Chương 2

Lemon loved going for walks. It was one of her favorite things to do. There were smells both new and interesting, and sounds, also new and interesting. And thanks to her spectacles, she could see so many different colors. Admittedly, the trip to Wilbourghy wasn't anything special. She'd done that many times, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it. Plus, this time she was all alone, so she could finally investigate that smell coming from the trees near the bridge over the creek.

Something lived over there, and she desperately wanted to know what it was. It smelled so familiar; she knew she'd encountered it before, but she just couldn't put a paw to her nose on what that smell was. Today was the day she found out. Lemon kept moving in a generally sun-ward direction, and if she meandered a bit along the way, that was a dog's prerogative. She'd get the tinctures to town today, as soon as she was done figuring out what that smell was. The closer she got to the trees, the stronger it became.

If she didn't know any better, she'd say there was another animal living there. A few hundred feet into the trees, she found it, something smaller than her, something that smelled quite strong. It was furry and had four legs just like she did, but she didn't think it was intelligent. Still, it was only polite to make sure.

"Hello," she said, using her voice charm to project the sound. The animal looked up at her and scooted backwards. It turned around, revealing a set of thick white stripes in its fur, raised its back legs up, and took aim. Lemon let out a panicked yip and scrambled backwards. She knew what that smell was now! She'd done this before, and had no desire to do it again. It was only due to the fact that she was already twenty feet away when she started running that Lemon managed to avoid getting sprayed.

Thinking quickly, she put a tree between herself and the skunk before she rushed off. The stink of its musk filled the air, making Lemon sneeze and setting the charms to jingling on her collar, but she was far enough away to avoid the worst of it.

"Skunks are so rude!" she complained to no one in particular. They smelled interesting, but then they sprayed, and that was so overpowering that she couldn't smell anything else for a week the last time one had got her. Plus Hogarth wouldn't even let her back into the tower until he'd whipped up a special potion to add to her bath to neutralize the smell. Midnight had made fun of her for three months. Stupid cat.

Someday, Lemon was going to figure out how to make a potion that mimicked the smell, and then she was doing to dump it on Midnight while she was napping. Then it would be the cat's turn to sleep outside for three days before taking a long bath with lots of scrubbing, which Midnight would no doubt bemoan and wail about the whole time.

Lemon's tongue lolled out the side of her mouth and her tail wagged ferociously as she daydreamed about getting revenge on her master's familiar for all her snotty little remarks, and for telling on Lemon that one time she'd snuck a few extra sausages for dinner. And that other time she'd snuck a few extra sausages for dinner. In fact, every time she wanted extra sausages! It was none of Midnight's business how many sausages Lemon ate.

Speaking of which, Lemon paused to fish a sausage out of her bag and scarf it down. They were better when cooked, but still good cold. The only thing that beat sausages was bacon, but they didn't have any at the moment. That tasted less good cold anyway, and Lemon wasn't exactly a good cook. She hadn't even thought to take any of the tools from the kitchen. Lemon blinked and looked around. Nothing really looked familiar, and there were a lot of strange scents she didn't recognize.

Somehow, without realizing she was doing it, she'd wandered off deeper into the woods and gotten herself lost. She could just hear Midnight laughing at her already. Maybe when she told Hogarth about her trip, she'd just leave this part out. There was nothing to do but put her nose to the ground and find something that smelled familiar. It really was the only way to navigate when she was lost, not that that happened a lot or anything. Besides, she always got where she was going in the end.

That was the important part. It only took a little bit of time to find a scent she recognized anyway. There were humans nearby, three of them. One smelled like ink and leather and blood, one like dirt and cow poop, and one like porridge and candle wax. Those were definitely village people. All Lemon needed to do was find them, and they could get her back to Wilbourghy. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Finding humans once she had a smell for them wasn't hard. Any puppy could do that, and she was no pup. She was the smartest and bestest good girl ever. Her master had told her so. Lemon followed the trail through the trees and quickly came upon the three humans she was seeking. Perhaps not surprisingly, they were children. They did kind of have that kid smell, now that she was closer to them. Still, it was better than nothing, so Lemon approached with a friendly wag to her tail and said,"Hello there."

"Who's there?" one of the kids cried out, and all three of them hugged each other close.

