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A Biography of a Human.

Chapter Nine:

"The Imperial Litter."

Hours passed, so many of them, while Master was away at the palace to await the birth of the imperial litter. I spent most of this time in a lethargic state as there was nothing to to and everyone else was anxiously awaiting any news from the palace, which was delivered to the manor every hour via letters written by Gernan himself to keep us at home up to date. Even Elyk was was anxious for news and did not bother me at all!

It was dark now and it had to be past midnight, it had to be. I was in the entrance hall along with most of the household staff reclining on a bed of pillows on the floor put there by one of those dog servants. All the while, Pantaleon paced back and forth in the room twisting the end of his tail in his paws nervously while being trailed by Iahel, who was trying to calm his nerves and offering words of comfort or asking to give him a sedative.

I would constantly hear the whispers of the rest of the household about the birth, mostly from Pantaleon voicing his hopes that the litter will have a male pup among it as heir.

"Please, Canis! Please! Let this litter have a son so the succession will be safe from that blasted human!" Pantaleaon cried out in desperation, looking to be at his wit's end. He looked like he was going to collapse at any moment.

"Panta, try and calm down! Even if there are no males, the Alpha can still have more."

"Iahel, don't you understand at all!? The Alpha has ruled for ten years now and this is his first litter! andThanks to that human he hardly goes to his eastern harem to procreate pups!"

"Panta, you worry too much! You know how the court is pressuring the Alpha to frequent his eastern harem more as he gets older and the alpha is only in his late thirties, there is plenty of time to beget heirs for the Alphate!"

"Yes, yes, you're right! You're right! What was I thinking!? I can not say such things about this to Gernan, he worries enough about that human as it is! But I can not help to think about those rumors about that human's wish to foster a pup of his own! That would be a disaster! That pup would grow up to be another puppet of his! Canis forbid he starts to toy around with the issue of the succession!"

"That will not happen, Panta! Wolven Consort Nu, soon to be Chief Wolven Consort after this birth, hates the human consort Jao as much as Master and will not let him be apart of the raising of any of her pups whether male or female."

"I know, but I heard that Jao is lining up his own Wolven concubines for the Alpha so that he can foster them when they are born!"

"That's just a rumor and what has become of you now? You were always so optimistic about the whole Jao affair, always saying he won't win."

"I still believe that. It's just this whole birth thing is upsetting me, I can't help it, Iahel, you know?"

"I know honey, I know, I remember how you were during Elyk's birth, all crazy like this. Now, take this sedative and just lie down for a while, okay?" Iahel handed him a glass with a strange color and Pantaleon took it, his paws shaking so much that the female fox had to help support him as he drank it as to prevent him from dropping it.

After gulping down the liquid, Iahel helped the nervous Pantaleon out of the hall into what I assumed was the servant's living area. As soon as he was gone, I noticed that the strange smell that was lingering in the room, that I only just realized now was there when it was no longer present, was gone. It was barley noticeable to me and my inferior human sense of smell. I figured it must have been a pheromone that Pantaleaon was emitting while he was under extreme nervous stress.

Smell was just another way to convey thoughts and feelings for Anthros, I would learn, and though humans can not pick up all of the smells they make, a human can still use them to gauge what is going through a Anthro's head no matter how stoney faced the Anthro, at least, to an extent.

With Pantaleon gone, most of the nervousness was gone, but there was still a hint of it in the room. Once in a while. some of the oil lamps in the room would go out and one of the servants would fetch some more oil to refill them up and light them again. Looking around the room I noticed that not all the servants were here as the bear was missing.

"Elyk," I whispered out to the young fox, who was sitting on a low couch along the side of the hall but he did not hear me though and I had to get up and touch him to get his attention as he was engrossed with the chatter of the servants in the background giving the whole room an eerie backing along with the lamps flickering and dimming.

"Oh! Iskander, I did not hear you! Whats wrong?" Elyk said, somewhat surprised as he rubbed his light orange eyes, tiredness visible in them.

"Where is that bear guy, uh, um, Harold? Why is he not here?" Elyks eyes lit up and he became perky again at the question, seemingly happy I was going to him for guidance.

