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A Biography of a Human

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

“Escape”

“A human’s tongue can cost a beast his tail.”

“A human’s words can cost a beast his head.”

-Ancient Proverb

My escape plan was coming together so well and I was quite pleased with myself at how everything was going into place. It was all very daring but it needed the right moment to spring into action.

Gernan’s sound advice was grounding in moments like this, even I would have been tempted to rush forward with my plans. I had gathered together a group of male hyenas with Jatu’s help, though mind you, I did not do to them as I did to Gurfan! These males were as desperate to leave as much as me and Gernan, and getting them to stand down warranted me telling them stories of possible bloody outcomes if we failed due to being hasty with the plans.

It felt like my own little resistance effort, those nightly meetings full of cloak and dagger ambiance; it made me feel like one of those humans of old who held out against the beasts when humanity fell. Though my efforts were paltry compared to those and to compare myself fully to them would be uncalled for.

This was my first real leadership position, the feeling of being in charge was an exhilarating feeling, I loved it and I knew for a fact that Gernan was nodding in approval behind me in the meetings, pleased with how I was coming into my own.

How they forget to inform you how solitary it can be at the summit.

The higher one goes the more one finds oneself alone...it’s not the norm but it’s a theme of being in power.

Days went by, things were beginning to get into order. It was going to be on Ayeshatu and I’s wedding. It was the best moment to pull off something like this, where everyone would be passed out from the festivities including that of my new “wife.” It was a gamble, I knew that and so did Gernan and the others, that’s why I ended up getting involved with the planning of our mateship ceremony, I had to know everything so this would not all fall apart.

Gurfan would unlock the gates to the royal docks since he had access to the keys. Secretly at night, I had a few of our group make nightly pilgrimages to the ship to stock the below decks with supplies, food and such for the night we would finally make our escape.

We made sure we had enough males to work at each oar, so that was accounted for. Money for me and Gernan to survive once we were out in the world was also assured; that was a more effortless task than it sounds, as the fierce hyena Queen showered me with gifts in the form of precious jewelry. The moment I got a large necklace of gold or silver from her I immediately went to task, breaking it apart in sections that would make it perfect for trading once we got out of here.

One thing I was slightly afraid of was the wedding night, there was one thing I could not get out of in this plan of mine...

The consummation of our union. It was impossible no matter how much I thought of ways to get out of it. Me refusing her desire to have me would risk her anger and her suspicion.

I reminded myself that I did it with Gurfan without hesitation, but to have to do it again and with someone like her! When I say that I don’t mean what it sounds like; she had such a presence, I was fearful she would somehow sense that I was faking it all. I kept thinking about what she did to her scheming niece and imagined she would do the same to me.

An image of the floor of the lake littered with dozens of bobbing figures weighted down by boulders came to mind and I shuddered. My mind was going too far, I needed to relax and keep calm if this was going to succeed.

“You know, I can still fight, if anything does happen we could at least put up a fight until we get to the docks and then we can shut the doors behind us and escape!” the old, reliable wolf Gernan reassured me after I told him my worries when the two of us happened to find ourselves alone in our rooms for once.

He was closely examining a jeweled saber I was given as a wedding gift by the indomitable hyena Queen, why and how she thought this would be of use to me, I have no idea. I did not speak but just nodded my head and hummed a response.

Even that adorned dagger master owned back in Lupercal, the same one which I tried to kill him with back then, at least it had the decorations carved flush and smooth with the handle so to still be of use if needed.

He grumbled in light disdain as he fumbled his paw around the handle of it, which was overcrowded with gemstones, “How I loathe showy weapons like this, how in Canis’s name is is anyone to wield such a thing like this!?” he opened his paw, exposing the overdone thing to the light and looked down at it, his wolfish eyes conveying a sense of grave disappointment.

“You know, when I was a young wolf training with that old Cato, one of the cadets from a rich clan came in with a solid gold sword, even the blade was gold, what a fool, a gold blade!? One whack at the thing and it would be dented! Cato had fun dressing him down in front of us all!”

I managed a laugh, hearing a story like that now lifted my spirits and took away from my fears about this whole escape. I asked Gernan to hand me the sword as he made the comment about how at least the blade was of sound ore.

Once I had it on the table, I began dislodging the useless flourishes on the handle with a pin I had in hand with me. Small turquoises domes along with gold and sliver plates fell off and I slid them into a money bag.

