A Biography of a Human

Chapter Thirty-One:

“Return to the Wolf's Den"

“We, wolfkind, are the only civilized race on this earth! Foxes, felines and the rest are mere barbarians to our superior and cultivated society and ways! Have not the Heavens appointed us as the leaders of this mortal world, under the watchful gaze of our most holy trinity once the fall of mankind came forth?"

“The foxes lay claim to being civilized but theirs is no more than a facade lacking the moral integrity of our culture. We are social, we work together for the good of the pack and all races under us! Foxes only labor as a group for selfishness and lack the dutiful soul that we wolves possess within our howls!"

“Though, that is not to say non-wolves are forever this way, if they were to adopt out superior morality, culture and work for the good of the pack they would be non-wolves holding in their hearts a wolf nature, and thus be wolves within."

“All non-wolves are family…albeit wayward ones."

“Even the humans..."

- On the Superior Wolf

There was no doubt at all about the origins of this ship, it was built by wolves, looking identical to the seafaring vessels I saw in the harbors of Lupercal! Not only that, but one bearing the imperial banners which only meant two things: one, the Alpha was onboard, highly unlikely; or it carried an extension of the Alpha's imperial presence, such as imperial order, this was the most likely reason for the imperial banner being displayed.

I, at the time, had no inkling of even who the Alpha was! Wuffrim was the last Alpha I knew of and so at first feared this was an order to have Gernan executed! But after so much time had passed? Reason quickly returned and I dismissed that absurd fear, the years of meditation and training of my mind in the temple had honed my ability to remain calm; but the sight of a ship from the Alphate, that was still something that shocked me and I felt rattled by its looming sight drawing closer and closer and before long it was docked at the temple's pier.

Joining Gernan and the others, mostly a throng of curious, multi-racial monks behind the likes of Manetho and the other temple leadership, who were trying to communicate with the armored, shipboard wolves to no avail until Gernan broke through the masses and called out in his native wolf tongue, which though he had not used it in many years, was still clear to their angular ears which rotated at the sound of wolf words.

I did not see it then but they were showing the golden wolf, Manetho a rough drawing, one of Gernan's canine profile. The wolf with the paper paused as he saw the approaching wolf, he looked Gernan up and down before he looked back at the parchment that contained the drawing. By this time I had got up my nerve and caught up with Gernan, he was now standing beside the elder wolf's side as we both gazed at the long thought gone culture that was before us!

Wolven civilization! It was something we had both thought was never to be seen again even though we had both had fantasies of something happening to cause us to be able return. This was no fantastical dream though, the bastion of wolf imperial authority was before us and it was hard to believe.

The important looking wolf was dressed in shingled armor rimmed with fine silk and framed oval pauldrons. He turned to a nearby wolf of lower rank, “Get the Imperial decree!" I overheard him say sternly in wolven speech, which I had not heard in so long and caused a rising sense of nostalgia to fill me. Part of me was wondering if I could still speak it, my mind went through the long unused memories of wolven words and grammar, which assured me.

The wolf was then handed a rolled up bundle as he disembarked onto the dockyard's platforms and marched up to face us. He looked pleased with himself, maybe even relieved with the turn of events.

Stopping in front of us, there as a long moment of nothing. The wolves eyes darted around with an expectant look as Gernan and I also stood confused. When the wolf grunted it came all back to us!

The imperial protocol and etiquette!

How foolish were we to have forgotten it in a time like this, but how is there any fault in that? It had been so long and such trifles were nothing, it was only natural that they would lapse from our minds, being away from that center of wolven ceremony and ritual, Lupercal.

Falling to our knees, wolf and human prostrated before the Alpha's representative. We, both anxious for what this would entail for us, a bit of hope with a tiny bit of fear to keep us both from comfort. The sound of the cloth-encased paper unrolling sounded out lightly above us. Momentarily glancing left at the elongated face of Gernan, his eyes were firmly shut in anticipation for what was about to be said.

The formalities were recited first, the year and the era name.

It was 3081 A.A! My sense of time came back to me as if I were just awoken from a long sleep! “It's only been less than a decade!?" to say I was surprised would be an understatement, I felt vertigo knowing the exact year it was! To me, it felt as if though some twenty years had come and gone by.

