Nuclear
Warning: This story contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
I repeat: Reader discretion is advised.
This story does not start out as a Caskett story, however, it does end as one.
There is and there isn't Major Character Death. There is a large amount of Minor Character Death. Yes, Rick and Kate both die. They just don't stay that way. But the same can't be said for minor characters.
This is an alternate reality story. Basically a what if this happened instead?
Since i screwed up and did the same chapter twice you are getting two today to make up for my mistake.
One Chapter Only
"Thirty seconds." Rick had been counting down while Kate was on her cell phone trying to get some help.
"FALLON!?" She needed someone to help them and he was close and hopefully knew how and what to do.
"I can't see anything!" His phone was too small and there were too many wires. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Kate lowered her phone. She was going to die! They were going to die. Her dad, Lanie, everyone she knew was going to die. She was in such shock that she couldn't think.
"Castle." Kate took his hand and felt him squeeze hers. She had so much she wanted to say to him. Ten seconds just wasn't going to be enough time. She didn't want to die and she didn't want Castle to think that she didn't care. She was getting better. Demming was gone but Josh was in their way and that was her fault.
She was hiding behind Josh and she knew it. Though when it came down to it she knew who she cared about. Now that they were both going to die.
Rick knew he loved her but was afraid to tell her because he knew she would reject him and run. Two seconds… One second. Rick had no idea how to stop it. What did he know about bombs?
Rick reached out to grab all the wires and just pull. One of them had to work, right?
00 HRS 00 MIN 0000 SEC
Rick didn't have time to pull on any wires. He, Kate, and hundreds of others that were close enough were all vaporized in less than a heartbeat. Rick had an idea but was just too late to execute it.
"This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper."
- T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
The bomb was a dirty bomb and if you were close enough no one was ever going to find your body. You were vaporized. Buildings for blocks were leveled. Cars were thrown blocks with people inside.
Even Fallon was close enough in his car. His car was thrown for blocks. He died from the car crash. He and others got off lucky. Thousands had massive burns and would die a long and painful death. Thousands more would die from radiation exposure.
Several blocks of New York City were in ruins and would stay that way for years. The site was just too dangerous for people to enter for years. First Responders didn't know that. It was their job to rescue people even if it did mean their own deaths. It was worse than the Twin Tower disaster. Several times worse.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate was flat on her stomach and turned her head. She spotted Castle! He was on his stomach facing her way. "Castle?" Kate reached out to touch him to get him to wake up. However, her hand came up short. That was when she saw that he had horns on his head. Big ones, too. Like rams horns. They came out of his head, curved back, and curled back toward the front of his head.
Next she saw that he had wings sticking out of his back. They were huge and jet black. "What the hell?" This wasn't right. Granted, she had never seen him naked or even topless before, but he was at least topless now.
Then suddenly a new wing came into view. This one was just as large but it was dark red and it was moving. Then a new movement caught her attention. It was a tail! It was long and it was dark red in color and had an arrow head point.
Kate tried to turn over but realized that it hurt and not because her head hurt. Her back hurt so that had her trying to get up on her knees. That was when she found out she had two dark red wings, that it was her tail, and it wouldn't stop moving around.
"Castle." Kate looked over at him. He was naked, on his stomach, had huge black wings, black tail coming out just above the crack of his ass and… and none of this made any sense at all!
Then Castle groaned and finally moved a little. Rick tried to roll over and quickly found that doing that was a bad idea because it hurt. So he carefully sat up on his knees. "What happened?"
"Castle?" That got him turning to look and she saw shock on his face.
"Beckett?" Rick really wasn't sure. He meant the face was familiar but that was about where it stopped. "Where did you get the horns, wings, tail… and those boobs?" Her boobs were large. He didn't know what her bra size was before but it was bigger now.
"Boobs?" Kate looked down and saw she wasn't 35B any longer. Closer to 35D now. "What the hell?" Kate thought about touching them to make sure they were real but Castle was right there. It was now that she felt the difference. They had weight that she wasn't used to.
"You have wings, horns, and tail, too," Kate pointed out. She watched him reach for his horns and then pulled his wings around to see them. While he did that Kate checked out her own horns.
"What do you remember?" Kate asked him.
It took Rick a moment to get his mind off of her boobs. He was a sucker for women with large tits and he knew it. Still, he was willing to overlook that need when it came to Kate.
"We were… we were hunting down a bomb. We were almost radioactive, then almost frozen solid. I remember Josh was still there." Rick needed a moment.
"There was a black van. Not a white one," Kate mentioned. Kate overlooked the name Josh for now. This was more important than him.
"Yes, we found the bomb. We had a minute thirty-eight, I think," Rick said.
"I was trying to get the bomb squad to show up but they were going to arrive two minutes too late. She told me to wait so I called Fallon." Kate was following just fine so far.
"He couldn't make it. I had no idea how to disarm a bomb. It never came up in any of my Derrick Storm books. And there were a lot of wires." Rick remembered that part.
"We were going to die. It was going to blow up and kill everyone and we couldn't stop it." Kate remembered up to that point. She also remembered that she wanted to tell Castle that she loved him, but now wasn't the time.
"I was going to just pull all the wires. One of them had to work. Did it work?" Rick looked about but didn't see the buildings of New York City. In fact there weren't any buildings at all. NONE! It looked like they were in a low mountain range. They had mountains all around them.
"I don't know. This isn't New York City." All Kate saw was rocks and mountains. No overly tall mountains, but mountains none the less.
Then as if it was planned that way they both doubled over in severe pain and cried out.
"What was that?" Rick was panting and Kate could only shake her head. "I want something. It's like I'm hungry but it's not my stomach that's hungry."
"Yeah." Kate felt that. She needed something and it wasn't food. "CASTLE!" Speechless, Kate pointed at him because she had noticed something.
That had Rick looking down and what he saw stunned him. He knew his Cock was a little above average in size but this was bordering on insane. It had to be close to two feet long and almost as big around as Kate's arm. He also started to smell something. It was an intoxicating smell. He loved it and wanted more of it. However, it also made his Cock that much harder and bigger, if that was possible.
Kate saw the single largest Cock she had ever seen. In person or in a porn movie. It was massive and it was gorgeous. She wanted to get her hands on it. To hold it, lick it, taste it, make it erupt and give her his Cum. She also suddenly noticed a new smell.
It was musky and sweet and intoxicating. She wanted more of it so she inhaled deeply to get more. She also knew she was getting wet down there.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate had started out just stroking his cock and licking it because she couldn't stop herself. And that morphed into them in a 69 position. Kate was dedicating herself to his Cock and trying to get all of it down her throat. But she was finding that difficult because Castle had a very talented tongue. He clearly knew how to eat a woman's pussy.
