Sights and Smells

Livie and Taran exited the cabin and began walking toward the edge of camp closest to the row of boiling cauldrons. Crossing the distance after being indoors so long was a strange feeling for Livie, especially with her new body.

"This would be much faster if..." Livie paused as her nostrils were assaulted. She shrieked and covered the lower half of her face with her hands.

"Fechin, what in the world is that?" Taran narrowed his eyes. The smell wasn't terribly strong yet, but it was widespread. The whole forest was quickly filling with an acidic, sharp smell, slowly singing the hairs in the nobleman's nostrils.

"We aren't sure. But it seems to be something like a mix of garlic and vinegar. I thought perhaps the cooks had something go wrong while packing up or maybe one of the researchers, but those who I have spoken to say the smell is not their fault," Fechin whimpered as he suddenly forgot to breathe through his mouth.

"Have you spoken to everyone?" Taran raised one eyebrow. Since the silver wolf had only been gone a very short time, the answer was a given.

"I have not. I shall do that right now, if it pleases my lady." Fechin waited for a nod from his mistress. Taran grunted, displeased at the wolf's obvious preference.

"Make a loop. It is better to be sure before we jump to conclusions," Livie said with a wave of her hand.

The silver wolf bowed and darted from sight, leaving the two siblings alone. Livie began to tell her brother to get over his jealousy when she realized he had already moved on. Something else was bothering him.

Indeed, Taran was tense. His shoulders rose and fell with determination as he scanned the camp. All around them people and abominations were rolling up tents and placing supplies on rolling carts.

Livie was slightly shocked by how much had been done while she was in seclusion. Based on what she saw, more than half the camp was safely packed and ready for transport.

When the noxious smell had rolled in, the workers had found various ways to combat it, from stuffing cloth up their noses to plugging it with mud. Some had even engineered small colorful pinchers which attached to cloths around their necks and mouths both to keep the smell out and bring fresh, filtered air into their lungs.

Letting all of this information into her mind, Livie tensed as well. A tingle pulled at the corners of her consciousness, alerting her to some sort of danger.

"Something is wrong," she said when she could find no other explanation for her senses.

"That smell isn't natural," Taran agreed.

"You think Dania did this to slow us down?" Livie watched her brother shake his head.

"She has been under close guard. If Dania were to blame, someone would have reported it. And the smell is too widespread for it to have come from her lab. Still… it might be good to check in on my darling to make sure she is ready for travel…and our impending wedding." The edge in Taran's voice spoke of his own insecurity.

The pair began to walk towards Dania's lab, trying not to show the worry they felt. With each group they passed, Taran barked an order urging them to hurry and telling them to report anything suspicious. "Be on your guard."

Moving a few steps farther, the nobleman found a new reason to be concerned. It was already mid morning and yet the fog which had come in during the night had not dissipated. If anything, it seemed to be growing thicker.

Why was the bright sun not burning it off as it did normally? It was as if an eerie presence was invading the camp. Was there a magical creature that could control fog or toxic smells? Taran couldn't think of one. But that didn't mean there wasn't one. "Something is truly rotten here."

"I need to get one of those face cloths and nose plugs as soon as possible," Livie agreed, not fully understanding his meaning. She grabbed a cloth and nose protector off of a passing lizard. The creature hissed at her, but conceded to letting the lady have the gear.

Letting the coolness cover her mouth, Livie tied the knot around her neck. The coolness of the wet cloth was almost frigid and smelled of breath freshener. She did not notice this for long as she plugged her nose with the gadget meant to pinch her nostrils shut.

"That's much better." The noblewoman felt like she was back in her right mind. In addition to messing with her senses, the smell had been slowly driving her mad from the inside out. At last she was able to resist the pull of her transformation which was easing her mind away from sanity.

Ignoring his sister, Taran leaned into the fog which clung low to the ground inhaled deeply. The air was not wet like normal fog; it was barely even humid. Although it was hard to discern over the more powerful scents, it seemed to have an almost smoky component to it.

"Very curious..."

"Aren't you bothered by the smell?" Livie asked her brother.

"More than I care to admit, but I refuse to let my senses be compromised because I am weak." Taran snarled and quickened his pace. He had nearly reached the laboratory when a white wolf wearing a thick bandana of the same color over his mouth came barreling toward him.

He was going so fast that he had to drop onto all fours to stop himself from crashing into the leaders of the abominations.

"Sir Taran!" The white wolf wheezed. "We found some humans lurking in the forest. We have captured them. One of them claims he has a message for you."

"Me?" The nobleman was suspicious. "He mentioned my name?"

"He did. Says he has a message from the Empress herself." The white wolf's tongue hung out below his scarf, nearly touching the ground.

"It's a trick," Livie said immediately.

"That's what I said," the wolf nodded vigorously. "We kept them on the edge of camp just to be safe."

"You did well. Ha! A message from the Empress indeed! This is another attempt from the princess to kidnap my beloved Dania. She means to distract us while she comes in from a different angle. We shall beat her at her own game." He turned to a lizard with a blue nose plug and scarf. "Keep Dania confined to her lab. Double…no triple the guard around her."

The lizard dipped her head and scurried off.

"And you two!" He called to a black-and-white wolf with a green scarf and a lizard with mud plugging his nose. "You go east and you go west. Rally everyone, both human and those with power. Prepare for an attack. Kill anyone who is not with us."

"Yes sir!" The two creatures saluted and then ran off in the same direction. It seemed the black-and-white wolf did not know east from west.

'Surrounded by idiots…' Taran placed his face in his hand.

"Come on. Let's go meet this messenger," the nobleman said to his sister.

"You cannot be serious!" Livie pulled at her brother's arm to stop him. "Just kill them and be done with it!"

"How many are with the messenger?"

"Just two." The white wolf paused. "What do you want me to do?"

He looked between Livie and Taran, hoping for some sort of order.

"Lead me to them," Taran was even more confident than before. "We will get to the bottom of this. If it is an elven trick, I shall enjoy seeing the creatures' blood spilled and bringing his head to Yumeto for a trophy."

"Charming," Livie rolled her eyes. Seeing that she would not sway her brother, she reluctantly fell in line behind the snowy white wolf.

Before her transformation, the lady would have struggled to keep up with his quick steps, but now she found that following him took almost no effort at all. It gave her time to survey the hairy creature in front of them.

His gait was nimble and fluid… and familiar. Livie thought about requesting the wolf to remove his mask. He must have been one of the troops that Taran had taken from her camp months ago. She wracked her brain trying to think of which one, but her mind came up empty.

At last they came to the edge of the camp. Taran stopped a long way off. "Have they been checked for weapons?"

"Yes, Sir. They are unarmed." The wolf confirmed.

"And you are sure they are alone?" Livie pressed.

"No one was with them when they were captured."

Satisfied, the two leaders strode confidently forward. Taran stood tall, looming like the monsters he commanded.

"You are trespassing!" Taran's voice boomed.

He had hoped that the three captives would be intimidated. He hoped they would beg or even fall to their knees before them.

But he was disappointed.

They did not flinch.