“At least such things will be of use once we are free,” I reminded as I handed the now-stripped blade back to the elder wolf, who looked pleased with a normal weapon in his paw at last. I was no doubt sure he would later take time to wrap the bare handle with leather.

“True, that is true! It will helps us both in the end!” it was all quiet after that, just the two of us, human and wolf sitting together in our chamber of the palace. It all seemed so strange when thinking of it all now, how we ended up here.

We spoke more afterwards we both agreed that this free city of Toum near the land of Ethiopia was the place to go. Gernan so wished he had have more knowledge of this continent but it was at the far from the reach of wolfkind and even the foxes of all races; sure they had their trade empire but they were, as Gernan called them, “coast huggers” with only the few foxes who seek glory venturing out inland.

“Also, heat does not favor us Northern canids,” he said heartily laughing, knowing full well that was the truth since he was living it.

“If we ever make it back to Lupercal-” he stopped, not fully believing that sentence himself, I could not blame him for feeling hopeless, “I should write this all down and send it to the Purple Academy to study and put in the Imperial Library.”

“Master, even after everything wolfkind has done to you, your own Alpha and your government did to you, throwing you out like they did on those absurd charges, you are still a devoted wolf?”

“Well, civic duty is something that is ingrained in us, always serve the pack fully, and that's what I always strive for, always.”

“Wuffrim was always prone to being weak to flattery over remonstration from those like me, I should have known that one day words of praise would overcome honest rebukes.”

“Gernan, Master...it was not-”

“Such a notion never crossed my mind, I thought such a failing thing could never affect wolves, that that is something only greedy merchants of the Republic are weak to...”

“Gernan...”

“Looks like not even wolves are free from being fallible, and to think I once thought humans were the sole erring race,” I did not bother to stop my wolf from talking again and let him go on, listening fully to each word coming from his maw. “The irony that in the end it was a human, you, that alone stood by me while others deserted me to my fate!” at the moment’s close he exhaled a long, dejected breath and cast down his eyes in silence. I reached out my hand and placed in on his shoulder.

“Gernan, the Alphate lost a good wolf in you, I know you had a past, you have told me so, but you are good at heart and I never thought any wrong of you!” I felt tears wet the brim of my eyes as I spoke these words and as I did, Gernan’s long face looked up and matched mine.

“Iskander, you are such a comfort to me...” I smiled warmly back at him and I changed the subject to a more happy one for both of our sakes. Dwelling in the past never helps anyone in times like this but even in sad movements, Gernan’s lesson of never regretting one’s past can even falter.

How I cherish that wolf! He was my best teacher and it was on his lap that I learned so much. Watching him deal with government affairs, his morals and ethics, I can think of no better wolf than Gernan of clan Koff to have taught me such things.

The date of my union with the Candace Queen was only days away. The days came and went in a blur for I only thought of the coming escape, everything was in order and only needed the go ahead, no one outside our plot had any idea or even suspicion that anything of the sort was going on.

The week before, tailors swarmed me with fabric, pins, pelts and needles. Part of me was bothered by all the work going into this, considering I was not going to stay long, but I had to keep up the act.

It was to be a ceremony in the tradition of the hyenas, which was unknown to me, so I had to be taught by a young Vestal sent by the High Vestal. She was not a full-on masculine female like Ayeshatu, burly and full of dominant vigor, but a restrained version of that, being clad in priestly attire and a manner that matched it.

Aloof and righteous, still having a somewhat youthful nature seated in face of her muzzle, face and eyes, but still a powerful hyena nonetheless.

“You are to be the male in this marriage, the lesser partner. Follow the lead of your mate during the ceremony but don’t mistake that for acting assertive! Just do what the Queen asks you to do and things should be fine!” I was told by her as she trained me in my movements from walking to standing.

My first attempt at walking received a scold for being too assertive for a male and was advised to make myself appear smaller as I walked. I tried again, this time moving in a bowing hunch, this met her standard of what was appropriate.

I remember asking her with slight annoyance if this was common for their society, wondering if there was even any break at all for others.

“Oh, yes! This is how it is and it’s the only way, all the way from the Candace to the warrior female this is done!” this proved to me that even at the bottom of the hyena world it sucked to be a male.

