Omar, Mika, and Dagner sat in the opposite cell across from where Karma and Jason were being held in. Their cell was just as dark and damp as any cell in the dungeon. And the atmosphere was just as miserable. Omar sat there on the hard-stone floor full of regret. He should have told Karma. He should have told her everything, and maybe, just maybe the situation they found themselves in would have been different. Omar sighed deeply and rested his head against the damp stone wall. His eyes were shut tightly, trying his best not to be filled with so much regret. "Non frette, mon amour," Mika said in elvish placing a gentle hand on her husband's forearm. "It is not your fault; you cannot put blame on yourself for what has happened." Omar peeled open an eye and looked at his wife.

"Yeah, but I can blame myself for not telling her the truth myself. The news wouldn't have impacted her as bad as it has already done." He said and closed his eye again.

"You did what you thought was right," Mika said. "You could have not predicted this outcome. We thought we had more time than we previously thought."

"Aye," Dagner said from the other side of the cell. He made himself comfortable on a patch of dirty hay. "You should not have to carry that burden yourself, my elven friend. We are all to blame, any one of us could have told the lass, but like Mika has said, we thought we more time than we thought." Reaching forward, the dwarf grabbed his right boot from his foot and pulled it off. Taking his stubby fingers he reached inside the boot and pulled out a small flask filled with ale. He popped off the cap and took a swig of ale. "Ah," he said. "They may have taken our physical selves, but our spirits they can never take!" And he took another swig of his drink. He offered the flask to his elven companions. Omar looked at the flask.

"Pourqoui non," Omar said and took the flask taking a sip for himself and passed it to Mika who also took a sip. She made a face after she took her sip and gave it back to Dagner.

"Forte." She said smacking her lips and Dagner chuckled. Lifting the flask he said,

"Slàinte, mo charaidean."

"Cheers." Agreed Omar and Mika.

"Cheers to hoping this nightmare ends shortly," Omar continued on saying. "And that Karma is doing alright." The others agreed and hoped for the best.

----

They needed to get out of here, and fast. Karma, slowly getting back her courage, was trying her best to figure a way out of this dungeon and get back her book. She spent the days in that cell trying to memorize the guards route, but it was hard to keep track with a foggy head. She still couldn't think straight due to all that has happened, and the little food and water that was given them didn't help much either. "We're never getting out of here." She said in defeat and Jason looked at her with sympathy. He sat at a corner of the cell with Moss curled up in ball on his lap. The cat made frequent visits to the cell and kept the inmates company during their imprisonment.

"Don't give up hope, Karma." He said. "I'm sure we'll get out of here. There's still hope." Karma glared at him from the other end of the cell.

"What hope?" She challenged. Jason opened his mouth then closed it. "That's what I thought."

Mrrr-row? Moss went as he stretched over Jason's lap and looked at Karma with its big orange eyes. Karma snorted.

"You said it," she muttered and plopped down beside Jason. Moss jumped from Jason's lap and rubbed against Karma's legs purring. Karma put her hand down on Moss's back watching as the cat's back arched up at the touch and purred louder. The cat made his rounds at rubbing against Karma and Jason and then settled in between them and fell into a cat nap. Hours passed and eventually Moss decided to leave the cell. Karma and Jason would take their own naps resting their heads on each other's shoulders. As they did, Termis would watch them with curious eyes. As long as he had known the Creator, he had never witness this with her. It amused him that finally someone had finally caught her fancy.

Termis never did regretted betraying her. He had fun becoming a tyrant, he had good run. He was furious when Karma finally defeated him, or being defeated by a rodent. Termis couldn't help after a while but to congratulate Karma on her victory. To Termis, it was all a big game, a game of life and death that he didn't mind playing. Though in his opinion, Karma cheated. Without the weasel, she would have never had won. He had her at the point of his sword and in that quick moment, he felt a sharp pain on his back as the ferret jumped on him and dug its razor-sharp claws into his skin, ripping and shredding it. If Termis were to look at his back in a mirror, no doubt he would see a scar where the rodent had made its mark. He grunted and settled against the wall trying to make himself comfortable.

After a while, Karma and Jason were awoken from their nap by the sound of a man screaming in pain. It startled them, even Termis who has lived in this cell long enough to know that wasn't a typical prison scream. The scream ended as soon as it came. The next sound that came was a jingle dangle sound of keys on a ring. Karma and Jason stood to see who would be coming. They watched a shadow on the ground came closer and closer to their cell, and what came, they could have never guessed in a million years. Shari, the saber-tooth ferret popped its furry head through the bars of the cell, and in its small mouth was ring with keys on it, the keys to their freedom.

Karma laughed and greeted the little ferret. "Shari, you little devil!" She said and held out her hand for the ferret to climb up. He climb up her arm and dropped the keys in her other hand. Karma turned to Jason and said, "so what was that about hope?" Jason grinned. Quickly making her way to the cell bars, Karma went through the keys as fast as she could to try and find the right key that opened the door. After a couple of attempts, Karma found the right the key and door clicked opened. Karma grinned. She quickly rushed over to the other side and unlocked Omar's, Mika's, and Dagner's cell door. When it opened it up, they were surprised to see Karma standing there.

"How-?" Omar said and saw Shari on Karma's shoulder.

"It would appear we have chance to get out of here." She said and scratched Shari on the chin.

"Ha!" Dagner said and jumped up from his spot. "I knew that ferret would come in handy!" Karma and the others shook their heads.

