World Of War (Arula: Three)

Chapter 22

Jason sat waited outside of the palace. He paced back and forth. What was taking them so long? He thought, irritated. As if his question was answered, Karma, Omar, and Dagner came riding up on their ryder wolves. A stray brown ruffled wolf came straggling behind them. The wolf only looked to be about a year old. It didn't have much of balance as it wobbled up Jason and sat down. "There you go," Karma said.

"There I go what?" Jason asked. Karma rolled her eyes.

"Your wolf," she said. "I can't have you riding behind me on Samson, that will only slow us down. Plus, you need to learn to ride one yourself... that one there was the only wolf they allowed us to take. His name is Scrap." Jason looked unsure at the ryder pup. The pup, Scrap, wagged its tail at him. Sighing, Jason climbed on. It felt weird, to be on such of beast as this one.

"Well," he said. "I can't say this is the oddest thing I've done, but it's one of them." Karma nodded and turned to the others.

"Yuza will be joining us momentarily. He said he still had pack up a few things." She said as Samson padded around the area.

"I would watch him carefully if I was you, lass." Dagner cautioned.

"Whys that?" Samson had stopped padding to smell the grass beneath him.

"Because," Omar spoke up. "We are not sure if his intentions are what he says there are." Karma took her comrades words into thought, but Karma didn't have any reason to suspect the man of anything. She barely knew the captain. Then again, she had also no reason to suspect that Dagner and Omar would be lying to her. Not with their super-human instinct.

By mid-morning, Yuza had arrived along with King Harloff and Prince Valor, followed by the Advisor. They came down the palace stairs with much pride.

"We are sad to see you go, Creator!" King Harloff announced. "But we do appreciate everything you've done for us, Danke."*1 The King, Prince, and the Advisor all bowed. Karma bowed back.

"It was my pleasure." Karma said.

"Sichere Reisen."*2 Prince Valor said. "May Odin watch over you."

"Thank you." Karma replied and turned to her comrades. "All right, everyone, let's head home." Jason internally cringed at Karma's word. Home, thought Jason. Not the word he would use. There is no home for me, not anymore.

----

They arrived back at Shurli within a week. The tall palace added comfort to the travelers. Hopefully this would be last time they would have to leave this place. When they entered the place building, Karma made sure that Jason had a place to rest. Even though she still didn't like him, she felt guilty. It was truly half her fault that he was trapped here. After she showed him his room, Karma herself went to her room. Just as she reached for her doorknob, something white and blue came bounding over to her. Karma was knocked over as Angel jumped up on her master. The long-tailed fox licked Karma's face and yipped happily.

"Yes! Hi! I missed you too, Angel!! Now get off me you hundred pounds of fur!" Karma laughed as she pushed on Angel's chest. Angel finally hopped off. Her blue tongue hanging from her mouth, nearly touching the floor. Karma stood and dusted herself off. She opened her bedroom door; motioned for Angel to follow. "Come along, girl." The fox yipped with joy and dashed into the room where she hopped up on the bed and curled up in the ball. Karma smiled. "I feel you, girl."

Karma walked into the room, tossed her bags onto the floor, and joined Angel on the bed. She eventually fell into a deep sleep.

----

Jason's room wasn't half bad. It had a four-post bed in the center, a rug in front of the bed, a huge window that let in plenty of light. There was a desk and chair by the door, a wardrobe in the corner, and bathroom off to the side, which he took a complete advance of. After the nice relaxing bath, Jason opened the wardrobe and found that there were already clothes in there. He picked out a light brown tunic and black pair of leggings. The leggings were a little small, but doable, and the tunic went down and over his butt. Big but comfy. He flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't get far into his sleep when he heard the sound of scratching.

Sitting up, he listened more carefully. There it was again. It was coming from the window. Jason walked over and opened it but found nothing. "Huh," he said. Jason left it opened and went back to the bed. Just as he was going back to sleep, he heard a thump! then the sounds of the pitter-pattered of bare feet on the hardwood floor. Jason once again sat up but saw nothing. He suddenly felt the bed move, as if someone, or thing, had just sat on it. He looked over to his left and saw that there was dent in the blankets. He immediately stood up from the bed. What the...? He thought. A ghost? Or is my mind playing tricks on me.

Jason watched in amazement as the invisible ghost suddenly started to be become visible. Starting from the bottom to the belly, legs, and paws, to the neck, head, and ending with its nose. It was not a ghost but a moss green cat. It sat before Jason's eyes and its purrs echoed throughout the room. Suddenly, Jason smiled. "So," he said, still grinning. "Where's the Mad hatter and the March Hare?" He began to laugh. He didn't know why, but he did. The inviso-cat's sunset eyes bore into Jason, not seeing the humor. Getting bored, the cat padded up to one of the pillows of the bed, curled up and went to sleep. When Jason stopped laughing, he realized how tired he was. Thinking the cat had the right idea, he too went to sleep.

----

The next couple of days went by slowly. And was slowly as it went, the day had finally came. Omar, Mika, and Hope were heading home. "We'll come back; I promise." Mika said giving Karma a hug. Karma laughed and hugged the she-elf.

"Don't worry about it!" Karma said. "You guys need this!"

"Well," Omar said tying off the last of the backs to his trusty horse, Jack. "If something does come up, please do let us know."

"I won't keep you out of the loop if you don't" Karma said laughing again.

"Deal." Omar finished packing and went over to hug Karma. When Omar let go, he went over to Dagner and gave his dwarven friend a firm handshake. "Till next time, old friend."

"I'll be saving the best ale for ya for when ya return." Dagner said with a wink. Everyone laughed. Last of all, Hope ran up and give Angel a hug around the neck.

"Bye, Angel, I'll miss you." The elven girl said. Angel returned the goodbye with a lick on Hope's face. Hope gave Karma a quick hug goodbye before joining her mother and father. Mika hopped up on her black steed, Mist, and Omar helped his daughter up on the black horse in front of her mother.

Karma took a great notice that Shari, the saber-tooth ferret, wasn't among them. "Hey!" She said. "Where's that ferret of yours?" Omar looked up at Karma and smiled.

"I have no idea." He said truthfully. "I tried to find him, but he was nowhere to be seen." Omar gave her an apologetic look. He then hopped on Jack and kicked the steed in his side. "Good luck!" He called to them as he on his horse, and Mika and Hope on theirs, rode off.

To be continued....

*1 "Danke" ~ "Thank you"

*2 "sichere Reisen" ~ "Safe journeys"