She continued to watch me with her intent gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, she pulled out a tied-up cloth pouch and undid the knot skillfully with her claws. How I envy not having claws sometimes, even the most stubborn knots would be nothing for a chimera.

After this concluded, I saw her pull out a sliver rib-bone from the small sack. I first thought it was some kind of ritual utensil but this preconceived thought quickly dissipated when she started to nibble on it and gnaw with the rows of crushing back teeth, which created the most ungodly sounds of cracking and snapping as she began chewing and swallowing shards of bone that broke off, making way for another chorus of the same awful sounds.

The confused look on my face must've been evident for she replied in questioning tone, “Where in the world did you come from, this is my snack!” sure, I always knew that canine anthros had a thing for teething on bones, but this was not that! This was outright eating them! It was here I learned that they can eat bones and even survive on them.

“After the child of their affair was born, Canis and Felide, both in shame at their act, abandoned the pup and left it do die in grasslands. Though the child did not die and lived on the picked at bones of fallen beasts and became the mother of the hyena race,” I had long thought before that line was just a metaphorical expression to convey the ability of the hyenas as being tough but it was apparently not and I was now seeing that first hand.

Quickly turning my head, I uttered out a string of unintelligible awkward phrases, not wanting to offend this hyena or raise any suspicion on my part that would warrant me being watched by her or others! I could not risk anything, no matter how small it may seem it can all be something that could cause issues with my hard worked-out plan.

I could feel her eyes burrowing down into the side of my head as I played around with the fringe of my shirt nervously, which I quickly, but naturally, stopped myself from continuing, after realizing how this too could also be taken as a suspicious behavior.

“_Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!” m_y mind was in a panic, I had to get myself calm, but I had to do it naturally! If I looked like I was doing it to hide something I would ruin everything, plus the smell I must be giving off!

Taking short breaths, I turned back to face the now mildly-puzzled hyena priestess, who had stopped munching on her bone to eye me up. She was trying to read me. I had to think quick and I did.

“Oh! I am just a stupid human! This all so different to me since I am a human, we humans are all like this!” I managed out, half-laughing to really make the dumb human point and adding a goofy expression for added effect, praying this would work!

“True...true...” her eyes narrowed and focused one my form and I felt as though I had lost and that this was it.

Then she broke contact and returned to her bone. I wanted to faint and I said how how these lessons were all to much for my puny human mind to handle all at once and I needed to rest. She left but I caught a slight air of suspicion in the corner of her eyes.

That night, I told Jatu to tell everyone that there was not going to be a meeting that night and the next night either for that matter. I could risk it, but I had the gut feeling she might be watching me later and that caution needed to reign for a bit.

I even put off a nightly meeting with Gurfan, but I promised him I would visit him soon when I felt safe again after this close call of mine

Jatu was quite upset about this, telling be how it was insane to not have a meeting since the wedding was in just a week’s time. I stayed firm on my decision!

I had no desire to have my bones be used as treats by these hyenas!

I often took time to further my relation with the Gurfan every few nights, I had told myself this was just nothing and it was only me getting what I wanted: a way out of this insane world. But I found myself feeling for him despite everything I told myself I would do!

I found myself at first filled with a sense of happiness when our special nights came!

Then I found my checks brimming with heat when his sensitive eyes caught mine!

I longed for his embrace, his soft-toned arms, so unlike the rock-like grip of his mother’s; longing for them to touch me! I don’t know why this happened, I told myself again and again this was just a furthering of my goal…

But I found myself in love and I did not know it until it was too late to pull away.

He reminded me of Little Wolf, it’s clear to me here and now as I write this. The sensitivity, the needing way he looked at me, a wolf who was a lost child that needed love; it was the same with Gurfan and I wanted to be there for him like I was for Ulric but in a more intimate way.

Amusing, I mention how I found myself attracted to another due to similarity with Ulric when Ulric would also find himself in a similar situation in the harem! Thanks to ever resourceful Jao who would not stop until death called him, but thats for later.

Our nights were not all sex, it occurred still some of the times but often we would talk. I would ask him about his family and history, listen to his thoughts which often surprised me. I once made the remark about how he must hate his mother and how she must have been awful since he was but a male pup and not a prized female.

“No. In fact I do love her”

“Pardon? Are you joking?”

