, though I did know that it was a very ancient game said to have been created by humanity, but I have also often heard that the foxes claim they invented it. That Reynard himself created the game out of a stroke of genius, but others say he just found a board in a human ruin along with a manual and claimed he created it himself.

There is one incident in the post-human tales I always found amusing. It was a doubled layered kind of humor: the first layer of it being that it was a chess game that was staged between the rivals Reynard and Alpha Ysengrim during one of the meetings of the races in which the victor would sodomize the other; now comes the second layer of humor, the differing accounts of the game's outcome! But I am sure you can guess quite well what each one entails in terms of difference so I feel no need to waste and ink on it here.

I sat at one end of the tent on the floor next to one of the few covered lamps that gave light to the fabric and wood abode, busy working on some embroidery. I was making a little handkerchief for Ulric, one that depicted a scene from folklore that I was particularly fond off.

Iahel was teaching me the craft herself in the recent months when I decided to stay at Master’s manor for a spell in the five or six months inbetween the Princely wedding and then. The vixen always said a noble human should be skilled in thread work and it might even help me earn a little side claw if I get good and sell some of it. When she said that then I started to appeal to me, as I never liked to beg for money from Master even though he would willingly dole it out without even a single thought.

Upon the fabric was the emerging figure of a human, his hand reaching up and placing a disjointed piece of the moon with others in the sky, made from silver thread.

The story of the lonesome human who repaired the shattered moon, such a lovely tale. One of the few that have a human in a nice role. I had a hard time deciding which scene from the tale would be better to show, it was either this one with him putting the moon together or him ascending to heaven to become the human consort of Canis in thanks for repairing his eye.

I decided on the latter, as it was more easier for my skill-set. The image of him rising to heaven would require a lot of work since he was lifted on mother-of-pearl clouds, dressed in silver and gold tissues, as Canis’s tears of gratitude fell in the sky as shooting stars around him. That would kill me in the amount of work needed.

Could have done calligraphy practice as well, which was always such a joy, but I did not want to have to trouble myself with lugging around the stuff required for it with me! The ink-stone alone is heavy enough, so I just brought my secondary hobby which was thread-working, plus a something like a simple handkerchief I felt would be better appreciated and used by the puppy than a piece of mounted paper with the ink brush writing of an artsy poem he would not be able to understand at his current age.

From out of the evening silence, a great explosion of noise came into being. The sound of the tent flap bursting open followed by harsh growls.

Jerking my head back and dropping my work, I saw Gernan's form rushing and he was the one who was almost violently growling, his neck puffed up like it was struck by lightning as Panta jumped up over, turning the makeshift board over and tossing a cascade of black and white pieces onto the lap of Elyk.

“Gernan!? What is wrong!?” he yapped in great concern as I too sprouted up, rushing forward as Gernan looked around with hints of rage and humiliation in his amber orbs that darted around wildly as if wanting to strike out at something, anything! I had never seen him in a rage this bad before!

“Master! Were you not going to stay the night with the hunt party!? What happened!? Why are you here!” I asked as the fear grew and grew within me as he just snarled blankly while he rushed to one side of the ger, grabbed a small dresser and tossed it with great ease across the room. Its drawers fell open, a hail of fabric and leather coming down on us before he stormed out again.

“I need to be alone!” he managed to growl out before leaving us dumbfounded and wanting to know what happened.

He only came back much later when we were sleeping and joined us without any noise. Later that morning, none of us dared to say anything about the matter and we were all in silent agreement about leaving it for when we got back to the capital.

What had happened, I managed to find out much, much latter from other sources, was really something.

Master, Gernan Koff, Grand Prime Beta of the Kutlar Alphate, the right hand of the Imperial Alpha himself, was snubbed in the worst possible ways for a wolf while on the hunting foray. After knowing this, I truly understood the deep rage he had felt that night.

The hunt started well for him, everything went as normal as one would think, but then things started happening that, at first, Gernan brushed off as just mistakes, but then started growing into something clearly more sinister as he became more and more aware.

First, when the Alpha came out and joined the party, he did not go and greet my Master, who was standing right by the Alpha’s horse and holding its reins as the deputy of the Alpha should.

Then, he was almost fell in the dust by the entire party racing out of the camp enclosure before he even got on his own horse, having to gallop after them to catch up, trailing behind them like an Omega would have to do in tribal pack hunts.

