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CHAPTER SIX

Rick and Kate were just finishing the food and drink that a young woman brought in for them. A silver platter laden with small rolls filled with various meats, or different current jellies and jams. A pitcher of chilled water was also provided. It had been the best meal they'd had since they left the loft before arriving at the Renaissance Festival.

Kate normally would be embarrassed by how much she ate, but she refused to acknowledge her gluttony since she hadn't been that hungry in recent memory.

Rick never gave his appetite a second thought. He was hungry and he didn't care if anyone was disgusted by his actions. Like Kate, he didn't bother with any dinner conversation between them.

When the young woman came back to retrieve the tray and cups the look on her face told the story of her disappointment. Rick guessed that the servants would have been allowed to eat any left overs that their guests hadn't partaken in.

Rick felt a little bad about that, but squashed the feeling quickly with a satisfied burp. Kate just smirked.

The door flew open and a somewhat flustered Lord Chamberlin dragged himself into the room. He slammed the door shut behind him then turned and stared at his two guests.

Thinking that he might have heard from the servants how like a couple of pigs she and Rick had comported themselves when served their food. Kate allowed her hair to fall in front of her face to cover her embarrassment.

"Good, you are finished with your meal." Josiah began to pace back and forth. "It wasn't easy, but I did managed to talk with the king's closest advisors and told them your story the best I could. I inferred that your problems may very well be connected with the expected problems that the kingdom is worried about."

The Chamberlin shuffled over to the nearest chair and flopped down with a heavy thump. "I'm hoping that we'll hear from someone very soon that the king wishes to speak with you."

The three of them sat in silence. No one seemed to want to talk about either what he'd said to the king's advisors, nor did anyone want to ask how it went. All figured that they would find out soon enough. And they did.

They hadn't sat there very long, trying hard to not make eye contact with anyone, when there was a weak knock at the door.

"Come in," the Chamberlin spoke out since his guard's shift had already ended for the day.

A young boy poked his head into the room, then gingerly moved forward until he was fully in the room.

"I have a message for the Lord Chamberlin."

"Well don't just stand there telling me you have a message. Tell me the message."

He nodded so quickly Rick thought his head might fall off.

"His Majesty King Zachariah, Lord of Rock Ridge Castle and protector of the realm has a message for The Lord Chamberlin." The young boy stood there shaking like he was about to wet his pants. Rick guessed it might be the first time he was trusted with such an important message.

Josiah rolled his eyes and stood. "Well, get on with it. What's the message?"

Kate had to bite down on her lip so as not to laugh at the poor scared boy.

"His Majesty King Zachariah…"

Josiah interrupted the young messenger. "Just tell us where and when." His patience had run out.

He had to swallow to regain his voice. "The King's chamber, right after the eight bells, my Lord."

"Fine." Josiah waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal. He turned toward his guests. "I imagine that you heard the seven bells chiming not too long ago. So it won't be long now. I'm assuming they need to round up whichever advisors they feel are necessary."

Rick went over and sat on a chair a little closer to Kate. He reached down and took her hand in his. He then turned his attention back to the Chamberlin.

"So what did you tell these advisors about us? What are they going to be expecting."

Josiah paced back and forth. "Pretty much what you told me. Not really knowing anything about where you come from, and what your standing in the royal house may be, I might have embellished who you are just a bit."

Kate caught the slight pink in the Chamberlin's cheeks. "Exactly how much exaggeration might we expect to hear?"

"Not really all that much." Josiah clasped his hands behind his back and recounted his conversation with the king's advisors.

Rick frowned. "So you didn't actually talk to the king himself?"

He shook his head. "No, one must go through his advisors and convince them that your request for the audience is worth his Majesty's time."

Rick nodded. "Of course. Well, I'm glad you convinced him. We are willing to help where we're able, but as you can imagine, our priority is finding a way back home."

Suddenly the ringing of bells interrupted their conversation. After the eighth bell's chime faded away, Josiah burst into action.

"Follow me." He launched himself toward the door. Rick and Kate had stood at the first bell ring so they were right behind the Lord Chamberlin.

It was a good thing that the Chamberlin knew where he was going. Rick and Kate had all they could handle keeping him in sight as the portly older man bustled down the grand hallways making turns here and there such that Rick knew he'd never remember the way if just given directions.

After a good ten to fifteen minute journey through the castle the three of them were standing outside an elaborate oaken door with a burly guardsman standing in front of it.

The Chamberlin needed a couple moments to catch his breath. The guardsman just stood there giving him a frown.

Josiah stood straight. "We are here as the King has commanded."

