Warrior's Princess

Chapter - 18

The following morning Jasmine entered Evy's quarters, to find her and Rick arguing. "I thought you said you didn't believe in all that fairy tale and hokum stuff." He threw some of Evy's clothes into an open suitcase; she just took them straight back out again.

"Having an encounter with a three-thousand-year-old walking, talking corpse does tend to convert one!" Evy exclaimed as Jasmine leaned on the door-frame, smiling a little.

"Forget it!" Rick said. "We're out the door, down the hall and we're gone. Oh, hey Jasmine." She almost laughed at his casual tone as he picked up some of Evy's underclothes to put into her suitcase.

"Good morning."

"Oh, no, we are not!" Evy hit back, taking her undergarments from back out of the suitcase again.

"Oh, yes, we are!"

"Oh, no, we are not," Evy said defiantly. "We woke him up and we are going to stop him!"

Rick grabbed a load of Evy's books now. "'We?' What 'we'? 'We' didn't read that book! I told you not to play around with that thing—didn't I tell her not to play around with that thing?" Jasmine nodded.

"Yes, alright then, me, me, me, I, I, I woke him up and I intend to stop him!" Evy said angrily, taking her books from, again, out of the suitcase. "Jasmine, please tell me you are going to stay and help?"

"Of course," she sighed. Like she can leave the Americans' fate to chance. And leave Ardeth, too.

"Oh yeah?" Rick asked. "How? You heard the man. No mortal weapons can kill this guy!"

"Then we are going to have to find some immortal ones!"

"There goes that 'we' again," Rick said exasperatedly, looking at Jasmine in disbelief.

"Will you just listen to me?" Evy said, slamming the suitcase down on Rick's fingers, who growled in pain. "We have to do something!"

"You heard what Ardeth said," Jasmine said to Rick reasonably. "Once this creature is reborn his curse will spread until the whole of the Earth has been destroyed."

"Yeah? And is that my problem?"

"Well, it is everybody's problem, brother, seeing how we ARE on earth."

"Evelyn," said Rick, "I appreciate you saving my life and all but when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and to bring you back, and I have done that. End of job, end of story. Contract terminated!"

Jasmine smacked her forehead at the harshness of his words, whilst Evy looked hurt. "Is that all I am to you? A contract?"

"Look, you can either tag along with me or you can stay here...and try and save the world! What's it gonna' be?"

"I'm staying," she said quietly, looking him in the eyes.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine."

Jasmine stared as Rick left her bedroom, saying one last "Fine," for good measure, thinking they were just like an old married couple. "Evy, I will try and convince him to stay. I'll be back."