CHAPTER 4

Sarah kept on riding with both horses. She camped in a tight forest area and was surrounded by nothing but trees. It was pretty dense so Sarah made camp and staked Midnight near her tent and wished for a day's worth of wood and rocks for her fire. She wished for a bucket of water that never freezes, stays clean and never runs out with a bale of hay for her horses. She filled her pots up with water and started a fire to get cooking. Once she ate and wished the area secure she sat in the tent and went through everything from the robbers and tossed the stuff to be pitched in the one corner by her feet. There were three whole big bags of jewelry, three jewelry boxes, 2,328 gold, 103 silver, 34 coppers. They had a twenty six hour gold pocket watch with a chime alarm in it on a gold heavy chain. Sarah kept that. She would have to go through the jewelry later. She filled one of the large saddle bags with four bags of gold coins, two on each side. Sarah had the rest in a bag of coins on her belt. Sarah wished the pile of unwanted things to disappear to people who needed them. She was able to find room for everything else. She laid down and got some sleep.

—--

Jareth rounded up 48 bounty hunters and sent eight of them to each kingdom to find a fae woman named Sarah with green eyes and dark brown hair. He said if they defile her in any way they would pay with their lives. He gave them each a crystal to contact him and sent them through a portal to each kingdom.

—--day 9

Sarah woke up, went to the bathroom and started making breakfast. She has what the bakery calls breakfast cakes. They had dried fruit and chopped nuts in a dense little cake. She had it with tea. When she was done packing up, she saddled the horses and tied everything down to her horse. Sarah left the extra horse with another farmer on the way to the city of Bláth.

She spotted a place to camp by another farm. She setup camp and went foraging for wood. Sarah was dragging branches to the campsite and happened to look back behind her and there was a fuzzy very tiny long haired gray kitten with white feet and a black tiny fluffy kitten with a white spot on his chest. The babies were following, trying to catch the branch they couldn't be very old. They toddled and wobbled. Sarah kept going because she was almost there. The kittens stayed with her chasing the branch.

She put the wood down and said, "Where did you two come from, little ones?" She picked up the kittens that couldn't be more than four weeks old. They mewed at her and were licking their paws to get the ice off. Sarah put the kittens inside her cloak to keep them warm.

She said, "You're both too young to be out here. You'll get eaten like an after dinner snack by some ferocious critter."

Sarah started a fire and held the little kittens in her cloak while breaking the branches up. She got a fire going and sat on a mat and started cooking a rabbit she shot with her arrow earlier. It was cut up for all its meat in a plastic bag she had in her gear. She had a small skillet and two small pots. Sarah made tea, barley with cheese and diced carrots, veggies and used the skillet to cook the rabbit meat.

The kittens mewed at all the smells of food. Sarah laughed at them. After dinner, she fed the kittens a little bit of very fine cut up rabbit and wished for a bottle of cat milk with two little rubber nippled bottles that never spoils. It was cute how the kittens wanted to eat with her. She checked both kittens and they were boys. The kittens mewed long and loud. Sarah put them down and they both peed on the ground. She covered it with snow and realized that the kittens would need litter training if she kept them. She got a large leather bag out of her stuff and a washcloth to line it with and a leather lacings she had. Sarah wished the perimeter to be safe from anything coming into it. She crawled into her pallet bed of five blankets. She zipped up the tent. Sarah left her two horses a bucket of water that won't freeze or run out and a bale of hay.

She wished for a 1x2 foot wooden box five inches deep. Sarah also included a quart of sand that never ran out and a scoop with slots 3x4 inches with a ten inch handle. She also wished for a leather bag to fit it in. She set the litter box up at her feet and put the kittens both in it. They both pooped right away and covered it. Sarah praised him. She named them Spooky and Smokey. She laid down and cuddled the kittens under her chin. They all went to sleep.

—--day 10

The next morning, Sarah woke up her lazy kittens and they both stretched and yawned. She smiled at how cute they were. She got on her boots, cloak and put the bag that she made around her neck. The kittens went straight for the litter box and peed. She thought it cute how they did everything together. Sarah put them in the bag inside her cloak with the button on top undone. She unzipped the tent and went to the bathroom out in the woods. She came back to camp and made a fire. Sarah put on two pots of water to boil. She made oatmeal with sugar. She added dried berries and chopped nuts to cook with the oats. Sarah made a sandwich for later and chopped up some of the rabbit with barley mix for the kittens. They ate it inside her cloak on the mat with her legs crossed staying warm inside. Sarah had wished for two small bowls for food and water. Sarah sipped her tea and waited for her oats to cook. She thought that in order to feed the kittens while she rode they would need a bottle of milk for the afternoon meal. Feeding was too hard on horseback. Sarah wished for a jar of fine chopped meat that would not spoil or run out. She filled the two little bottles.

Sarah put the kittens in the bag after they pooped in the box once again. She saddled the horses and packed them up. She rode off on her horse Midnight, with the other horse in tow. As the day wore on she stopped for a break and ate her sandwich with Spooky and Smokey getting bottle fed milk. They tasted her sandwich. They all went to the bathroom outside and rode on.

Before the evening set in, Sarah spotted a cave in a rock outcropping. Sarah wished it was uninhabited by all manor of creatures and animals. She went in and found it big enough for the horses and herself. She led the horses inside and started a fire for light. Sarah set up the horses with a trough and a bale of hay. She unpacked and unsaddled them. She also wished for a day's worth of wood stacked by the wall with rocks to bank her fire.

