World Of War (Arula: Three)

Chapter 18

Omar paced impatiently. It has nearly been a week since Karma had disappeared into the nothing, and it has been nearly a week since they heard word from a nearby village saying the Dwarf King has declared war on the goblins. "Somethings wrong, oh so wrong." Omar kept muttering to himself. "I knew I shouldn't allow her to through with this... I knew something like this would happen!"

"You need to stop downing on yourself, brother." Dagner said giving Omar a small pat on the shoulder. "Our lass is a strong one, she is. I promise you that she will return. I know she will return to us. She'll never let us down, not for a second. Wir müssen glauben haben."*1 Omar nodded.

"I just hope you're right." The elf said as a sudden blast of light went throughout the camp. The ryder wolves howled and growled. The other dwarves, who were playing a game of cards with Yuza all dropped their hands and fell back. Omar and Dagner bent down covering their eyes with their arms. When the blinding light faded, Omar slowing brought his arm down to his side and stared in astonishment. Right before the elf's eyes was Karma. With Karma was the Otherworld boy, Jason, and right behind him, all the missing dwarves. All of them seemed to look around in utter surprise.

"It worked!" Karma cried for joy. She was so happy, in fact, that she hugged Jason. The missing dwarves behind them shouted in victory. When Karma realized that she was hugging Jason, she quickly let go and looked down at her feet sheepishly.

"Karma!" Omar shouted over the commotion of cheers. Karma's spirits rose when the familiar voice called her name.

"Omar! Dagner!" She called back and went to greet them. "You don't even want to know what we did to even get back here! Boy was it journey!" Her face suddenly grew serious. "Omar... how long were we gone?"

"A week." Omar replied. "The King had already declared war on the goblins. Their preparing for war as we speak." Karma's eyes grew wide as saucers.

"Then we mustn't waste time," she said. "We have to get to Nork right away."

----

Since bringing almost a hundred dwarves back to Nork was going to be a huge problem, about ten of those hundred had volunteer to go with them to help tell the story to their king. Ryder wolves were bought from a nearby village and they waste no time to get to Nork. All expect for Jason, who was terrified to get on the beast. "Ooooooh, just get on, you chicken." Karma said patting Samson's back.

"I've never even been horseback riding! How do you expect me to ride a wolf?!" Jason said.

"Okay." Karma said getting comfortable on Samson's back. "How about this, mm? You can either get on this wolf with me, or, I can leave you behind and never return." That was enough to have Jason get on behind Karma. It took him a moment to figure out how he should hang on. He finally settled on wrapping his arms around Karma's waist. Which was a bit awkward at first. "Yah!" Karma commanded the wolf and Samson took off across the Dwarven Clan. They arrived at Nork in a nick of time. As they entered through the gates, they saw dwarf soldiers marching along the kingdom. They were getting on their wolves and putting on armor. The air smell of metal and war was strong in the air. "Quickly," Karma said nudging Sampson onward. "We can't waste time."

They spotted King Harloff at the front gates of the palace. He was dressed in golden armor, prepared for war. "Your Majesty!" Karma called up. Samson raced passed the guards as they tried to stop the intruders. He jumped up the stairs to palace and landed gracefully in front of the dwarf king and his son, who stood next to him, also prepared for war. Jason had to hold on tightly or he would have fallen off and hit his head on the ground.

"Ah, Creator!" The King said. "Have you finally decided to show your face to admit your defeat?"

"No," Karma said. "I've come to tell you of my success." She waved to the ten dwarves who had come to help defend Karma. "Behold! Ten of the many dwarves who went missing. The others had returned to their families and homes." King Harloff stared at Karma and the ten dwarves in wonder. "Now. Stop this war. Blood does not need to spill. Not now. Not ever."

"I do believe you owe me an explanation first," the King said. "Then we'll talk about peace... Guther! Tell your men to hold down." Guther, who looked like to be the captain of the dwarf army nodded and walked down toward his men. "Now.... if you please, follow me. We have much to discuss."

*1 "wir mussen glauben haben" ~ "we must have faith"