The House of Life

Chapter 10

*WARNING* This chapter contains gruesome acts of violence that may be too much for readers.

The following morning, we woke up to the horses neighing widely as the storm picked up more violently than before. Ardeth and I woke up startled as we hurried to the horses, trying to calm them and bring them more inside the cave. "It wasn't like this before we went to sleep," I commented pulling on the reigns of my horse. "Let's just hope it calms down for us to travel later in the day. But this storm is going to set us back, " explained Ardeth. We managed to pull the horses further into the cave when I thought to look down at my watch to see how much time had passed from last night. "Shit," I said aloud, looking at my watch to see that we had overslept, and from the looks of it, the storm is just picking up. Ardeth leered over to see the time as well as he commented, "Okay, it's a quarter past nine, we'll check back again in a couple of hours." I tapped on my watch to see if the hands would change, but it didn't. I hissed through my teeth to try and contain my frustration. "Hopefully the storm might have calmed down enough for us to leave at a decent time. Until then, we pack whatever we can and get ready to leave once the storm calms down." Ardeth nodded, "Got it."

As we packed our supplies to be ready to head out, I was checking our map to see which direction to head towards Hermopolis. I took out my compass, seeing that the arrow was pointing to the left of me, then circled back to point to the right. I didn't think anything of it as it was an old compass that I picked up. I circled on the map where we might be located, trying our best not to get us lost in the storm. When Ardeth started walking towards me in a brisk manner. The look on his face was concerning, as I knew it only meant trouble. "We have a problem," he said. "What kind of problem?"

"I was packing up, when I noticed some of our rations were either missing or they are not where they are supposed to be." I widened my eyes as I go to grab my book with the list of all the supplies I cataloged. "Show me. I have a tally of what we should be missing." Ardeth guided me the back of the wagon, revealing that some of the rice and fruits are gone. I looked in confusion, I made sure that the numbers for what we had matched up for what we used. But Ardeth was right, there were things missing. I didn't want to panic, thinking there could be an explanation to all of this. "You think maybe Qasim might have gotten into it and didn't tell us," Ardeth questioned. I wouldn't put it pass me, but Qasim wouldn't be naive to do such a thing. I pinched the bridge of my nose to concentrate. "He could, but not enough to have about ten apples missing. Maybe he fed the horses." 

"Should we ask him?" Ardeth suggested. We both looked over towards Qasim direction as to study him before we pressured him into a confession. "Can't hurt to ask." Ardeth whistled to Qasim as to get his attention from what he was doing. The little boy looked over, doed eyed and confused. "Qasim," Ardeth called for him and he ran towards him. He started asking Qasim in Arabic about the missing apples and rice. Qasim's face was a blank canvas, which I knew could mean he probably didn't know anything about the missing food. "He said no."

"Do you think maybe the horses got into it?" I questioned. "We won't know, we can't really question a horse, now can we." I clicked my tongue in distaste. We need to come up with a solution to our problems, without adding more to our load. "Okay, from now on, we'll make sure the cart is near the tent. That way the horses won't be able to get to them."

"Sounds like a plan." I didn't want to think the worst. Things like this happen all the time and it could have been far worse. A few apples won't hurt us, but if this continues, we might be having to worry about low rations.

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The storm finally calmed down enough for us to venture further into the storm. As we departed from the cave, I pointed in the direction to where we should be heading towards. Now with me leading the way, it should take us probably two to three hours to get to where we need to be. Or so I thought.