But no! It was only seven and I was presently just twenty-one years of age! I then thought of Little Wolf and as if to answer my question, the name of the Imperial Alpha was read aloud.

“-By order of Imperial Alpha Ulric-"

My Little Wolf, Ulric! He was now Alpha! Alpha of the Great Kutlar! I could hardly imagine it, I did not know if I wanted to cry with joy for the fact that he managed to survive the plots of Jao or laugh at the mental image of my little wolf donning the voluminous robes of the Alpha, I could see the beaded curtains of his headdress swaying from side to side in front of his muzzle with every movement.

Such an image of wolf cub was false though. He was about fifteen now and thus fully grown by wolf standards; hardly a little wolf anymore! But I could only see him as I last saw him, a stubborn little wolf tot always trying to show off to me! I wanted to see him immediately!

“-That former Prime Beta, Gernan of Clan Koff be restored of all of his titles and property, and that his crimes and punishment be disbanded and that he be henceforth ordered back to the capital to resume his duties as leader of the Beta's council!" with that, the wolf finished and folded up the order as we stood back up. The emissary bowed to Gernan and handed him the order to keep.

It was over! We had persevered and now we were in the blessed aura of the future under the will of Alpha Ulric! Gernan clutched the order tightly in his paws, hugging it to his chest as if he was protecting it from any harm! I lost myself and I flung my arms around Germans shoulder and buried my joy-filled face in his upper arm!

Gernan was panting and struggling to suppress his whimpering at the knowledge that his honor had been restored! Within the confines of his wolven psyche, gratitude bubbled forth for everything that was now presently happening. He had endured and suffered and was now being rewarded for it! We had survived and we were now free.

But…the temple!? The peace, the serenity! I found myself here and was just only beginning to feel an inner peace I had never thought I would achieve. Manetho, Yosef and the others, I had held them to be apart of my life from now on! I felt the tug of two innate desires within me: one to return and the other to stay.

I knew then and there Gernan would not refuse this, how could he? This was something he had only just dreamed of and now it was reality. In that same vein, I knew I could not leave him behind or just deny my steadfast wish of looking upon my sweet Little Wolf again.

Later that night after the excitement of the day died, I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to Gernan drone on with happiness about what he will do when he takes back his position. Only later, when I visited Yosef, did I spill out everything in a mess of crazed babbling!

Worries, fears, hopes, desires, dreams and nightmares all came forth from deep inside me and filled the night with a sense of hopelessness at what I was going to do! I was acting as a madman and did not even hear Yosef calmly say it the first time.

“I'm coming with you Xander," it was rendered impotent in my pouring puddles of self-anguish and went on as if it was not even said at all. All my mental training was gone.

“Xander! I am coming with you!" he finally shook me about, screaming into my ears as he did so.

This time I got it and a calm overcame me, “Did I hear right?" was one thought. I was worried I was deluding myself and making this up.

“Don't look so shocked, you heard me!" he affirmed as I grasped at how I should even respond. “I am coming with you!"

“You will? But…." he waved his hand dismissively before responding in a manner of this being all nothing to him, even though what he was saying was a big decision.

“Teacher Manetho, he thinks this is a chance to spread the wisdom of Muni to a distant part of the world, he wants to send a mission with you!"

“Xander, I am going to go, I have not said anything yet to Manetho but I can't have you be feeling so dispirited over what should be a happy thing!"

“But…but this is no small matter Yosef! This is big move ho-" I saw mild annoyance crest along his face.

“Xander! We are both humans, I'm your friend and this is an adventure for me! I have always wanted to see more of the world and furthermore you have told me about the stories of your wolf when he was a war leader! I am sure to find more tales of martial valor in this Lupercal than I could ever find here!"

“I am going with you!" he said, firmly putting an end to any further discussion about his decision to do this.

“Thank you…" that was all I could muster back to him before I withdrew from our spot and bid each other a good night. After this, I was resolved to return to Lupercal knowing I would have Yosef by my side. I fear what would have happened if he did not do this for me.

It was not until some days later that we prepared to depart. Gernan was, as expected, holding himself as he was before we suffered our downfall, though he did not discard the lessons he learned from all of this. He was prepared to make some major changes once he was back in power.

