A Biography of a Human

Chapter Four:

"Lupercal."

For the last two months, our ship plowed through deep ocean towards the great capital which is located in what our ancestors called Eastern Europe and situated on a peninsula in the northern part of the Black Sea called Kaimea. All the different landscapes we passed by in our long voyage, when we happened to be close to a coastline: the large and small islands of Maisia, to the vast deserts of the north Aficka, then we passed through the archaic Suez Canal, a testament to the godlike powers of humanity's past. A huge trench dug into the very earth, joining the two seas so ships may travel freely. I couldn't help but imagine what it looked like in those glorious days when human ships of metal once passed through this ancient place; I could almost see it, but alas, those days are over.

The last month of our voyage was the toughest, as the mighty sea kicked up a storm the likes of which I had never seen before. The ship rocked to and fro as though a giant had plucked the ship up and was throwing it about. The roar of the cashing waves and booming thunder combined to make a most dreadful sound and none of us slept during the storm as we feared the ship capsizing during the night. During all this I couldn't but be reminded of the story of my birth my mother told me.

“Xander, sweetie, would you like to know about the day you were brought into this world?"

“Uh-huh, mommy"

“Well, in the month of your birth, there came a winter storm the likes of which Safehaven had never endured before. It was so fierce that some houses blew away in the wind and trees keeled over."

“I remember the worst part of the storm came during the night I was in labor with you seeing the sounds of thunder, flashes of lightning in the window and the creaking and groaning of the house as though it would collapse any moment made me think that the world itself was coming to an end."

“When you finally came into the world, with your cries rising above the thunder itself, telling the world of your arrival and when the dawn came, the storm clouds parted and the storm abated as though the god of thunder and lightning was present for your birth and I knew then…"

“SOFIA!" My father entered the room, it was a rare sight seeing him this firm with my mother or anyone for that matter.

“Alexander, go the your room, I wish to talk to your mother!" I obeyed his orders and as I did, I heard my father sternly say to my mother.

“You should not say such things to Alexander, it will go to his head! I want you to never speak of such foolish things to Alexander again!"

“Vernier! Have you forgot what the face reader said when he saw infant Alexander!"

“This child has a most noble bearing and a countenance fit for a ruler."

Father scoffed, “That same man said I would grow up to be a fierce warrior and would die in battle! That man was fraud and you know it!"

A few weeks after our ship passed through the storm came the day I was dreading for the past two months now. The day in which all I ever knew changed, whether for better or for worse I can not honestly say for sure.

"LUPERCAL SIGHTED!"

"LUPERCAL STRAIGHT AHEAD!"

These were the words, backed by the sounds of bells and whistles that I awoke to on this day. Getting up, I scrambled along with the rest of us humans to get our first glimpse of the city that would now be our new home. I was lucky and got to one porthole before everybody mobbed it and though I was practically squished between the hull of the ship and a wall of people, and the window occasionally fogged up from our collective breath I got a first-row seat to see it.

Lupercal, the city of the wolves.

Emerging from the morning sea mist like a specter, it was the largest place I had ever seen up to that point in my life. It made Safehaven look like some back water hovel.

This city appeared endless in my eyes and it seemed to encompass the whole horizon. Surrounding it was a wall of gray stone with gates and towers occasionally interrupting it, the buildings within one half of the city, which were on a lower level, were made from wood, stone and looked disorganized, while the other half higher up were shimmering white and were much larger as well as being placed in an orderly fashion divided by grand avenues.

“Hey, look over there at that building!" One person next to me shouted out while pointingto itfrantically.

Looking at where he pointed was a building among the other grand structures that was higher and more magnificent than all the others surrounding it, sitting on a low plateau was a vast complex surrounded by gardens and filled with magnificent halls.

“That must be the Alphas palace, it has to be!" Another said followed by mumbled chorus of agreement.

Next to the palace was another structure, it looked to be some kind of temple judging by the vastness of it. It was square-like and tall, possessing one very large curricular window on each on of its four sides. The pallor of this building reminded me of the color of the moon when full and almost seemed to glow like it in the sunlight of the new born day.

All of us were breathless with awe as none of us expected the city of the wolves to look like this, most expected Lupercal to look like some barbaric site full of tents and fire pits with sheep and horses roaming about, but instead we were greeted by this wonder of urban planning and if I did not know better I would have thought humans had built it, as I had a hard time imagining that the same barbaric wolves from those stories from the Anarchy were even capable of of building anything as complex as this city.

I felt as though my very core beliefs were being challenged by this thought of the Anthros being like humans.

