Claimed by the Desert

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

By the time Vera made it home it was late in the evening. She sat underneath the kitchen window for what seemed like hours and listened for any disturbance inside the house. Amias had probably followed her here and it was likely he now possessed her father in an attempt to get to her. The only option she had was to sneak in and grab her satchel without being seen or heard.

There was just one problem with that scenario: she had never snuck into or out of anywhere. She had never wanted to – or had to. And there were no tree branches or vines for her to climb directly into her room like in all the stories. She would have to somehow make it up the stairs without being caught, but considering Amias probably knew that and was waiting for her, her chances of getting out unscathed were slim to none.   

Vera closed her eyes tightly and took a few deep breaths, wondering what Halsten would do in this situation. Suddenly all of the war stories he had told her over the years didn't seem so pointless or boring. Tears filled her eyes as she realized she would never hear him tell any stories again.  She could almost hear his voice though, if she concentrated enough.

...and my men and I were surrounded. We needed to find a way out, but soldiers flanked us on all sides. No one knew we were still alive, so no reinforcements came for us. For three days we managed to hold our ground inside the fort, but we had no food and very little water. It was Marvin's idea to stage a diversion. He was badly wounded and knew he wouldn't live much longer, so he offered to sacrifice himself so we could get out. Brave man, that Marvin.

Anyway, while the rest of us made our way out of the fort Marvin started setting fires in the enemy camp on the east side near the river. It just so happened that the enemy had placed most of their heavy artillery on that side of the camp and fire caused an explosion that took out quite a few soldiers.  While they were busy figuring out what was going on, we had all managed to get quite a few miles away....

Vera's eyes snapped open in shock. A diversion! That's exactly what she needed. But she couldn't just set the house on fire – not when she would have to go inside to get her things. The diversion would have to be something else and it would have to keep Amias's attention for at least a few minutes.

A plan had begun to form in her mind, but she was wary of attempting it. Her only option was to get help, but involving anyone else could be dangerous. After what happened to Halsten and those poor men in the desert Vera worried that she would only be getting more people hurt. She would have to be very careful.

Vera crawled away as quietly as possible from underneath the window and took off racing down the street as soon as she was out of earshot. She didn't have a lot of time. If Amias got suspicious of her whereabouts and came looking for her, her plan would be ruined.

After sprinting for only a few minutes she had to stop and catch her breath. Placing her hands on her knees, Vera panted and shook sweat out of her eyes.

"There is far too much running involved in this saving the day nonsense," she said aloud.

Eventually she managed to make it to her destination, but she was completely out of breath and was a disgusting sweaty mess. Knocking on the door, Vera prayed her accomplice was at home.

"May I help you?" a voice said from above her.

Vera managed to glance up from her bent over position and hold up a hand to signal him to wait as she caught her breath. The man obviously wasn't amused because he rolled his eyes and went to shut the door in her face.

"Wait!" she shouted, slamming her hand against the door to keep it open. "I need to speak to Dr. Peters!"

"Indeed," the man stated, looking completely bored and uninterested in her at all. "And whom may I tell him is calling?"