“She was a good mother, I know it might not look it but she has her soft side, though she hates showing it,” I could not believe it, remembering the way she bullied the youthful male hyena on her ship, teasing him like she did. Sensing my growing skepticism he told me examples.

“When I was a pup, when no one was around to see, she would fawn on me and play with me! I may not have been a female but she often liked to play fighting games with me like would be done with a girl,” he paused as I saw a slight wistful smirk in the corner of his muzzle.

“Then the door would open and someone would come in and she would lambast me as a dumb male and how I should have been born a female, though as she walked out she would always wink at me to tell me it was all an act!” I was touched by this, it was so unlike Ayeshatu, I had thought she was a stern type through and through, but I could not help but feel that I had seen this side of her in her cards that one night back.

“Then why do you want to escape with me then?” I was puzzled since the image he showed was contrary to his willingness to run away with me and the others

“Well…I am bored! I want to see the world like the daughters of Candace Queens do! But I am a boy so I can’t, that's why!” in his eyes I saw a flicker of resentment flash, he was a suppressed male and wanted to get out and do things but his gender forbid him from it!

“Mother would often tell me stories of the Fighting Males and their adventures.” I was, of course, in the oblivious role yet again and so asked what he meant.

An all-male tribe that hid out in the heart of darkness and act like the females do, all strong and tough, partaking in war and hunting. They would sneak into cities and creep into sleeping homes of new mothers and snatch from their cradles the males who were such a disappointment to their mother and then raise them as their own, as warriors!

“I often dream of being taken in by them, becoming a big warrior and impressing mother into seeing that I am more that just a weak male! And when you said you wanted to escape it was almost like a dream come true!” the excitement in his voice rose as he imagined himself out in the world doing things he had before only dreamed of.

“But there is another reason too, you...” he locked eyes with mine and I felt my checks blush and my stomach churn with flutters as he began to start making love to me again and I was again playing the role of slave, this time fully willing and wanting it.

I was in love and there was no stopping it, no matter how I tried to push back on it and deny it. I imagined us together and I won’t lie, it made me happy.

This was one of the earlier nights we had together that stands out to me now. Once my paranoia of the Junior Vestal passed we had our last, it was two days to the wedding and we were both excited that soon we would be free and out in the world.

Those two days went by fast and the date of my union with the Queen and coming escape were upon us all. Everyone was ready: Jatu and the other males were prepared and waiting for the word, Gurfan had the royal dock keys and my stash of currency was divided up equally into small sacks for each member of our escape party to use as their own once we were all free.

All that was now needed was for me to preform the marriage ceremony with Ayeshatu and be bedded by her and then everything would be finished.

The keep was decked out in festivity for the occasion, as was I, dressed in a polychromatic costume of flowing wet-faced wool. This was it, it was the moment I was wanting for and as I stayed in my room waiting for the afternoon event, watching Gernan pace back and forth, worried that we would all be found out at the last moment; I waited.

Waited for when I would be called to be taken as the groom of the hyena Queen herself. I managed to keep my calm, drawing on my teachings from the Vestal.

Then the knock came and in came the trains of males attendants who would escort me to the outdoor space where everything was going to happen. As I left, I gave the worried wolf a look of confidence and turned to leave, with a male on each side dressed in a loincloth that matched the hue and pattern of my own costume as the others walked behind us.

Strange music grew louder and louder as I made my way to where I was to be. It was no doubt the morning party, Ayeshatu and her rowdy court partying and enjoying themselves before the event was to happen.

Doors opened and the light of the sun glared my vision. Once my eyes cleared, I saw tables mounted with heaps of food and stacked-up bones and surrounded by countless females. The most prominent feature was an alter of inward warped wood and topped with pots of burning coals and strange idols and figures ones that caught my eyes being a pair of large, carved wooden pseudo-penises and testicles of the females of this bizarre race. The whole thing was guarded by the familiar Vestals.

“She-who-must-be-obeyed! She-who-must-be-obeyed! She-who-must-be-obeyed!” they chanted in foreign musical tones. I mused to myself if this was a reference to the mother of the hyena race, the spurned love child of feline and canine.

The faith was never clear to me and the impression from the males was that it was a female exclusive affair, that even they knew little, save of only saying something about a goddess or something. Things that were never explained much to me.

