Love

Chapter 17

It had been two days since she'd returned from Silverymoon and the scrolls were still in the captain's cabin. Kate, dressed in her nightshirt, was down in the kitchen. "Okay Hot Stuff, light up just this one for me, please." She tapped one of the smaller burner lids, pulled down a skillet, and set it on it. She got out a bowl and stirred together some powder, a beaten egg, a little cooking oil, evaporated milk, and what was in the tiny can.

She stopped stirring, let a drop of water fall into her pan, and watched it sizzle before evaporating. "That's great, Hot Stuff. Thank you." She hadn't really like the name Castle had given him so she'd given him a new one. Besides she was doing most of the cooking. She knew how to thanks to her mother. It was just that she had never really been into it or felt that she had the time. Now she had lots of time since she didn't have a job anymore.

Kate poured a little oil in the skillet and didn't see Castle walk into the space, however, she did hear him sit down. "What are you making?"

"Pancakes, blueberry pancakes with real blueberries. If what was in the tiny can inside the box are real." They certainly looked real to her.

"How are you coming on your wording?" This was the most important part.

Kate silently pointed to the parchment on the table. That was another thing she wished she'd thought of. How was she to know that this place didn't have real paper or ballpoint pens? Oh they had pens and ink. It was just that they were quill pens made from feathers and bottles of ink.

Rick picked it up and started reading. He had warned her that the Miracle spell needed to be precise. She couldn't use the word AND because that would end the beginning of her sentence and ruin the spell. Also she needed to get her wording perfect. The spell didn't know what you meant, it only knew what you said.

"OH! You mean like if I wish for one hundred bucks I'll get one hundred male deer." She'd seen a commercial like that years ago.

"If I understand you correctly, yes," Rick had answered.

He was studying what she'd written: I wish my body was completely healthy, free of anything that will cause me harm to the point where all of my body is in perfect physical shape. That was her third attempt at writing it. He'd rejected the first one. "Don't restrict it to cancer. That might not be the only thing that's affecting your body." That had caused her to write a second one only to have her scrape it off the parchment herself.

"Better, much better. Keep thinking about it. Give it another week. We only have the one scroll," he said as he watched her ladle some batter into the pan then flip it shortly thereafter.

She glanced at Rick with a perplexed look on her face."I still don't understand why the priestess just gave me all this."

"You're sure you didn't recognize her? Not some long lost relative or something?" he asked her yet again.

"No. Why would I know anyone in that city? I still don't understand just where I was." Kate ladled more batter into the skillet. "And this ring." She held up her hand to show it to him again.

"That's a very powerful ring." Castle knew that much.

"You're telling me." She removed her pancake and added more batter. "I suddenly knew what it could do. I still can't believe half of it. It's just a ring." How could something that was a simple ring do what it could do?

Ring of Winter

The Ring augments the powers of all other magical items that remain within ten feet of it for more than ten days. The longer the exposure, the more the powers increase.

While wearing the Ring, the bearer does not age, effectively conferring immortality if the Ring is never taken off.

The Ring can alter the climate in large areas, plunging temperatures below freezing and creating large amounts of ice and snow. It can emit a triple-sized wall of ice in a minute, raise a pillar of ice ten feet across that rises forty feet upward per minute, or spray paralyzing frost on all beings within a sixty-foot-radius sphere in a minute.

The Ring can also bring an ice sphere into being around an item or creature. This sphere transfers protective warmth to the interior while emitting intense cold from its exterior with effects equal to a cone of cold on all beings within ten feet of the outer surface. The sphere is armor score four and can withstand fifty-six points of damage in one place before shattering. It suffers double damage from all heat and flame related attacks.

The Ring can also create ice spikes ten feet tall, heal its wielder, fashion animated, creature like constructs of ice (including flying ice birds large enough to carry man-sized beings aloft in their claws), and emit large and powerful arms of ice that can grip or strike with the same power as a Bigby's crushing hand.

The Ring can shatter metal with its cold or create ice armor in precise areas and amounts, fashioning manacles, shields balanced to a particular user, or collars. The wielder can create a rapier, dagger, or other piercing weapon of ice (equal to the normal weapon, save that all damage is increased due to chilling cold) or conjure icy gusts of wind that can pick up and hurl man-sized or smaller beings around. With some practice, the Ring-wearer can fashion slippery ice sheets to aid in moving stone blocks or create ice pillars, braces, and even stairs.

"She must have known you somehow. No one just gives away something that powerful." Rick still didn't understand. He was a demon and got everything he had the hard way, by either working for it or stealing it. Not that stealing anything was all that easy.

"Here, try them." Kate set a plate of pancakes on the table in front of him. "Put a little butter on each one. This is maple syrup. You can use a little or drown them." She turned back to her own plate, sat down across from him, and used the butter after he was done, drowning her pancakes in sweet, mapley deliciousness after Castle was done pouring some on his.

