Chapter 3

"Hat, I feel very dirty, and I need a bath. Where can I find one?"

You and Lord Argo should be very careful of your surroundings, especially you, Lady Ulna. You are very vulnerable without your staff. I would recommend that you use your cleansing spell whenever you feel the need to remove dirt, sweat, etc. It would be much safer.

"OK, I'll follow your advice, but we both like to swim. Is there a place nearby where we can safely do that?"

Now, that is a different question from you question about bathing. Yes, there is a local swimming hole at a stream about 200 yards to your right. I will guide you to it.

"Jack, Hat knows of a place where we can safely swim. I'm dying to get out of this dress and plunge into a pool of cool water. Are you interested?"

"I sure am! Besides, I always like to see what you're hiding under that dress."

Sue made a mock frown at him and stuck out her tongue. Jack grinned and asked, "Is that a promise?"

Sue led the way to the pool, guided by Hat. They disrobed, an easy feat for Sue, since she only had to shed her boots and socks and pull her dress over her head. She jumped into the pool of sparkling, clear water to a depth almost up to her breasts. Jack was right behind her, since it did take him longer to get his Wellington-type boots off.

Since he knew the depth from where she was standing, Jack knew that it was safe enough for a shallow dive. He surfaced behind her back and reached around to grab her delectable breasts. He let her struggle for a while in vain, then dunked her. She broke loose under water and came up sputtering and blowing water all out of proportion to what he had really caused. "I'll get you for that!" she informed him, and his answer was, "I hope so!"

There followed a fierce water fight with splashing and laughing to match any they had ever done before in their previous lives. They spent about an hour playing in the pool before they decided to resume their trip after they had eaten a snack. Sue climbed out of the pool immediately, since she was near their clothes, but Jack had wound up on the far side of the pool and had to walk across to get out beside her.

He took a step in the deepest part of the pool and the bottom collapsed about 2 feet. He sank to the bottom of the new hole and felt his foot strike something unusual. It felt like a box about 6-inches on a side. He ducked under the water to retrieve whatever it was before continuing his trip across the pool. Jack handed the box to Sue to hold while he climbed out of the pool. Sue said, "You know, this looks like an oversize ring box. I wonder what's inside."

Jack warned, "You had better not open it until it has been examined by Hat. Set it on your head and put on your hat."

Sue said, "You just want to make me look ridiculous with this box sitting on my head!"

"No, no. I was talking with Hat this morning and it told me to do that so that it could identify anything strange that we came across before it could harm us. Give the box to me, and I'll do it."

Sue used a spell to dry them off and another to clean their clothes before they got dressed. After dressing, Sue got out the food while Jack put the box on his head and covered it with his hat. They ate their snack, and Jack admitted to himself that he felt kind of silly with the box on his head, covered by his hat.

Just before they finished eating, they both heard Jack's hat announce: You have made a very lucky find, Lord Argo! I have never seen the likes of the two items in this box; one is a ring and the other is an armband.

Lady Ulna, the ring is for you. It is a link to the energy stored in your staff. As long as you wear the ring, you can draw energy from your staff without touching it, no matter the distance separating you. I recommend that you don the ring and cast a spell to keep it from ever coming off your finger. Wear it on any finger you choose and it will adjust to the proper size.

Something absolutely amazing happened when Sue heard this news: she squealed in delight! As far as either one knew, this was the first time Sue had ever squealed.

Lord Argo, the armband is for you. It, too, should never be taken off. It is a shield against elemental damage. As long as you wear the armband, you cannot be harmed by fire, lightning, or cold. I suggest that Lady Ulna cast a spell to make sure that it never comes off.

This time, Jack grunted in pleasure, something he had never done before, either.

"Thank you, hat."

You are welcome. Normally, it won't take me so long to identify an item, but these two were completely new to me, and I had to work out a lot of details before I could be sure what they were.

Jack took out the ring and slipped it on the little finger of Sue's left hand. It immediately shrank to fit. Sue tried it out by casting the locking-in-place spell without touching her staff. "Jack, try to pull the ring off, and let's see what happens."

Jack grasped the ring between the thumb and first finger of his right hand and tried to pull it off Sue's finger. He felt a sharp jolt resembling an electrical shock, and his fingers slipped off the ring as if it were covered with the slipperiest possible lubricant. He jumped back and said, "WOW! I never want to feel that, again!"

He now slipped the armband on to his left arm and pushed it up until it rested on his biceps. The armband expanded to fit, and Jack said, "I sure hope that thing will expand with my muscles as I use my arm; otherwise, it's going to be very uncomfortable ... Ah! Yes, it does. That's a relief! Sue, please do your magic thing for me, now."

Sue cast her spell and neither one was able to pull the armband off, so they were satisfied that the spell had worked as intended. Sue got the shock when she tried to pull off Jack's armband, but the armband appeared to shield Jack when he pulled on Sue's ring. They both hoped to be so lucky from then on! Sue commented as they walked back to the road, "All you need now is a charm against poison, and you'll be virtually invulnerable against anything but simple physical damage or a subtle magical attack."

They walked along for a while, each thinking his own thoughts. Sue said, "Jack, This is kind of sexy going around with no underwear, but my tits and back are getting kind of tired with no bra. I'm just too big to go around with no support ... I've just had a brainstorm. I'll wrap a piece of cloth around my bust and see if I can get some support that way. If it works, I'll use a size-adjusting spell to keep a perfect fit."

Jack said, "Darn it, here I was just getting used to you walking around with nothing on under that dress, and now you want to spoil my daydreams. Oh, well, go ahead, if you must."

Sue stuck out her tongue again, but stopped long enough to rig up a bra from a spare piece of cloth. "Ah, now that feels much better. But, if you insist, I can leave off the panties for now."

The weather had been very dry the last few days, so that they kicked up a small cloud of dust as they walked. Sue mused, "Hat, can I cast a spell which will keep the dust from settling on us?"

Yes, you can, but be very careful how you phrase the spell so that you don't generate some unexpected side effects.

Sue commanded, "Dust of this road, do not settle on either one of us." That seemed safe enough, and it should keep them a little bit cleaner.

They walked about 3 more miles, and Sue noticed that they were surrounded by a cloud of some sort. "Uh-Oh, it looks like I screwed up the spell!" Instead of settling on them, the dust was hanging in the air around them. Sue canceled the old dust spell and cast a new one, "Dust of this road, do not settle on either one of us, but fall back to the road out of our way." This seemed to work, so Sue decided to quit while she was ahead!

That evening, they found themselves approaching an inn just as the sun was setting. They walked into the main dining room and found a seat. They had hardly sat down when an employee ran around barring the doors and shutters. Jack waved a waitress over and ordered supper. He also asked what was the reason for the bars on the doors and windows.

The answer was that this was Friday, and the zombies and skeletons always came out to roam the road after dark on Fridays. They were now trapped in the inn unless they wanted to fight an endless stream of the undead. Jack sent her off to get their food, but extracted a promise from the waitress to answer more questions while they ate.