The corner of the guard's mouth lifted slightly. "So I see. I will tell them you are here."

The guard opened only one of the doors and quickly slipped into the room. Some mumbling could be heard through the heavy oak door, but nothing intelligible.

The guard came back out in a few moments along with another man who could have been his brother. He nodded to both Rick and Kate.

"I am Sir Geoffrey, the King's Captain of the Army."

Rick stepped up making a slight bow. "I am Sir Richard Rogers, I am most pleased to meet you." He was about to introduce Kate but she beat him to it.

"And I am Dame Katherine Beckett." She just gave her head a nod. "I too am pleased to meet you."

The Captain turned toward the Chamberlin. "We won't be needing you for this audience Josiah, the King thanks you for all that you've done for our two guests."

Knowing when he wasn't needed anymore, Josiah gave the Captain a half bow and he stepped back and gave Rick and Kate the same half bow before he left.

"Please come with me." The Captain opened the door, allowing the guard to catch it and walked into the room. Rick and Kate followed. The guard closed the door behind them.

They found themselves in a comfortable looking room. Obviously not the throne room, nor was it a big room used for larger conferences. Kate saw a door in the back corner that she could just see a part of a large canopied bed in the second room. They were in the King's personal quarters.

Aside from Captain Geoffrey there were three other men in the room. Kate had to hold down her annoyance that there was no woman advisor in the room. Not even the Queen, if there was one.

Geoffrey made the introductions. The first man on his left was clothed in the simple robes of the clergy. Only, there were conspicuous religious doo dads made from gold and impressive jewels playing peek-a-boo with his robe.

"My I introduce his holiness, Bishop Blackmon."

He was an older man, thin but not real tall with a sharp nose and piercing eyes. His hair was white and hung down to his shoulders. He smiled at the two of them, but the warmth didn't reach his eyes. Rick and Kate returned his smile with the half bow.

Next was a tall fellow who looked like he hadn't eaten in months. He wore plan brown robes, and his dark hair looked like a wilted haystack. His brows were so bushy it was hard to capture his eyes. It did look like his smile was legitimate.

Before Geoffrey could introduce him, he stepped forward and took Rick's hand and shook it.

"I'm Zolitorus." He pumped Rick's hand. He turned toward Kate. "I'm the King's Wizard."

Kate smiled. "Of course you are."

He smirked at her. "Do you have wizards in York milady?"

Kate let her smile grow a touch. "We don't call them wizards."

He cocked his head to one side. "Oh really. What do you call them?"

"Charlatans." She smiled.

He nodded at her. "And interesting name. I've never heard it." He gave her a grin. "Maybe I'll use it myself."

Kate just kept her smile on her face.

Geoffrey just shook his head and he ambled over toward the man sitting in a comfortable looking chair.

"And this, honored guests, is our liege and Lord of The Realm. His Majesty King Zachariah."

Both Rick and Kate made sure that their bows were respectively deep. When they straightened back up Kate gave the king her detective perusal. He was older than any of the others. His white hair was earned by living long enough. He was in good shape for a man of his age, and he seemed to smile easily. She didn't trust him.

He got up from his chair and walked over to Rick and clapped him on the arm. "Greeting Sir Richard, I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances."

He turned to Kate and lifted her hand to his lips. "Greetings Dame Katherine, your beauty lights up every room you choose to enter."

Kate had to keep from rolling her eyes. "You are too kind Sire, but as Sir Richard could tell you. My temper can snuff out that light even faster." She led everyone in laughter.

The King's smile might have seemed a little too friendly for Kate's comfort, but now was not the time to worry about such things. The King went back to his chair, and everyone else took chairs that were set out in a semi-circle facing the King.

Zachariah waited until everyone was sitting and was through making noises to get comfortable.

"I will open this audience to our guests who have traveled far though not of their own choice, and has some possibly dire information to share with us." He nodded toward Rick. "Sir Richard, if you please, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Your Highness." He stood. "As I have mentioned, I am Sir Richard Rogers and I and my companion come from the land of York. It is a grand place and milady and I dearly wish to find a way back to our home." Rick paced in front of his captive audience. "While on a day trip to a grand festival the two of us eventually found ourselves at the far end of the festival grounds. There we came upon a most unusual object."

"The magic mirror." Zolitorus volunteered.

Rick smiled and nodded. "That's correct. We came upon this large mirror just stuck there in the ground. Like any handsome couple we spent a few moments in front of the mirror. We couldn't figure out why it was there, but just as we were deciding to leave our reflections faded away in a fog. When the fog cleared, we could see a rolling grassland bracketed by forest on one side."

