World Of Worlds (Arula: One)

Chapter 12

The woods were more quiet than usual. No birds chirp and no crickets sung their songs. The two companions kept their eyes moving and their guard up. Karma knew the nearest village was Humbridge, but she didn't know what village Dagner would be staying. That dwarf always traveled, never could find a nice place to settle in. Sighing, she trudged Pepper onwards. Omar seem to be in his own world at the moment, Karma notice. His eyes were far away, as if he was thinking of a memory. Karma could probably guess what it was. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll get them back, I promise."

Omar's eyes shifted over to Karma, giving her a slightest of a smile. "I know," was all he said.

"Tell me about her," Karma insisted.

"About whom?" Omar asked and Karma rolled her eyes.

"Your daughter of course!" Karma said.

"Oh," Omar said as he took a deep breath. "Hope was born three years ago, in the elven village of Rou. She has my white hair and Mika's violet eyes. She's the most energetic little thing I ever known. But she always gets into trouble, so you got to keep an eye on her at all times." Karma smiled at Omar as he told his story about Hope. She sounded like the type of girl that Karma would enjoy being around. Karma could tell that Omar missed his family very dearly. It was unmistakable.

"Don't worry, Omar, I promise we'll get them back." Karma said as Omar nodded. They were quiet for a long while, only the sound of the wind could be heard. It has been three days since they left the sprite village and three long days that Karma had suffered a huge headache. A sudden thought came to her as they rode. "Hey, Omar," She said. "What happens when we run into a dwarf and they don't speak our tongue?" Omar chuckled at the thought.

"Well I guess that's your problem eh, Creator?" Omar said. "You're the one who is supposed to know every tongue in Arula." Again, Omar chuckled.

"The only tongue I know is dragon tongue, you know that." Karma said. Omar rolled his eyes.

"So, you rather know a tongue that no one knows of then speak a tongue that would actually become helpful?"

"Hey! Learning dragon tongue could become very helpful in the future." That only made Omar snort. Dragons were a mystery to the world of Arula. They hide in their territory and never come out. They never show themselves, so no one knows what the dragons look like. And if one were to go into the Dragon Clan, one was to never return to tell the tale. Rumor had it that the dragons had their own secret society in their clan. And rumor also had it that the dragons were keeping a huge secret that if one were to find out about it, the end of the world would come. But as all rumors, they were just rumors. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Che peccato,"*1 Omar saidin elvish and Karma shot him a look. The sound of cracking branches was enough to bring the two companions back to reality. The horses sudden snorted and began to pound the ground nervously. More sounds of breaking branches came and the sound of wolves howling followed. Then dwarves on the back of giant wolves burst through the bushes. They surrounded the two travelers until there was a whole hoard of them. One burly of a dwarf stepped forward on his wolf. He had a black beard, blue eyes and an axe swung on his back.

He suddenly started talking to them in his tongue and when Karma and Omar didn't respond, the dwarf cleared his throat and spoke again. "Ah, so you don't speak our tongue eh?" The dwarf voice was thick and heavy. "Well no matter, because you won't live long enough to learn."

*1 "Che peccato" ~ "Such a shame"