World Of Beauty (Arula: Four)

Chapter 13

The journey back to the Gnome Clan was hard as they had to battle through the harden snow that has recently piled up. The horses trudged through the snow as best as they could. They had to take recent stops, which only delay the enviable. But finally, the wonderous world of the Gnomes had come into view. The weary travelers all sighed with relief. But their journey wasn't over yet. The still had to find Eon's hut, give him the nymph water and he'll tell them the cure for the disease. They then had to make the journey to Abaddon where they can make the cure and hopefully save Omar and the other sick elves.

It didn't seem a lot, but the weight of every elves' lives, including her friend's, was all on Karma's shoulders, and hers alone. Karma kicked her horse, Pepper, on her side and the horse responded by heading forward in a fast trot into the Gnome Clan. The others were quick to follow. Beside Karma rode Mika, with the little saber-tooth ferret riding on the horse's head. Karma could tell that she was just a determined to get the cure as much as she was. After all, Omar is Mika's husband. Taking out her book, Karma flipped to the section where she had drawn the map of Arula long ago when the world was still in creation. She had pinpointed the section where Eon's hut was.

"If am correct," Karma said as they rode. "Then Eon's place is just a few miles this way."

"Then we better hope you're correct," Mika said, making her horse pick the pace. "Because we're running out of time."

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By midday that day, they came close to Eon's hut. They had to stop their horses before they came into view of hut in afraid of accidentally running it over with the horses. They parked the horses, and one pony of course, and tied them to one of the large fungus branches that stuck out of the truck of the mushroom tree. When that was done, they walked the rest the way and finally Eon's hut came into view. Eon himself was sitting in a chair in front of a fire. He was smoking a small pipe and when he saw them approached, his lips turned upward into a thin smile.

"Welcome back!" He called. "I thought you'll never show up." Karma walked up and sat crossed legged in front of the gnome. She reached into her satchel and pulled out the jar that contained the water.

"Here," she said. "It took a whole lot of trouble to get it, so take it." The old gnome's eyes stayed focus on the jar, his black eyes never seem to blink.

"Is it the real thing?" He asked.

"Yes," Mika said impatiently. "Do you really think we would spend all that time away just to come back with a jar of plain water?" Eon flicked his gaze over to the she-elf. He knew that elves hardly lie. Hardly.

"Very well," he said and put his pipe away. "Place it on the ground, missy." Karma did as she was told and place the jar on the ground. The old gnome got up, disappeared into his house, and returned with a smaller jar fit for a gnome like himself. When he walked up to the jar, Karma saw that he was just as big as the jar itself, if not a little smaller. "Open it." Eon commanded and Karma did. Once it was open, Eon dipped his jar into the bigger one and scooped out a small jar filled with the nymph water. Filled, he capped his jar and started to walk into his hut.

He paused by the door and looked back at them. "Your cure for your disease is right in front of you."

"Huh?" The companions said in unison. They looked around until all their eyes fell on the jar. Karma recapped it and held it up.

"This?" She asked. "This is the cure?" The gnome said nothing as he started to enter his home.

"Lycka till*1, missy. Maybe someday our paths will cross again." With that he went inside his home and closed the door. At first the four them stood there in utter silence.

"You're telling me we had the cure all this time and all we had to do was bring it back to the elf village and not to him!" Jason said, bewildered.

"But why would a gnome like him need it?" Dagner asked taking a quick swig from his flask.

"Don't know," Karma said as she carefully crawled around the gnome's property and peeked inside one of the windows. Inside she could a table, two chairs, cabinets, and a cooking area. There was a fireplace and a squirrel fur rug. At the corner of the one room house, she saw a bed, on the bed she saw a small figure sleeping peacefully on it. It was little girl gnome, probably no more than eight. And she looked ill. Karma saw Eon by the fireplace that had black pot over its flames. He dumped some herbs and other ingredients inside before he took the small jar with the nymph water in it and dumped a little in. He stirred the pot and after a few moments, took a little wooden bowl, pour the soup like substance into it.

Eon then walked over the bed with the sick little gnome was. He sat on the edge of the bed, took a wooden spoon, filled it with the soup, blew off the steam and feed it to the girl. At that moment, Karma understood. Nodding to herself, she stood and placed the jar back in her satchel. Turning to her friends, she said, "alright guys, let's get back to Abaddon. We got an entire clan to save."

*1 "lycka till" ~ "Good luck"