The burly form of Ayeshatu came forth, took my hand into her giant paw and lead me forward, past all the going-ons and to her tusk throne set up off to the side of the altar and was pulled down into a smaller chair next to it after she had taken her own seat on hers.

“You look just as I thought you would!” she whispered in my ear as she picked up a large wood mug of ale, from the scent of it, and downing it one motion before asking for a refill.

“Wonderful! She will be plastered drunk by the wedding night!” I thought, pleased. I had hoped she would partake in large amounts of drink but I could not be sure of it before and did not want to pin it all on that being a given.

The Queen then got up with me in tow and began showing me off to her warriors who hooted out praise and how her member would get some good use with me at last. This went on for hours and wondered when our union would even happen if at all!

I was starting to wonder if this would be a days long affair and that this was the first of many, but my fears of that went in the breeze once the sun began to set. The Vestals all cried out order and said that all was ready.

By this time, Ayeshatu was well-intoxicated and staggered forward to the alter with me being roughly dragged behind.

We were facing the aged High Vestal, her deep penetrating eyes were glassed over with age but still all-seeing in a way. She looked to both of us and the two of her companions turned around and took from the altar, the pair of wood phalluses and placed them each before us.

I spent most of the time looking down as she spoke in her cracking voice, saying words, strange and bizarre; her form shaking in a lucid trance motion, the bells of her garment making noise with slight movement.

Then a skull was thrust into my hands, canine! My first thought was it was a hyena but it was much too small and then I realized it was a feral hyena skull.

Looking up at a loss, I watched Ayeshatu. She spoke words I did not pick up on and placed the small bleached skull on the tip of the phallus fetish. She and the others looked to me and for a moment froze until I kicked myself into following suit.

Under their watchful gaze, I placed the hollow skull atop the shaped wooden form before me and half-tried to mumble words like I saw Ayeshatu did, hoping it would be enough. Thankfully, it was as I saw the corner of her maw curl into a smile.

It took me a few moments to realize that this was act of union between me and the fearsome Queen of this hostile land, for what else could this have been? Afterwards, I was guided back to my seat as the actual festivities began, the priestesses withdrew and it became a revelry.

Drinking, yelling, eating; it all released itself and I was alone, back on my little seat just watching it all unfold before me. The snapping and crunching of the bones as I flinched from each crackling sound.

I was offered drink but I politely declined. I wanted to be sober for what I was to do.

The evening turned to night and it all became a blur to me. I just waited for what would be next and wondered how long it would be until I would be bedded.

“Everyone should be ready, just waiting for me now,” I thought to myself as I thumbed my fingers, willing the time to go by, the minutes stretching on and on until I felt like wanting to stand up and scream for this to all wrap up already! I wanted to do that but dared not and kept up the waiting game for what seemed to never end.

Keeping up the act, I pretended to respond to others who ended up approaching me. I laughed at their jokes, which I did not understand, while feigning interest in what was being said as I watched the liveliness before me.

The circle of dancers, hyenas dressed in costumes and frills, spinning and shaking about to the wild rhythmic beat of hide drums and the shaker’s fashioned turtle shells filled with dried seeds. Their spotted arms throwing forward out, then backwards slapping their shoulders before they rose them high into the air in praise with a whooping shout!

A bonfire was lit in the center, filling the air with the aroma of burring wood. The hulking figure of Ayeshatu came through the crowed, stumbling as she joined the dancers and drunkenly laughing while she tired to mirror the movement of the dance.

I was blocking everything out, the sounds of eating, the laughter and music, the hyena whoops, everything. It all became muffled as the sound of my steady heartbeat grew louder and louder until it replaced everything else around me.

Then finally, a loud voice beckoned out, familiar but slurring every word spoken.

“I’m….tired of this…...I want to take my new mate to bed! Now!” everything became silent as the imposing figure of the Queen marched herself right up to me, dwarfing my seated form in the shadow of her frame.

Looking up into her face through the shifting torchlight, her eyes reflected the flame light, showing hunger as drips of drool fell from her maw.

Normally such a sight would inspire fear, the innate nature of being prey, to something, with warnings of ‘RUN’ and ‘DANGER’ strumming though the thoughts in bolts of lighting or whatever goes on within the confines of the head.

But not here, it was finally the thing I was waiting for, it was not a hunger for food but for my body and I knew what my next task was.