Kate ignored Rick and instead focused her scrutiny on the men engaged in Rick's story. She knew that at least some of them had gotten much of the story already from the Chamberlin, but she wanted to see their reactions for herself.

Rick continued. "Naturally being curious, I moved closer to the former mirror to examine the image that it was portraying." He shook his head. "That's when fortune took a twist. Having my attention focused on the picturesque countryside I had the bad luck to have stepped on a stone that was large enough to turn my ankle and cause me to fall forward. I thought for sure that I'd crash into the large mirror and shatter it along with getting cut up myself."

"Apparently, that is not what happened." The Bishop dryly spoke the obvious.

Rick shook his head. "No, that didn't happened. What did happen was that I fell through the mirror like it was an open doorway. I heard the lady Beckett call out to me, but when I looked back I saw that the mirror had seemed to move farther away in the opposite direction." Rick dropped his head. "My injured ankle kept me from chasing after the device."

Kate interjected herself into the narrative. "When Sir Richard fell through the mirror, or portal, or whatever you want to name it. I called out, but by then he'd already passed out of my vision."

"So you leapt through yourself?" It was Geoffrey that spoke this time.

Kate shrugged. "What else could I do?"

Rick picked the story back up. "For the better part of a day we wandered around looking for people who could give us some help. By this time the mirror portal had moved off beyond our sight. Lady Katherine wrapped my ankle as best as she could and with her support we followed a stream hoping to eventually find people."

Rick walked over to a table and poured himself a glass of water. After a couple of swallows he turned back to his audience and smiled.

"We were fortunate that shortly after dark we came upon a small village. Figuring it our best chance, we knocked on the door of the village church. Luckily there was a woman on the premises and she let us in and helped us."

Rick paused for effect. "We were particularly lucky that this woman was there. Apparently everyone else in that village of Green Meadows had abandoned their homes."

The king looked shocked. "Why would they do that?"

"For the same reason we are here talking to a King and his advisors. Something isn't right in this kingdom, and rumors and fears are spreading quickly." Kate shared her thoughts. "Apparently, these rumors are coming from the outlying parts of the kingdom and moving toward the city and the castle."

Rick nodded. "I was especially interested that the woman who helped us mentioned that it was thought that the problems facing the realm had to do with a dragon."

Kate noted that none of the men in the room with them gasped in surprise by his statement. That told her that these four men, at least, were well aware of that rumor… and dragons.

Rick vocalized what Kate was thinking. "But you all already knew that didn't you." He began to pace again. "I have to wonder if you are just aware of such talk and rumors, or do you have better information." He raked his gaze upon every man in the room one by one. "Is there a dragon?"

The room became deathly quiet.

It was the king who answered. "You seem to be well informed for a stranger in our lands, Sir Richard."

Rick glanced at Kate. "It's just something I learned as a young lad. One can learn more by listening to those around him, then can be learned by flapping your own mouth."

"Well clearly you learned well as a lad." The king leaned forward with his hands folded in front of him. "We don't have all the answers to the questions regarding the unrest stirring in the outlands of the kingdom. But there has been talk that a dragon is probably involved."

Zolitorus stood up. "I'm not sure if dragons in your realm are the same as ours, but the few that have been seen over the years generally kept to themselves and didn't bother people."

Geoffrey butted in. "Yeah, but you have to admit that the expansion of our people must have had an effect on wherever the dragon population must be. More people coming in, less room for the ancient creatures who used to roam throughout the realm."

"It sounds like there is a lot of rumor and gossip about there being a dragon at the center of these expected problems." Rick rejoined the conversation. "But has anyone actually seen it? Does anyone know where it might be? How can you be sure that a dragon is behind these problems? Problems which apparently have barely even risen above concern yet."

Bishop Blackmon held up his hand. "In my study I have ancient scrolls that speak of the dragon hoard, and warns us of many of their evil intentions. I recently did some research when the rumors started and came upon something which, after you've told us your story, makes me even more certain that a dragon must be behind all of this."

"Please enlighten us Bishop Blackmon," the king commanded.

The Bishop waved his hand toward Rick. "From our traveler's own mouth comes the proof. I have read of a magical gateway in the form of a large mirror that dragons use to move from their hellish homelands to the realms of men." He pointed at Rick. "The very same artifact that Sir Richard claims to have used "accidently" to come here."

Kate jumped out of her seat. "Just what are you implying?" She held her anger in check, but just barely.

"I imply nothing. I merely state the facts as they were related to us."

Rick shook his head. "Yes, but if I was working for this dragon what advantage would I gain by telling you I used this unholy device to get here?"