She was rewarded with him climaxing and she did her best to catch all of it to taste him and swallow all of it. Castle pushed a finger in her ass, licked her clit, and that had her exploding into a Climax.
Kate had had a man in her ass before. It was enjoyable enough but she really preferred his Cock in her mouth or in her pussy. But this was a first for her.
Still an hour later Kate lay naked next to a naked Castle resting. After 69 he had her on her hands and knees and was aiming that monster at her opening. "YES, CASTLE. FUCK ME. FUCK MY PUSSY. FUCK IT HARD!"
Kate still wasn't really sure just what had come over her. She simply had to have that cock inside her. She didn't care how far it stretched her. She wanted it. She wanted him to climax inside her pussy. She wanted it. She had to have that.
Once he had climaxed inside her she had spun and licked his Cock clean to get every last drop. She could also taste herself on his Cock. It was a heady combination that she was looking forward to tasting again.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
"What did we just do?" Kate asked him bewilderedly. "Yes, I know we had sex. Just why did I want it so badly? I feel great now. Better than ever. I even feel like I can do things that I couldn't before." Weary, Kate rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart beating.
Rick had gotten his wings into a comfortable position for him. The dirt was maybe a little uncomfortable but not too bad. "I'm not sure. I feel better than ever. Like I could do anything. But where are we? And why do we both look like this?
"You know, based on what I've read, we're both Demons. You're a Succubus and I'm an Incubus. I know you're not going to believe me, but it fits with what I've read," Rick told her.
Kate lifted her head to look at him and his horns. "Demons?"
"Wings, horns, tails, amazing sexuality – and believe me you are sexy," Rick told her.
Kate rested her head back down on his chest and quietly smiled to herself. She was a woman and she liked being told she was sexy. "You're not so bad yourself, Castle," Kate admitted. "I remember smelling something, too. It was a musky sweet smell. I liked it a lot." It had caused her to get wet and want his Cock badly.
"You too? There was this smell. I couldn't stop not wanting to breathe it in." It also made his Cock that much harder.
Kate looked down and reached down to take his Cock in her hand. It was soft now but still a really nice size. "So, how did this monster fit inside me?" He should have hurt her. She should rightly be bleeding. It had stretched her lips really wide. Almost like she was giving birth or something.
"Well, based on what I've read it's believed that a Succubus is a sexual Demon. Her job is to seduce men and suck out their life force that she needs to live. In doing so she kills him and moves on. And the same for an Incubus.
"There are a few other things I remember, but first, have you noticed that your skin is baby smooth?" Rick asked her. "Trust me, I didn't find a single scar anywhere."
That had Kate sitting up and she ran her fingers over her body. She knew where all of her scars were located and couldn't find a one. Then she twisted as far as she could and moved her wing aside to find her tattoo she had gotten in Kiev. It was gone as well.
"What's going on?" Kate sat there and looked down at him. It didn't matter what he saw any longer. He had seen everything.
"I have a thought but you're not going to like it," Rick said, looking kind of sad.
"I could use a crazy theory right about now." Kate had nothing so anything he said might lead her to the truth.
"We were chasing down a bomb and we found it, but couldn't stop it in time. I think we died, Kate. The bomb blew up, killed us, killed everyone nearby. We were vaporized in an instant. Never felt a thing. Call it resurrection. Call it the afterlife. Call it a second chance. A chance to get things right. Whatever it is that we got wrong in our previous life." Rick waited for her reaction.
Kate knew she wasn't overly religious. In her job people killed for all kinds of reasons and religion was one of those. People that got too religious became fanatics and those people could be killers. So she had told herself, trained herself not to be overly religious.
"Alright, how does us being Demons fit into this theory?" Kate was willing to admit that she and Castle were different. They certainly looked and felt different. Even now she felt like she could do things. Though she didn't understand what.
"It's called reincarnation. You die and come back as either a new infant or an animal and live again. We simply came back as Demons. That or there really is a God and someone reached him and He brought us back as Demons." Rick shrugged. "The cost someone had to pay for his help."
Kate opened her mouth and kept looking down at him and closed her mouth. "We're no infants and who would do that for us?" Kate couldn't think of anyone. Her dad didn't know about the bomb. Lanie didn't know about the bomb. They were forced into silence to avoid a total panic.
"No, we're not, so that leaves me thinking someone interfered. Only one person comes to mind that might affect both of us and since I discount a priest I know… your mother." Rick waited to see Kate's reaction.
"My MOM!?" Kate wasn't thinking that. She was dead. "Mom did this?" Turned both of them into Demons?
"Not directly, no. But that doesn't mean she hasn't met someone that could. And since this isn't New York City that raises the question of where are we?" Rick asked her.
"Mountains." Kate looked around again. There were some trees and a little bit of grasses but mostly it was rocks. She saw Castle looking up. "What are you looking for?" Kate looked up with him.
"Contrails from jets. I see smoke but nothing else. Not exactly a lot of wildlife, either. Can you think of anyone else that would do such a thing? Someone that might have contact with such a person?" Rick challenged her.
"No." Kate wasn't even sure it was her mother. "If that bomb killed us who else did it kill? We failed, Castle. We failed." Instead of sitting on her legs Kate sat on her ass and thought about that.
She knew where the bomb was. Right where it would do the most damage. Theater District. "How big is a dirty bomb?" Kate was trying to figure out if her dad was still alive and for how long.
"Where were we? The Theater District? That area is gone. Anyone in that area is dead or soon will be. It's not a Hiroshima bomb, it's a dirty bomb. Conventional explosives meant to spread radioactive material to kill people.
"So anyone in the Theater District is dead or will be. Hell's Kitchen, Diamond District will get radiation sickness. Draw a circle that big with the Theater District at the center is who will be affected. Empire State Building, southern end of Central Park. Outside of that most people will be safe.
"Your dad is Greenwich Village so he should be fine. Same for anyone in the Precinct like Lanie, Javi, and Kevin. The Theater District will be radioactive for years and blocked off for I don't know how long." Rick had no idea. Years and years came to mind.
Kate felt better about that. It was just they had still failed and died doing it. "And about the Demon part?" He hadn't really answered that.
"Your mother had to pay a price. This is the price. We live, stay our ages, but have to live as Demons. I'm more interested in where we are. Can you imagine having to walk around Manhattan looking like this?" Rick spread his arms wide.
"No." She couldn't imagine walking around Manhattan or even keeping her job looking like this.
"On the bright side, maybe one of us got bitten by a radioactive spider." Rick grinned at her.
That had Kate shaking her head but she was grinning. Leave it to Castle to think that they suddenly had super powers. "I thought you wanted to be Batman; he doesn't have super powers. He's just rich. And we died long before that spider could have been radioactive." Kate shot that down.
"Can you cease with the female logic and stop raining on my parade?" Rick asked her.