Before I was even able to form another thought in my head, her arms wrapped around me and I was hoisted into the air. Rearranging me in her arms, I moved sideways and my legs dangled over her arm as the other cradled my back. She reeked thick of the stringent scent of ale.

“WHOOP!”

“WHOOP! WHOOP!” the partygoers all yelled out at their Queen heading off to make her chosen mate hers.

My blood was pumping as we entered the indoor spaces and she marched off with me in her arms, excited for the first night with me. The whole trip to her chambers, I pined for her and planted kisses on her bare chest, this caused her excitement to grow as more and more drool dripped from her muzzle onto my own chest.

I was thrown into the bed and she began tearing off her clothes without a care of ripping them, I followed suit. I started with the rich over-garments then moved onto the underwear, once I was done I pushed if off onto the floor with one of my legs and turned my gaze to the form of Ayeshatu.

Before me, she stood nude, devoid of any cover! If I had not know any better I would have sworn I was looking at a male, but I knew full well this was a female and seeing it for reality it was jarring to behold. I felt my mouth open agape at what I was laying eyes on!

A penis! Tar black, a tad sagging and throbbing, coming alive and hardening with each pump of it, the only markings on it was oval, pink scar, which I knew was from the birth of Gurfan, whose body would have had to move down that rather narrow tube within the member. What I was looking at was not a phallus in truth but a long clitoris that was, in all accounts, a penis!

It looked like a penis! It acted like a penis! It was used like a penis!

Now below it, her labia was fused into a pair of false testicles! This I was not expecting, I knew they were said to have male members, but the jewels too? This was mind boggling! It really looked like a pair of them, hanging there held tight against her body.

“My god! How in earth did this come about!? How do the males do it!?” was all I remember coursing through my head as she got onto the bed on her knees, while her tail stood up high in dominance from behind her rear.

Soon, she fell atop me, her humid breath filled with the scent of ale and food as her maw opened and her tongue burst out and trailed across my face, sending chills down my spine. Her pulsing member pressing up against my bellybutton, readying itself to be used as it was intended:

Showing dominance over weak males! Weak males like me right now.

I touched it tenderly, not once breaking contact with her predatory gaze as it looked down onto my face. Feeling the base, it was hot, hard and felt of leather, but as I moved my hands up it, reaching the tip I was pleased to feel it was covering itself in fluid.

It was at the tip I noticed a difference between the male’s tool, whereas the male had a tip that was softly pointed, hers was blunted and round.

Soon my finger found the hole, the actual vagina! In all intents and purpose this was just a vagina crowning atop a meaty stick! I slipped my finger into its wet interior following instinct which I hoped would be correct in giving the she-beast Queen pleasure.

Her eye lit up wildly and flashes of pleasure exploded within her eyes as deep-seated moaning whoops came forth from her! Musk filled the room and my body grew more and more warm as her arms wrapped around me, the claws of her fingers digging into my back but not breaking the skin.

“YES! YES! MORE!” I complied and dug my finger back within the hole, this time deeper and twisting and flexing my digit as I did so. Her eyes rolled up and then back in response to this action and she started panting harshly, a downpour of saliva forming into a puddle on my chest.

She released her paws from my back and gripped a wooden, decorative fixture of ebony and with brutish strength ripped it from its firm place on the wall, hailing down dried mud plaster behind my head and threw the mangled thing across the room, denting the wall!

“OH GOOD GODDESS!” Ayeshatu howled out in immense pleasure. “I CAN’T HANDLE IT!”

She pulled back, growling and panting, she hoisted my legs over her bulky shoulders before casting her intent down to find my own entrance while fondling her pseudo-phallus.

“Yes! There is is!”

Before I even had a change to prepare myself, I was invaded! I felt intense vertigo rush through me, it was like I was falling in mid-air, my body was shaking and I let out a scream as the waves of feelings unknown exploded throughout my frenzied, shaking body!

I just screamed and screamed! I was only stopped when the hyena Queen shoved her muzzle in my face and her tongue down my throat, making me gag and dry heave.

In the other side of the palace, my little ragtag group was waiting. Gernan’s sensitive wolf ears picked out my bellows and flew into a panic, rushing the door to try to find and save me! It took nearly all of the lanky hyena males to stop and restrain him before he ended up fainting from my howls that echoed out through the void halls.