My Master, being noble and forgiving, just went ahead without a second thought, not even imagining this was all a massive snub to his honor, all the while no doubt some of the other members of the court snickered ahead of him. I am pretty sure the Beta Omega felt good for once, not being the underwolf for once in a hunt, as he was traditionally the guardian of the rear.

All of this, my Master chalked up to the Alpha being excited for the hunt and just forgetting the normal niceties, or something to do with him still being in recovery from his gusts of nerve blackouts, as the Imperial physicians were starting to call it.

I truly wished that Pantaleon was allowed to be with Master on such an outing, as he might have seen through it before what happened next, thus giving ample warning to Master, but it was strictly a wolf-only hunt.

Gernan would only become aware of his being ostracized later on during the hunt and the aftermath itself, as what happened next was undeniable in the sheer offense shown to my Master's person and wolfhood.

During the hunt, they were stalking a herd of red deer in the forests near the mountains after dismounting their horses, each wolf in separate groups stalking the stag of the herd.

Gernan had the shot, he did! But Rustem, who happened to be in my Master's group, took it right from under him despite the fact Gernan had the first right and everyone knew it!

Being this was Rustem, Gernan was not shocked by this, as he did have massive bone to pick with him since he blamed my master for his unofficial demotion to that of naval matters, which was practically a form of political exile in the current state of affairs.

So he was not too upset at first, in fact he was quite smug that his shot was stolen by a subordinate as he rightly thought that he would be chastised by the Alpha for such a downright offense, maybe even hoping he would be demoted further! Maybe even having his title of Beta removed and made a plain-titled Eta wolf.

But my master was speechless when the matter was brought before Wuffrim, dressed in his imperial hunting attire, and he instead took Rustem’s side!

“Prime Beta Koff, there is no need to be such a glory hound. You should let your subordinates take the honor once in a while! It's almost like you want to have more glory than myself, your rightful Imperial Alpha!” was what he said quite coldly to the assembled crowd of wolves after the hunt. Though he tried to frame the last part as a simple joke, it was clear to all it was more than a joke but rather an accusation of grave magnitude that left my Master almost wanting to keel over from the whole shock of it all, plus the fact he was addressed by his last name instead of his first, which Wuffrim always did before.

But the worst came when the time for the division of the hunted meat came around, where each ranked wolf would get a cut of meat according to their status to the Alpha.

All the wolves sat in a group, the Alpha seated on his throne in prominence while everyone else sat on the ground. In the center, a fire roared, while behind them were the makeshift tents for the night away from the camp.

Gernan took his place right next to the Alpha's throne, as was fit for his role as Prime Beta and soon was given a platter of raw meat from the hunted red deer that were felled on that day.

He was given a tender cut of loin, second only compared to the prime, marbled loin that was cut for the Alpha and just before he was about to start on his meal, Wuffrim interrupted.

“My, Prime Beta! You have been given the wrong meat!” the Alpha then looked around at the other wolves before continuing on. “Rustem! Why don’t you arrange for our Prime Beta’s rightful serving?” Rustem nodded his head with a nasty look smeared on his muzzle as though he was aware of the plan ahead of time.

He got up and took Gernan’s platter of prime meat, arrogance overflowing in his eyes as he did so and moved immediately to the place of the Beta Omega and took his platter and, with great joy written on his snout, Rustem dropped, not placed but dropped, a platter of bones with just simple flecks of meat on them before my horrified Master's face.

“There, much better! This is the meat you are worthy of, my Prime Beta!” the Alpha said in mock kindness as the tension settled like a thick fog on my Master as he looked around, seeing the faces of his fellow wolves either bearing a look contempt or of sympathy which was mostly given by those of his own faction in the court, but they could not speak up for him now it would have ruined them as well.

So my Master, who did no wrong, was left there in ridicule, treated as no better than the lowest Omega in the court, treated even lower than that of the Beta Omega!

I was told he said nothing! He got up and bid his Imperial Master homage with the utmost honor and respect, and left without another word. That's how he came back to us that night in frightful rage.

But again, I never learned this until far later. Perhaps if we had asked him sooner, we could have avoided what was to come...