Rick took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. "Interesting."

"Good interesting or bad interesting?" She had more boxes of pancake mix somewhere down in storage.

"Good enough." He kept eating, trying to taste each little part of it as he finished all of it.

Kate had hoped for a little more enthusiasm, but she took it as a victory. Maybe tomorrow she would try banana nut muffins. But she had something she wanted to talk about now.

"Castle…how long will you live?" It suddenly meant a lot to her. Especially if she was going to live forever if she kept the ring on her finger.

"Demons live a long time barring violent death. The Abyss can be a very dangerous place. Every demon wants to increase his standing. It's a matter of pride and safety, you know? The more important you are, the safer you are. At least until your master decides it's time to conquer another level of the Abyss."

That really didn't answer her question, though based on what she knew about the ring, she was never going to die. Her real fear was that she would age and get older and older, yet never die. If that was the case she would take the stupid thing off and let herself finally pass from this life.

"Does your master control more than one level?" How powerful and evil was he? Even more importantly, did he have the ability to hunt them down?

Rick nodded. "He presently has control over two layers. The 56th level and the 67th level."

Kate tilted her head a little. "That's ten levels' difference. Can he do that?" She was expecting him to say 55th or 57th, not the 67th.

"Yes, he can," he affirmed. "It doesn't work like you're thinking, though. It's not that hard to get from one level to another."

Kate tried to think about that. How they did things here usually escaped her understanding. "Were you involved in the takeover?" Had he fought with everyone else? How close had he come to being killed?

"I was. It took my master weeks to complete the takeover. Everyone from the new level who didn't pledge their loyalty to him was killed. The original master of that level tried to recapture it, however, he lacked the support to defeat my master. We fought for days and days to capture it and keep it. My master tends to split his time between the two levels now."

Wars were bad no matter where you were. She decided she didn't need to know how many people he had killed in support of his master. Even if they were all demons and evil.

There was one thing she was interested in. "Rick, will you show me what you really look like?" She was certain he didn't really look like he appeared to her now. It probably involved magic somehow.

He instantly rejected her request. "Not a good idea."

"I'm not running away. Where would I run to, anyway?" She was effectively trapped there unless she wanted to take her chances in the Astral Plane…all alone.

"You don't understand. If I allow you to see what I look like you may not like it. Once you see the real me the illusion of what you see will be lost. You need to be sure, Kate," Rick warned.

That got her to thinking. She was in love with him, but was part of that love what she saw? It wasn't all but would she love him less if she didn't like what she saw? "I'll think about it." She decided she could wait.

"I'm going to go take a shower. …Care to join me?" She gave him a come-hither smile and arched her eyebrows a couple of time. She was thinking they could have some fun while showering together.

"As enjoyable as that might be, I need to go to three different Elemental Planes today. I need to feed our friends. By the way…Hot Stuff?" He arched an eyebrow at her!

She immediately defended her choice. "I like it. Besides I'm the one doing most of the cooking and he responds to it better." Then she cupped her hand beside her mouth. "I think he finds the name hot," she whispered across the table. She thought it boosted his ego a little. He was really young, after all.

Rick conceded the argument and got up. "I need to collect a few things before I go. Even I can't survive coming in contact with what two of them need." The fire was too hot and the cold was too cold. Water was just water and wasn't a problem.

"Just be safe. I know you have a ring but I don't want you hurt." Kate liked him just the way he was.

"I'll do my best. It's usually perfectly safe. Enjoy your shower." He got up and went down into the storage area to collect what he needed before Jumping to the first Elemental Plane.

Kate went over to the stove after rinsing everything and putting them in the sink. Then she tapped the top of the stove. "Get ready to heat up the water in the pipes for me, Hot Stuff." She was thankful that she didn't have to suffer through cold showers.

.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.

Rick had come and gone after feeding Hot Stuff. Kate was trying to decide whether to wash the dishes or do something else. There was one thing about this ship that she didn't like: there wasn't a room with exercise equipment. She couldn't work out if there wasn't any equipment. But that didn't mean she couldn't find a mat and do her yoga on the upper deck where there was lots of space. After all, she needed to remain flexible. Castle loved to bend parts of her body while he made love to her. She was betting one of these times her feet really would touch her head while he fucked her.

.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.

Rick was finally done and had just finished feeding the little elemental in the water tank. He'd also turned on the dispenser to fill it since it was looking a little low. Then he went looking for her.

He found her up on the main deck wearing almost nothing. What she was doing escaped him. He was momentarily interested in going down to join her and convince her into a little sex. He really enjoyed seeing that much skin. He also enjoyed her touch immensely.

He chose to go up to the bridge instead. With all of the sails down he could see most of the main deck anyway. Plus he could use the window to zoom in on her and watch that way.