“SHE’S MURDERING MY XANDER! CAN’T YOU HEAR IT!?” I was later told he screamed out in the scuffle to escape and come to my rescue.

By this time I was delirious and numb from all the sensations that were going through my body and mind all at the same time! Pain, pleasure, then pain again, it all came in waves, each replacing the next and felt like it would never stop.

I felt as though I was dying! I felt dizzy and numb, and the still rational part of my mind worried itself to no end of the fear of passing out and staying that way for hours, thus missing the chance of escaping!

That part of my mind grew and grew and took the helm of my consciousness from part that was losing itself in the heat of everything, and ordered my body firmly to stay in there and fight off the sense of blackness that was assaulting my senses at the same rate as the hyena’s member assaulting my insides.

Taking refuge in a calm corner of my mind, I stayed alert and weathering the storm that was raging all over my body! Pain, pleasure, arousal and soon a throbbing migraine erupting across my forehead and scalp!

I wanted to throw up, but my stomach was devoid of anything and only painful gagging dryness exploded from my mouth as its sour-tasting lining came up into my mouth, making everything that much worse!

“KILL ME! JUST KILL ME NOW!” barely sane, my mind screamed out. My whole body was like a ship at storm and my mind was the Captain that navigated through it, that's what it was like to me.

Then it stopped, just at the moment I thought it would never cease! My numb consciousness barely even registered her masculine clitoris gushing out into me with its feminine fluids! She gave a loud whooping, signaling her completion, pulled out and kneeled over beside me, panting like gusts of billowing wind.

I, for my part, laid there, my eyes wide and bloodshot as I gurgled out my own short and sharp breaths, swallowing the displaced stomach fluid back to its home within my gut. My eyelids weighed on me like lead but I dared not close them for I knew if I did so I would succumb into a deep slumber that could last hours, so I willed them open even being mindful of simple blinks.

Ayeshatu’s pants changed into loud, grunting snores signaling to my still-recuperating mind and body that she was deep within slumber. I tried to move but I was paralyzed, getting up would have to wait for a bit, but I began the process of it by moving parts of my body in short succession.

“Xander, keep it together, stay awake and just take it easy for a bit,” was the mantra I whispered to myself as I started the process of regaining my strength, which lasted a bit.

Finally sitting up, I slid off the bed and tried to stand up…

I fell on my face, my legs becoming like flimsy reeds! My first panicked thought was my back was broken and I lost my ability to walk, but the recent memory of me using my legs just now to slide of the bed came and put that to rest as fast as my panic came.

It was clear I would need to stay for a bit longer, but not wanting to just sit here doing nothing, I at least started to redress myself while I was on the floor like this. I only bothered with the undershirt and trousers.

Then I tried to get up again, scooting over to a stool and chair to give me balance as I got up on my still-wobbly legs. I then decided to just sit down on the chair for a bit and wait. I was at a desk, bare writing-blocks of wood along with a quill dish of ink were laid out in front of me and a small dagger for cutting the wood and erasing mistakes was also there.

A memory of one of my nights with her came to mind as I sat there, it was at this very same desk.

“Why are you writing on wood, I saw you had paper books?” she was drafting up a taunting letter to a neighboring Queen as I leaned on the desk.

“Paper is expensive, it’s only used for important things,” she then reached out her paw and pinched my nose. “What funny things you humans have for sniffers!”

Now looking back on the passed-out form of Ayeshatu back on the bed, the hole from the wooden fixture above her open muzzle, I felt bad. I remembered the stuff that Gurfan told me about how she really was and the night when she wanted me to cuddle with me as she played with her cards.

I could not leave without letting her know or saying that I was sorry! She had her flaws but she was not bad. I needed to explain myself and since I was still recovering, I pulled a small blank block of wood to begin writing a letter to her.

The exact words I used are still as clear as ever to me, even now.

“Most powerful Queen of the Hyenas of the Lake,” I begun with.

“Ayeshatu, I expect you to be enraged when you finally find this on your desk, I imagine the whole keep will be cowering in your eruptive and spitting anger, I am in no doubt about that fact but I am not writing this to thumb my pride in your face but to say this…”

“I’m sorry.”

“This is not where I belong, I feel out of place here and I feel if I stayed I would wither away like a flower cut from its mother plant. I long for freedom, a life without the oppressive burden that is most of the world and even more so as a human. I also cannot and will not let Gernan be treated like he has been.”

