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CHAPTER FOUR

After a breakfast of some sort of grain mush, Rick and Kate found themselves on a couple of horses that had lived well beyond their best years. But they were easy going, and paid little attention to the riders now on their backs.

Unfortunately, there was no bow for Kate to borrow. In fact Sadie didn't seem to even know what she'd been talking about.

Once they were pointed in the right direction the two elder horses moved at a simple walk in the direction that Sadie had indicated.

Both Rick and Kate had been on horseback before. Kate had served a short stint with the mounted patrol that served Central Park. And of course, Rick had his stint riding a "borrowed" police mount during an inebriated prank sans his clothing. What could he do? He had been dared.

Both were satisfied that their transportation wasn't in any hurry since it had been years since either had sat a horse. They were okay with the pace set by their mounts.

Sadie had shown them the roadway that left the small village and seemed the only choice the gravely dirt offered was heading straight for a rising plateau that was sandwiched between two significant mountain peaks.

Sadie had packed each a small bag of some trail rations and a couple of apples to bide them over for the day. According to the heavy set woman, if they could keep the horses moving they'd be close to Avoria by nightfall.

They weren't all that thrilled about the long slow ride they had ahead of them. But they needed to get somewhere where there might be someone who could help them get home. Someone like a wizard or sorcerer.

Of course only Rick believed that they would find one. Kate just hoped that someone would know something about that mirror portal that they had come through, and how to find it to get them back.

"Oh my gosh!" Kate suddenly blurted out. Rick's head snapped toward her direction.

Kate held up her hand. "I completely forgot that I'm still wearing my dad's watch."

Rich chuckled. "Since the only person we've seen has been Sadie, I don't think our true identities are in jeopardy. If she noticed it at all, she probably just assumed it was some sort of bracelet."

Kate nodded. "Yeah, I suppose." She glanced up at the sun. "Even though it was high noon here when we went through the mirror, and it was late afternoon at home, it still has helped gauging our time spent her so far." She undid the leather band and shoved the watch into her pocket. "I think it might be best if I keep it out of sight."

Rick grinned at her. "Won't hurt, and you can always take it out and check it if you want to."

The sun was beginning to peek over the peaks of the twin mountains and it looked like it might become fairly warm soon so Kate reached back and pulled her long dark hair into a thick ponytail and fastened it with a hair tie that she always had stuffed into her pocket.

She knew that Rick was probably in pain still, but there wasn't much they could do about his sprain that they already hadn't done. His sword hung over his left hip in the sheath that he had purchased at the same time. The sheath was tied to his belt and it hung fairly well. It would, on occasion when traveling over some more uneven ground, flap around a bit and slap him on the thigh.

As they got ready to leave, Kate seeing some of the trouble Rick was having had Sadie bring her a length of rope that she was able to tie near each end of her walking stick so she could wear it over her shoulder like a bow. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it didn't thump her in the back with every motion of the horse.

Kate couldn't believe how much that Sadie had done for two strangers.

"Castle," she called. He turned toward her. "We are really going to owe Sadie for helping us with all this stuff. I mean, how are we going to get these horses back to her?"

Rick nodded his head. "I know what you're saying. Hopefully, in Avoria someone will know of that village and we could have them bring them back for her."

Kate, not having the greatest faith in people in general, just rolled her eyes. "Of course, we are hoping that if we did they wouldn't just steal the horses for themselves. And this also assumes that we will find a way to get back home."

Rick just nodded. "I'm confident that we'll come up with a way to get back home."

Kate shook her head. "That makes one of us."

The sun had reached its zenith in the sky and both of them were getting more than a bit saddle sore. Kate nudged her horse over closer to Rick.

"I know that Sadie gave you a bag with some kind of trail rations."

He nodded. "Yeah, I've got the bag tied to the back of this saddle. Are you hungry?"

She shook her head. "No, but I'm wondering about water. She didn't include any water in that lunch bag did she?"

Rick shook his head. "No, but it would be kind of peculiar that she'd provide us with food but no water."

"Do you think she just forgot?" Kate extended her hands in a gesture of confusion.

Rick gave her a "look". "Did she seem like someone who'd forget anything?"

Kate shook her head. "No, she didn't."

He pursed his lips for few moments and looked around. "Maybe she didn't bother because she knew we'd run across a supply of water somewhere along the way." He pointed up the mesa they were on toward a small copse of small trees and a few scrawny bushes about a hundred yards off the trail.

It didn't take them long to leave the trail and head for the small patch of vegetation. As Rick had suspected, surrounded by the scrub brush and bushes, was a small pool of water.

