Part 5 (1/2)

I shrugged. Anything was worth a try. I jumped- and to my amazement sailed right up and onto his back.

How had that happened? I had never before been able to jump like that! My small gnarled legs were only good enough for modest performance. Yet this time they had responded like those of an athlete, and my coordination had been perfect.

Uland was racing like the wind again. By the time I stopped being bemused, we were back at the path where MareAnn and Horntense waited.

I slid down, this time doing it expertly. ”I have it!” I said.

”You're all wet!” she exclaimed.

”I fell in,” I said, abashed.

”You fell into the healing spring? You must be supremely healthy now!”

And that was it! I had been completely doused in the elixir, even swallowing a mouthful. I was healthy all over. My muscles were working at their full potential. I realized now that I could also see far more acutely than before and hear much better. My whole body bristled with sheer fitness. So leaps which had been impossible were now easy. Uland had known.

I brought out the bottle. ”No, save it,” MareAnn said. ”Just give me your s.h.i.+rt.”

I got out of my knapsack and s.h.i.+rt. She took the s.h.i.+rt and wrung it out over her extended leg. A few drops fell on the ankle. ”Oh, it's working!” she exclaimed. Then, standing firmly on both feet, she turned to Horntense. She wrung out some more elixir on the unicorn's leg. Immediately Horntense put down the leg, standing without pain.

MareAnn returned the s.h.i.+rt to me. ”Thank you so much, Humfrey,” she said. ”We really appreciate it.” Then she kissed me.

I was too stunned even to blush. I felt as if I were floating. An entire new view of girls was dawning on my limited outlook.

”Now let's go on to the river,” she said. ”I'll ride Horntense; you ride Uland.”

Numbly, I held her leg so she could mount. Then I went and jumped onto the stallion. Then we were at the river. I was still trying to realize how I felt from that kiss.

MareAnn jumped down and started stripping off her clothes. ”But-” I started. My senses were in perfect health, but my mind was boggling.

She turned to face me, her s.h.i.+rt off. ”We have come to know each other well enough in a short time. And we are not going to do anything lascivious. We never have, and we won't now. So it's all right; we can wash together.”

”We-not-?” I said, finding no straw to grasp.

”Because the unicorns would go.”

Unicorns. Something fell into place. The reason most people could not approach unicorns was that only childlike innocence was acceptable. I was old enough to have the first hint of a notion of what the Adult Conspiracy was concealing, but I had never had occasion to explore the matter. Until I did, I would be able to approach unicorns. That was the way of their kind and ours.

I dismounted and removed my clothing. MareAnn and I swam together in the cool clear river, as naked and innocent as a faun and nymph. But my ungrateful background mind wished it could have been otherwise. MareAnn had been shapely but dirty because of her fall; now she was shapely and clean, and to my eye lovely.

”Why are you staring at me?” she asked naively.

”I never saw anyone so beautiful,” I said before I thought.

It was her turn to blush. ”No one ever said that to me before. Thank you, Humfrey.”

I realized with a pleasant shock that she was indeed my age. Her body was that of a grown woman, while mine was that of a grown gnome, but her experience in life was parallel to mine. It was hard to imagine her being ridiculed for her proportions, but evidently neither had she been praised. She appreciated a sincere compliment just as much as I did. That was a great comfort to know.

Yet I also realized that it was a special type of interest I was finding in her, and that it could in time lead to a good deal more than innocent compliments. But I had the wit to keep that to myself. This wasn't deceit, it was courtesy. And caution.

So we swam, and washed, and then ran around naked while we dried, playing tag and finding fruit and nuts to eat, and it was about as nice an hour as I could remember experiencing. If this was the beginning of the rest of my life, I was well satisfied.

Chapter 4: Survey.

Now it was near evening. ”We had better find a place to sleep,” MareAnn said.

I had planned to clamber into a suitable tree for the night. I realized that more was required now. She would never be mistaken for a gnome, and a tree was hardly her style. Somehow this inconvenience did not bother me. ”I saw a house a little farther back. Maybe the person who lives there will let us sleep on the floor.”

”We can get some pillows and a blanket,” she agreed.

We rode the unicorns, and in a moment the distance which had taken me hours was covered, and the house was before us in its small clearing among the weeds. It was such a perfectly ordinary cabin that now I was uncertain. ”Sometimes things aren't what they seem,” I said.

”But what else can this be but a house?” she demanded. ”Do you think it's going to eat us?”

Shamed by her unconcern, I dismounted, approached the house, and knocked on the door. It opened on its own, revealing a fairly nice interior with a table, a chair, and a bed. There was a pile of blankets on the bed and several pillows. That was all. I still did not quite trust it; that self-opening door, was magic, and too convenient. Tangle trees made their approaches inviting and seemed harmless-until the unwary creature was lured within their grasp. This obviously was not such a tree, but its manner was similar.

”Where is who lives here?” MareAnn asked, coming up behind me. I liked having her do that, acting like a friend, and her friends.h.i.+p was becoming important to me. In fact, my relations.h.i.+p with her was as devious and intriguing as my concern with this house, for different reasons.

”It seems to be empty,” I said. ”There's no smell of occupancy.” For my nose was now healthy, too, and could detect far more than ever before.

”Then it must be just waiting for someone to live in it,” she said brightly. ”We'll be here only a night, but it's perfect for that.” She pushed on past me and went inside.

I was not sanguine about this, but couldn't let her chance it alone, so went in with her. Nothing happened. Apparently this was indeed a house waiting for an occupant. If it belonged to someone, that person should not mind us using it briefly, if we did no damage. But suppose it did not belong to someone? What then was its purpose? I feared that we could not be sure that its purpose coincided with ours.

MareAnn told the unicorns that we wouldn't need them until morning, and they departed. It had to be nice, having such a magic talent. If only I had something similar!

I looked at the bed. ”I'll put some pillows on the floor for me,” I said.

”Oh, don't be silly! We'll share the bed, of course.”

I certainly had no objection. I was gaining a whole other perspective on girls. I was getting to like being bossed. I was discovering that it depended very much on which girl was doing the bossing and how I felt about her. MareAnn was bossy in a pleasant and trusting manner.

So she changed into her nightie, which she had in her purse, which like all such items was magical in its own way. A purse always held more than was possible. I knew enough to avert my gaze so as to avoid seeing her panties, as I had when we washed together in the river. It was all right to see a girl bare, if she didn't mind, but panties were something else. At least, so the Adult Conspiracy indicated. I used my undershorts, because nothing else had dried yet, and we squeezed onto the bed under the blankets.

Then MareAnn had a second thought. ”You don't know how to summon the stork, do you?”

”No,” I admitted.

”Good. Because that's the prime thing unicorns don't like. I'm in no hurry to learn.” She settled back.

I, unfortunately, had my burden of curiosity. I did want to know about the stork, and about everything else in Xanth. But it was very nice lying so close and warm with MareAnn, and if not learning the stork-summoning ritual was the price of that, then I too was in no hurry. For now.

”Tell me about yourself,” she said.

I was surprised. ”But don't you want to sleep? Aren't you tired?”

”Yes, of course. But I like to know something about the person I sleep with.”