World Of Fire (Arula: Five)

Chapter 6

By daybreak, the little village of Dumon was far behind them. But even with the village out of sight, it definitely wasn't out of mind. Karma sat there on hard ground staring into the fire they had just built. Nothing was adding up. Karma could understand Argo, that village was near dragon territory. Her first thought was that someone in the village must of have disturbed the dragons and they decided to attack, but Dumon? That village was barely day or so from Argo, nobody from Dumon would even dare cross into the desert and to Dragon Mountain. Something was wrong. And Karma was determined to find out what it is. Karma looked around her campsite to see almost everyone was asleep. Jason laid few feet from her, his head resting on the bag and was curled in a ball, Dagner laid on her other side, flat on his back snoring like giant.

Mika and Omar were across from her laying together. Omar had their saddle bags laid out for them to sleep on and he laid comfortably on them while Mika used Omar has a personal pillow. And of course, the little ferret Shari laid on Omar's chest curled up in a furry ball. Karma rolled her eyes at that. She didn't care how many times the little critter saved her life he was still a nuisance. Which brought another problem in Karma's mind, where did Shari come from? Karma had looked everywhere in her book but Shari and his kind were nonexistent in her world. Just another thing I gotta worry about, Karma thought glumly to herself. To show her frustration, Karma picked up a small twig from the ground and threw it into the fire.

"Can't sleep?" Karma jumped when she heard Omar's voice. He was looking her with a knowing smiled. "I don't think that twig deserved such a fate." He said with a soft chuckle.

"It doesn't make sense." Karma said heavily.

"What? A twig not deserving its fate?" Karma gave Omar a look. "Alright, alright, I know." When Karma didn't smile at Omar's sarcastic remark, he turned serious. "You're still thinking about the dragon attacks, huh?" Karma sighed as a response.

"I just don't get it, Omar. Why would they attack? As far as I'm concern nobody from Argo or Dumon as done anything to upset the dragons. So why attack?" Omar slowly sat up, doing his best not to disturb Mika. As for Shari, he rolled down Omar's chest and sprawled out of the grassy ground.

"I don't know." He admitted. "The dragons were always a curious case. They don't normally come out of their homes. So to commit such act, whatever it was, something had to happen for them finally come out."

"Hints why we're on this trip." Karma said and Omar nodded.

"I think its best if we save these theories for the dragons to answer." Omar told Karma. "Because we're not going to get anywhere by trying to figure it ourselves." Karma sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so." Karma looked up at the night sky. The sky seemed to be more empty than the last time Karma looked up at them. She then begin to wander if that had to with the dragons as well. Though knowing that Omar wasn't going to answer any of her theories, she decided to try and get some shut eye. Resting against her saddle bag, Karma closed her eyes and try to let sleep overcome her. From the other side of campfire, Omar sighed and laid back down. He watched as the night sky became more vacated of stars. And he knew, he knew that he would have to tell Karma soon. And those exact thoughts haunted Omar as he tried to fall back asleep.

----

When dawn came, the travelers continued their journey, and by mid-day, grass turned to sand and the village of Argo soon came into view, and like Dumon, it was destroyed. When the travelers finally got closer to the village, Karma could clearly see the damage that was done. The adobe houses were burnt and the color flags that strung out through the village were torn and some turned to ash. They no longer strung out through the village, they instead hung sadly against the buildings, or for some, laid on the ground. The village was in a depressing scene. Karma led her companions through the village until they reached the town center where they could see Lord Talso and his men giving out supplies to his people as they gathered around waiting patiently for their fair share.

When they approached, Lord Talso looked up and saw them. With a big smile, he left his men to do the rest of the work. He spread his arms out wide and said, "Creator! I am glad to see you have made it here safely, and with your friends as well. I am very grateful to see you have come to help us." Omar and Mika bowed their heads respectfully to the Lord while Dagner put his hand in fist and thumped the front of chest.

"It tis, our pleasure!" Dagner said in his loud, jolly voice. Lord Talso smiled broadly at this. He then gestured them to follow.

"Come," said Talso, "we must further discussion plans of action elsewhere. You may leave your beast with our stablemaster, he will be more than happy to take care of you mounts." Doing what Lord Talso had said, Karma and the others left their horses, and ryder-wolf, with the stablemaster. "Take care of their mounts, Toris, for they are our guest!" Toris, the stablemaster, bowed his head.

"Of course, my lord." He said and took the traveler's mounts. After that, Karma and the others followed Lord Talso into a tall adobe building. The building was torched, but still standing.

"My home," he said. "You will more than welcome to stay here as long as you want." He opened the door and let his guest in first. Omar and Mika has to duck as they enter because they were too tall to fit through the door. "We can talk in my office," Talso continued. "It is the first door down the hall." When they entered the house, the desert heat soon melted away. The house was perfectly cool, and Karma thought it felt nice. She looked around to see the house was covered with rugs and pillows of various colors. Surprisingly the inside didn't look like it was touched by the dragons' flames. She hadn't visited Argo in years and had forgotten that she based this village like an Egyptian one. Which made her feel guilty once again that she knew very little about her own world and had forgotten about most things. As instructed, Karma went down the hall and entered through the first door.

She and her companions were greeted with a study. It had a desk with an ink well, pens and scattered papers on it. There was a chair behind the desk and two more chairs in front of the desk. There was even a small bookshelf on the side of the study with books and scrolls stuffed into it. Much like the rest of the house, it was untouched by the dragon raid. "Excuse the mess," Lord Talso said as he grabbed the scattered papers and reshuffle them into a proper pile. He then sat down in his chair behind the mess. "I like to thank you Creator and your friend here-" he motioned at Jason "-for giving my village the supplies they need to help us restore ourselves."

"Of course," Karma said. "I do not wish for another village to suffer like yours and Dumon."

"Dumon?" Lord Talso said. "What about Dumon?" Karma had now just realized that word had not yet reach Lord Talso.

"I apologize, I forgot that it just happened." Karma said. "Dumon, like your village, has been burned to the ground by the dragons." Lord Talso head hung and shook it at the news.

"Oh, dear," he said. "That is dreadful."

"We know." Said Omar. "That is why we must do everything in our power to prevent another attack." Lord Talso nodded in agreement.

"Yes," the Lord said. "I do not wish for another village to be attacked on my behalf." The five companions stood attention at this.

"What do you mean, on your behalf?" Karma said. Lord Talso took in a deep breath and said,

"Have you ever heard the story about the dragon's treasure?"