Sarah settled in and started cooking. She had dry meat and made a cheese mushroom barley mixture with dry meat. The cave warmed up nicely and the snow started to fall outside. Sarah played with Spooky and Smokey and brushed down the horses. She whiles away the hours until it was time to sleep. Sarah secured the cave with a wish and cuddled up with her bedmates.

—--day 11

Sarah woke up in the morning and her kittens were licking her ear and her nose. She giggled. She got up and peed outside of the cave. Sarah went back in and made breakfast for everyone. She gave Midnight and the horse a carrot and an apple for breakfast. She fed the kittens meat mixed with milk. Sarah ate a breakfast cake with a cup of tea. Sarah packed up the horses and was on her way.

She was making good time during her ride and got into the city at twilight. She looked for an inn that looked good. Sarah passed up a couple and found one that looked nice. It had a stable next door. Sarah dismounted and took her belongings into the inn and got a room for seven nights from the fae male innkeeper. She dropped off her baggage and cast a security spell on the room. She went next door to the stables and sold the horse for ten gold to the blacksmith and unsaddled her stallion. Sarah patted him and kissed his nose.

She went to the inn and straight to her room locking herself in. She put the bag on the bed and the kittens sprang out on the bed. Sarah took off her belt and cloak and set up the litter box and pulled the blankets out to the floor. She picked up both kittens and plopped them down in the litter box. They went to the bathroom.

Sarah made up a bowl of water she kept on the floor away from the litter box. She fed the kittens the meat mixed with milk. And she played with them for a while until they got tired. Sarah put them in her bag around her neck. She made a wish and changed her eye color to blue and her hair to dark blonde. It looked odd to Sarah looking in a mirror to have lighter eyebrows and hair. She donned her cloak and belt and went downstairs to get dinner.

The male fae innkeeper was a tall man with dark blonde hair and green eyes. He was dressed in a white linen shirt and with a brown cloth vest on and brown leather pants. He was handsome. Sarah sat at the counter and he approached her and asked, "What do you need?"

She said, "A meal and wine." She put a silver coin down. He took it and gave her two coppers back. He brought her a roasted chicken dinner with root vegetables and greens. Sarah ate and the kittens popped up mewing. The innkeeper was surprised.

Sarah said to them, "You eat your food and mine too? People will think I starve you." She cut off two tiny pieces of chicken and fed a bit to each of them and they popped back in. Sarah shook her head and smiled as she continued eating. The innkeeper had seen many things but not a traveler with two kittens around his neck. He was curious because most fae don't concern themselves with animals.

The innkeeper said, "Where are you from?"

Sarah said, "Very far away."

The innkeeper chuckled and said. "Figured that. You talk differently and have manners. I ask myself, what is a fae doing with two kits around his neck?"

Sarah said, "Perhaps my people like animals. They don't leave little ones to die in the snow. Besides, I am a woman in disguise for protection. I am probably not like anyone else."

The fae man chuckled and said, "You're probably right." Sarah was done eating and drinking. She asked for another wine and took it to her room. She liked this city. It had plumbing. The room was small but it had a tub with hot and cold water, toilet paper, a sink, and toilet. There was a fireplace with a screen and a double size bed. It wasn't fancy but she was glad for the amenities. Sarah put the small chair under the doorknob as always she started a fire and put the screen up. She filled the tub with hot water and strung a rope in her kit to wash her clothes that had accumulated. She pulled them out into a pile. Sarah stripped and got out her bath stuff.

She was tired but going to relax in the hot water. She soaked and was going over everything that had happened so far. Sarah knew Jareth wouldn't just give up. He was as willful as she was. She refused to be any man's prisoner. He was so kind at first and by the next day changed into a jerk. She has always been attracted to him but was not going to bend to his whim and jump in his bed or marry him happily just because he demands it. No way. Sarah finished her bath, washed her hair and washed her clothes. She put another log in the fireplace and filled up the kitten's water dish. She went to bed, curled up with her little fluffy sweethearts and fell asleep.

—--day 13

Sarah woke up with tiny noses and tongues licking her awake with kisses. She giggled at how adorable they were about waking her up. Their sweet little baby faces made her smile every morning she had them. She got up and got dressed and folded her clothes that were dry. Sarah fed the kittens and got out the three bags of jewelry from the thieves. She started sorting and kept some pieces as she went. She made up five bags of a dozen pieces each. Sarah tied them to her belt underneath her cloak. She was going to the cobbler first to get a fur lined bag for the kittens as they grew.

She went downstairs to get breakfast and sat at the counter. The innkeeper smiled at her and asked, "What can I get you?"

Sarah said, "My name is Haras. Breakfast and tea please. Do you have any honey?" He nodded and went to get it for her. She gave him a silver coin when he came back with her tea and honey.

When he came out with a plate full of eggs, a small steak, fried potato hash and biscuits. He said, "My name is Cyrus." They shook hands. Sarah's food was really good.

Sarah said, "You have a good cook." He liked the compliment most people just eat and leave.

He said smiling, "Are you always so polite?"

Sarah said, "I was taught that it's not difficult to be respectful to others because then you respect yourself. It costs nothing to do it." He smiled at her. The kittens popped up mewing.

Sarah said, "You again? You little beggars make me look bad to Cyrus." She gave them licks of yolk off her finger. She patted their heads and then went back down inside the bag. Cyrus chuckled. He thought she was very different from the fae women here in the Underground. He liked her kind demeanor.