Mystic monks boarded under the suspicious gaze of the wolf crew-mates, who felt unease with having such bizarre types on board. I was part of this group by all appearances, since I dressed and looked like them.

Yosef was there nearby looking quite excited. He was peeping a look at some of the well-armored wolves, eyes full of fascinated wonder at seeing such things he had only read about. If it were not for the language barrier stopping him, he would have marched up and bombarded the first poor wolf he set his eye on with questions of thing that would be beyond their knowing!

But for now, he only kept staring at them, which did not go unnoticed by the targets of his gaze and were quite at a loss of how to react to such a wide-eyed human who could not stop himself from looking. I think I even caught one of them patting around his face and muzzle, checking if there was something on his fur.

“I knew Jao would one day meet his twilight and it has finally come! Once I am back to being Prime Beta, I can at last get to putting forth real plans for the Alphate, now that the court backstabbing is done with!" the restored Gernan spoke pridefully as he took a seat on a chair in one of the ship's cabins, the comfortable one as I could gleam from its furnishings and fittings.

I clearly overheard the swishing sound of his unseen tail moving in pure glee and happiness. The Imperial Alpha's edict rested on a low table beside his trousered knees, draped with one of the flaps of his over-kaftan that fastened up to his thin, furred neck.

Within his paws, he fondled his noble badge. The single of a pair of arm-pads woven from dark, blue silk and embroidered with the glorious full moon of his past noble rank, now finally restored to him as last. He just sat there for a fair moment, rubbing the rims of it between the pads of his fingers, looking as it was a holy relic of the God Canis himself.

To him it was just that. That threaded lunar disc set among a sprinkling of shimmering stars was a holy relic of Canis, a badge of honor for wolves, making him apart of the pack once more instead of being a mere lone, wandering wolf that he was for all these seven, long years in this hostile land.

I drew near him and plucked the pad from his fingers and began strapping it to his arm for him as he looked on with a pleased look on his face, seeing the item adorning his forearm once I fastened the straps together under its twin brass buckles.

Gernan thus started to muse aloud to anyone who would listen.

“It's hard to believe that not only has Ulric become Imperial Alpha but a father to a litter already!" I sputtered into a fit of coughing at those words. Ulric was already a father! “He truly is not a pup anymore then!" I thought as Gernan, seeing my reaction, told me the details which he had picked up from the envoy when he was given the arm-pads as a gift.

One of Alpha Ulric's concubines had given birth to a small litter only a year after he took the throne a single boy, “Is that not unusual? I remember you saying a long time ago that it was normal for Chimera to give birth to more than one."

“That is true, Iskander, it's the norm, only its not constant. Elyk was a single pup as you know well, so it's not unheard of," I never fully delved into the working of the chimera body. The books on those topics that were in Gernan's study were always quite boring to me when I was younger.

I still had yet to fully know how and what heat was! I was quite out of the know, despite being around them for most of my life. Elyk's mother had them. Think it was once or twice a year, I always knew these moments as being when the vixen was rather withdrawn, smelling of nose-stinging peppermint or other such strong scents from some cream or salve she had and used for those times when they came and Pantaleon would be rather anxious.

“-Not only that, I was told one of Ulric's consorts is already with litter when the good envoy set off; she must already have given birth by now, surely!" Gernan continued on, half-rambling as he furthered with how the pup has already did what his father took nearly ten years to accomplish, siring an heir already and another on the way.

My mind then came to the wolfess, Gao'ao, that noble wolf girl who was married to Ulric, she had to have been in her mid to late twenties now and clearly not given much attention by the sheer fact I had heard nothing from Gernan about her other than she is Imperial Mate and governess of the inner palace, or better put, the two harems.

“Well at least she has a lofty position, I bet she is making her family happy with the positions her rank must be giving them! Would not be surprised if they have been given a county or duchy to revive tax from," musing as I stood, lost in thought in the cabin, of which only the slightest movement of the waves were noticeable underfoot.