"I'll think about it." Kate grinned at him. "Come on, get up, Castle. Let's see if we can figure out just where we are." Kate got to her feet and offered a hand to help him up.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
"Are you checking me out, Beckett?" Rick thought he had caught her looking him over more than once.
"NO!" Kate lied through her teeth since she clearly had been and not just looking at his Cock. "When did you become so ripped?" He had muscles in all the right places and his abs were amazing. She already thought he was handsome, besides being a jackass from time to time, but now he was a hunk and that actually bothered her a little.
"Makes you want me, doesn't it?" Rick wiggled his eyebrows and smiled at her.
"Can you stop being a jackass? I'm still learning to like you being a child but can you cut out the jackass part, please?" It was getting old very fast and Kate was finding it to be quite annoying.
"I'll work on that. However, right now it looks like we're in a small valley and I don't see a way out. No caves that I can see. How do you feel about flying?" Rick inquired. "We do have wings."
"Do something I've never done before?" Kate managed to spread her wings wide and tried to get used to them. "I suppose we don't have a choice." Kate looked up.
Suddenly she saw Rick running. He spread his wings wide and actually began flapping them. Presto, he was airborne and still flapping his wings hard.
"Alright." If he could do it, she should be able to do it too. So she followed his lead and was amazed that she was actually flying and following Castle to the peak of one of the lower mountain tops.
"I've got a river." Rick pointed at it.
"It looks like a small mountain range. The sun is high overhead, so noonish, maybe." Then Kate reached for her mother's ring and realized it was gone. So was her dad's watch. They both had nothing. Literally.
"I've got something else." Rick pointed and that had Kate looking where he was pointing. It looked like a camp. It was a mix of large tents, rock, and wood buildings. It looked primitive.
"That's not all that's down there. What are those things?" Kate pointed herself.
"Too far away. What I don't see are power poles, or cars, or even a bicycle. I think I see some primitive two wheel carts, though," Rick said thoughtfully. "I vote we go down there and hide till it gets dark and then search and see if we can learn something."
"Works for me. A newspaper, something." Kate agreed easily enough. She wanted to know where they were now. And what had happened to New York City. It was her city. She was there to protect it.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Getting closer had been easy. They found a large boulder to hide behind, wait for dark, and for them to go to sleep.
Kate pointed out the obvious. "They'll have guards."
"We're Demons, Beckett. They don't stand a chance. Positive thinking," Rick urged.
"I'm positive we're weaponless and naked," Kate countered.
"Yes, you are, aren't you?" Rick grinned. "Sorry, I'm forgetting about Josh. We probably shouldn't have even had sex. I know the pain of being cheated on."
Kate opened her mouth to oppose his thinking. Except she still wasn't ready yet. Besides, she had wanted him. There was just something about having sex with him that had given her something. But she shouldn't have cheated on Josh.
"You let me worry about Josh," Kate asserted. If she ever saw him again. How was she going to face him looking like this?
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate had talked Castle into letting her go first. She was a trained police officer after all. He had no training what so ever. Rick knew he had had some training. Just not in hand to hand, so he let her.
Kate hadn't seen him and was taken by surprise. She was guessing it was a him. He was tall, big, broad-shouldered, and was holding the biggest wooden club she had ever seen.
"FREEZE!" Kate yelled and automatically reached for the Glock she didn't have. Surprised, she stared at him as he just stood there.
Then Rick joined her. "How did you do that?"
"I don't know. I told him to freeze and he did. Wish my suspects with weapons always did that." Her life as a cop would have been so much easier.
Rick decided to risk it. He walked up to him and looked him over from head to foot. "He's ugly, big head, pointed ears, and those teeth. One of his ears is pierced and he has a bone hanging from it. He's even watching me. He looks really angry." Rick moved even more to make sure his eyes followed him.
"He has a bag." Rick took it from him to see what it held. "I've got bones and coins. Not coins I recognize."
"You recognize him?" Kate queried.
"He's not from my side of the family." Rick made a joke about it and didn't see Kate glaring at him for that stupid comment. "But no, nothing comes to mind. Though you remember that cartoon movie Shrek? He kind of looks like him."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Shrek was an Ogre and he was green. He," Kate pointed to the still frozen male, "doesn't look big enough to be an Ogre and he's sort of grey."
"Well, we need to search. I suggest we leave him for now. He's frozen, let's see how long he stays that way." Rick knew they needed information and they had damn little so far.
The very first tent they came across was full of things. Crates, barrels, leathers, bolts of cloth, pony kegs, clothing, and even shoes that were more moccasins.
"Here, try these." Rick threw Kate some pants that looked long enough and found some for himself. Next came moccasins for each of them. "Crow bar." Rick handed Kate one of them and grabbed the other one. Now both of them were prying open crates.
"I've got what looks like cooking spices and tea, I think," Kate offered.
"I've got something really interesting." Rick shoved his hand in, scooped up a fistful, and opened his hand. Gems rained back into the box. "Looks like a mix. The box isn't all that big. We could carry it."
"You're talking about stealing, Castle," Kate chided him.
"How many Ogres do you know in New York State?" Rick countered.
"None. …Fine, just keep looking," Kate said. "I want answers."
"This pony keg is wine. Not a flavor I'm familiar with," Kate called over her shoulder while Rick began trying to open a big crate.
"I've got cloth, lots and lots of cloth. Cotton, linen, silk, wool. It's just folded up layers of cloth. Finely woven, too," Rick commented and moved to another crate.
"This pony keg is more wine. Still can't place it." Kate kept looking.
"More cloth in this one. You know what I'm thinking?" Rick asked her based on what they had found so far.
Kate was already thinking it. "Caravan."
"I'm betting our Ogre friend out there is part of a group of raiders. You know, if this was a caravan it means they were using animals to transport all this. Wagons, carts, something. There might be horses. We could ride instead of walk or fly all the time," Rick suggested.
"Bring that box of gems and let's check the next tent first. Then we'll go look for horses. Saddles and tack too," Kate told him. Suddenly stealing from what they thought were thieves didn't bother her so much.
"HOLY…!" Rick stopped just inside the tent, forcing Kate to squeeze past him.
"WOW!" Kate was amazed.
"It's an armory. King Arthur Armory," Rick said in awe as they both looked around.
Leather armor, studded leather armor, shortswords, longswords, long bows, quivers full of arrows, spears. "This is a chainmail shirt." Rick picked it up. "Heavy, too." He put it back down. "This is hide, but I'm not sure from what animal."
"Shields, little shields, round shields, tower shields. Is any of this useful to us?" Kate inquired.
"Here, take a long bow and a quiver. See if you can put it over a shoulder, just watch the wings." Rick tried to do the same.
"Longsword or shortsword?" Rick held up one of each.
"Long, please." Kate took that one which was just about 36 inches long, put the belt around her waist, and buckled it in place. Rick did the same thing but his was several inches longer.