Kate stared at the inviting pool. "It's not very big." She shrugged. "It's not too warm around here yet, but I'll bet in mid-summer the temperatures can climb pretty high around here. How does it not dry up?"

Rick knelt down next to the edge and cupped his hand in the pool. "It's actually fairly cool." He reached down until he'd gotten his whole shirt sleeve wet. "It's pretty deep too."

Kate leaned over him. "Who knows, it might be connected to some sort of underground stream or river."

Castle nodded. "Or it could be spring fed."

He reached down and took a handful and tested the water. He smirked. "It tastes fine. No metallic after taste and it's cool enough to go down easy."

Kate joined him down by the pool and the two of them drank their fill. Then pushed themselves to drink a bit more, not knowing how much longer they had to go before they have access to more water.

They then let the horses drink their fill and fed them the two apples that Sadie had provided.

Kate helped Rick stand back up and got him over and up on his horse. She then swung herself up onto her horse and they got back on the trail and headed toward what they hoped was Avoria.

The position of the sun indicated that they were now well into the midafternoon and as of yet they hadn't seen another living soul. Not one person coming from the direction of where Avoria was supposed to be. Kate began to wonder if they were going the wrong way.

"Rick, are we going the right direction?" She shot him a concerned frown. "The only living thing that we've run across was that scrawny coyote that we passed after we left the water pool."

He smiled at her. "Well since this is the trail that Sadie set us on, and we haven't seen any other route or trail within eye shot since we left." He pointed straight ahead. "Also, we are headed toward that valley between those two higher mountain peaks. And since we're supposed to be looking for the King of Rock Ridge Castle, it would make sense that we should find such a place nestled within those mountains."

She frowned. "So why haven't we come across any travelers coming this way since we left Sadie at the church?"

Rick chewed his lip. "Well, the little village was abandoned except for Sadie who was left behind as a sort of caretaker until the townsfolk returned. I imagine they all took off for the protection of the castle and the larger city."

Kate glared at nothing. "I suppose so. It's just kind of spooky to not have seen any indication that anyone is, or has been, on this trail for a long time."

He twisted in his saddle as he turned and looked around at the surrounding rocky dirt and occasional scrub brush and a few scraggly undersized trees.

"Maybe this side of the mountains Avoria is the only city of size in this sparsely populated area and the land going the opposite way is where most of the realm's people actually live."

They spent the next several minutes in their own heads. Kate noted that more and more large boulders seemed to be randomly strewn about. It was a definite indicator that they were approaching a more mountainous landscape.

Suddenly they were startled when a thin, lanky man in dirty clothes jumped out from behind a large boulder brandishing a rusty sword. Rick and Kate reigned their horses to a stop.

"Stop right there. Both of you." He tried to present his fiercest expression and he approached the two of them. Kate's experience confronting criminals allowed her to read the scarecrow of a man who was waving his sword at them. He wasn't all that sure of himself.

He forced an angry scowl and after checking out each of them, turned his attention toward Rick.

"I'll be taking your horse, and any food or coin you may have on you." He took one step closer to Rick's mount. "I'll take that fancy sword you got strapped to your waist too."

Rick started laughing. "And why would I do something as stupid as that. I'm not the one staring up at a mounted knight making silly demands."

Both Rick and Kate were able to see that their assailant was starting to lose his temper.

"Oh so you think because you is some big shot knight that I should just bow down and kiss your… whatever kind of boots those are supposed to be." His voice was cracking.

Rick chuckled. "No, not because of that. Because you let your attention stray away from my companion."

The highway man glanced over at Kate just in time to see the knobbed end of her walking stick smack him up the side of the head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes falling off the end of a wagon.

While their robber had focused on exchanging conversation with Rick, Kate had slipped her extra-long Shillelagh from over her back. She was able to lean forward enough to reach him with her weapon of choice.

She looked up at Rick. "So now what do we do with him?"

Rick frowned. "I'm not sure. We don't have any rope to tie him up with and force him to follow us to Avoria on foot. There we could turn him over to the local constabulary."

Kate returned his frown. "It's not like we are known to anyone there. While we are claiming to be knights, we don't exactly look like knights of the realm. Our clothing alone would probably cause us some rigorous questioning."

Rick stared at their unconscious assailant laid out in the middle of the trail.

"What if we just break his sword into pieces and leave him here to fend for himself. We're obviously in a medieval type of land, and even if we didn't have problems with how we're clothed, if they took our word that this man tried to rob us, he possibly would have been put to death." Rick shook his head. "I'm not sure I could do that to someone."