These were people I had never thought about in a long time and I had forgotten! Titus, Chu, Gao'ao and even the ursine Dillian! They had been run out for my mind just as we had been run out of the Alphate that day so long ago. The things those chimera were apart of, the court, they no longer had any value in keeping track of.

Now we were going back, the thought of Titus again made me feel sour. He was such a hard zealot but thankfully Gernan would temper him like before. I mean, looking back from that point I barely ever spoke with him and was convinced that it would be as it was before.

I pushed these mindless thoughts back and returned to conversing with Gernan, who went on about his plans for the future, even voicing how he had an idea for a major project: a canal system. One that would link up the Volga and the Don with room to expand later into other rivers.

“The Office of Revenue will think it's madness but it will pay off any steep cost tenfold once it's up and running!"it was quite ambitious. I remarked, warning of not overdoing it once he returns, the last thing he needed was to make foes with others early on. He, being like his normal wolven self, waved me off but heeded the idea of waiting until he was established in the government again

“It is wise to wait until putting such a plan into works. After all, I still have many good years left in me, I am not even sixty yet, though I am drawing near to it…"

“Gernan, don't fret! You are great! You aren't an old wolf at all, what wolf can claim to have gone though what we did these last seven years?"

“That's very true Iskander, very true indeed! I look forward to seeing Lupercal again and furthermore take a trip to my clan home as well. You have not been there, correct?" he could not seem to remember if he took me there once and I speedily responded.

“With you being so busy keeping the government out of Jao's hands? No, and that time you did go up there to visit your clan I was taken ill myself, so I could not come," the wolf's eye wandered around a bit in his head as he tried to remember when it hit him just a moment later.

“Ah, I remember now! I was so worried sick about you and had every human veterinarian in Lupercal over!" the vague memory, clouded by feelings of fever of Gernan yelling at some poor dog physician came to mind. Gernan growling about how he was not doing enough for me as the poor lab stuttered out how it was just a human cold and that it just needed to run its course!

We both began laughing at that amusing memory and we regaled in more shared tales such as his near death after the birth of Wuffrim's litter and so on! He spoke to me as a fellow wolf, not as an inferior human. Within his fatherly eyes, I saw no glimmer of difference in his viewing of me as nothing less than a wolf compatriot.

“When we go back to Lupercal I will take you to see a polo match now that you are a fully-grown adult now!" the thought of that was exciting for me since I had never seen one before, being too young. How the wolves loved their polo matches or anything showing feats of strength.

“I would love that!" I spoke ecstatically as a memory came to me, of Gernan telling me he tried the sport as a young wolf but was never any good at it himself, being better a swordplay and I made sure to remind him jokingly and he laughed in turn at it in good humor.

Once his wolfish snickering subsided, he further went on about plans he was wanting to do with me back in the Imperial Capital, “Afterwards we can spend the rest of the evening at one of my favorite saloons to share some drinks, you and I both deserve it after these hard years!"

“And what if they don't allow human patrons?" he paused and looked me square in the eyes and barked out in mock fury at such an insult to the human who stuck by his side through it all.

“The lot of them have humans as dancers so why not let a human be a patron! If they dream of doing such a folly I will remind them that I am Gernan of Clan Koff, the Prime Beta! I would like to see them voice such bile again after I say that!" I fell out into laughter at the mental sight of such a scene, a wolf tender cowing away after seeing the mistake he had made!

“Afterwards, if I get inebriated enough, I might just end up borrowing a lute from one of the musicians and give it a try myself!" the image of a flustering and stumbling wolf drunkenly pulling a stringed instrument from a confused wolfess and playing it badly came to mind and I felt my stomach do somersaults.

“Gernan? Would that really be a good image for the mighty Prime Beta of the Great Kutlar state?" I chided in a scolding tone, wagging my finger at him like he was some kind of naughty pet dog.

“Maybe, but who cares!? We need to celebrate!" he defiantly responded as he started singing the words of a drinking song, marked with musical howls in-between stanzas of it.

“Fill my cup merry! Fill it full to the brim!"

“Watch me down it in one beat"

“With fur bristling and tail wagging"

“Colors aflutter in my eyes"

“Like the ribbons of a leopardess dancer from afar"

“Or the flowing long hair of a silken soft human"

“Fill my cup merry! Fill it full to the brim!"