"What are these?" Rick picked up a bag and pulled out a couple of four pointed stars. "Caltrops. Think a game of jacks only more dangerous." Rick tied the bag to his belt and handed one to Kate to do the same.
"Why do we want these?" They were adding weight.
Rick explained his reasoning. "Think a James Bond car only instead of oil, we drop these. Or think Tom and Jerry cartoon."
"OH!" Tom and Jerry was what sold Kate so she tied it to her new belt. "Anything else in here?"
"Spear, perhaps." Rick picked one up and showed it to her.
"No thanks. Maybe that coil of rope though." Kate reached out and picked it up.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Rick was carrying his box of gems while they looked for the horses. In a fairly short time they came upon some oxen and then found horses. "FREEZE!" Kate spotted another Ogre, if that was what it was, and she was still amazed that it actually did freeze.
"We need to figure out how you do that," Rick mentioned.
"Find the blankets and saddles and let's get out of here before they all wake up." Kate didn't want to keep pressing their luck.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Rick was the one having trouble. He wasn't used to riding a horse and he was trying to hang onto this box full of gems. "Castle, are you seeing what I do?"
"If you mean can I see in the dark, the answer is yes. It's not quite like seeing in daylight but better than seeing in moonlight. Must be a Demon thing. So how did you freeze those two?" The horses were just walking. They weren't in any real hurry.
"I don't really know. I know it worked but not why." And Kate found not knowing extremely frustrating. "It felt like I was commanding him to do something and he did it."
"We need to find a place to rest and talk. We're Demons and we don't understand why or what we can do. Maybe a cave, perhaps?" Rick put forward.
"Yeah, we do." Kate knew she wasn't good at talking but this was different. This wasn't New York City and they were Demons. Even Kate had to admit things had changed. The changes were staring her in the face. It was hard to miss having wings, tail, and horns on your head.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
It felt like they were actually on a trail of some kind. They were even following a small river or large stream. "Castle!" Kate actually pointed at it, not him!
"An honest-to-god castle! This is so cool." Rick turned his horse to go that way.
"You're sure that's wise?" Kate wasn't totally onboard with going there. "I mean, look at us. If we think we're Demons what are they going to think?"
"Possibly, but we need answers," Rick insisted. "First on the list is where are we?" And that was enough for Kate to follow him.
It was on a wide flat hill with mountains in the background and the river on the opposite side with more mountains beyond that.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
"It doesn't look too good," Rick noted as they got closer.
"It looks like it's been attacked," Kate commented as they both saw holes in the walls. The tower in the far right corner was almost gone.
Going around it, Rick loved the fact that it even had a moat. It was a dry moat meaning it had no water, but it was a moat. "A real drawbridge!" Rick was almost giddy with excitement. Just beyond was a portcullis that was down, blocking the way. And it had two small towers on either side.
"It doesn't look all that safe, Castle." She meant the drawbridge given that some of it was missing. Still, that didn't seem to deter Castle as she watched him walk his horse to the far side while staying far to the left. Since he made it she gave it a try. "Now what?"
They could see through the portcullis and saw yet another one that was down in the far side, with arrows slots on either side in the wall. "Maybe it's broken and has a counterweight." Rick handed his reins over to her and moved into position to lift it.
"IT DOESN'T," Rick informed her but still, he put his muscles to use and they were both astonished that he actually did lift it up. "Hurry up! This thing is heavy." Rick waited for Kate to take the horses through, stepped through himself, and dropped it with a loud bang.
"Well that woke everyone up." Kate criticized his action of just dropping it.
"It's all oak and iron, Beckett. It was heavy," Rick responded and moved to see if he could lift the next one so they could get inside. The other side was a wall with just a single double door to their right. "Hurry up!" Rick had this one up as well and dropped it after Kate and the horses were through.
They chose to leave the horses here along with his box of gems and went exploring.
The doors turned out to be a dead end but it was once a stable. It had six stalls on each side. No horses, but lots of saddles and tack, and even some hay. That had them moving the horses which promptly started eating the hay.
The next pair of doors down were damaged and barely hanging so moving one was easy. "Warehouse," Kate said and looked around a little. "Most of this is broken."
"This one isn't." Rick found a fifty gallon barrel that was still intact. He just didn't know what was in it. Since there was nothing of interest here they moved on.
Around the corner they saw a long line of doors up against an outside wall. There was pair of broken down doors on the right. "Blacksmith." Rick spotted the forge and what he had made in the past. "Horseshoes, nails, bits for a horse."
They chose to go right and came upon a two story building in front of them. "Dormitory," Rick offered since he saw lots of empty beds with rotted cloth. "This is old." The cloth ripped easily in his hands.
They went past this building. "Now we're getting somewhere." Rick liked what he was seeing. "A gatehouse." There was a tall wall that looked like it could be walked between here and there. The gatehouse was the only way.
Up front was a pair of badly damaged, very heavy-looking doors showing more signs that this place had been attacked and the owner – a lord, Rick wondered? – had lost. Beyond was another pair of doors that were in better shape but still damaged.
Slipping between the hanging doors first thing Kate saw was a large vegetable garden. Even though it was long untended, she could still see some produce.
"ZOMBIES!" Rick drew his sword as all the ones he was seeing started to slowly walk toward them. Spinning in place he found one right behind him; he swung his sword and nearly cut it in half.
Now Kate would normally say that Zombies didn't exist but she couldn't deny what she saw. There was rotted flesh hanging off of them and looking totally dead but still walking, albeit slowly, coming toward them.
So long as they moved quickly and kept from being surrounded, it was rather easy to kill all of them. Well, kill them again. "I don't want to hear it, Castle." Kate tried to stop him.
"But they're Zombies! Real dead but not-dead Zombies." Yeah, it was dangerous but they had handled them. So Rick was really giddy now. He was in a castle that had a moat with a drawbridge and it had Zombies. "What else does this place have?" Rick wanted to keep searching.
The double doors on the far end that looked to lead into a Keep inside a Keep were actually still intact. As they walked Rick said, "I'm seeing lots of arrows in the vegetable garden." Kate could only agree.
"I'm not sure even you can bust these doors open, Castle." She had witnessed his new strength earlier. It was just these doors that appeared to have little damage looked really strong.
"Tower." Rick pointed at the one on the right. "Fly up and climb down. Simple." Rick got a running start and made it easily so Kate followed.
It turned out it really was easy to do. They walked down the stone stairs and searched the place. They discovered one main open room and three bedrooms. Each bedroom was lavishly furnished and full of ornate pillows, solid silver items like goblets, candle holders, and three long since dead bodies that were now all bone.
"They died here," Kate said. "They have food and maybe water out there, but they died in here."