"Oh! He's a bit of a loner and plus he can't take all of this uneasiness either, but he did come in while you were sleeping and asked for any news before going back to his shed again."

"His shed? He's planting at this hour!?"

"Oh no! Silly! He has a bunk there, he likes sleeping in the company of his plants and he's a little too big for the beds in the servants quarters so master ordered an extra large bed for him in the shed."

"An extra large bed!?"

"Yep! When I was your age, when he first was bought by master from the fighting pits he broke so many beds all the time!"

"The fighting pits!?" I almost shouted out loud in shock at the though of that bear being a fighter.

"Wow, you know nothing! Harold was once a bear in the fighting pits, needless to say he was bad at it, very bad. Every time he was to fight, his proprietor had to drag him out as he did not want to go out and when he saw who or what he was fighting he would drop his sword and run to the door crying out like a cub, pounding on the door to be let out!" Elyk was desperately trying to hold back laughter the whole time he was telling me this and I must admit it was very funny hearing about the bear acting like this.

"Master Gernan happened to see one of these shows and taking pity on the bear, decided to buy him from his owner who was more than happy to sell him off as he was a complete failure as a fighter. Afterward, Harold showed his talent for gardening and since then as been working in the garden."

"I am glad he is no longer doing that any more and is happy doing what he does now. He seems so nice!"

"Oh, he is more than that, in fact after he scared you he was so upset at himself that Master had to go out and console him."

"Really!?" I was shocked and felt bad at the thought that he was that broken up over my first reaction to him.

"Yeah in fact he is so scared of scaring you again that he is trying to avoid you!"

"Oh no, poor bear! Look at what I did! I should go out and see him and say I am sorry," I thought after hearing that as that really made me feel awful. I should have really stopped being so skittish around these Anthros but I just couldn't help it at times, they looked so scary, but I thought I should at least try to stop screaming and crying when ever one surprised me.

"But he's still a big bear though, I can't help thinking about what happened to the blond girl in that story with the three bears!" but of course that was just a story, I reminded myself and not all stories reflect real life, even Grandpa made sure to tell me that when he told me his.

Just then, there was a loud banging on the door and Iahel rushed to it and flung it open, the cold night air breeze caused many lamps inside to flicker and almost die out. In the door frame was a young wolf wearing leather armor and a leather helmet dyed red. He was panting hard and looked like he was about to drop from exhaustion. He did not say anything and only handed Iahel a folded up piece of parchment.

She took it and the wolf ran off again as Iahel shut the large double door crowned with wolf headed knockers on the outside of it.

She carefully opened the paper and her fox eyes darted up and down the document while everyone else in the room watched for any hint of good news or bad. Her tail twitched and moved almost with the movement of her eye. Finally, she spoke, but apparently every one could tell if it was good news or not even before she spoke, most likely from her scent and tail movement.

"So far, Consort Nu has given birth to two pups out of three and these two are females, but we and the rest of the court hope and pray the third will be a boy and heir. As of writing this the doctors are removing the third pup, according to the eunuchs of the harem."

"Gernan," she finished before shoving it into one of the pockets on her apron while the nervous and anxious theme to the room returned again. Iahel walked passed me as the claws upon her feet tapped against the wood floor before being silenced by the transition to the large rug in the hall. She gave my head a pat before saying some words of comfort to me, as I was still quite lost during all this and had been ignored by all the Anthros here, not that I was complaining as it beat being doted on like a cute pet.

"Don't worry, Iskander, Master will be back soon!" The slender vixen took my hand in her own and lead me to the couch Elyk was still siting on and took a seat next to him before lifting me up on to her lap while she wrapped her arm around her kit.

I had foxes on all sides of me and the smell was evident, I mean, it was not the worst smell ever, but it was quite 'different' from the other Anthros I had so far met, but after a while I got used to it. It was still a bit of a shock at first, like now where I was being held by one while another was right next to me going through 'The change' in his lower regions and the fact that everyone was nervous did not help with the scent either, I am sure!

I also noticed another funny behavior while siting on Iahel's lap: she would sometimes nibble the nape of my neck. It did not hurt as her teeth did no pierce the skin, but would just pinch it lightly like a mother cat does to her kittens and I thought it was the same thing here. Iahel was apparently doing it here as a nervous tick and did not even notice she was even doing it in the first place until I started giggling from her wet tongue and whiskers rubbing up my neck.