He sang as he raised his paw, holding an imagined chalice and waving it around, pretending to sing with mock slurs in his speech as he did so! I fell back into a cushioned stool in a fit of uncontrollable laughter at this foolish sight!

“That would certainly be a sight to behold! A drunk Prime Beta singing a song and playing a lute with his bald human monk friend!" I interjected while sliding my palm across the stubble of my head.

“You are sure serious about this faith, aren't you?" he voiced after his own fits of laughter died down.

“I know it's curious seeing me this way but it's something that has filled me with a peace of mind I have not felt in all my life," the seated wolf looked unconvinced at my words, which were holding truth, for I felt free of the things that have weighed on me for a very long time.

“Strange is framing it only mildly! A human without any headfur? Your kind's head fur is a feature poets extol about and you cut if off!?" he retorted back in parental skepticism at me being so ardent with this sect.

“Gernan! That's the point, I am removing my attachments to the world by cutting it," I politely but firmly laid down before him, hoping it would be enough get him to stop, which it was not and he brought up his next move as strategically as the former general he was.

“Prehaps! Though I think it unfair that humans have to do this while the likes of Manetho do not!" for a moment I thought I was hearing Pantaleon scold his son or be unconvinced of Elyks claims of meeting a vixen he will marry soon.

“The lions?" I reminded him since he left out that the lion monks cut off their manes like the other lions who were following the path of Teacher Muni.

“They have manes! My point still stands, good attempt though!" he responded back in a oratorical strike as if this were just a game of spoken fencing. All in good nature, mind you!

He had a point, all the other non-lion chimera monks did not have to shave themselves of their body fur but Gernan conveniently forgot the rigorous training they go through in terms of learning to subdue the internal animal nature and instinct by coming face to face to it, something which I had seen first-hand when Gernan's came out against me!

If I were a real ass, I could have unloaded that on him and gained a ruthless victory by shocking him into submission! That though, would have crushed him to no end and I had vowed never to tell him of that.

“Oh Gernan! We humans have it easy here, cutting one's head fur is nothing! The training of the chimera inductees is not an easy task, remember, it takes a lot of internal training," I was growing tired of this and wanted to get it over with and knew the perfect way.

Just before I saw him about to respond, I pounced on him.

“What did the first Alpha Ysengrim say?" I pretended to think, tapping my finger against my chin while looking up at the wooden ceiling of the cabin until I felt enough time had been played for dramatic effect. “Ah, yes!"

“That of the human's place? It is in the natural order of thing for them to be beneath that of the chimera, for they have lost heavenly favor. The normal disposition of mankind is ignorance and vanity and thus humans in their nature are inferior to the Chimera..." I said this with the most cunning and self-assured look written across my face as I watched the arguments of Gernan fall and collapse on his own face like a wall recently struck by the boulder of catapult.

Like that, his ears fell and he looked downcast for a moment before looking up, his expression changed and a prideful look in his amber eyes.

“Touche! Touche! I see you have not neglected your wits!" I smiled and nodded and we both started laughing again! Times were good and were going to get better from this point on. For had we not been through enough?

Being on the open sea made me sick to my stomach. I vomited every ten minutes in the early leg of the voyage once we had left the tranquility of the Nael river and into the open green of the inland sea, the wolven ship plowing forth North, cutting the waves like a knife cresting out pearly white sea foam at its prow. A poetic description of something I did not even get a chance to witness due to being cloistered below deck in the hopes of calming my insides from wanting to catapult themselves again.

Poor Yosef, he stuck by me this whole time patting my back when I was keeled over a bucket and jerking forward. He stayed by my side even though I knew he wanted to spy on the wolves, who he was fascinated by.

Once a few days past out on the open ocean, I calmed down and kept myself on a diet of simple foods and did not over-strain myself. Finally, I was able to do other things than vomiting, such as teaching my fellow human the basics of Wolven language, which was quite a jolly time for the both of us. I decided to wait on trying to teach him the written script for that would have just overloaded him! The number of characters in the language is enormous, everything had its own character and there had to be thousands of them so it was best not to overwhelm him with that, so I stuck with the stuff I was taught back when I was a new arrival in Lupercal.

