A Fire In The Night

Chapter 2

It had been about three hours since they got off the train. They decided to camp near the rails, because no one in the group seemed to know what else they were supposed to do. There were about forty people in the desert from what Ila could count. After she pulled herself together, Ila found out that the boy’s name was Ander. He seemed a bit older than her, maybe in his late twenties. Everything about him gave it away he was the perfect candidate for the Empire Intelligence. He was tall and strong, handsome enough to fit into the high society, but also fierce enough to deal with this kind of job. His feisty red hair was messy, a few strands falling over his forehead. Ander was nice, friendly, but Ila knew better than to trust Intelligence Recruits. They were mischievous and always had a hidden agenda. If she knew something for sure about the Empire, it was that it chose the most serpent like people for the Cato Order.  
Weary as she might have been though, Ila decided it’s better to sleep in Anders tent than outside in the dessert, which now in the middle of the might gave no memory of the scorching sun away. 
Ander was sleeping peacefully next to her, the sound of his even breath filling the tent. Ila on the other hand couldn’t sleep. She lay on her back, eyes fixed on the fabric above her head. Now that the panic that she ended up in the wrong unit had settled in, she needed to come up with a plan. The Medical Order would eventually realise that she was missing and would send someone after her. Or would they? It wasn’t uncommon for members of the Ritters to bail before their first mission. It was illegal, sure, but not uncommon. Ila shook her head lightly at that thought. Someone would search for her, she had to believe that. In the meantime however she had to figure out how to survive the last stage of the most horrible training program in the Empire. She sighed. She went mentally over the list of medical supplies she had. They were told not to bring much, everything they would have needed was to be provided in the medical camps by the Empire. She only had a suture kit, some bandages and a very limited amount of anaesthetics. Ila closed her eyes for a second. Those things wouldn’t be enough to make a strong alliance in order to stay alive. Suddenly she couldn’t breath. She got up in a sitting position in an attempt to calm her breath. 

Am I having a panic attack? 

On the verge of hyperventilating Ila got out of the tent. It was cold and really dark. There was no moon that night so Ila was not sure if she could really see anything further than the silhouette of Anders tent, no matter how hard her eyes tried to adjust. Afraid that she wouldn’t know her way back she remained standing in front of the tent, inhaling deeply with her eyes closed. The night was so silent that it almost felt unnatural. Considering that Ila grew up with the sound of a busy city and old factories working at any hour, she didn’t really know what silence meant. Since it was pitch black around and the all that darkness gave her even more anxiety, Ila closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. 

In. And out. In. And out. 

Her hand was laying on her chest, rising and falling in sync with the air inside her lungs. 

“Can’t sleep?”

Ila’s eyes flew open, her feet taking an involuntary step behind tripping in the process over one of the ropes that anchored the tent. A hand grabbed her arm pulling her forward to help prevent Ila from falling. She searched for a face. It was pitch black so she realised how closely she squinted only when a pair of eyes was looking inches away back to her. His hand was still on her arm, holding her steadily. In chilly air his hand felt warm and nice, reassuring almost. Ila had never had anyone to prevent her from falling and the fact that this stranger left his hand a little longer than needed on her arm sent a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. She breathed slowly through her parted lips and pulled her hand gently away. 

“Ugh, yeah...” she only noticed that her voice was trembling when she heard herself speak. 

Damn it!