Kate stared ahead, then looked back at Rick. "He was going to leave you here to die alone in this wasteland, if he didn't kill you outright." She blew a loose tendril of hair off her forehead. "And what would he have done with me?"

Rick rolled his eyes. "He'd be really sorry if he tried anything. You would have broken him into little pieces."

Kate shrugged. "He woud have had a sword."

Rick smirked. "Yeah, a lot of good that did him."

Kate nodded. "I'm okay leaving him here sword less. But I think we should also take his shirt off and use it to tie his hands behind his back so he can't use any sort of weapon until he has dragged his sorry ass out of this barren countryside."

Rick was able to get himself down from the horse with only a couple a stabs of pain in his ankle.

Kate frowned at him. "You could have waited a few moments and I'd have come over to help you down."

Rick shrugged. "You can help me back up. I needed to test how tender the ankle still is."

Kate shook her head and grabbed the robber's sword and walked over to the large boulder that he had originally hid behind. She looked around and found a fist sized rock that she used to break the old, rusted sword into several small pieces. She then walked out into barren surroundings and using the handle of the broken sword, dug a hole, and put the sword pieces in it. She then covered it over so no one would accidently come across them. She counted on the windblown sands to quickly cover over her work.

After helping Rick back up into his saddle, they continued their journey toward Avoria. Noting that the sun had moved closer to the western horizon Kate wondered if they'd get there before dark.

To save time, they ate their trail rations in saddle. Kate found herself wishing they would have had some way to bring some water with them from the pool they had stopped at earlier. She wasn't sure how much longer they had before they saw the outskirts of the city, but there little dust up with their robber had given Kate a yearning for a cool drink of water.

After a few more hours, the sun was losing its battle with the approaching western horizon and the twin mountain peaks which pretty much had become their goal.

They had rested the horses for a bit, but Kate wished they were close to another water source as the horses didn't look all that excited to keep plodding along the dusty trail, which was becoming more and more rocky.

They had hope that they would make it to Avoria while there was still some daylight, but now neither felt they would.

"Hey, what's that?" Rick's shout jolted Kate out of her semi-consciousness.

She looked at him and then followed the arm that was pointing ahead of them. She could see what looked like a wagon being pulled by a single horse. There were two people on the bench with one holding onto the reigns and possibly a couple of children in the back.

"What do you know?" Kate grinned at him. "It looks like there might actually be some people using this trail beside us."

She gave her head a look at the country along each side of the trail. As had been true since they left, there was still no evidence of other settlements along the trail.

"I wonder where they are going."

Rick shrugged. "They'll catch up to us pretty soon. Why don't we just ask them?"

She shot him one of the special glares that she used just on him.

Kate followed their progress until they were almost right in front of them. Rick tried to sit up a little straighter in his saddle trying to look more important.

"Good Evening travelers. Did you come from Avoria?"

Kate watched their expressions closely which for the most part were trying to ignore them.

The two children moved toward the side of the wagon and stared at Kate. They whispered to each other as they pointed at Kate and Rick. Then they began to giggle.

The woman, whom Kate assumed was the mother turned around and gave the boy a swat.

"You two hush."

"But momma, they're wearing funny clothes. And they don't have no boots."

The father turned around and scowled at the two kids. "How many times have we told you not to talk to or about strangers?"

Rick had maneuvered his mount to step in front of the horse pulling the wagon, which caused the indifferent horse to stop. The man glared at Rick.

"We don't want no trouble. If you move out of my way, we'll be on our way." The man flailed his arm toward the direction they were headed.

Kate had moved her mount closer to Rick.

"I don't mean to inconvenience you kind sir." The honey was dripping from Rick's tongue. "But I'm not from around here and I just need a little information."

The man just stared at Rick.

"I am Sir Richard Rogers and my companion is Dame Katherine Beckett. We are trying to get to Avoria and Rock Ridge Castle. We were told this was the way."

He never lost the expression of distrust. "It is the only trail to Avoria from the east."

"How much farther is the city?" Kate asked in a gentle voice.

The woman addressed Kate directly, not making eye contact with Rick. "You should be within the cities gates by dark." The woman pursed her lips. "You'd best pick up your pace though. When the sun goes down the gate to the Castle grounds is closed until sunrise the next day."

Kate nodded. "I see. Thank you very much for your help."

The two of them pulled their horses back so the wagon could continue their journey without any hindrance.

The horse drawn wagon began to pull away when Rick and Kate overheard the young boy tell his momma. "That lady was really pretty."

