Mama cat accepted the mackerel, but she did not purr for the wizard as she did for his apprentice Ehna and the girl Vee. The wizard went on. “The problem is that I need that demon. I must find a way to control him without driving him back again.”
Behind him, Vee snickered.
“You have an idea?” he asked, turning with one arched eyebrow. The girl immediately clapped both hands over her mouth as if that could conceal her smile. “Please, tell me. I would remind you that my livelihood, possibly my life depends upon a good plan right now.”
And then thirty degrees of wild laughter erupted from Vee’s tiny frame.
****
Later that day, Deen, Ehna, and Vee all arrived at the palace, where they were ushered quickly through to the king’s chambers. “Goddess beyond, Deen! What is that smell?” demanded the queen. “Have you found the antidote?”
Deen said, “Perhaps.” Then he bowed his obeisance to the king, prone and pale on the bed.
Vee cleared a table of documents, and Ehna carefully placed the cats’ cage. Although it was a tight fit for Mama cat and all four kits, apprentice and child both insisted that the animals ride together. Then, Ehna presented her majesty with a lilac scented rag, and carried more smelling cloths around to the assembled courtiers.
A page whispered, “It smells like cat piss,” into the room’s heavy silence.
From under his urine soaked robes, Deen produced the pristine demon box. “And if it saves his majesty’s life, does it matter?”
The queen said, “No. Not at all. I pray you begin at once.”
Things are getting pretty wild this week at Trifecta. It’s the perfect chance for all you party animals to come play!
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Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order. |
That is hilarious! A totally fitting continuation to the earlier piece.
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Thanks! This one is ending up pretty wild. Too bad no skunks are involved.
Ow!! I smelled that!!!
My recent post Trigger Happy
Oh yeah. THere's nothing like the stench of cat pee in close quarters.
Lol, this is starting to feel like the emperors new clothes 🙂 is the cat piss REALLY going to help?
Well, Demons' cat allergy is like a peanut allergy for humans. And Vee means well, but she has a wicked sense of humor. Basically she thinks, the demon will smell the cat pee, and fear that there is a room full of cats beyond the five he can see. Deen can threaten it with the cats it sees in the cage, too. Essentially, it will have to stay in the box long enough for Deen to finish the binding, because it will otherwise be at risk from the cats again. Probably, simply having the cats caged across the room would be sufficient. But this is a layer of security and a huge thrill to Vee's funny bone.
I don't know which is worse: demons or a roomful of cat pee 🙂 I have 3 cats and that is a nasty, nasty smell! I get the feeling Vee is just messing with them for her own entertainment. Good for her!
I grew up in a house with anywhere from six to thirteen cats, and all of them spent time indoors in winter. Mom always had many litterboxes going, and yet I still wound up at school reeking several times, because that smell permeates everything so that you don't notice until you're away from it that the smell is also ON you.
You're baaaack! (Just to keep you posted!) I forget to say in my other randomly placed comment that the only other time that I've heard the word 'woobie' is of friend's child's comfort blanket/muslin square thing, they have no idea the origin of the word either but I've hunted 'woobies' plenty of times now. 😉
How awesome! It sounds like they were using it to mean the same thing as Mom does!! Hope your friend's daughter isn't into de-woobification.
Cringing over the smell of cat pee that I swear is now emanating from my computer after reading this post! Ack!
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Oh I apologize to your computer. Truly, I apologize to it!!
Cat pee is the worst! It has to be more disgusting that demons. My house must be under some epic protection then.
Haha! No worries for you from the demons. My Mom's house will have permanent protection as well!
I really like how you make this world seem so normal to the reader. Meaning, we are engrossed in your characters, losing the fact they are mystical. They hatch a plan to rid the demon, work together, and set it into motion. Great work, JQ!
AND stink up the castle along the way. All good fun.
I usually love it when writers bring their work alive…I'm not so sure when it involves cat pee.This is great, as usual, and you're showing us that you can turn your hand to anything and nail it every time. I really enjoyed this one. Thanks for linking up.
It was kind of funny. I figured out right away that I wanted to use these characters, and that I wanted to look more into the girl and her cats. But I couldn't decide for the longest time WHAT she would find so funny. I thought maybe it was something about him crouched over speaking earnestly to the cat, or the cat's disdain for him. Then, I realized it was much more simple.
I guess, those desperate for a cure cannot choose the smell they get. :-)) Well, it's a bad paraphrase of a saying.
Yet in fairness to them, cat pee stinks just so… I can smell it now that I am reminded of it.
~Imelda
And there isn’t much of a worse one than this. Skunk. Skunk would be worse.