I remember one time I was having him repeat a wolven word and he kept on butchering the canine vocalizations of it and did so over and over again despite repeating it correctly! I got so frustrated with it that, just as he was trying for another attempt, I lost my patience and shoved two of my fingers into his open mouth to help him better copy the dog-like sounds their speech has.

Oh, the look of shocked disbelief tickled me, but I remained cool and asked him to say the word now and he did and it was better, “We humans will always have a bit of an accent when speaking the canine tongues, it's normal, but its better than when they try to speak human, their accent with that is just silly as can be!"

“Really?" Yosef grinned and I nodded my head and gave him an example:

“Ha'ooo hohum, I um Uoof mun!" I said in how a wolf might say something in human! Yosef's face faltered and he keeled over with amusement, asking again and again if I was making this all up which I assured him I was not.

“They are really that-"

A distant shout from above.

A desperate cry of panic.

A howl of warning.

“PIRATES!" then the whole ship blew up with sounds of chaos! More shouts, more cries, more howls and warning barks! It took me a moment to even grasp what was flowing in my mind, it was not matching up. Logic and fantasy rambled on inside me until the gravity of the situation became clear to me as I felt myself being dragged by Yosef and brought up on deck when it all became clear to me.

Past the anarchy on deck of wolves scrambling about, putting on their armor as quickly as they could manage, some even putting on theirs backwards; with the sound of swords being unsheathed. Afar, the sight of a single ship rapidly approaching on the starboard side.

One thought was in me in this moment of panic, a calm and rational thought that felt out of place,“A single pirate ship? And against a well-defended wolven ship displaying the imperial banner?!"

They were either idiotic pirates or very bold!

If I had anymore thoughts they were forgone when I saw Gernan among the crowd of wolves. He was acting like the commander he was, trying to get order from the panicked masses. I tried calling out his name, my voice was nothing, it was drowned out as the bow of the invading vessel drew closer and closer.

There was a crash as wood exploded in splinters. Yosef and I fell backwards as the whole ground beneath us rocked violently! “Xander! Xander! Are you okay!?" I heard the fear-filled voice of Yosef.

“Yes!" was all I managed as I saw the offending ships bow now jammed over the deck.

An eerie silence after the crash before came, shortly followed by a mass of gekkers and yips jittered out from beyond the prowl of the now-joined ship, then red and brown blurs leaping down onto the deck as the reflections of metal sabers in the sun dazzled and flashed!

“We have to go below deck, this is no place for us!" I heard Yosef shout into my ear from behind as I was left frozen in shock at the scene unfolding before my eyes! My mind was split, I wanted to rush forth and fight, but I was scared, this was not something I was used to! I had never fought in my life but the fear was growing in me and I wanted to flee! My mind was split and it was only Yosef taking the moment and grabbing me by the arm and dragging me back that moved me from my state.

I saw Gernan, my wolf Father. I saw him surrounded by red and brown pelts and I heard the cluttering of iron on iron as just before my vision was blocked by the interior of the ships walls, a mob of howling wolves came forth and rushed to Gernan's aid, giving me a small sense of relief.

A pained howl echoed forth, reverberating against the wooden hallways that I was now being dragged through by Yosef and was brought to a tiny closet in which we hid and I ended up passing out in after a moment. Last thing I heard was cries of “Retreat!" by the foxen raiders along with a sharp pain in my side emanating from a wound that was not there, but real in other ways!

I was not on the ship though.

A room, a sliding wood-framed glass window draped by a dropped-down shade, leaving the room in a state of twilight despite being still well in the day a bed was before me, it contained a form, unmoving.

This place was all too well-known to me, this was Lupercal and this was Gernan's room and Gernan was resting in his bed, alive and recovering from the wound he had suffered from the attack on the ship.

The space was like a crypt, furnishings were still partly covered in dust sheets from being unused for many years, we were home! Once Gernan healed up from that nasty wound, he would be Prime Beta again and he keep his promise to take me out for a serving of drinks!

“That was a close one. A close one, wasn't it, Gernan?" my mind recited as I got up and approached the bedside and I began speaking to the wolf about all the things we would do.