The Bishop frowned. "Perhaps you planned to engender some sympathy from the King and gain access to his inner circle, which you have."

Kate was now standing next to Rick. "To what end? The truth is, we don't want to be here anymore than you want us here."

"So you say."

"Enough!" The King's voice cut through the room stunning everyone to silence. "Now I appreciate your caution Bishop, but if they were working for the dragon, why would they come out with a story that would point right at them." The Bishop had his answer ready, but the king held up his hand to stop him. "I believe Sir Richard and Dame Katherine, and that is that. If you can't abide by my decision, well you can excuse yourself from this room, and the castle."

The Bishop glared at Rick and Kate, then smoothed the expression on his face. "I understand your decision my king and I will abide by your wishes. I will stay and do the job I was selected to do."

Kate didn't trust the Bishop as far as she could toss him… well maybe even less than that. She figured with a good judo throw she could probably toss the small Bishop a good twenty feet.

Rick waited until there was a lull in the conversations then he took the floor again.

"All this is quite enlightening, but it doesn't get us anywhere to stand here and yell at each other. There are still two problems here that need a plan of action." He bit down on his lip. "It is imperative that this dragon's ultimate goal is discovered. And for Lady Katherine and myself, we need a way to get home. If that magical gateway thingy that supposedly belongs to this dragon is the only way, then that means the dragon's cooperation will be needed. Either by force, or by agreement."

"You seriously think you can just sit down and have a little chat with a dragon and then everything will be alright?" Geoffrey frowned and shook his head.

Rick was getting flustered. "Well something has to be done! I'm not the one with any experience with dragons. I've never met one. But clearly you all must understand we can't just sit back and wait until this dragon decides to act. And I have to think that a solution that avoids bloodshed on a wholesale level is worth exploring."

The King stood up again to quell the squabbling that was going on.

"Sir Richard is right. We have to come up with a plan. And we must find a way were we won't have to march our army into a completely unknown situation which could prove disastrous. We need to know more."

Rick looked around at the mute crowd. "Now, I don't mean to sound stupid." Rick heard Bishop Blackmon mutter 'too late' under his breath, but he ignored it. "But where we're from dragons are only myths. What's a real dragon like?"

Everyone looked at the king. "Well, that's a little hard to peg down." Came from someone.

Kate glared at everyone. "What do you mean?"

"Well it seems," Geoffrey spoke up. "We know of no one who has seen a live dragon except one small child many many years ago."

"Is this person still alive?" Kate looked around. "Anyone know who it was?"

"Yes," the King nodded. "It was me. But I have to confess that it's been a long time, and I can't be sure how much is memory and how much is a youngster's imagination."

The king shuffled over and sat down. He looked like he was near exhausted. Kate begin to guess that he was actually older than she originally assumed.

"We all should take the rest of the night to think about what we need to do and gather back here after breakfast to plot out our next move." The old king looked spent, but his eyes still had a sparkle in them.

Geoffrey jumped up. "I'll find lodging for our visitors from York for the evening." The king just nodded.

The others got up and filed out the door knowing exactly where they were going. Rick and Kate just stood in place waiting for someone to lead them. Geoffrey indicated that they should follow him as they got out the door of the King's chambers.

"I will find you a couple of empty rooms in the castle so you can get some sleep." Geoffrey began moving down the hallway.

"One room is enough." Kate hid her blush. "We've been traveling together for some time already, no reason for modesty now."

Geoffrey raised one brow, then grinned. "One room it is."

It didn't take long for the Captain of the Army to find them an empty room. Well not exactly empty. It was an empty room that had been repurposed into a storeroom. Geoffrey procured a couple field mattresses and had one of the castle's housekeepers bring in a couple of pillows and some blankets. She also brought in a chamber pot for their use during the night.

The last thing she brought them was a large bowl of tepid water and a bar of soap and some towels. They were set.

After taking care of their night ablutions, they set to making their bed… literally.

They shoved the two field mattresses together and stripped down to their underwear and socks. They then fluffed up their pillows and grabbed the blankets that had been provided for them.

Both flopped onto their backs and stared up at the arched ceiling overhead. Suddenly Kate started giggling.

Rick frowned at her but she couldn't stop laughing. "We are lost in a medieval land," he said. "Being hosted by several people who don't know what to think of us and don't particularly like us. And on top of that, we have to figure out how to steal a magic gateway to get back to our own dimension." He smirked at her. "Does that about cover it?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"So why are you laughing?"

"You certainly know how to show a girl an interesting time on a date."

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All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish.

A/N: Well, it seems like Sir Richard and Lady Katherine aren't universally liked. You'd think that some people aren't too fond of strangers