“Anthros can't be civil! They're just one step above from being animals! No, they are animals! They're evil monsters that that put an end to the glory that was Human progress and it was they who destroyed the perfect order humanity had created on earth, sending it into the chaos of the Anarchy! I must not allow myself to admire them, they are barbaric animals that killed my father and burned my home!"

This battle between my thoughts was quickly broken by Comgan bursting through the door barking out orders in both human tongue and Wolven.

“Get yer selves in order, skinbags! We're docking in a few hours time! Now, line up!" Comgan was then quickly followed by a few more wolves carrying one long chain with many collars attached to it and they began collaring us up.

Whether it was from sheer exhaustion of the voyage or the complete hopelessness of the current situation, none fought them from grabbing us, not even a meek peep of protestsemerged from all of us. It was completely clear, we all accepted our fate now no matter what it was, this was our life now and no amount of optimistic fantasies could prove it otherwise. We were all property now and very soon most of us would have owners or masters.

How does one go about being a slave? What does one say to your master or mistress? Do you call them by name or by title? When you greet your master, does one need to be on their knees to do so? What type of jobs will we provide? Will there be whips if we're too slow? What happens when we're ill or old? Will we be thrown away like some old shoe?

These were the questions that filled my head as a cold collar wrapped itself around my neck and it was not knowing the answers to these questions that made me most fearful of what the future held for me.

The ship groaned and swayed slightly as we began to dock in the harbor of Lupercal, the sounds of seagulls high in the sky and the chatter of dock-goers was sound proof of our impending landing. I wanted to sob but I found I had no tears left in me and I wished Maria was behind me as she would make me feel better, but I was alone all alone with my fate and I heard one human say woefully out loud:

“I hope I get gentle master."

“All of us do" another said bitterly.

Once we were all in line and chained up, we were all given a final drink of water from a wooden bowl and though it was just water, it was the best tasting water I ever had, as it was my last drink as a free human. I can still taste it now, so clean and refreshing.

With a loud thump the ship docked and hearing the gangplank being pushed overboard onto the dock I looked towards the door of the galley and realized that this was a door to a brand new world and my old life would end the moment I crossed the threshold.

“What will become of me?!"

Comgan again spoke out. “Okay, now it's time! All of you follow me now! And don't be dragging your feet now!"

Then the moment came and those doors swung opened. Comgan began to lead us all out into the open deck as light shone down on the stairs in front of us. When finally coming up on deck, I was greeted by a light salty breeze upon my face looking around there was all kinds of activity in the harbor below us, various ships being unloaded and Anthros running to and fro. The city walls rose above us and look as though they were built by giants.

Finally one person spoke out a question that was on all of our minds.

“Where are we going?!"

Comgan turned around and looked at him as though he thought he should already know the answer before finally replying.

“To the slave quarters! Where else would you go, you dumb human!?"

“Comgan, that is no way to speak to the same species your Captain is!" Comgan ears immediately flattened as he looked down meekly while the captain approached.

“Please forgive me, Captain, you are just so wolf-like I have a hard time thinking you're a human at times"

“Nice recovery, Comgan, touche." The captain smiled coyly and he seemed to like being thought of as a wolf by his crew-mates as his face swelled with great pride when Congan made the comment.

The captain walked towards the side of the ship and proceeded to gaze out at the city towering above the captain then began speaking with Comgan in Wolven which, at the time, I did not know at the time but do now and I can remember their words as if they were spoken yesterday. I was quite impressed with fluency of the captain as he mimicked the growls and huffs of the Wolven language almost as good as any wolf.

“It's good to be home again." The Captain spoke with relief in his voice.

“Captain I think its time we take our loot to the slave quarters now" Comgan replied nervously as though the Captain might go off on him any moment

“Now comes the part of raiding I hate the most, bargaining with the slave master on how much they are worth. I go through all this trouble to get them and he give me a measly sum in return; if the weaselly wolf were my on my ship I would cut him through!"

The Captain then turned again to us speaking to us in Human.

“Alright now, follow me! It's best not to keep him waiting" the Captain then gestured to Comgan and the rest and we were lead down the gangplank onto the stone dock which felt wet and cold to my feet. One of us even slipped on the wet stone and brought the rest of us down with him like a row of dominoes. Luckily, no one got hurt, though a bunch of wolves ended up laughing at our expense which made our already bad experiences even worse to us. Must we have endured humiliation as well? I felt so downtrodden.

Once we got our bearings again, we were lead to a large, crude open cart and roughly piled in without care. It was cramped and we were practically chest to chest with barely enough room to sit down. The whole cart seemed to groan and creak from our collective weight and I was fearful the thing would fall apart any movement. I was lucky and happened to be next to Maria again whose presence I found comfort in.

