World Of Worlds (Arula: One)

Chapter 6

Karma and Omar pushed their way through the crowd, following the sounds of screaming. "A demon!" Karma heard someone yell. "We're all going to die!" The crowd seemed to thin out as they came across the place where the screaming had originated from. Everyone was in a giant circle staring horrified at the scene that laid in front of them.

In the middle of the circle, the sprite laid on the ground, visibly shaking. The brute man in the purple laid on his back screaming. On top of him was Shari. The saber-tooth ferret dug his claws in the man's chest and his fangs were stained with blood. Karma stood still, not sure how to react to this situation. Omar also starred, but his instincts reacted quicker than Karma's. He jumped in the circle and ran toward the screaming man. Grabbing the ferret, Omar held it away from the man as the screaming slowly died away. Shari snarled and clawed at the air. Omar shushed the ferret softly, gently rubbing its head. Karma shook her head and ran toward the sprite.

The poor sprite flinched as Karma touched her. Karma curse at herself for letting such things happen in her world. She gently placed her hands on the sprite pulling her to her feet. The man sat up with help from other people. His chest is clearly bloody and needs stitches. He stared at Omar, at Karma, then at the saber-tooth ferret. The man gasped as saw Omar's hood nearly fall off his head. "Elf!" Shouted the man. "They're elves! Here to kill us all, just like the king said!" All eyes fell on Omar and Karma. The people began to shout and draw out any weapon they could find.

Oh, oh, Karma thought. Time to go. She took out her own sword and began to slash down the nearest man who came at her with a sword in his hands. "Omar! I think we overstayed our visit!" She called out to her companion, who was busy fighting a group of men.

"Couldn't agree more!" He shouted back. Omar slashed at the nearest man before he made his way toward Karma and the sprite. Karma grabbed the sprite's wrist and dragged her along as they made their way toward the stables. She grabbed Pepper as Omar took Jack. Karma swung the very light sprite on her horse before she, herself, jumped on the mare's back. They rode through the village at full speed. Omar's hood had fallen off his head during the fight and now he was being hunted down like a rabid dog. He felt the ferret's claws dig into his shoulders as they rode at full speed.

Karma could feel the sprite's tight grip around her waist as they rode. They rode until the moon was high up in the sky and the stars twinkled brightly. Pepper and Jack were breathing heavily, their mouths were opened with their tongues hanging out. "Stop here," Omar said, halting Jack to a stop. He patted the exhausted stallion on its side. He and Karma shared a look before swinging to off to make a camp. After the camp was made, Karma took out her dagger and walked over to the sprite. The sprite's eyes widened, which made Karma stop.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Karma said, as she completely walked over to the sprite and cut the bindings around her wings. The sprite's wings opened almost immediately, and she gasped. "There you go." The sprite started to cry.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Oh, thank you. May Heimdall bless you." Karma smiled. The sprites' wings were much like a fairies' and her body was like a human, she had pointed ears much like an elf and she had lovely violet eyes.

"What's your name?" Omar asked her.

"Agla," the sprite answered.

"Hello, Agla. I'm Omar, and this is Karma," Omar told her. "Can you tell us what happened?" The sprite Agla hesitated for a moment then nodded.

"I usually don't venture very far from my village in the Sprite Clan," Agla said. "I live in a small village by the sea, it's called Indigo. Me and some friends went out into the flower fields, you see, we sprites use flowers for various healing brews, that and they are very pretty. Anyway, as we were in the field gathering and chatting, we heard sounds of a dog barking. An arrow flew through the air and hit my friend Riki in her shoulder.

"Pena, Tula and I grabbed Riki and tried to get out of the fields and into the forest where they wouldn't be able to catch us. But I tripped and fell. The humans caught up to me and took me prisoner." The sprite closed her eyes tightly as the horrible memory flashed through her head. "They put me in that awful slave auction along with some other Clan members." When Agla finished, the rage that was built up in Karma grew big. Now more than ever she wanted to put an end to Termis.

"Don't worry," Karma said. "We'll get you home."

"Oh, gracias! Salud,human, bless you both," Agla said with tears welling up in her eyes. She let out a long heavy breath and smiled. Curled up by the fire was Shari, fast asleep. "And thank you, little creature. You saved me." Agla reached down and petted the ferret's back, which arched with pleasure. Karma rolled her eyes at the ferret. Omar chuckled.

"I guess you can't get every creature to like you," He said grinning from ear to ear. His smile turned serious as he poked the fire. "Karma, there's something I got to tell you." Karma raised an eyebrow as she stared at her friend, her green eyes dancing in the flames. "In the note I sent you, I left out a small... detail...They didn't just take the other elves, they... they took Mika." Karma flinched; her eyes widened.

"No, not Mika.... Omar, I'm so sorry," Karma said, trying to remain calm, but the rage would not stop growing.

"Who's Mika? If I may ask?" Agla asked.

"Mika is my wife." He looked at Karma still. "That's not all."

Not all? Karma thought. Who else did they take?

"They took my three-year old daughter Hope." Now Karma was in shock. She had no idea they had a child, and now Termis allowed the people of Arula to take the elves as slaves. She slammed a fist into the dirt.

"I swear on my life, that I will get your wife and daughter back." It was a promise that Karma was going to keep.