Both Rick and Kate turned their horses back toward the lowering sun in the west.

"It doesn't matter their age, you can captivate any male no matter what his age." She just glared at him.

They hadn't been moving for more than a few minutes when Kate looked over at Rick.

"We came from the east. And except for the village we left from, I don't remember any other villages along the way or any trail that might have led toward one."

Rick nodded back at her. "I know what you're saying. I was having the same thoughts."

Kate scrunched up her face. "You don't think they are planning to travel during the night do you?"

Rick shrugged. "I couldn't tell you."

Kate looked over her shoulder. "What if they would have run into that lame robber we ran into? He wasn't much, but he had a sword."

Rick came closer to Kate until he could reach over and take her hand. "Remember, we are strangers here. I would have to assume that the family has made the trip to Avoria and back many times before. Did you notice all the sacks in the back of their wagon?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't pay a lot of attention to their cargo."

Rick nodded. "Well I would guess there would have been flour, and other food stuffs that couldn't be grown wherever they were from. And if that's true they've done this before."

Kate just shook her head. "Are you saying that highway robbers are a rare occurrence that we just lucked into?"

Rick chuckled at Kate's annoyance. "It wouldn't be the first time we had such luck." He grinned at her. "I did notice that the woman had something that looked like a cap and ball pistol hidden in the folds of her dress. I'm guessing that they know what might be possible on their long trips for supplies and come prepared."

As they made a little more space between the horses as they moved on their way, Rick could just hear Kate mumbling. He laughed.

"What are you mumbling about?"

She gave him a quick huff. "I just said, I'll never complain about going out to the Quickie Mart late at night again."

They had continued their journey toward Avoria in silence for several minutes when Kate suddenly turned toward Rick and brought her horse right up next to him.

"Why don't we have any trouble understanding the people we've met?"

Rick swiveled his head and gave her his attention. "What?"

"We've had interactions with four adults and a couple of kids now since we came into this place and we've had no problem understanding any of them." She frowned. "Even if we were thrust into some dimension that is like old England in their medieval times. The accents should make it hard for us to understand them, but we haven't had any difficulty understanding what is said to us, nor has anyone had trouble in understanding what we say to them." Kate shrugged her shoulders. "How?"

Rick held back a smirk. "Easy, magic." He directed his horse a few steps away from the frowning woman.

Kate rolled her eyes and if she could've easily reached him she would have punched him in the arm for being a wise ass. "I'm serious."

Rick smiled at her. "So am I. I've wondered about that too, but the only thing I can come up with is that magic mirror portal itself." He took a deep breath. "We don't really know where we are. Are we in the distant past from our own world, or someplace completely different all together? We assume the air has oxygen because we can breathe it. But we have no way to know that for sure. Maybe we are breathing some gas that we'd normally find to be toxic. We understand the people we run into when they speak and they can speak to us. Does that seem logical?"

Kate shook her head. "No it doesn't."

He shrugged. "The only reason I can think of is when we passed through the mirror portal it prepared us for where it sent us."

"What do you mean, prepared?" She was confused.

"The only thing that makes any sense to me is that the portal prepares us for the place where we are transported. I know you don't like to call it magic. But whatever we need to function in whatever place we are sent to is provided for us. We have been… adjusted, to be able to coexist in the same manner that those who live here."

Kate stared at her lover with her lips pursed. She shook her head. "Forget I asked." She nudged her horse and moved a few extra feet away from Rick. He laughed.

The sun had dropped behind the twin mountain peaks by the time Rick and Kate were able to recognize what must be Avoria.

The trail suddenly disappeared once it butted up against a level plain dotted haphazardly with buildings of many shapes and sizes. They moved toward buildings that had light leaking out from around their doors and windows.

They were in the outskirts of the city. There was a fair amount of places made from wood and stone. Because there was a significant amount of noise coming out of most of the buildings, Rick assumed this was more likely their version of the entertainment district. A place where people can come after a long day of toil for a little relaxation and drink, and possibly other recreations.

Everything seem squashed between the two looming shadows of the mountains on either side of the city snuggled between them.

Both knew that they were too late to breach the gate to the inner city.

Rick looked over at Kate. "What do you want to do?"

Kate glanced back and forth. Her eye caught a particularly rambunctious looking establishment. She nodded her head toward the place.

"Can I buy you a drink, soldier?"

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All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish

A/N: A quick thank you to P2P for pointing out Kate's father's watch that she always wears. Apparently we're all so used to her wearing it that I forgot she'd be wearing it when they went through the mirror portal. I was able to go back in this chapter and deal with the little 'problem'.