Judy awoke to a heavenly smell. She rolled in her tent and glanced at the door before getting up and putting on her robe. She exited her tent and looked around in the morning light searching for the source of the smell. She saw Nick standing by the fire tending a skillet loaded with eggs.
"Goodmorning sleeping beauty." Nick said without glancing her way. "How did you sleep?"
"Pretty good considering I haven't been camping in forever. How about you?" she said walking towards him.
"I could have slept better if you had joined me," he said sending her a wink.
She blushed at this before lightly punching his shoulder, "In your dreams Slick."
"Some very good dreams," he said smiling slyly at her.
"Your incorrigible," she said leaning her head against his back, "so what's for breakfast?"
"Family tradition eggs cooked over the fire. And if I had any I'd do myself some tofu bacon and sausage as well." He said pulling the skillet from the fire and putting it on a stump to the side so he could pull her into a hug.
They sat and ate together before she returned to her tent to get dressed. She exited the tent looking at Nick, "so what's the plan for today?"
He looked her over admiring her form in her farm clothes, "Well I figured we could go do some fishing or go for a walk through the woods. The town won't be exciting to see till tomorrow so it's whatever we want to do to pass time with each other."
She thought that over for a moment before looking into the woods, "why don't we do both? We can explore the woods on our way and when we reach a lake or the cliff by the castle we can go fishing. Maybe I can catch something special for my foxy boyfriend for dinner." She said smiling sweetly.
"Sounds like a plan to me fluff," He said gathering some tackle, "I'll grab the poles if you can carry the box for me."
She grabbed her backpack and put the tacklebox in it along with some sandwiches she had made the day before, "I also have our lunch and some snacks so we won't have to cut the day short because of being hungry."
"I love when my bunny lass thinks ahead." He turned to her holding the poles.
They set off into the woods at a liesurely stroll after making sure the fire was out completely. What they did not see was the sky begining to grow dark with storm clouds. As they explored they grew closer and closer to the castle. Suddenly a cold wind ripped through the woods causing them both to shiver. Nick looked towards the sky apprehensively. He saw the dark clouds and looked at Judy.
"Perhaps we should head back to camp. This storm looks pretty bad." He said to her
"Well if it's as bad as I think it's going to be our campsite won't be safe either. How far are we from town?" she asked looking around slowly.
"Too far to walk. It would take an hour or two without bad weather. We don't want to be caught in this." He said gesturing to his tail where the fur had begun standing on end from electricity in the air. "This is going to get bad fast." as he said this she felt the first drops of rain hit her ears.
Suddenly it began to downpour and they were both quickly drenched. "RUN FOR THE CASTLE!" NIck yelled over the raging storm that had spiked so quickly. They ran as fast as they could, Nick staying close behind her making sure she didn't get hurt. They entered into the castle door and stopped panting for breath.
"Well I guess that's one way to make sure we spend some time together." she said smiling at him.
After a few moments they began to look around. Nick was suddenly apprehensive. "Judy something is wrong here." He said looking spooked.
'' What is it Nick?" she asked looking at him from the doorway.
"The tower has always been open for all to explore. I thought that's where we were headed, but this is the main room of the castle. It's always been locked tight. Nobody has been in here since the castle was abandoned." He looked around as he said this and suddenly realized the torches were lit as well. "And I dont recall either of us lighting those" he said gesturing to the closest one.
She suddenly had a feeling like spiders climbing through her fur. "You're right on the torches. This is creepy. If they are lit though then someone was here before us." she said looking around searching the shadows for any movement. She noticed a door she hadn't seen before. "Nick lets take a torch and explore a bit. I want to find out who is doing this and why they are here." she said suddenly looking determaned.
"Let's just go to the tower and wait out this storm. Then we can be safe." He said moving to the door. He tried pushing only to find it locked. "Ummmm Judy? Did you lock the door?" he asked trying the handle again.
"No why?" she asked looking into the hallway that appeared to lead down.
He turned to her looking spooked "because the door is locked and I can't get it open."
She whipped around looking frightened, "How will we get out?"
"I guess we have to find another way" he said slowly as he grabbed a torch from the wall. The only way out of the room that they could see led down. They headed that direction with Nick taking the lead slowly descending down the stairs.