I was bored out of my mind just waiting here for any news to arrive and I was also very tired and wanted to go to bed, but I could not with all this high strung commotion about, what was I to do?

Then finally, a great bell rang out in the distance and everyone froze and went quiet. The bell was followed by five large thunderous dings in the distance, it was then that the silence was broken by a familiar shrill and yappy voice.

"IT'S AN SON! IT'S AN HEIR! THEY ONLY RING THE STATE BELL FIVE TIMES FOR A MALE PUP!" shouted the frantic Pantaleon bursting through that door flinging his arms around like a mad man who finally snapped.

He was still quite drowsy from the sedative and fell flat on his muzzle with loud thud. Iahel quickly pushed me off her lap and rushed over to help the fox, who was now sprawled out on the floor holding his bleeding snout in his paws, moaning in pain as he tried to get up.

Just then the door swung open with a massive force and hit poor Pantaleon in face again causing him to yowl out in pain. The person, or should I say wolf, who burst through the door was non other than Gernan, who had such a happy look on his face, his long jaw hanging open, making it look as though he was smiling, his tail wagging so vigorously that one could not even see it at all.

"IT'S A SON AT LAST! THE ALPHATE IS SAFE!" the large wolf shouted out, full of pride and joy with a hint of relief.

He immediately saw me first in the hall and rushed over to me, plucking me up in his strong arms into the air while he span around in a circles.

When he finally stopped spinning around and, still holding me firmly in his arms, he saw Pantaleon on the floor, clutching his snout and he quickly set me down before rushing over to his side.

"PANTA! What happened? You're bleeding!" Gernan said, concern strong in his voice. It was Iahel who answered the question of what happened, as she rushed over to Pantaleon's side with bandages in tow and an assortment of jars which contained creams and waters.

"Oh no! I am so sorry, Pantaleaon!" Pantaleaon managed to answer back on his own, but with his nose covered with his paw, it sounded nasally.

"Oh, Master, it's okay, I should have been more careful. The moment just got to me and I was unable to control myself!"

"I can't blame you, Panta! This is truly a fortunate event. Finally, at last, a male pup! I feel like this is the beginning of the end for that human bastard!" Gernan said out loud, brimming with confidence.

"Yes, Master, I agree this must be, but I can't help but fear that Jao might take action against the pup!"

"Don't worry, I thought of that and made sure to warn Consort Nu and her retinue to keep on alert just in case, but I highly doubt it though, as even that human realizes that the Alphate needs an heir to continue," Gernan paused for a moment to help pull up Pantaleaon up on his paws before continuing again.

"I can only imagine how Jao's face looked when he heard about his wolven rival giving birth to a son! Thank Canis human males can't carry offspring," the bloody nosed fox gave out a snort like laugh.

"Yes, I bet he's wishing he was born a wolven female instead right now!" with this, Gernan began laughing as well and the two, just fox and wolf, were standing there both laughing like two mad men.

"Hey Panta! I heard from an ursine eunuch that when Jao heard about the prince he threw a compete fit, he even said they might need to redecorate his chambers as they are so damaged!"

"Ha ha! I can see that! I can see that! He has such a temper!" the two further descended into laughter and it was a while before the two of them calmed down again, it was Gernan who said the final word.

"Finally, that human has learned his place and in the next few day the naming festivals will start after they select the perfect names for the pups and I am to be invited to the great ceremony at the great temple of the moon for it!"

After all this was over and Iahel was done tending to Pantaleon's wounds, the two of them departed to bed and very soon every one else as well, leaving just me and Gernan alone in the hall.

"So, Iskander my pup, how were you while I was away now?" he said as he began to put out the lamps around the room one by one, the room getting a small bit darker with each one going out.

The spacious rooms and winding halls at of the manor, even when all the lamps were lit up, was still dark at night as the lamps and candles only gave off so much light. What little light that there was in gave the room a dim, surreal feel to it, There were, of course, large suspended lights throughout the major halls of the manor but these were only used for special events for guests, so only the wall and floor lamps were lit on a normal basis.