There I was, standing by Ulric, who was beginning his bow practice out a ways from the camp enclosure in a small archery range that was set up there. It was oddly just myself, Dillian and a handful of others, mostly wolf guards and the bow instructor, who was, to my surprise, a fox! He was quite old, his black markings around his muzzle were stained greyish with age, while his fur was more of a worn ocher rather than a bright, rusty color. It was clear he knew his craft and that was why he must be fit to teach the Prince when surely other wolves would have aspired to the position.

I leaned against one of the few horses tethered to the fence that made up the shooting range, the beast giving a little snort and a shake of its mane when I did so. I was content to watch the little wolf give it a go with the bow, finding it amusing how the old fox was always able to make his critiques and instruction sound like compliments or mere suggestions.

Every time he made a shot or a try at one, I made sure to give him moral backing in the form of encouragement, but to be honest, I was quite listless. My mind was starting to wander as my as focus on all the things around me, from the clouds drifting high in sky, to the lines etched in the wood of the posts holding the horses. One could say I was bored, but it was not the kind where you found yourself desperate to something to do but more akin to a calming feeling of being in a state of peace and quiet, and finding solace in it.

They always say the moment just before calamity are the times of the utmost peace and tranquility. The sea is at its calmest just before a cyclone, as above, so below; and it was very true, as my own cyclone was just within eyesight in the distance.

Though far from being a storm cloud on the horizon, mine came in form of a familiar young tod racing through the grasslands. I knew right off from his form it was Elyk, even at the distance he was at.

Normally, I should have been filled with amused annoyance at him coming towards me, but as I leaned upwards, it felt like a weight of dread thumped itself atop of my gut as I felt my hairs stand on end.

I felt terrified and filled with paranoia, and though I had no clue why, the answer would reveal itself like one of those antediluvian sun-bombs.

His face was twisted by the most horrific expression, I don’t think I could even describe it! Those whites of his eyes, his body language looking like that of a hunted animal; all while he dashed to to me, as true horror set in!

He just collapsed on the ground before me, panting and wheezing as he made desperate, futile attempts to speak but only came out as weak gekkers, or as a most shrill and gut-wrenching wail, like that of a dying being. I didn't know what to do, I was in a sheer daze, as was the rest of the party.

Before I could reach down to help, he began clawing up my legs, using my form as a support stand up, pulling out stray threads from my robe.

“ISKANDER! ISKANDER! DADDY! DADDY! OH, CANIS!” he shouted out, voice croaking out in pain while whimpering.

“What's wrong!? What's wrong!?” my own voice filled with frantic sharpness as the horror deep within took a new, familiar form.

I felt...like I was back on Safehaven, that was what it was like. Not Safehaven in the good days but on that one night! I thought I would never feel such panic again, but here it was rearing its grotesque head again.

“DADDY IS DEAD! HE IS DEAD!” he coughed out as he squeezed his eyes tight, crying out through his wide open muzzle, as snot and saliva made ropes into it.

“WHAT!? What are you saying!?”

“THEY KILLED HIM! THEY KILLED HIM!” he stopped, taking in massive gasps of air before starting up again. “THE BEARS! THEY BARGED IN AND THEY STRANGLED HIM!”

“What are you saying!? What happened! TELL ME!?” I screamed out at Elyk as my own spittle dotted his fur.

“TREASON! TREASON! GERNAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR TREASON!”

Was the world shaking? Was it being spun like a saucer on stick? It felt like it and ground was zooming in and out as well. I stumbled away and fell back and then sideways.

I just stared out into nothing for centuries, the blurry blob that was the hulking figure of Dillian moving into my view, moving as slow as the movement of the stars.

Did I let out a cry? A screech? I remember my mouth opening but I do not recall hearing any noise. Or was that me vomiting? Did I vomit?

All I knew then was my world exploded with pain unlike any I had ever felt, and started to deeply dig my nails into my face, raking downwards repeatedly until I felt cool blood start to trickle down my face.

“XANDER!” I heard a childish voice echo out in from beyond the ether.

“Stay back, Crown Prince!” another one answered back as I felt my form lifted up on my limp legs as the brown blur before my face pulsed before it started to transform into that of an ursine, Dillian.

“Human Iskander! Human Iskander!” he said over and over again until I gained enough of my faculties to speak, though it a wispy waif-like sound.

“Master! Master!” my eyes darted around until they came on the cloth enclosures of the camp in distance.

“I need to save Master,” was what I chanted again and again in the enclosures of my skull. I tried to move but only started to keel over again, my legs becoming jelly under me.