“Yes, he was my Master! Yes, he owned me! Yes, I have every right to hate him for all of of those things! But I do not, he is good and he does not deserve to be treated like that, for when has an eye for an eye done any good for anything?”

“You have your world and I have mine and this is not mine! I’m sorry! It pains me to write this but I can’t be yours, I was never meant to be yours! It was never meant to be! I am so sorry I am going to do what I am about to do but I have to! I can’t stay here!”

“Please, forgive me…I am sorry.”

“Xander,” I felt myself tense up at these final words and before I got up, my legs now feeling capable of supporting my weight, I saw the dagger. I was going to leave her something and so, picking it up and pulling forward a pinch of my hair, I sliced a lock off and left it on top of the still-drying ink of my words and left.

It was not long before I found the group of male hyenas, headed by the anxious Jatu who I overheard muttering, “We might have to leave him,” and Gurfan, who was looking a bit mad at that suggestion but also having a bit of unease in him.

“Xander! You’re here! Now we can get out of here!” Jatu exclaimed, pointing at the keys to the royal dock. “I have already explained to the others how to man the oars and everything is ready!”

My eyes fell to the form of Gernan, who was grumbling on the floor. The wolf was roused and I was soon in a hug of his, followed by his praises of Canis.

“Gurfan? Are you okay?” I said, looking over at the uncertain demeanor of the hyena youth, he only nodded his head as we then began on our way.

The gates of the royal pier were unlocked by Gurfan and the male hyenas sprinted out but still silently in excitement, boarding the ship and going below deck to man the oars. I caught sight of Gernan climbing to the after castle and taking the rudder.

I slowly went and walked ahead, but I was alone. Turning around and facing the figure of Gurfan, who stood motionless at the threshold of the pier gate, the look of unease was even greater. The youthful hyena did not even make eye contact as I walked back up to him my concern growing.

He spoke first answering the question I was about to say.

“I’m not going...” his voice was barely even a whisper and I could sense shame in his tone.

“What!? Why!?” I almost yelled but I quickly stopped myself from raising my voice further, fearing being overheard.

“I can't leave, I love my mother too much to abandon her like this. It’s terrible to be a male in this world but can’t leave my duty behind and betray her like this!”

“But…but…but us?” the whole time I spoke I felt my voice wavering like a cloth in the wind, my heart falling into the pits of my stomach.

“This is my world, I belong here!” he said as he finally met my gaze, his words were that of my own which I had just written in my letter to his mother.

Because of that, I understood and I found a growing acceptance, though sad, growing within me. Just as this was not meant for me, so was the world outside not meant for him. He was not expecting me to be understanding and was taken off guard when I rested my hand on his furred shoulder and smiled warmly through the bitter sadness that must have been on my face at hearing him say this.

“Gurfan, I know…I know…” wiping a tear from my eyes, I embraced him, giving him a kiss right on the front of his muzzle.

“What about your mother when she finds out?”

“She will be mad but she won’t take it out on me…too much,” I half chuckled at his last remark, remembering how she would push him around.

“Xander, come on! Hurry up you two!” I heard Jatu whisper loudly.

“You better go now...”

“Yes I know.”

“Good luck, you are a special human, Xander.”

“Farewell Gurfan...”

“Farewell Xander!” with those parting words I turned around and made my way up the gangplank and onboard the deck and then pushed it off.

“What-what about Gurfan!?” a confused Jatu stuttered out.

“He is staying,” I curtly cut him off as a hyena below deck started the process of coordinating the hyenas, manning the manning oars with low-voiced orders.

I climbed up the after-castle instead, where Gernan was, who leaned against the rudder handle as we pushed out.

“He is staying, he can’t leave his duty as a hyena behind,” Gernan did not say anything, just nodded.

We moved out further and further, then the rowers began their routine of pushing and pulling and we were on our way, the whole time the figure of my one-time hyena lover waved to us and more importantly, to me.

I felt tears fill the brim of my eyes as his form grew smaller and smaller in the torchlight of the royal pier until he was no longer discernible, becoming one with his surroundings.

It was then I turned and left Gernan at the helm and withdrew into the small cabin of the boat.

There I mourned tearlessly.

“It was not meant to be...” was all I said to myself.