Rick offered his assessment. "Strong enough to sack this place but not get in here and they had no way out. …Sad."
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate called out to him."Castle, I found something." Kate had found a hidden trapdoor inside a tiny room off the back. "It has a ladder and I can see chests at the bottom."
Rick decided it was up to him to do the dirty work. He climbed down into the darkness and was again thankful that he could see in the dark even if he didn't understand how and lifted each of the four chests up and out.
Now they just needed to break the locks open. For that they found something in one of the bedrooms that looked heavy enough.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
They were still counting all the coins but eventually end up with 2,246 gold coins, 3,418 silver coins, 1,471 copper coins, five solid gold bars, and two wands.
Rick explained why he was calling them wands. "Because they look like wands. You know, the ones Fairy Godmothers use."
"So just how do we carry all this? We only have two horses. You're already carrying that box with gems inside it." Kate didn't see how they could keep much of these save for his wands.
Still, Rick had an idea and Kate followed him as he walked around in the two bedrooms and seemed to be trying to get those wands to actually do something. Kate was busy picking up things Rick pointed out. "Because they shimmer when I use this thing." Rick waved one of his wands at her.
In the end they had three leather pouches, two cloaks, one pair of boots that even had heels on them, one ring, and small vials that held a liquid of some kind.
With a little trial and error they found that all of the coins and the gold bars went into two of the leather pouches with ease. "Bigger on the inside?" Kate looked at Castle in disbelief. He could only shrug. At least they worked. He couldn't help but wonder just what the other wand did since it hadn't done anything. Maybe it was broken.
Bags of Holding type II (Three of them), one Ring of Lockpicking (It held a tool to pick locks easily, Knock spell once per day), Boots of Tracklessness (Leave no trail behind you), Cloak of Elvenkind (Increase your ability to hide), White Cloak of the Spider (Resist poisons, Climb like a spider once per day, Hold Person once per day). Wand of Detect Magic, Wand of Knock. (it will open magically locked doors or simply locked doors or barred doors. But only one of each per use.)
Still, they were back to the horses without incident. They moved Rick's gems into one of the bags which filled it so they had one left. And they found that some saddle bags that had a shimmer to them, so Rick put those on his horse while Kate got normal saddle bags for other things in the future.
"What are you thinking?" Kate was ready to leave since the sun was up now. She could see Castle's wheels turning in his head from here.
Rick studied her before he answered. "Bags that are bigger on the inside and that wand picked them out by making them shimmer. There are only two things I can think of that would make those bags do that. One is very advanced technology, far more advanced than even we had. OR… Magic. Real Magic, not that David Copperfield stuff."
Kate just knew it worked and wasn't trying to understand it. Sadly both of his ideas worked in this case. "You think you can lift the gates again?" They still had to get out.
"I think we should fill the other bag with what we can find in this vegetable garden first," Rick said. "I'm not hungry but I'm betting I will be later." Kate agreed and now both of them were picking and choosing as they walked their way through the garden, taking what interested them.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
They were off their trail and following the river. It was flowing their direction so it must lead to something eventually. The other was maybe more animal trail. Like a bear or some such animals.
The river was certainly wide enough, though perhaps not overly deep. Only an hour later they estimated since Kate no longer had her dad's watch, they came across a very questionable bridge clearly made by hand with whatever they could find.
"Do we?" Rick asked her. He watched her motion for him to go first. Great, he was the guinea pig. He really needed to learn to keep his big mouth shut. Still, he and his horse got across with no trouble, so Kate followed and then they mounted their horses again. There was a small grouping of hills in front of them but it looked like there was a pass. However, just as they reached it Rick stopped.
"Have you ever seen those Western movies where you travel through a pass just like this one?" Rick asked her.
"You mean the ones where the bad guys are in the hills on either side and you just rode into an ambush?" Kate was still amazed at just how well their thoughts worked together. Lanie had teased her about that but she had simply dismissed it. Except now she was a Demon after dying thanks to a dirty bomb blowing up in her face.
Off to their left there was a nice grassy field. Kate was watching as Rick cut some of her rope and by hand, made something to hobble the horses so they didn't just run away. They took off the saddles, blankets, and saddle bags. They set them down and let the horses wander and eat and drink.
"Walk or fly?" was all Rick wanted to know.
"Walk into an ambush or fly over it? I choose fly, thank you." Kate took off running and flapped her wings hard to gain some altitude.
It didn't take long to spot a small valley in the middle of the hills that held a fire pit that presently had a fire going and five tents around it. They even saw someone walking around. Make that two someones. Oops, now it was three. However, there was a spot where they could hopefully land unseen and just watch.
"What are they?" Kate whispered since she didn't know and Castle could see what she was seeing.
"The ones on all fours are Hyenas. As for the ones walking around on two legs, they kind of look like Hyenas, just bigger, and on two legs. Plus, one of them is walking around in leather armor and has a nice, big, bladed staff of some kind. Then there are the kids. Not sure I'm ready to kill kids even if they do look like that." Rick may be a Demon now but he was still Richard Castle the writer, part time Homicide Detective.
"Yeah. …You know, if we could isolate one of them somewhere we could maybe interrogate him. Find out just where the hell we are," Kate said thoughtfully. "Though these guys have tents and unless you want to go back to that castle, we need some place to spend the night." Kate was trying to think ahead.
"I'm still not ready to kill kids." Rick was thinking they leave and move on.
"Let's get out of here." Kate didn't want to just start killing people either. So they both ran away and jumped and flew a wide circle back to their horses.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Back to riding their horses they found that their river was a rather twisty one. It was forever turning and soon it had washed out the trail they had been following before leaving it, forcing them to go around. However, here the river went south while the trail went east. They decided to keep with the trail.
Eventually it turned north and met up with a small stream headed downhill toward the river. They soon came across a very old cemetery. The markers were all wood and most of them had long since fallen over and were rotting.
They had mountains to their east and mountains to their west and the trail and stream continued north. "I'm going to take a look." Kate got off her horse, ran, jumped, and pumped her wings hard to gain some altitude.
Rick was just starting to worry about her when she finally came back. "I found something. It's in a large clearing just the other side of this mountain. It had mountains all around it. It's earthen with a massive wood door. Lots of grass, a few trees, but no water that I can see. It might be big enough to hold the horses if we can get it open.
"I think there's a path we can walk the horses through. It twists and turns a lot but I think it will make it," Kate said.
"It'll be dark in a couple of hours. Gather some firewood, maybe," Rick suggested.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate had been proven correct. They had to walk the horses through the pass and it had several tight twists and turns before it finally opened up.
Rick saw that Kate was right though she hadn't quite given the earth mound justice. It was bigger than he anticipated and yes, it had one massive and very heavy-looking door. There was also a scattering of pine trees, so if they worked at it they could gather some firewood. First up, though, was this door.
