Chapter 8 (Patreon)

When Maya came to, her mind felt clearer than ever before. As she lay on her side thinking about it, Maya realised she had never really thought about her mind before. Maya had lived a life of dos, don’ts, wants, and don’t wants. She had daydreamed of rabbits, juicy bones, and big chewable sticks but never stopped to ponder about herself or anything around her.

No.

Maya did occasionally think about her human. She loved her human, and whenever he wasn’t around, she thought about spending time with him. When he used to tell her to stay and go work with the smelly men, Maya would ponder when he’d finish and what they’d eat for dinner. Maya concluded that she did think and ponder. However, for the first time in her lovely, long existence, her ‘self’ was the subject of her thoughts.

It didn’t feel right. So, Maya got back on her feet and gave herself a good shake. She discovered when she was a wee pup that a good shake solved most problems. Or was it something her mother taught her? Maya thought about it for a moment and rejected the idea. She didn’t remember her mother, nor the taste of her milk. In fact, Maya recalled getting pushed aside when trying to suckle. It was a memory she had never looked back on before and remembered her mother hadn’t helped her get a drink. So, she came to another conclusion. Her mother was a very bad girl. It was why her human rescued her, fed her, and taught her everything worth knowing.

Another question blossomed in Maya’s mind. She took a moment to appreciate her new love of coming up with questions and answering them herself. It was better than living in the unknown. Where did her human go? She recalled the query being a subject of frequent ponderings. In the past, however, she’d spend a while looking for an answer before a passing sight or smell distracted her.

Even though Maya wanted to find an answer to her question, the ground was cool and comfortable, and her body felt heavy. So, she craned her neck, investigating her surroundings. Usually, the aroma of blood and flesh would pique her interest, but the sudden awareness of having thoughts and ponderings had distracted her.

Maya’s sniffer detected two different kinds of blood and meat. One made her drool, while the other smelled off. She worried that eating it would make her sick. Maya didn’t like her human’s face when she got ill, so even though she was curious, she decided to avoid it.

Eventually, she spotted the figure she adored and admired. It was her human. The sun shone on his lovely face as he stood holding the shiny pillar. Curiosity overcame the invisible weight holding down her body, and Maya rolled onto her front and stood up. Her knees wobbled for a moment like a new-born pup’s, and her side felt tight, but she overcame the challenges for her human.

Maya wandered over and sniffed him. He smelled sweaty and tired, but nothing felt off about him. Maya nudged his left calf. When he didn’t react, she jumped up on her hind legs and licked at his chin. It was then Maya realised that she was bigger. She had tried to reach his face without jumping for years and never succeeded until then. Maya found it odd since she had stopped growing not long after her first heat.

A rumbling distracted Maya. She scanned her surroundings with her eyes and ears but saw nothing. Then she heard the sound again. It was her stomach. Maya didn’t recall when she’d last eaten. To be fair, she rarely remembered her last meal. Her human would often tell her off for it when she politely asked for a nibble of whatever he was feasting on.

In Maya’s opinion, he wasn’t fair when it came to food. Her human got to eat whenever he wanted, but she didn’t. He decided when she got her meals and what she was allowed to put in her mouth. Meanwhile, he’d snack and treat himself whenever he wanted. She’d occasionally get a morsel, but most of the time, he’d say no. It wasn’t fair, but she loved her human no matter what and would put up with it. Besides, he didn’t know that she’d occasionally sneak off to find wild snacks. She’d eat little crunchy bugs, squishy berries, and sometimes grass too.

Maya studied the two corpses near her and then looked back at her human. He appeared busy. She nudged his calf again, but he didn’t budge, so she took mealtime into her own hands. Maya investigated the smaller body first. As she had guessed, it was the one that she didn’t smell right. Besides, even though the creature didn’t smell human, it looked like one. She didn’t feel right eating it, so she investigated the bigger body next.

Maya recognised the beast after a minute of sniffing. She had smelled its stench in the wind the day before. In fact, Maya recalled smelling something similar long ago while she and her human were travelling through the woods. Maya remembered finding a large cake of aromatic droppings and then getting dragged away before she could snack or roll in it. Her human had told her that it belonged to a bear, and if she encountered one, she should run.

The bear in front of Maya was dead. She sniffed a couple of other scents in the bear too. One ran throughout the bear’s body, wrapping around everything inside. Even though the big ball of fur was dead, whatever she sniffed inside it was alive and tempting. Meanwhile, the second scent scared her. It reminded her of pain and horror. It was on the side of the bear facing the ground, though and was far from her reach, so Maya didn’t worry too much. She sniffed around the point where one of her human’s flying sticks had pierced the bear’s skin and dug in, ripping at the already pierced flesh.