“Don’t! Stay still!” the voice of Dillian snapped me out of my mindset and it was only then I could assuredly even begin to claim I was back to the world again.

Still being held up by Dillian’s arms, physically recovering, he barked out for Elyk to explain immediately what had happened and it was then finally that the course of event became clear to me then as I listened.

Imperial Guards! Ursine Eunuchs! The Inspector of Justice! All burst into Gernan’s ger by complete surprise! A whirlwind of armor and scarlet capes pounced atop my dazed master, twisting his arms as they put him onto his knees before the robed form of the Inspector as Pantaleon too was dragged to his knees. It was here that the Inspector read aloud an Imperial edict handwritten by the Alpha.

Elyk, who was lucky, was looking for something for his Father in a side-tent connected to the main ger, via a covered corridor, was spared discovery and quickly hid behind a stack of lacquer chests, watching and listening with horror as the charges were read.

“I, the Imperial Alpha, Wuffrim the Second, Sovereign of the Great Kutlar Alphate, hereby strip Gernan of Clan Koff of the title of Prime Beta and demote him from the noble Beta class and henceforth become of Moonless class!”

“It has come to my celestial notice that Gernan’s kind feelings for those of Reynard's brood are more than a desire to reconcile with a forlorn relative, but in fact an insidious a plot against my August seat!”

“I, the Alpha was struck at first by a sheer moment of disbelief at such an accusation leveled at my former friend! But I know now that he was secretly corresponding with the fox doge himself, Lazo!”

“Not only that, but a book of fox lies in the form of the tales of dastardly Reynard within which lay, slander against our great ancestor Ysengrim was found within his very manor!”

“The human riot of two years past was more than a mere disturbance but a deliberate attempt at sowing dissent in Lupercal!”

“The traitor, Gernan’s, intent is clear! This was a foxish plot to subdue our new order, which was created by my sublime, Imperial father, Alpha Lycan and my grandfather and namesake Wuffrim I; and to place upon my sacred seat, traitor Gernan! Ushering in a new dawn of fox meddling in our ways of life, like the days of old!”

“Therefore, in my most regal mind, I the Alpha, hereby order the skinning of the traitor Gernan upon a day which the most holy moon shines not, so that his soul will not receive its divine light!”

“As for his fox agent companion, I, the Alpha command that he be immediately killed the very moment this order is finished being read aloud!”

“For the rest of his household, they shall be sold into slavery and his daughters banished to the Urals as well as being made into Omega class wolves!”

- The Imperial Archives

Elyk only recounted the spirit of it in his state of terror before us. It was then he told of seeing Gernan dragged out as bulky Ursines jumped on his Father and he watched oen of them snap his Father’s neck. This was the hardest part for Eylk and he basically said it all in four pained words, each one seeming to be a dagger into the young kits body.

“BEARS!”

“DADDY!”

“HIS NECK!”

With those words, I knew! I wanted to collapse again, I wanted to bash my head against the floor in hopes that somehow the world would turn back before this all happened! But I needed to do something, Elyk, my friend was here, his father dead and him most likely as well if he did not get out of here! I could not do nothing! I had to do something for Elyk, I had to help him now!

The horse! Gathering strength in an instant as adrenaline pumped through my mind and body, I threw off Dillian’s arms and pulled the young fox’s form up.

“Get out of here!” I screamed into his canine face, while violently shaking him so that some sense would return to him.

“Get on this horse and leave as fast as you can!” back at me with those cat-like, burnt-orange eyes as he muffled out whimpers of confusion.

“Do as I say, dammit! You must get back to Lupercal! You have to! Your mother and the rest of the household!” he looked back at me and I saw him start to gain control back of himself.

“W-w-what will I do!?” he responded back, still in a panic.

“Get to Lupercal, go to Master’s manor, find your mother and flee to the mountains!”

“But-”

“SHUT UP! Do as I say! Your mother has lost her mate, don’t make her lose her pup!”

“NOW GO! GO!” with that, I helped the slightly unwilling teenager up onto the horse's saddle and gave that steed’s rear the hardest slap I could muster.

And he was gone, in a cloud of dust and with only a shrill neigh echoing through the fields left behind. He wasn't safe yet, but it would be better than a certain death in the camp.