"Have fun with the door. I'm going to look around." Kate left him as she walked around looking for anything at all.
"Alright, Mister Door." Rick looked it over. "You even have a lock. Looks like one of those old fashioned locks that used a really big key. What kind of wood is this?" Rick knocked on it and examined the iron metal bands that held it all together.
Rick eventually worked out that it opened out, not in, and it did have a handle to pull on. A few pulls told him that it was indeed locked. "Stubborn door." Rick didn't want to pull the handle right off of it. However, he also didn't have anything to break it down with.
"CASTLE! I FOUND SOMETHING! SOMETHING BIG!" It was also impossible. At least in her eyes. Oh, she just knew Castle was going to love this.
Rick gave up on the door for now and went in search of Kate. Eventually he found her just standing there in the middle of nothing. "Found what?" There was nothing here. Then suddenly she knocked on something that sounded like she was hitting stone.
That had him reaching out and he encountered a barrier. No, not exactly a barrier, it had a base and banisters. "A hidden staircase?" Rick started chasing down to where it started. As soon as he put one foot on the first step that he couldn't see, he saw all of it. All the way up to he didn't know what.
"It's a tower! Come on." Rick took Kate's hand and tugged her along with him. "Watch that first step." Rick let go of her hand once he was sure she could see it.
It turned out to be a staircase going around this tower, leading up and up.
The first door they came to had a lock and refused to open. There were four doors in total. But it was what was at the top that had them awestruck. They could look out but from down there hadn't seen this.
It was a seriously tall archway made of stone. It had lattice work all around it. And it also had intricate writing and reliefs all over the front face. Up one side, across the top, and down the other. You could walk right through it, come out the other side, and find something just like it on this side.
"Any guesses?" Kate was stumped.
"Not a clue. Though these markings remind me of Mayan or Aztec symbols. That or Egyptian or maybe all three. I have no idea what they say." Rick ran his fingers over a few of them.
"I do have an idea about these doors. Meet me at the first one downstairs. I'll be right back." Rick hustled down the stairs, headed for his horse, and dug in the bag for that wand that didn't work. Success! He found his way back.
"A wand?" Kate wasn't so sure about this.
"Well that last one showed supposedly magical items, all of which we're presently wearing, like your boots and one of those capes. It showed this thing as possibly magical as well. It just didn't do anything. So what have we got to lose?" Rick pointed and willed for it to work much like the other wand. All of a sudden the door crashed up inwards.
"Well that worked. Ladies first." Rick was willing to let Kate enter first.
It was about fifty feet around. It had a large table with seating for twelve. Arrow slots all around the side and a staircase inside going down. On one wall was a fireplace and that looked like an old fashioned kitchen to either side of it. A single door opened onto the bathroom with a tub that had burnt wood under it.
"A hot bath!" Kate was in love.
Going down inside it got colder and colder till it was damn near freezing. Down here they found produce that was all spoiled by now. There was also a lot of jars that were all sealed shut. And they found two doors. Each door opened into a seriously frozen space. One had frozen and frost burned meat hanging on hooks and the other had frozen and frost burned fish on tables.
"I get it, this room is the walk-in refrigerator and these are the walk-in freezers. Upstairs is kitchen and dining," Rick told her. "So what's above that?" Kate couldn't contradict that thinking since she was willing to agree.
The next door took the use of that wand again to force it open. "Interesting." Rick looked around while Kate headed for a door and found a hallway that had doors on either side. It also had a door at the end. That door opened onto a tiny balcony that allowed her to stand outside and look down at that mound with the big heavy door and their two horses.
Back inside she came upon two bedrooms, one with one big bed and the other looked like a child's room. Mom and dad stayed in this room and their child stayed in the other room.
Kate rejoined Castle. "A fireplace just like the one downstairs. Two tables and tapestries of someplace I don't recognize on all of them. They look like small towns," Rick said.
"I've got bedrooms and a balcony," Kate told him. "Compete with dresser and drawers but no closet. I did find some kids toys so I'm guessing mom, dad, and child."
"It's a house, but it's just built in a tower." Rick was catching on. So Rick went upstairs to see what was left. Once again he had to use the wand to force the door open.
Rick hurried right to the five bookshelves to look them over. Two were back-to-back.
Kate smiled and shook her head. Then she went over to the fireplace and the two tables filled with what to her felt like a laboratory. It was filled with glass everything, scales, and even a way to light a fire under some of it. The far wall was filled with bottles and jars and containers.
Kate gave him her opinion. "He was a mad scientist, Castle. Castle?" He was still deep into looking over his books and real scrolls. Kate joined him. "Find anything?"
"So far I've found a lot. What is all of it? I don't know yet. Did I hear you say Mad Scientist?" Rick wasn't really listening.
"Yes, he has a lab right out of one of those Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons. He's making something here. As to what's on the roof," Kate shrugged, "I don't know."
She watched Rick finally pull down a book, look at the binding, and then open it. He immediately realized he had a problem. "I can't read this." He flipped through the pages. "I think it's talking about a town based on this map. But I can't read it. If all of these are like these we've got trouble." Rick kept looking until frustrated beyond measure, he put it back.
Kate managed to pull him away from his books literally and showed him the rest of the room. "Mad Scientist or at least a chemist. This is a lot of ingredients." Floor to ceiling around arrow slots with several shelves halfway around the room.
"So where are they? Why leave it like this?" Kate questioned him.
Rick had an idea about that. "You know that mound out front? The one with the big heavy wood door that actually is locked. What if that space is a mausoleum? He buried his wife and child there and then just left. Wanted to get away before he killed himself from the pain?"
Kate thought about that and it did fit. "You're thinking of staying."
"It's a house. No one else has found it or decided to stay. It's invisible, so maybe they didn't see it and left. Nothing was here. We have food hopefully. Just need water and other things. It feels safe." Rick had made up his mind.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
It is one week later
Kate was on the second floor in what they were calling the living room. It was also where the two bedrooms were located. She had been sleeping in one bedroom while Rick got the big bed.
Last night, however, they had both felt that same need as when they had found themselves here. She needed him and he needed her. Much like last time it had started out as a 69 that ended up with him fucking her. She had followed that up by giving him a blowjob and found that she loved his taste.
She had also smelled that now familiar smell. She was guessing it was him, and she loved it. If anything it made her want him, need him, even more. She still couldn't believe the size of his Cock. It stretched her nearly perfectly. She was just a touch sore from last night this morning but not bad.
She was sitting down here knowing Castle was upstairs going through one or more books. He was positive there was something in there. She hoped there was but that wasn't what had her down here fighting against herself.
Kate wiped away the tears and pounded the table. She was doing this! Her mind made up, she stood up and went outside to climb the stairs, and go upstairs. Even today they still couldn't see the tower from the outside. It was still only when they set foot on that first step that they saw anything.