“Maria I'm scared! Hold me please." My voice was only barely a whisper I was so overwhelmed. Visions of what might become of me flashed in my head each one worse than the previous.

“Don't be afraid! I'm here, Alexander, I'm here." Maria said as she wrapped her arms protectively around me and I thought that as long as her arms were around me I would be safe, though it was a delusional fantasy it was the only thing keeping me from the abyss of desolation that threatened to consume me in its murky pitch.

Then, with a great jolt that almost made us tumble over and the snap of a whip the cart began to move slowly, feeling as though I was being lead to the to an execution. I began shaking and Maria noticed this as her red blemished face filled with confusion of what to do to distract me from my abject terror, but then her face lit up.

“Alexander, would you like hear about my family?" Filled with fear I only mumbled an illegible affirmation that I did.

“Well, my father is a priest, you probably know of him, he is the one who does the sermons during services, though most people unconscious by the end of them." Immediately my thoughts went back to Safehaven and that boring sermon.

“Wait, your dad was that boring priest!?"

“Ha ha! That's him, alright!"

“I didn't know he had a family"

“Surprising, huh? How my mother fell in love with him I don't know. Growing up, instead of lullabies we had his sermons!" This caused me to grin and I completely forgot about the situation I was in and for the first time in many months felt good, though it was in the face of uncertainty and we proceeded to swap humorous stories about our respective family. I told her about my grumpy grandfather and she told me more about her father and I so distracted by all this I completely forgot about all my fears a worries and even laughed once, almost as though Lupercal did not exist and everything around us was just was nothing but an illusion

But like all illusions, they must come to an end and mine came with a neigh and a jolt that whipped us backwards, then forwards. We had come to stop, looking around now seeing a we were in-front of some kind of building

It was quite big now, it was some two stories and constructed from plaster and wood with metal latticed windows that looked like prison bars trying to be decorative. Standing outside in front of the large wooden door was a group of wolvens wearing simple dark tunics pants, but there was one wolf that stood out, at the head of this small entourage, was a round grey wolf. I did not know wolves could even be fat, he wore the same as the other but with a white robe like overcoat that look quite glossy in the sunlight and a matching cap.His face was quite round with hints of of a double chin under his muzzle, if you could even call it that.

“He must be important."

Then I happened to noticed there was another human, a young man by the side of this plump wolf slightly obscured behind him with a silver collar around his neck clad in a white ankle-length tunic and carried with him a pad and stylus.

The captain approached the fat wolf and began a frenzied discussion in Wolven with the large wolf, occasionally baring his teeth with the low growl. I wasn't paying attention to this, I was more interested in the human who was now approaching us.

He did not speak to us, he just encircled the cart, looking at us and then would jot something down on his pad. I wanted to say something to him, ask him what's going on, him being a fellow human and all, but found I had no voice luckily somebody else had same thought and a man behind me spoke up.

“Who are you and what's going on!?" He just stood there quiet and we thought he couldn't understand us but the silence was broken by a familiar tongue.

“I am lord Abrarron's servant and personal secretary, Gyles, and right now my master is bartering with the good captain regarding your purchase"

“What happens after that!?"Another said, almost in a frenzy.

“Well, you will receive a basic understanding of the Wolven language so that you will be able to understand the orders you masters might give you and then you will be sold like I was." Gyles spoke with a very calm tone that offended one man amongst us who yelled

“HEY! You act like you like being a slave to these beasts! How can you be so calm!?"

“Look it is an Anthro's world now and you will learn as I did to accept our place in it."

“YOU ARE TRAITOR TO THE HUMAN RACE!" The man shot back and if wasn't for the chains he would've lunged our and punched Gyles.

“I am not a traitor, I am a survivor! We humans are weak and inferior compared to the them and we are lucky they let us live as slaves rather then wiping us all out!"

“I would rather be dead then obey those monsters!"

“If you keep your attitude like that you will be." And with that Gyles turned around and walked back towards his master Abarron, whom he proceeded to hand the tablet he had been writing on looking it over.

The bartering between the captain and Abarron was now winding down and they looked to be at an agreement. Abarron then spoke out an order to the other wolves that were waiting by the door and they began approaching us went to unchaining us and leading us into the building one by one.

After hearing the click of the collar on my neck I felt two large large hands, or paws, wrap around my waist and was hoisted into the air and was carried into the building along with the others and after passing through a few doors. We came to an intersection in the hallway where, to my abject horror, I was split from Maria and the females of our group while the rest of us were lead down another hall. I wanted to screamed out and kick my way out of the wolfs arms but I was too petrified to do so.