A spicy warmth filled Maya. Her human loved spicy food and occasionally let her taste them, but she’d never been fond of them. However, she found the bear’s flesh delicious. The initial weakness she had felt after waking up faded with every bite. Then the tightness in her side followed. Maya realised a numbness had taken over her body, and the meat was washing it away. A burning spread across her left side, but it lessened as she ate too. It felt like when she got a grass seed in her eye, and her human took it out. Her eye stung for a while, it was hard to see and wouldn’t stop leaking, but eventually, it got better. Maya’s side felt similar. It was hard to bend at first, but now it leaked while she ate and then got better.

Maya ate until she didn’t want to anymore. She recalled enjoying such luxury only once before when she was a wee pup. Her human had let her roam free while he ate with other humans. A friendly man with bad breath had almost stepped on her paw. He’d petted Maya and cooed to her afterwards and then forgotten her on the table. She remembered taking sausages of several plates before her human scooped her up and scolded her. Maya recalled being too full to care. She had fallen asleep in his lap afterwards, and it was one of her favourite memories.

When Maya finished, her human still hadn’t moved. She worried for a moment, but then an uncontrollable thirst came over her. After wandering down the road away from the bear, she heard running water. It didn’t take Maya long to find the source. She encountered a little pool further uphill. The water came out of the grey stone filling a deep hole. Maya drank her fill and had a quick dip to cool her body down. Her stomach felt too heavy, so she didn’t stay in the pool for too long.

While wondering whether exploring instead of sitting by her human would make her a bad girl, Maya heard voices in the distance. They were human voices. Curiosity got the better of her, so she kept her head low and trotted uphill. It didn’t take her long to find people. There were three of them, two men and women. They were talking to each other in hushed voices and walking downhill.

“I can see the gates from here, Jerome,” the woman said. She had a crooked back and walked with a stick. Maya liked her smell. It was sweet and reminded her of flowers. “The barricade is intact. Are you sure you didn’t smoke too much Cynth petal last night?”

“Do you want Da to beat me again, Miss Lya?” The younger of the two men asked. “I haven’t smoked anything but pipeweed in months. Besides, I never touched Cynth petals while on watch duty—”

“Sure, you didn’t,” Miss Lya chuckled. “I suppose someone else has been sneaking into my greenhouse every night you’re off duty.”

“If there were screaming women and roaring monsters in the grounds last night, they will have to get in somehow,” the older man commented. “Are you sure you didn’t fall asleep, Jerome?”

“I’m telling you, Mr Mayor, sir. It was a couple of hours after sunset when I saw the Heartstone glow brighter than I’ve ever seen it before. Then I heard a terrible cry. I got my looking glass but saw nothing on the planes or walls. Then there were yelps, a woman speaking in tongues, and lots of roaring. I bet it was a monster, sir!” The boy looked between the two elders, then his shoulders drooped. “I’m not making this up, I promise. The Heartstone flashed again, and everything went quiet.”

“The Heartstone, you say?” Miss Cynth chuckled once again. She helped herself to the metal stick hanging from Jerome’s belt and stuck it to her eye. Maya wasn’t sure what she was doing, but the temptation to smell her closely almost took over. “It’s dimmer than usual.” Her old brow furrowed. “I reckon there’s no harm in having a closer look. I’ve been coddling my joints for too long. What do you say, Mr Mayor? Are you willing to trim down that belly of yours?”

Mr Mayor laughed. “Let’s go have a look.”

As Maya watched the trio continue their journey downhill, it occurred to Maya that she’d understood almost all of what the humans said. More importantly, she had just learned new words and names. She loved it when she learned new things. Her human would smile and reward her with treats, belly rubs, and kisses.

All of a sudden, it occurred to Maya that the people were heading towards her human. She gave up on sneaking and ran towards. Jerome let out a high pitched scream when she brushed past his leg.

“Was that a dog?” Miss Cynth asked.

“It was!” Mr Mayor exclaimed. “A big one at that. Have you ever seen a sheepdog of that size Miss Cynth?”

Maya didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. She needed to get back to her human and alert him before the others reached him. He, for the first time ever, had fallen asleep while standing up. She didn’t want anyone sneaking up and scaring him. Maya hated it when strangers scared her while she was sleeping.

Her human didn’t mind when she licked his face until he woke up. However, his face was out of her reach. It wasn’t her favourite course of action, but Maya settled for biting down on his chewy leather coat and tugging. It didn’t taste as good after he poured smelly oils on it, but she had run out of options. Strangers were coming, and he needed to know.