Kate found him in one of the two chairs that was up here. He had a book in hand and those reading glasses he had found were perched on his nose. Lucky for him, those little specs of glass were magical and he could read anything. Kate was learning just how fast a reader he really was.
"Castle?" She needed him to stop and talk to her.
"This place is amazing! If I'm right that thing on the roof is a portal to places. I don't know how to make it work yet but this fellow did. He's written entire books about places. This one is about a small town called Berm. Population of eight hundred. The leader is the Lord Sheriff. Just eighteen full time guards and eighty possible conscripts. It's on the coast with a port. There's a waterfall and a small stream going out to the ocean. This place is amazing." Rick was loving these books. He was learning all kinds of things.
"Hey!" Kate had snatched the book from him.
"I need to talk to you," Kate insisted.
"You saw someone? Problem with the horses?" They had solved the water problem for them. Still, all they had for food was the grasses in this area. They didn't have a solution for that yet. They didn't even ride them anywhere.
Kate left him and dropped his book on a table. She pulled the only other chair around to face him and sat down. "I know I don't talk about myself. I don't tell people what I'm thinking. I'm trying to hide. You remember when we were waiting to find out if we were going to die from radiation?" Rick nodded.
"The time we nearly froze to death?" Kate saw him nod again. "I was ready to tell you something but something or someone always stopped me. I was trying to tell you… I wanted to tell you…" Kate was still finding it difficult. "I love you." There. She had told him finally.
However, Castle just sat there. "Say something." He wasn't saying anything.
"You're dating Josh. You chose him. You told me he came back and you two had a chance. I wake up in an ambulance with you in his arms. You're in his arms on the fourth floor. You two are always together. Always in his arms.
"Forgive me, but you're lying." Rick got up and stalked over the door to leave the room and find somewhere else to be.
"Castle!" Kate called after him. However, she sat there and felt tears welling up. He was rejecting her. "RICK!" Kate was up and ran through the doorway and raced down the stairs to see if he stopped in the living room. Then down to the kitchen. She doubted he was in the walk-ins and so she ran outside but didn't see him.
"RICK, PLEASE!" She had made herself ready and Rick was rejecting her.
Finally she saw him in the stables with the horses, looking them over. At least he hadn't run too far.
Kate got close enough to talk to him. "Rick, I know you don't believe me. I haven't given you cause to. I want to try and explain. If you'll listen." Kate watched him continue looking over the horse but at least he didn't run away this time.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate had him in the kitchen and was sitting across from him but she had his hands in hers. "Do I need to explain again? I know it hurts. You scared the crap out of me. No one has ever gotten as close to me as you did. You know more about me than even my dad does.
"I've been trying to find a way to keep you close but not too close. We were radioactive and I was ready to tell you then we were told we could go. I was trying to tell you in the freezer.
"Then Josh showed up and I fell back to the only thought I had. Keep you and not lose you, but not too close. Now we're lovers. All there is, is you. I'm not trying to hide any longer," Kate told him as she kept trying to reach him.
"Seeing you with Demming hurt. You froze me out of that case. Then you outright lied to me about not having any vacation time when you did. Run off to some cheezy little beach cottage for a week. The woman you're falling in love with doesn't want you.
"I spent long hours debating if I should come back at all. If you wanted Demming so badly you could have him. You simply replaced him with Josh. I was getting the message. I wasn't wanted, wasn't needed, and shouldn't be here.
"If we found and stopped the bomb, I was gone. Message received loud and clear." Rick wouldn't even look at her. That had Kate resting her head on the table while still holding onto his hands.
Kate sat up since she had reached a conclusion. She was going to do this. Kate got to her feet and pulled Rick with her. "We've been making love because I think we have to because we're Demons. This time I want to. I want you to make love to me. Don't fuck me, make love to me. I don't care about Josh." Kate pulled him to his bedroom so she could make love to him.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
For the next week Kate slept with Rick in his bed. She was consciously trying to call him Rick when it was personal. Otherwise, he was still Castle. She was finding he was doing the same thing. Usually she was Beckett but on occasion she was Kate.
Rick yelled down the stairs, "BECKETT! COME UP HERE!" and retreated to his chair. He waited and soon heard her charging up the stairs.
"What, babe?" She didn't even notice that she had a new name for him and neither did Rick because he was too excited over what he had learned.
"This look familiar?" Rick showed her a drawing of the thing on the roof. "It's called a Portal. Think of it as a doorway to a wormhole or maybe a Star Trek transporter.
"If you know how to use it you can use it to go certain places. That little town I showed you earlier is one of them. Little Berem." Rick showed her the drawing again. "This place way in the back. It's a long skinny tower with a portal at the top and a spiral staircase around it. Sound familiar?" Rick turned his head to look up at her and smiled.
"Can you make it work? Will it get us home?" Kate felt a surge of hope.
Rick broke it to her. "Not yet. I need to read some more. But we can start with Berem. Give what you found a try and see if it works on them too."
"That's something." Kate looked at all the books and scrolls he needed to read to get them home. He might be a fast reader but there were hundreds of books and scrolls for him to read. And even then it might not work.
Kate had found that she could change her form. Rick had seen her not looking like a Demon and wanted to know how she did that. Now they were trying it on each other to see if they could hide from each other. So far the answer was yes. She looked like human Kate and he looked like human Rick.
Now they just needed to see if it worked on everyone else.
However, there was still one major change between them. Now that Kate had admitted to herself and to him that she loved him, they made love daily. Each was learning that the other was the single best lover either had ever had in their lives.
Rick loved the taste of her pussy and willingly ate her pussy till she nearly passed out. Then he got to fuck her and listen to her scream out her orgasms.
Kate loved the feel and taste of him and wanted to taste his Cum and feel him climax inside her. The feel of having that massive, magnificent Cock pounding her pussy was like nothing she had ever felt before.
To lay there and let him hold her after having more orgasms in just one love making than she'd had in months with anyone. She was finally learning just what being in love with him and willing to admit what it could do to her. Just what she had done to herself.
"Babe? Do you still think my mother had something to do with this?" Kate was resting her head on his chest.
"If you have a better idea, I'm all ears. If you're questioning why she couldn't just drop us here if this is where she wanted us to go, I'm back to thinking there were limits in what she wanted. The cost was just too high. So she gets us as close as she could and hopes we find it.
"We came really close to passing this place by following that trail and river. If you mean what else does she have in mind? I guess we'll see if we can keep our hearts, eyes, and minds open to what is possible.
"I'm really beginning to think we're not even close to home. Magic items, magic portals. This place is different," Rick told her. "Do you have doubts that she's involved?" Rick looked down at her head on his chest.