.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.

Rick was loving watching her, but it was causing the beginning of an erection. He shook his head. No other woman had ever had this effect on him. There was something special about Kate. It only reinforced his desire to never lose her.

He needed to do what he came up there for, so he started walking from window to window, adjusting the view so he could see far out past the last of the asteroids, if he could. He still didn't know just how big the field was. Something like this field was far and few between. The Astral Plane was usually filled with a whole lot of nothing.

Then he saw movement and it had him zooming out as far as he could. "SHIT!" What he saw was possibly real trouble. He moved over to the window where he could see Kate. "KATE! Go down to our room and put on your combat gear. The stuff you wore to the city and come up here. NOW! And bring me my sword." He watched her stop what she was doing.

"WHY?" Kate yelled back at him.

He wanted to bellow, "BECAUSE I SAID SO!" But instead he hollered, "There's trouble!" He didn't wait to see if she did what he asked. He went back to watching what he'd seen.

He was still watching it when he finally heard her stomping up the stairs to reach the bridge. "What?" She wanted to know what was so damn important that she had to get into all this gear again. It took time, it was constrictive and she wasn't a fan of it at all. Granted it was all the magical gear she owned and thanks to that woman at the Temple it was even more powerful now. She just didn't know how powerful it was before it had been changed. Let alone how powerful they were now.

Rick pointed at the window. "That."

Kate handed him his sword and looked out the window. What she saw was a ship. Except it wasn't just a ship, it looked about the size of a battleship. Granted she didn't have anything to compare it to to get a size. Though considering how many sails it had, it had to be big.

"Who is that?"

"Remember when I told you that the Githyanki are just one of the races that travel the Astral Plane and live here? Well, this is one of them. Each of the three hate the other," he said grimly.

Kate thought about it for a moment. "Great, and here we are in a Githyanki ship and I'm wearing nothing but Githyanki gear. How bad?" Just how much trouble were they in?

"That's a Mind Flayer heavy combat ship. It might have only a dozen Mind Flayers on board, but the others – hundreds of others – are races that they have fight for them. I'm not going to lie to you, it's bad." They were outnumbered and outgunned.

"Mind Flayer?" She'd never heard of them before, which wasn't a real surprise.

"Mind Flayers can control a person, especially a human. Think of it as mind control. They'll force you to come to them. They have these…tentacles under their chin. Once you're close they place your head under their chin. Their tentacles wrap around your head and they then draw your brain out of your head, devouring it. It's painful in the extreme," he explained with a grimace.

"OH, SWELL!" Kate was sure she didn't like the sound of any of that. "What do we do?" They had a ship, could they run away? Since fighting that thing looked like suicide to her.

"They're too big to enter this field. The rocks are too close together. They're probably doing what we are doing…looking." At least Rick hoped they were too big.

"We're parked right next to one. Maybe they won't see us." Maybe they blended into the rock well enough not to be seen.

.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.=.o[X]o.=.x{O}x.

They'd been watching for about an hour. "Castle, they're lowering their sails," Kate called out. Rick was looking out other windows to see if there was more than one. He wanted to make sure this ship wasn't just a decoy while other ships sneaked in and attacked whoever they found. Hearing that, he joined her to watch.

Concerned, she asked, "See anything else?"

"So far it's just them. What worries me is why they stopped. They're obviously too big to enter, so what are they up to?" Rick tried to think what they were after besides simply searching the field. "I'm going back to looking around. Keep your eyes on them." He was starting to feel more and more like it was a trap.

"Would your master use these…these Mind Flayers to hunt you down?" Was he the reason behind this?

Rick shook his head, not that Kate could see him. "He would send a powerful demon to capture me if he was angry enough. No, not Mind Flayers." It definitely wasn't his master.

She saw movement. "Castle!"

Rick hurriedly joined her. They both watched for a few minutes. "Scout ships. Easily small enough to sweep this entire field." They were about to be spotted.

"It's not a battleship." As if that wasn't bad enough. "It's a damn carrier!"

He stated the obvious, "We're in trouble."

"You think?!" Kate was sure it was big trouble.

Rick, however, was well ahead of what Kate was thinking. "We see them. They use scouts to flush whoever's in here out. Straight into waiting ships that we haven't spotted yet." It was a perfect plan.

"OH SHIT! It's a damn trap and we're in it." Kate saw it now and didn't like it one bit. "Now what?" Could they fight the scout ships, win, and stay?

"We run and find out just how fast this Githyanki ship really is. I hope you know how to use that thing." Rick meant her foil that was at her hip.

"Screw that thing." Kate ran from the bridge and down to the captain's cabin so she could retrieve her .38 special, six of her dozen loaded speed loaders, and plenty of extra ammunition that went in empty pockets. If she was going to fight, she was going to fight with what she was best at using.