It was at this moment that my determination crashed and I fell on the ground of trampled grass and dirt. I wanted to do something, but the realization of what happened would start to seep in again and then found myself going limp once more.

Master was going- I could not even form the words in my mind at the time! I did not want to even ponder it but it was there looming over me! I had to do something! Anything!

Then the world was a blur, I was moving, running! Running towards the camp, not caring about anything but one thing: my Master!

What I must have looked like to others as I sprinted in a driven daze through the large opening into camp. There was the threat of someone, furred or not, recognizing me and taking me right then and there. I must have looked like a human gone mad to others but they paid me no heed, not that I was able to even look at those I passed in the first place.

In a flash, I was in front of the opening to Gernan’s tent. Driven there for reasons unknown to me; maybe, in my state of mind I was hoping that maybe this was only trick by Elyk and it was all not real, but I knew all too well it was real, no one could show such real pain if it was all an act, but it was the faint of hope of a desperate mind not wanting to comprehend such an outcome.

And there it was, my last excuse shattered, the reality of it all was before me in the lifeless form of a fox spread out in an unnatural pose, seeing it made me feel dizzy again as I stumbled, catching myself against the small door frame of the ger. Reality finally sunk in for me, and it felt like the world itself was pressed against my head, just about to crush it.

“The Alpha! I have to speak to the Alpha!” is what came up into my thoughts. I saw the Alpha's imposing palace-like tent and with all logic flying out of my head, rushed towards it like my own life depended on it. I was going to say my lot even if it killed me, such an outcome would have been better. If I could not save my Master I would not allow go on living without him!

Somehow, I managed to rush the Alpha’s tent, I do not know how I was able to but I got past the wolf guards, who were taken by surprise and called out an alert to their fellow men.

Nearly tripping over the gilded threshold of the magnificent structure, my sinuses were hit by the pungent aroma of a medicinal odor as my eyes were taking in all the grandeur afforded by the Imperial Alpha, gilded poles and framing abound sprouting from the laid wooden flooring.

But my focus was not any of this, it was the Alpha and him alone, and there he was. The wolf was reclining on a couch covered in pelts looking quite despondent, his fore-face drooping, wet with glistening saliva while his eyes, though alert, showed a tired and worn-out wolf.

By his side was an older wolf physician, who dropped his medical box in surprise at my panicked entrance.

I flung myself on the floor and without even sparing a moment to regain my breath, as the guards were no doubt right behind, I begin by pleading despite the swelling pressure in my lungs as they gasped for much needed air.

“ALPHA! SPARE MY MASTER!”

“HE DID NOT ACT AGAINST YOUR THRONE!”

Were some of the first things I said to him as I felt four firm paws fall on my shoulders, signaling my own departure from here. He looked slightly surprised, being far too tired to show much in the way of shock.

Knowing that my time was fleeting, now that I felt the clawed fingertips of guards clench around my arms like a vice and were about to lift me up and out of here, I was determined to get my last words out.

“HE SAVED YOUR LIFE AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY HIM!? YOU HAVE A DEBT! IF YOU KILL HIM, THE GODS WILL SURELY CURSE YOU FOR IT!” I screamed out in violent anger as I was roughly dragged backwards.

“I DEMAND TO DIE WITH MY MASTER! MY LIFE IS NOT WORTH IT WITHOUT HIM!” was the last I managed to say as I was dragged out into daylight away from my target. A sense of doom came over me.

“Did he even listen?” I thought to myself as a sense of acceptance arrived and I soon stopped my kicking and screaming.

The next thing I knew, I was falling, into a hole as a cage-like roof slammed shut above me and I hit the soft, damp mud under me.

“PUP!?” a familiar, gruff voice called out in frantic shock.

There, in one corner of the pit, was Gernan, his gray fur caked with dirt and grass.

“MASTER!” was all I said before I leaped into his embrace as we both started to weep together, each in our own different ways, as human and wolf.

I don’t recall how long we spent like that there, both holding each other in mutual fear and despair, it felt like ages but it was most likely just a few hours for the world around us.

My thoughts turned to many things, my old life on Safehaven, the faces of my parents and my grandfather, my new life with my Master and also praying that at least Elyk and his mother survive this.

As for thoughts about myself, I kept thinking about my own death so that I would not panic when my own time came. I was determined to die regardless of what happened to me and would ask for death again the next chance I got.