"Hi. I'm Lemon," she said as she finished crawling out from under a bush that had been in her way. She gave herself a good shake to dislodge the dirt, then padded up to the kids.

"A dog? A talking dog!" poop-stink kid yelped.

"That's the wizard's dog," the kid who smelled like food said.

"I saw it a few months ago when he came to visit. Momma said not to bother it."

"Can you get the wizard?" the last kid asked Lemon. All three of them were young, as far as Lemon could tell, and the girl smelled like blood. Lemon looked closer at her and saw a jagged patch of cuts on her leg, partially covered by a strip of cloth someone had tied around it and still bleeding.

"Master Hogarth isn't home right now," Lemon said.

"Do you need some help?"

"Not from a stupid dog," food-kid said.

"How are you going to help anyway, just because you can talk?"

"Shut up, Loni," poop-kid said.

"Dogs are all sorts of useful! And I bet a wizard's dog is even better. It even has a name."

"I'm a girl," Lemon said.

"Not an it."

"Oh, sorry," poop-kid told her.

"Come on guys, can we not do this now. We're all going to die if we stay here."

"There's a really big, mean cat out here," poop-kid told Lemon.

"It got Shu's leg, and she can't walk now. Can you help?"

"Maybe." Her feather charm would be perfect for bleeding-kid, but it only worked if it was attached to her collar, and that only worked for her. There was a way to make it work, but only if… Lemon glanced around, and spotted what she needed.

"Go grab that stick over there," she said. Food-kid gave her a weird look, but he did what he was told. Meanwhile, Lemon pulled her feather charm out of her bag and switched it for her leash charm. She wouldn't need to do any walking for this next part anyway. When food-kid came back with the stick, she clamped down on one end with her mouth, then projected through her voice charm,"Okay. Grab onto my collar and hold tight. And up we go, one, two, three."

Levitation was hard enough to do for herself, and even harder with a kid holding on, but Lemon lifted herself and bleeding-kid a foot in the air, then waggled the stick at food-kid.

"Grab the other end and pull." Bemused, food-kid did as she wanted. Lemon felt an involuntary growl well up in her throat and she worked the stick back and forth while her tail wagged. Food-kid almost let go then and there, but poop-kid glared at him, and together they started trudging through the woods.

"Thank you," bleeding-kid whispered, her arms tight around Lemon's neck. Lemon and turned her head and gave her a reassuring sniff and lick on the cheek.

"I'm Andor," poop-kid said.

"And that lump is Loni. Shu is the girl you're carrying." Humans were big on names, though Lemon never really got why. Smells were much easier to remember. She always made sure to remember them since they got mad if she forgot, and always responded when someone said her name.

"Andor, Loni, Shu. Got it." Lemon didn't have much concentration to spare for chatter, not if she wanted to hold the levitation spell with all the extra weight on it. She hoped they weren't too far away from Wilbourghy, otherwise they'd be taking regular breaks and she did have other things she needed to do today, important things, like helping her master out!

"This is where we found the cat," Loni said. He pointed at a broken stick on the ground. One end had been sharpened with some kind of knife, she thought, but the point had been snapped off. Specks of blood dyed some of the leaves nearby, and Lemon could smell the cat's stink in the clearing. It was like Midnight, only turbo-charged with musk and aggression.

"I told you, it's called a mountain lion," Shu said.

"There aren't any mountains nearby," Loni protested.

"Well I didn't make the name! But that's what it is."

"Uh, guys," Andor said.

"Keep going."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Loni snapped. Lemon sighed and, even though it went against every instinct she had, let go of the stick. Gently, she and Shu drifted back down to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Shu asked. Lemon's nose twitched, and she scanned the trees with her head cocked to one side.

"Get behind me," she ordered the trio of kids. It was hard to pinpoint the exact location with the blood in the air, both human and cat. Layered over that was pee, sweat, fear, and the exciting and somewhat distracting smell coming off poop-kid's shoe. But hidden somewhere behind all of that, she could smell it nearby, hear the leaves shifting. A branch creaked overhead, and all three humans looked up. Lemon didn't need to; she already knew what was there.

The mountain lion was crouched overhead, preparing to drop down on them. That was its mistake if it thought Lemon was just going to let it eat one of the kids.

"Cover your ears," she ordered. Then she raised her head, looked the mountain lion in the eyes, and opened her mouth to bark.