"I um, was, uh, fine. I was tired and so took a nap for a little while," the large wolf turned around and gave me somewhat of a grin, no teeth showing though, just the corners of his soot-lined muzzle moved upwards.

Though I felt trusting of him after we talked during that night, I still had that gut feeling that this was wrong, but at same time I felt at ease with his presence and wanted to be around him. This was all still very strange as when he was gone I longed for him but when he was here I felt unease still.

"That's good, I'm glad you got some rest during this hectic day, I sure didn't get any!" he said with a slight chuckle that had vague hints of tiredness within it.

"So uh, the um, Alpha has kids now?"

"Kids? So that's what humans call their offspring? Interesting! And yes he has pups now, two daughters and a son," I openly wondered to myself what a baby Anthro wolf looked like. Were they like puppies? That's what I had in mind, but I could have been wrong about that since I still didn't even know how babies came in the first place! Mother told me storks brought them while my Grandfather said the they came in falling stars and would also add that when I grow up I will find out more when I got a wife.

"Do they have names?"

"No, not yet, they will very soon though, I can tell you that. The grand historian will be selecting the appropriate names for the pup, drawing them from the annals of our glorious past. They will be announced at the naming celebration."

"When's that?"

"In a few days, pup, a few days during the first day of the new lunar month! A very good day to hold such a thing I must say! Very auspicious"

"Lunar.....Month?" I had heard this term before once in a while from Garas while we were learning conversational Wolven and it always perplexed me but I never ventured to ask as Garas was very intimidating.

Gernan stopped putting the lamps out and looked back, his head cocked at me like he was surprised to hear that I did not know what a lunar month was. I looked down, feeling a bit ashamed at my ignorance, even though it was not my own doing being such.

"You don't know what a lunar month is?" I shook my head.

"No, I am sorry."

"There is no need to be sorry Iskander, I am just shocked they did not teach you this while learning to speak." He took a pause and looked like he was thinking of the best way to explain to me how wolves tell time. After a while, he nodded his head and started talking.

"Well, we wolves are the children of the great Canis, who made us canines and sacrificed his silver eye to be our moon, so in honor of this act, we number our days by the blinks of his heavenly eye," I remember hearing this story about Canis's eye before from Garas's introduction when we first meet him. Hearing about the moon always brought my memories about my Grandfathers's stories about the moon. Like the one the man named Armstrong, who was named that because he possessed a strong arm, going to the moon inside the stomach of a metal creature named the Apollo.

Gernan continued on with explaining how the months work here.

"You see, every time Canis's Eye is wide open and shining, it marks the beginning of a new month which there are twelve of in a year and when his eye is closed to us, it is the mid month. I really cannot believe they did not teach you these things! Are they that lazy!?"

"Uh...what Lunar month is it now?"

"Hmm? Oh, its the 27thday of the eighth month. The time when the foliage just starts to turn color."

"Autumn! It's the beginning of autumn!" I had lost track of time ever since I was taken, I had no idea how much time had gone by and everything felt a blur, but hearing that the leaves would soon turn put everything back into perspective, ending the dream-like state I felt when ever it came to the dates.

"I was taken during the mid-summers day on the 23 __rd_ of June and now its the beginning of autumn, meaning it should be late October or early November when the leaves start to turn. So that means nearly four months have past since being taken!"_

Getting to this conclusion was a shock! Four months gone! Just four measly months! That was all! It felt like I lived four long lifetimes in those four months, so much had happened even in these past few days like they were entire years to me! It was only a few days ago I was brought here but it feels like I have spent a forever ago.

But it felt grounding to know what general time of the year it was, that slow blur of the past months not knowing how long or short of time pasted was such a destabilizing feeling that only made what I was going through so much worse and unreal to me.

Gernan went back to putting out the lights again, stopping with one that was beside me on floor. It was not an oil lamp like the covered, large bowls backed with reflective discs that hung on the walls, but was a grouping of candles in cloudy glass bowl that rested on top of a metal handle. It illuminated the small, surrounding area in a halo of flickering white light like a bubble keeping the darkness out.