My life was destroyed once already before, I was not going let myself endure another one again! I was completely convinced that my story was over and would end here and then with my lifeless form next to the one of my noble wolven Master on the execution platform.

I felt weak for wanting to die! Part of me despised myself for my willingness to go without even a fight or a single thought about it. What could I even do when the whole Imperial system was coming down on us! I could not just kill one person and that would fix everything! Though I wished I could...

Naively, I partially hoped that Gernan’s friends would come speak for him, though I was unaware of it at the moment, they were quickly distancing themselves from my Master, saving their own pelts from the flaying block. I can’t really blame them, though I do hate them for doing it, but they had to stay and ensure the Prince’s future. If everyone was gone that was what the likes of Jao would want! An opening against Ulric!

What finally broke this despondent ocean of thought was a voice from above.

An Imperial order! I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was just more insults, that is until I heard a string of words that broke me from my mindless stare into the abyss.

“-Therefore I, the Alpha, shall commute his sentence to perpetual exile to the remote regions of Afika.”

What I did not hear was the parts that brought up how the Alpha considered how his life was saved by Gernan when he was a Prince in the Fox-Wolven war, and gave him some mercy, but it was not much since the deserts of Afika were practically a death sentence itself though albeit a much slower one.

Afika! What I had heard about it: all scorched by hot sand dunes and filled with wandering prides of man-eating lions amongst them, waiting to strike out at anything to sink their massive fangs into. Strange gods, some familiar like the triad, but with bizarre takes on it and others competently alien. Then I had heard there were races who could even change their gender on a whim, females with the ability to grow phallus and males who could be females! Stories of cannibalism and tribal barbarity were about in such a land but I only thought of one thing at the moment!

“EXILE! We were saved! Master was saved!” that's all I thought! How little did I know!

Then came an event that I won’t ever forget. My meeting with Jao after the order for my Master's death had been commuted.

Out of nowhere, an Ursine who I clearly recalled was Beshir from my meeting with the Alpha back when the Prince almost died, ordered me dragged out of the cell, which a guard complied with eagerly.

“Beshir, you swine! What does that bastard want with my human!?” Gernan shouted upwards at the hulking form of the bear as he forcefully held me in his grasp by the neck.

“That is of no concern to you, Prime Bet- Oh right! You're nothing anymore! How could I be so dimwitted!” the bear smugly said in mock good humor.

“You are the traitor now! How far you have fallen! Quite literally, I must say!” he furthered, taking great delight in my master’s plight.

“The Alphate is in my Noble Consort’s safe-keeping for now! Also, I bet the lion barbarians of Afika will love to have you for dinner! Now, I must bring this lonesome human of yours to my Master, if you don’t mind?”

“DON’T YOU DARE! I SWEAR IF HE LAYS A FINGER ON HIM!” I heard from below, followed by fierce grows that faded in the distance as I was dragged away.

And before I knew it, I was on my hands and knees on paneled wood floor and gazing ever so slightly up, I saw the base of a chair from which enrobed legs of in rich navy blue, nearly black, colored fabric cascaded from.

I dared not look up any further, I knew the owner of them well enough so thus stayed there unflinching as I heard a bubbling sound around me, followed by a deep exhale.

“So this is the human? The one owned by my dear colleague?” a cold voice uttered forth with a slight and odd Baltic accent.

“Yes, this is the human owned by Gernan,” Beshir replied as the lower half of Jao’s form stood up from his seat and moved closer to me, his timed steps each filling me with fearful awe and a taint of great loathing for the fellow human now making my way to me.

I dared not look! I would not give him the pleasure, not of my own accord that was for sure.

He stopped and delicately lowered himself ever so slightly as I kept my head down.

Until I felt two slender fingers clench under my chin and from that moment I felt paralyzed, unable to force my head down but instead allowed my gaze to travel upwards.

First past the waist, the wall of fabric unchanging in both form and design, indicating that the garment was long high-waisted garment.

Then the shoulders, garbed from under the pectoral high tube in a night-colored cross collar jacket, its narrow long sleeves rubbing against my neck as my head finally met the face of the man who has destroyed my life and that of my Master's.

It was like a spider when catching its prey, filling its body with a serum as it started to encase it in its web.

Baring down on me was a snow-white, slender face of a thirty-something aged human man, with light blue eyes and icy blond hair piled in a low loaf and pinned with jewels in matching hues to what he was wearing.

