Page 165 of New Storm Rising
A guard whirled around at the sound, pointing his rifle towards the centre of the camp. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“Didn’t you hear that? That noise? Like a stone dropping in a bathtub?”
“What noise? Stop imagining things! There’s nothing there!”
The other guard grumbled and returned to his patrol. Neither of the two noticed the ripples slowly spreading on the pool of the oasis, as if something had just dropped into the water.
***
“Hmm…”
Sighing contentedly, I shifted and snuggled into my bed, enjoying my last glimpses of dreamland.
“Mrs Ambrose?” my bed interrupted my dreams.
“Hm? Whazzup, bed?”
“Remove yourself from on top of me.Now.”
“But you’re so comfy, bed!”
“Remove.Now.”
“How do you manage to be so comfy?” Poking his ribs, I rubbed my nose against his chest. “You’re made of granite. You should be hard, bed.”
“Cease. Calling. Me. That!”
“All right, all right…” A pause. “…sofa.”
With a low growl erupting from his chest, my bed grabbed hold of me and dumped me on the ground. I decided I would have to buy new furniture.
“You know,” I mumbled, rolling around to face Mr Rikkard Ambrose. “That wasn’t very polite.”
“Since when does furniture care about politeness?”
I grinned. “Touché, my dear bed.Touché.”
Yawning, I stretched. I guess it was time to get up. It wasn’t as if I was particularly reluctant today, unlike most days of the week.
Smirking, I glanced over at the distant oasis.
In fact, I’m rather interested to start my day and see what interesting events will unfold.
“Karim?” Straightening up, Mr Ambrose buttoned his tailcoat sincesomeoneseemed to have unbuttoned his clothes at night to examine his abs a little more closely. No clue who could possibly be responsible. “Karim, report!”
No answer came. His fingers freezing halfway up his tailcoat, Mr Ambrose turned to stare at his bodyguard. He wasn’t the only one. I looked over at the man, nonplussed. Because, taciturn as the big, bearded fellow might normally be, he had never ignored the call of his employer. Yet there he stood, staring off into the distance without a word. It didn’t take long for Mr Ambrose and me to notice how he was staring at the distant oasis.
“Karim, report! Did something happen during the night?”
“Well, actually…yes, AmbroseSahib. I am not sure what caused this, but some sort of sickness seemed to have spread through the desperados’ ranks.”
“Sickness?”
“Listen,Sahib.”
We did as advised. And indeed, the morning wind that was still filled with the chill of the night carried sounds of moans and groans towards us. Mr Ambrose straightened up.