I could see Gernan's wolfish form in the dim light, eyes glowing slightly in the dark as he approached me, until his four toed feet came into this bubble of light. They were strange feet, like a cross of a dogs paws and human foot. Looking up past these feet, up past the red, kilt-like robe that was worn when he went to court, I made eye contact with his bright, yellow eyes.

I should have been frightened by this scene, him creeping out of the dark like this, but I was not. Gernan was like the wolf in the story: Prince Ivan and the Phoenix the only story I remembered where the wolf was good and noble. But thinking on it, I don't remember ever hearing it back on Safehaven. I first heard the story while in the slave dormitory being told by fellow slaves.

Prince Ivan was murdered by his brothers, his body sliced into pieces. It was the gray wolf who found his body and scared off the scavenging beasts and brought the water of life to the corpse of the young prince, restoring him to life so that he could take his rightful throne.

I was like Ivan, I too was murdered in a way, my body sliced to pieces and left in the fields of mental despair as the twin beasts of hate and vengeance feasted upon my heart, picking at it with every thought of sadness.

All my thoughts and feelings were clouded by nothing but fear and hate, so much so that I was about to throw my life away, killing a wolf that had nothing to do with the sack of my home!

Gernan, like the noble gray wolf, came to me and fed me the waters of life in the form of forgiveness and compassion, that brought me back to life, restoring me and setting me free from the hate and anger, freeing me from despair.

Gernan saved me from myself, from my demons, from my past and lifting me out from my hell.

I smiled up at him and he gave the wolf equivalent, a grin without showing his teeth, as teeth showing is an aggressive sign.

The wolf lowered himself, sitting down cross-legged next to me on the carpeted floor. Both of us sitting in the candle light in the late hours of the night, just like how Grandfather would do at night.

"What else did those lazy slavers not teach you? Can you read and write?" he asked earnestly to which I could only shake my head, slowly feeling like I did something wrong even though it was not my doing.

Gernan let out an annoyed scoff before bitterly complaining.

"Those damn, cheap slavers! Cutting corners and claiming as an excuse it's not right to teach humans to read and write, especially when most of those slavers have educated humans themselves! Bunch of hypocrites!"

"You know what, Iskander?" Gernan said while lifting my chin up and turning my head towards his angular wolf one.

"I am going to teach you how to read and write the wolven script myself! I think it would be good for you to learn it, especially since you are the human of a future Prime Beta! I need a smart human beside me when I get there."

"What about that consort guy?" Gernan gave a funny look before roaring with howl-like laughter.

"HIM!? JAO!?" Gernan briefly uttered out before calming down enough to continue.

"The consort's days of malign influence are over! He is a spent force and a paper monster now after today!"

"Why?"

"The son! That's why! The Alpha will spend all of his time doting on the pups of his and their mother over that washed up human!" I found all this hard to understand. I had no idea what he was talking about. I heard of Jao and overheard the name Nu a few time but the inbetween left me lost.

"I don't understand/" Gernan stopped and reached out, cradling my check in his paw.

"You're just a pup Iskander, I don't expect you to. But from now on we will never need to fear that human ever again! Spring is finally here after a long winter," I nodded my head in agreement and he spoke again after giving forth a long yawn.

"I think am going to bring you to the naming celebration at the moon temple. Now come on pup, lets go to bed!"

My consort.

"I heard the news, what an unfortunate outcome. Your servant can barely write this with out wanting to burst out with discontentment and can hardly imagine what you, my most noble and smart consort is feeling right now and to think that the whore will now think she is equal to you with this litter of hers. It would seem that bitch Nu did not eat those pomegranates you graciously sent her for her enjoyment."

"But there is hope, my consort, wolven concubine Io will soon be sent to the Alphas chambers according to your plan and when she gets pregnant and delivers a male pup you shall be an active partner in raising him."

"Now, for that boil in your side, I think the coming celebration is the ideal time to have it removed and without hesitation. I am told the specialist will be present at the ceremony and ready to get rid of it, once and for all."

"One last note, while I was out I found a clever human. I think he will make the perfect agent for you and am sending him along with this letter."

"Your most loyal chief ursine Eunuch."

"_Beshir" _