“What will I do without Maria!?"

We then came to a large hall-like room with sleeping mats on each side of it. In it, there were also some other male humans that weren't from Safehaven walking about or talking with each other and they then processed to just stare at us with curiosity like we used to do with new traders or arrivals came to Safehaven.

I was put down and the wolves retreated from the hall and locked the door behind us and for a few minutes there was awkward silence between us new humans and the old ones, until finally some of the already established humans came up to us introduce himself or trying to strike a conversation; I did not care though I was too upset about being without Maria to help me and was too busy crying about it to notice anything around me.

“Why, aren't you young one!? How old are you kid?" A husky voice with an odd accent spoke.

“Huh?" Rubbing my eyes and looking up I saw a middle-aged man with a soft smile and greying hair.

“How old are you?"

“Six"

“My you are a young! What's your name now, kid?"

“Uh, uh, Alexander but some call me Xander back on Safehaven."

“Well Xander, the names Deven, why don't you come over and sit with me okay."

“Okay," he lead me over to one of the mats and proceeded to sit down with me.

“So, what are crying about now?"

“Maria was taken to another room and I need her!"

“Maria, is she your sister?"

“No, she's my friend why did they take her away?"

“Ugh, these stupid wolves got in their thick heads if put the girl and boy humans together they will mate. What bunch of fur-covered idiots!"

“Mate? What's that."

“Just wait 'till you're older" I sat there quiet, for a bit until Deven's gruff voice spoke up again, interrupting the momentary silence between us.

“You know what Xander, you're lucky at least you were born free, unlike me."

“What do you mean?"

“I am a bred human. You might say I was born with this collar."

“Really!? You have never been free?"

“Yep I what they call a collar-born"

“Why are you here though, if you're already a slave?"

“My previous master died, bless his heart"

“You had been his slave since you were born!?"

“Oh no, he wasn't my first master, I have had so many masters I sometimes forget how many I've had and very soon I will have a new one"

“But why!? Why is this happening!? Why can't this just be a dream that will soon end!? I want to go home! I want mommy and daddy! I don't want to be a slave!" I started sobbing again, tears clouding my vision while I wanted to curled up into a ball, but before I could do so Deven grabbed me.

“Look here kid, if you want to live a long and happy life like me then listen and let me give you some advice:wolves are just like dogs you can either kick them or love them into submission and if you play your cards right like I did and will continue to do, you could be the master and your master be the slave."

"But what if I get mean master?"

"Mean? Well, if he's mean, then he's certain to have a few enemies somewhere...accidents can happen, you know?"

“Accidents?"

“Yes accidents"

After Deven and I had talked, Gyles came into the hall and told us all that dinner would now be served to us. We all sat on pillows on the floor and ate our food from silver bowls on low tables, the food tasted much better than the food on the ship. Deven came up and joined me which gave me an opportunity to ask more questions about all of this while we ate.

"Deven do all Wolfens sit on the floor like this?"

"No, they use chairs they just like making us humans do it. They like having humans be lower than themselves, it's quite rare to see a human using a chair."

"So, it's against the law for humans to sit in chairs then?"

"No, but it's quite a stigma though as Wolven society is very uncomfortable with Humans in any kind of assertive position, even something as simple as sitting in a chair is very threatening to them."

"So, no humans sit in a chairs here?"

“Well, I do know that Consort Jao likes to be seen sitting in a chair."

“Consort Jao?"

"Oh yeah, I forget that you're new here."

“Who is consort Jao, Deven?"

"Well, he's the chief human consort of the Alpha's male human harem and is Alpha Wuffrim II's favorite human and is the leader of the Western harem that houses the human concubines."

“Why does the Alpha need humans?"

"Well, the Wolven women housed in the Eastern harem, like all female wolves have many of pups at one time and having too many heirs can be very dangerous for the succession, so the Alpha goes to the humans in the Western harem for companionship."

“But why men though?"

"Well, the Wolves are terrified of the possibility of a hybrid coming, even though it's most likely impossible as one has never been born before, but they would rather not risk the chance of it happening in the imperial pack family."

I could not help but feel lost hearing all this info this culture was all so alien to me, but Deven assured me that I would grow used to it and that as a new slave my master would most likely be forgiving of me and my impropriety; this was of little comfort to me though.

Later, after we all finished eating and our dishes were taken away, Gyles returned and ordered us all to get ready to go to bed.

And as I laid there on my mat while the lamps were put out and the hall was cast into darkness I could not help but think of Deven's advice to me.

"Accidents."

This word looped in my head in till I finally fell into a slumber all the while thinking about what Deven truly meant by the word and its implication.