Part 25 (1/2)

”Uh, Breanna-” Edsel murmured.

But it was too late, as it usually was in such situations. CoTwo bloated to gargantuan proportion, then aimed his big mouth and then and blew. The wind was horrendous. It picked them up and literally blew them away. They sailed heels over head through the air. Edsel didn't have time either to be seared or to try to catch a naughty glimpse of one of the women.

They landed some distance downriver, in the cold water, unhurt but shaken. Para was inverted, his duck feet waggling frantically in the air. The supplies had gotten dumped or soaked.

”That was fun,” Ted exclaimed.

”Let's do it again,” Monica agreed.

The adults shared a sigh as they helped right the boat and then dragged themselves out of the water. At least they had found out what was causing the problem of rising water. What they would be doing about it was a work still in progress.

Chapter 8: GOOD MAGICIAN.

Pia shook herself off. She hated getting soaked in her clothing. She was s.h.i.+veringly cold, and their blankets were also hopelessly wet, and dusk was closing. What a mess! Para, the duck footed boat, was the only member of their party who seemed satisfied; he was resting on the water, untouched by the chill and undismayed by his dunking. He was evidently not the smartest of creatures, and liked being of service.

Well, she had never been one to mope ineffectively. ”We need a fire, a tent, and food,” she said. ”Then we can strip and dry our clothes while we eat in comfort.”

”I can find some fireweed,” Justin said.

”I can make a tent from the blankets,” Edsel said.

”I can roust out some chocolate spiders.” Breanna said, peering into the darkness.

”Spiders!” Pia said, alarmed.

The girl shot her a dark glance ”You're a vegetarian?”

”No, but-” She realized that she was in danger of looking like a squeamish female. It was true; she was plenty squeamish about bugs and other noxious notions, but she didn't like admitting it. Maybe someone else would balk at eating spiders, and then she could safely do so too. ”Okay. I'll make a hearth.”

”We'll fetch wood,” Demon Ted said.

”And pillows,” DeMonica agreed.

The children were getting helpful? Pia distrusted that. But maybe such ch.o.r.es were their idea of fun.

The others scattered. Justin and Breanna disappeared into the darkness, while Edsel scouted around for sticks of wood suitable for ridgepoles. He was good at things like that. He used a rock to pound forked sticks into the ground, put the ridgepoles into the raised forks, and then set about stretching the sodden blankets across them. The blankets would drip dry as time pa.s.sed, and should provide shelter.

Pia used a stick to sc.r.a.pe a section of ground clear, then carried in stones to make a circular hearth. The effort warmed her, but not enough: her teeth were still chattering.

Ted brought in a number of dry sticks for the fire, and Pia thanked him. He stepped on his own toes and almost blushed; he didn't know how to handle thanks from an adult.

Monica brought pillows. They were dry. and promised to be useful for sitting on. and for sleeping on later. Pia thanked her also, and she reacted much the way Ted had. They were not bad children, just active and sometimes impertinent.

What was interesting was the way they brought these things: each in turn held the locket they had found before, and spoke to it: ”Out. sticks.” or ”Out. pillows.” and the things had abruptly appeared before it. That was a most useful and capacious locket.

Justin returned with the fireweed. This was dull green stuff. But when he laid it in the hearth and said ”Fire,” it burst into brightly colored flame. The light radiated out, blessedly warm.

Then Breanna returned with an armful of dark brown leggy substance. It was hard to tell where she left off and it began. Pia forced herself to look. And smell. It was chocolate in the shape of spiders. Oh. She was glad she hadn't made a scene about that.

Then one of the spidei legs moved. Pia stifled a scream. ”Oops. I got a live one.” Breanna said. She picked it up and carried it to the fringe of the glade. ”They slough off their old skins as they grow, and those are pure chocolate. But I wouldn't care to eat a live one.”

”For sure.” Pia agreed weakly. The two children t.i.ttered: she wasn't sure whether they were laughing at her imitation of Breanna, or her alarm about the spiders.

They sat around the fire and warmed. But their clothing remained clinging and clammy. The others did not look any more comfortable than Pia felt.

She would have to lake the initiative. ”Let me make sure I understand.” she said, standing up. ”The Adult Conspiracy decrees that no child shall hear any bad words or see panties. Is that right?”

”That is correct,” Justin agreed.

”And no child shall be told or shown the secret of summoning storks.”

”Correct.” But he looked a little nervous, as if distrusting what she was leading up to.

”Well, none of us will be doing any of those things,” Pia said. ”But we do need to clean and dry our clothing. So I am going go wash mine.” She reached under her blouse and unfastened her bra. Then she drew blouse and bra off together.

Naturally both men stared at her bare upper torso. But no undergarment had been shown, so they did not freak out. Of course she knew from her subterranean experience with Justin that bras alone did not do it, but she didn't care to speak of that. The children looked also, but immediately went back to eating chocolate; there was nothing interesting to see.

Pia removed her shoes, then drew down her skirt and panties together. The eyeb.a.l.l.s of the two men expanded by five percent, and their jaws dropped by a similar amount, but again no undergarment had been exposed. There was no freak-out, and the children remained bored.

”Now I shall do my laundry.” Pia said, privately relieved. She hadn't been quite sure that she would get away with this, and wasn't sure of the penalty if the Conspiracy stepped in. ”Then I shall retire to a tent, with Edsel to keep me warm.” She carried her clothing to the bank of the river.

There was a pause. Then she heard the reaction. ”For sure! No violation.” And in a moment Breanna joined her, carrying her own bundle of clothing.

Then at last the men, oddly most reticent, did the same. The children, being half demon, formed their clothing from their own substance, so didn't need to wash it separately.

There was a swirl of smoke. For a moment Pia was afraid that their fire had spread out of control, but then a pair of eyes formed, and it coalesced into Demon Vore. He looked at the four adults, and his eye-halls too expanded a size as he surveyed the girls, but he made no comment.

”About time,” Ted said.

”It's really boring here,” Monica agreed.

”So I see.” Vore replied. ”Tomorrow Metria will take you to visit Robota.”

Both children clapped their little hands in delight. Then Vore swept them up and puffed into swirling smoke. One swirl was white, another brown, and their shapes were oddly suggestive as they dissipated.

”Did you see his eyes.” Breanna asked. ”One reflected a white nymph, the other a brown nymph.”

”I wonder who those could have been?” Pia said. Then they both laughed.

The men came up behind them. ”If I heard correctly.” Justin said. ”We shall not have to baby-sit the children tomorrow.”

”That's a relief,” Pia said.

”However, we have a small problem,” he continued. ”We have just two tents, and while Edsel and Pia can share one for warmth-”

Time to stifle this. ”The Conspiracy frowns on stork summoning when one of the parties is under eighteen,” Pia said. ”But I don't believe it says anything about sharing warmth. Does it?”