Treasure Hunt

Astra slumped down onto the floor of the room. The surface of the water was now several feet above her head, and indeed several feet above Ardua's head too. Yet they did not drown. The women continued to breathe steadily, and their water-filled lungs somehow managed to extract from the water the oxygen that they needed to survive.

After a while, two men entered the room. Armed with torches to see what they were doing, they proceeded to fit something very like a snorkeller's nose-piece over the nose of each woman. The nose-piece was attached by a rubber tube to a tank which they strapped to each woman's back. The difference from a snorkeller's equipment was that the tank was filled with water rather than air, for now that the magical water had done its job in altering their metabolism the women could extract oxygen only from water (which need no longer be magical now) and not from the air.

Once this had been done, each man picked up one of the women and carried her over his shoulder to a much larger (and dry) room, lit by torches attached to the walls. The women's steady breathing was attested to by the trickle of deoxygenated water that dribbled from their mouths.

A little later, Astra regained consciousness, relieved to find that she was still alive and in a more congenial place. But why did her nose and mouth feel as though they were full of water, and what was that over her nose? And why was something that felt as though it weighed at least twenty pounds attached to her back? She raised her hands to remove whatever it was that was over her nose, but before she could do so a voice called out: "Stop! If you remove that you will asphyxiate yourself." Looking up, she saw that the voice came from a man who had a crossbow trained on her, so she felt that she had better obey.

At that point, Ardua came round, and the scene was repeated. The man explained to them that their metabolisms had been magically modified, and that they could breathe only water from now on. Also, they would notice that their toes and fingers were now webbed. "But why?" Astra asked. Speaking was strange. Her voice sounded deeper than she was used to, and had a muffled and gurgly quality to it. And water sprayed everywhere as she spoke.

The man explained that he and his companion had managed to steal part of the dragon's treasure a little while ago. In their escape, they had had to cross an underwater lake. They had had a raft waiting for them, but halfway across it had capsized, tipping the treasure into the water. "We want you and your friend to rescue that treasure." "And why should we help you, after what you have done to us?" gurgled Ardua. "Because the mage from whom we got the spell to enchant the water that transformed you, also gave us a second spell which will transform you back. But, of course, that spell will only get used if you succeed in retrieving the treasure for us. Also, those tanks only contain three hours supply of water. Since we are the ones who know where water can be found, you are at our mercy, at least until we get to the lake."

So they traveled to the lake, which took about an hour. The man's companion was already there. The lake was almost half a mile across. Even the great cavern above the lake was only dimly lit, so Astra wondered how they could possibly find the treasure in the inky waters.

1. The men had brought powerful magical searchlights which would work underwater.
2. The men had brought plenty of supplies, and were prepared for the search to take days or even weeks.
3. The men had brought a magical treasure-locating device.

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