"Come on," Karma said, "we don't have much time. No doubt someone will come down here to see what the commotion was." The others agreed and got out of the cell. Just as they were about to leave the dungeon, Karma heard Termis yell from his cell,

"Wait! You got to bring me with you!" Karma paused and went back to her old cell. She peered in to look at Termis.

"Why? Our deal was to set you free after this was over." Termis smiled.

"I can help you; you know." He said. "You won't be getting far in this war without me. I have information, information that can help you. Trust me." Karma looked at Termis for long time trying to figure out if she could trust this man again. She looked at her companions. Omar, who was surprised to see Termis again, shrugged.

"It's up to you, Karma." He said and Karma sighed.

"I can't believe I am about to do this," she muttered and went inside the cell to unlock the chains on Termis's wrist. "If you betray me-"

"Oh, Creator, you still don't trust me after all we've been through?" He smirked and rubbed his wrist as the chains fell off. Karma didn't wait for Termis to get up and started making her out of the cell and dungeons. Termis stood and followed her out. As he did so, he bumped into Omar. "Ah, isn't it my old elven friend Omar. It is nice to see you again, old friend." Omar didn't look amused nor happy to see Termis. He grabbed Termis by the forearm and said,

"if you do anything to harm Karma, you will pay." Termis tsked.

"Says the elf who has been keeping the biggest secret from her to begin with." Omar narrowed his eyes at the man and released his arm. The group quickly made their way up the stone spiral stairs to the narrow hallway. They just needed to go through three more corridors before they can escape.

"We need to get my book," Karma sneaking around the hallway, avoiding the shadow creatures as they stalked the halls.

"No time," Termis said and Karma glared at him. "Look, that man is going to have that book with him at all times, it would be suicide to try and get back now, your best bet is to build an army." Karma looked at Termis then over to Omar, hoping for the support of her oldest friend.

"As much as it pains me," Omar said, "but I agree with Termis, we need to get out of here, Karma. If we build an army, then we can defeat Lester once in for all." Karma was startled when Omar said the name Lester. He knows who the cloaked man is?

"How do you know who he is?" Karma said. "Did you know this entire time?" Omar's eyes widen as he realized his mistake.

"I-" he started to say but was interrupted when a shadow creature in the shape of a jungle cat jumped in from of them and screeched at them. The screeched was loud enough to sound an alarm. Mika made the first move and kicked the demon in the side knocking it over.

"We need to move, now!" she said and urged everyone to move. Karma though, stared at Omar, in total disbelief. Feeling guilty again, Omar said to her,

"I promise, once we're out of here, I will explain everything." Karma shook her head.

"You knew all along," she muttered starting to see the truth behind everything. "I just can't believe you would betray me like that." Omar hazels eyes flickered with guilt, shame, and hurt. Before he could say anything, Karma had followed the others.

It was a race for their lives. Out of nowhere, the shadow demons came screeching towards them. They jumped, swiped, and bite at them as the companions ran past. Eventually, the guards overheard the commotion and joined in in trying to capture Karma and her friends.

Without any weapons of some kind, escaping was going to be difficult. Karma led her companions through the maze of hallways as they tried to escape. They had to fight their way through by using their bare hands and feet. They punched and kicked away the creatures as they attacked. Karma turned the corner to head for the courtyard but Termis grabbed her by the arm and shoved her aside. "What the-?" Karma said and had thought for a moment that Termis was taking this moment to take his revenge but was surprise to see that he had moved Karma just in time. A lion shadow demon had jumped from that corner. Quickly moving where Karma is, Termis moved the tapestry hanging on the wall and revealed a small lever. Flipping it, a small passageway was revealed.

"Not that way." He said and nodded towards the passageway, "this way." The others looked at Termis in shock. "Come on now, we don't have much time." Shaking away her amazement, Karma went through the passageway followed by Jason, Omar, and Mika. Dagner was next to enter. As the dwarf went to go through, a shadow demon the shape of a wolf came lunging at him. Jaws open, the wolf chopped down on Dagner's arm.

"GAHH!" Screamed Dagner. Acting quickly, Termis punched the wolf in the head. It let go with howl. Termis pushed the dwarf through the passageway and flipped the lever that was on the inside, closing the door behind them.

"What happened!?" Karma said pushing her way through the narrow passage to get a better look at her dwarven friend. Dagner was clutching his arm in pain.

"I'm fine, lass," he said. "It's just a small scratch, nothing that I can't bounce back from." Karma looked at her friend for a moment longer, not truly believing it.

"Ok, then." She finally said and looked at Termis. It still surprised her that Termis had saved hers and all of their lives. She nodded at him as a silent thank you. Termis smirked. Then reaching over at the wall, he grabbed a torch and lit it with a flint and steel that was conveniently off to the side.

"This way, if you'll follow me." He said getting up front. Karma and the others followed Termis through the narrowed hallway. The only person that stayed behind was Jason as he turned to wait for Dagner who was lagging behind.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Jason said and the dwarf laughed.

"Don't worry about me, lad, I'll be fine, you go ahead of me." Jason, unsure if he too believed the dwarf, continued to follow the others. Dagner, who was still lagging behind, removed his hand from his wounded arm to see the damaged. His expression turned worried. The bite was worse than he thought. Blood seeped from the wound and blackness started to crawl throughout his arm like vines on a tree. Breathing in deeply, Dagner ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt and tied it around his arm. Putting on a brave face, Dagner hobbled after his companions.

•••••

*1 "Non frett, mon amour" ~ "Do not fret, my love"
*2 "Pourqoui non" ~ "Why not"
*3 "Forte" ~ "Strong"
*4 "Slàinte, mo charaidean" ~ "Cheers, my friends"