He looked me over, turning my helpless head from side to side, examining me like I was a produce in a market.

“My, he is quite an attractive one! He truly is growing into a cherub! Plain shade of hair and eyes though, but he has a spark I must say. Unfortunate that it will be wasted in those parched wastes by the unforgiving, searing desert winds,” Jao coldly said as he twirled around, making his way back to his chair surrounded by a handful of servants, youthful male humans.

“My pipe,” he ordered after he took his seat, upon which one of the servants swerved around, carrying a small sliver box-like object that had a pipe tapering upwards from it, handing it to the waiting hands of Jao, who took a deep inhale from the small device as it gurgled before letting out a gentle breath of smoke.

“You saved your Master, child but what a worse fate awaits him now!” Jao then stated as I felt rage boil up in my face.

“That rage in your eyes! You must despise me! How you remind me of myself when I was once a different human long ago,” he mused at seeing my expression of anger and hate towards him.

“Dear Beshir, go take him back to his beloved Master. My hands are washed of this matter from this day on.”

It was a gloomy day, sprinkling an overcast, the perfect day for funeral! We were granted one last luxury before being cast off into exile and that was a humble burial for Pantaleon.

Though a guard was in attendance for it, he refused to help to us and Gernan, and we had to dig the shallow pit ourselves in the vast openness of the steepes.

But when time came to put him in the pit, poor Gernan would not even look at the body-formed burlap sack, let alone touch it. He whined with pain each time he did and I could not see him this way further.

“Master, don’t. I will take care of it,” was all I said before he nodded his ears flat against his skull in abject morning at the loss of his…no, our dear friend.

With utmost care, I slid his heavy form into the small hole in the ground, making sure to not once try to even roll him, even though that would have been easy.

All the while I felt the eyes of the wolf guard on my back, probably thinking how stupid we were for wanting to bury a fox “traitor” with such reverence and care.

I then leaned into where Panta’s ear was hidden under his simple shroud and whispered to him.

“Elyk is safe, he should be in Lupercal by now and will be heading to the mountains with Iahel, I made sure he got out of here,” I wanted him to know this and I was sure of it being true, for I did not hear about any fox cub or kit being detained, and with some of the guards being loud mouths, they would have surely used it to mock us in our moment of weakness, probably tossing his head into our pit cell to torment us.

Gernan just sat a little ways from me, hunched over, his back to me sometimes giving out a low almost pitiful mournful howling, as I started piling stones atop Pantaleon’s corpse, each stone feeling like a copy was being dropped in my gut as I did so.

When the deed was done I turned and walked to Gernan and placed my hand gently on his half-bare shoulder, his coarse fur sticking up between my fingers.

“Master, it's done,” he merely sighed and stood up while I helped him do so, as his body was weak from grief over the past days.

He gave a forlorn gaze towards the simple grave, his dry flews quivering.

“Move it along! You buried your fox! I swear, I would think him your lover with this act of yours!” a cocky voice snapped as I felt a hefty push against our backs, in an accent that clearly showed he was of a northern stock.

I shot him a piercing look and soon offense erupted across his muzzle in the form of a start of a snarl.

“Why yo-” he started up.

“Shove it, country bumpkin! You’re not even fit to file my Master's toes let alone lay a paw on him!” immediately, he rumbled with violent rage and he rose his paw about to strike me for my insolence.

“WHY I-” he started before he was cut off by a male voice that had a girlish tone to it.

“Stop right there! I will take them from here,” it said and I saw it was none other than Dillian, who excused the guard and pulled me aside from wistful Gernan.

“My Prince wanted come here and see you, I had a very hard time telling him he could not, but he demanded I come and see you for him and-” I cut him off.

“Dillian, tell the little wolf not to speak up for us! I know you already think the same but he must know this is my wish too!” he nodded, showing that we shared the same thoughts and I continued.

“Tell him to never talk about us for the time being, keep his head low and above all, survive.”

Retrieving from my pocket, I pulled out the unfinished handkerchief and stuffed it into the Ursine’s bulky paw.

“Give him this! Please tell him I made it for him.”

“I will, Human Iskander, I will,” he looked about ready to leave and then I remembered one last thing I wanted to say.

“Wait, one last thing! Please tell Ulric…” I gulped, almost holding back tears at the words I was about to say.

“Tell Ulric to remember us.”