"It's hard to believe. Except one of Mom's favorite sayings was that life never gives you anything you can't handle. This is just a lot to handle." Kate heard and felt Rick suddenly chuckle. She snuggled closer and smiled.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Kate had been working the last weeks, months really, taking the clothes that had been left behind and trying to tailor them so that they fit each of them better. Kate realized that the woman that lived here before was shorter than her so it was a challenge. Rick had much broader shoulders than he did, so another challenge.
"Not bad, Kate." Rick flexed his muscles and moved his arms.
"Thanks, it wasn't easy to sew these outfits together by hand." She wasn't the greatest seamstress. "Maybe we can buy real clothes?"
"I've got all those gems and half the copper and half the silver coins. That should get us something. Ready to give this a try?" He meant open the Portal and go see the town of Berem. It was the one he knew how to reach.
"Ready." Kate adjusted her longsword just in case. "How do I look?" Kate spun.
"Like a human." Rick smiled at her and led her up the stairs to the roof.
Kate watched him recite the words from memory and run his hands over certain sections of the arch and in an instant it got cloudy. "Is it supposed to look like that?" Kate questioned him. She was more than a little worried.
Rick shrugged. "Looks like clouds to me. Might be fog."
"Oh, and we can come back and not end up trapped there?" Kate didn't want to live there. She liked it here. It wasn't her apartment in New York City but it was nice.
"Got it all up here." Rick tapped his temple and reached out for Kate to take his hand. They walked through and found themselves surrounded by clouds. Thankfully, there were stairs going down on the outside of the tower just like theirs.
Once they got low enough to get out of the clouds they could finally see the town. It was clearly a coastal town though it looked more like a large lake. Directly below them was a very large stone building. A pair of large buildings. A number of smaller buildings. A mountain was on one side and the lake the other. On the far side was a wall and a single gate. Out beyond the wall was farmland and houses.
"Eight hundred people, you say." Kate could see it from here.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
Walking around the open marketplace they managed to ask questions as they walked. And they also bought fresh produce and put it in bags. The town was indeed called Berem. It was next to the lake of Katmara. They were in a land called Faerûn.
"Ever heard of this Faerûn?"Kate asked Rick softly.
"Not a thing about it. This area is certainly green, though. Even the mountain is covered in trees and the farmland was expansive," Rick said.
"We still need clothes. Maybe they can tell us more," Kate suggested since this reminded her of her old job. Just without a dead body.
The town had a Temple to someone called Silvanus. Not that that helped them much.
Just inside Berem's outermost wall they found a school that was inside its own walled area with a playground out front. But there were no kids outside at this hour. Across the way was an Inn. They found the smithy and the barracks for the eighteen man army. So far it was all humans.
They had food and clothes so back up the hill they went toward the tower that reached up into the clouds. Low clouds today. Halfway up Kate stopped to look again. Mostly to rest her legs. It was a lot of steps.
True to his word Rick knew the way back home. Kate took the produce down to the kitchen after dropping off the clothes in their bedroom.
"What are you planning to do now?" She was thinking he wanted to find another town or larger city to visit.
"I want to see if I can find anything about this God Silvanus," Rick replied. "That town didn't strike me as an evil place but I suppose one can never tell."
"Good luck." He still had a lot of books and scrolls to look through.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
It is two weeks later
They were still making love daily and Kate was very happy. Now, though, she was in search of Rick because she had a question. She started with the library and found him deep inside a scroll.
"Hey, babe. I'm thinking we need to think about getting the horses something else to eat," Kate told him. "Hay, grain, something. All this grass can't be good for them. Where are the vitamins?" He wasn't paying any attention to her. "What are you reading about?"
"Hm?" He looked up at her. "Oh! Silvanus," Rick replied. "He's considered a God. I think something like all those Roman Gods. He was chiefly concerned with nature itself, specifically wild nature, in both its natural beauty and fierce savagery. Caring very little for maintaining a proper balance with civilization, being wrathful toward those who threaten wild places.
"Silvanus did not have many allies, nor did he have many enemies. Seems he was all about the balance of nature itself. Didn't really care about people or monsters."
"Monsters? Like those Hyenas with two legs?" Kate asked him.
"I haven't yet read anything about that yet, but I suspect so. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto," Rick said with a smile that was directed at her.
"No, we're not. You have your books but we need to find something for me to do. I can't sit around here doing nothing. You have the only glasses to read all this stuff." Kate waved her hand at all that was on this floor.
"There is that Lab and all those ingredients. I'll let you have the glasses and you can learn to make something," Rick offered. "There has to be something here that will teach you. Teach you how to use the Portal and go back to Berem and actually search it. Maybe there's something there. If you really have to you can fly up to the Portal and come home. Then we never go back again."
Kate looked around at the Laboratory equipment and all those ingredients against the wall. "I suppose." It wasn't her thing, but maybe. "What do I make?"
"Moonshine comes to mind," Rick said and got smacked in the back of his head. "Fine, be serious. You see that container full of thin tubes. We have two of those with a liquid inside them. Maybe you can find out what those are and make more or others.
"Instead of being a cop, be a…"
Kate beat him to it. "Mad Scientist." Kate laughed till finally she changed her laugh to an Evil Mad Scientist laugh.
"Learn how to turn Bugs Bunny into a vicious bear," Rick joked with her.
"Right!" Kate knew that wasn't happening but it did give her something to do. Maybe she could make something and they could sell it in town. Rick wasn't bringing in any money.
{í}|{ìí}|{ì}
One week later
Kate raced down the stairs after coming home from Berem. "BABE!"Kate ran inside and Rick was in his usual space reading. They really did need to find a different city to visit. Berem was nice but it was TINY.
"Babe. I got a job!" Kate almost didn't believe it. That got Rick's attention. "Berem has an Alchemist. He doesn't have this." Kate waved at their Lab. "But he does make things. He calls them potions. Now real potions, I learned, are magical potions. That Temple makes potions that can heal wounds. Something called a Mage can make magical potions. But he doesn't make those. His are more herbal.
"However, he knows of a Wizard place in a city called Westgate. Sixty-nine thousand strong. Basically travel up the lake and out through a canal into The Dragonmere which is part of the Sea of Fallen Stars. He makes real potions. All you have to do is find us a way to get there." It was obvious that Kate was actually interested.
"I'll learn how to make herbal potions and maybe learn how to make magical potions," Kate told him, sounding excited.
"Oh, is that all?" Rick looked at all his books and scrolls. Most of which he hadn't even touched yet.
"Read faster." Kate bent down to kiss him. "I love you." Kate went outside and ran down the stairs to their bedroom. She needed to figure out what to wear for her new job.
"Now she tells me." Rick rolled his eyes. Then it hit him. "YOU LOVE ME!?" She almost never said that. "I LOVE YOU, TOO!" Rick yelled back at her.
"Read faster." Rick looked at all he had. That was going to take a long time.