I could feel his paw twitch in my hand. Hear him grumble in his sleep.

My speech was slurred, my vision warping from lack of sleep. Gernan's bed was shifting and siding from one corner of the room to the other like it was floating in the air.

The sound of a door opening from behind and the slow steps grew louder with each passing moment in pairs.

One, two.

Three, four.

Five, six.

Seven, eight.

Then it stopped and I could feel a presence behind me, a warm breath on my neck, a mournful sight and then words.

It was the voice of Yosef

“Xander, he is dead…"

“No, don't be silly, Yosef! Gernan, did you hear that!?"

“Xander…please! Eat something, you have been standing here for three whole days since Gernan passed!" I ignored him, I did not even process his words, they just bounced off me like a polo ball against a racket! Gernan was going to take me to see a polo match, remember, Gernan?

His paw was not twitching.

“The undertaker is here, he needs to prepare his body. I have stalled him for the past two days with excuses and I can't stop him anymore! He has orders from the Master of the City to take his body now!" I still did not care or heard what was being said, just continued on holding conversation with the corpse

A series of rumbling and heavy footsteps.

“Hey! I told you to at least wait for a few moments!" in broken Wolven, Yosef spoke, but it was not directed to me but a new figure that had entered the room along with four others who carried in a large, oblong box and dropped it at the foot of the bed.

“I gave you three days, I have direct orders to take the body of Marquis Gernan of Clan Koff to be readied for embalming!" a harsh voice barked.

“Look, the body is already starting to bloat! Any longer and it will be a risk to the city's health!" Yosef was pacing, trying to think of something to buy at least a little more time but could not, the wolf undertaker barked out a command and the other wolves marched to the bed!

I was being threatened! They were going to take Gernan back to exile! I had to stop them! “NO! NO! NO!" I pounced atop the cold wolf's body and dug my nails into his form and made a primal hiss at the wolves who were trying to steal my Gernan!

They jerked back in fright at my animalistic outburst, looks of worry etched on their dark furred faces as the official barked out taunts for being frightened of a human and for the other two wolves present to pry me off.

All was a blur, I screamed, thrashed, and tried biting whenever I got a chance, only snapping my teeth against air.

Gernan's limp body was lowered gently into the wooden casket and I went ballistic, my body arched as if I was possessed by some daemon and I shrieked inhuman sounds as the lid was quickly placed on the casket and the group sought to leave the premises as fast as they could.

Yosef was desperately trying to restrain me from chasing after them, but he was a dead-weight, only slowing me down as I clawed my way out of the bedroom and drawing near the stairs! I was mad! And seeing them leave past the threshold of the front entrance of the manor, I was driven to catch them.

My foot slipped on the steps, equilibrium and balance was lost! I was falling forward, everything around me was like a tunnel rushing past me as only the bottom floor stayed stable and grew larger and larger in my view.

Yosef shouting my name before black washed over me.

Then it hit me…

Gernan was dead.

He had lived, but his wound was infected on the rest of the voyage. By the time we came into the harbor of Lupercal it had spread to the rest of his organs and body; there was no saving him, that was what one of the doctors said which I had blacked out from my memory in my own denial of the truth.

Gernan was dead, I was now alone! Mom and Dad gone, Grandpa and now Gernan! I was cursed! Everyone I loved was doomed to die, that was the only answer!

“I, Gernan of Clan Koff, hereby write this last will of what worldly items shall be bequeathed to and split among my Clan and those I hold in regard."

“My noble title of Marquis shall go to my brother, in my clan home, if permitted by the grace of the Imperial Alpha."

“To my daughters Selene and Neith, if found, I each give a third of my estate and their families to do with as they please."

“My human, Iskander, shall be freed and to him I give the final quarter of said estate, along with ownership of my Manor in Lupercal. Not only shall he inherit that, but it will be that Iskander be given my Clan name Koff and shall be a member of my clan as an adopted junior member of the Clan."

“Harold, Iahel and Elyk, if found alive, shall be also freed and for their service receive a gift of three thousand claws each to start a new life."

“For my burial, I ask that I be interred with my mate Yenna in the Koff Clan burial grounds in my ancestral Clan home."

- Will of Gernan, written just before his death.