Wura was sitting on to the bed in her tent, patiently waiting for Mero to show up. She was sure that it would not be long now before he arrived.
Wura already had an inkling as to why Mero suddenly said that they would have to stay here for a few more days. However, she still needed his explanation. She did not like the way he was looking and much more less the sudden change in plans.
Wura sighed, it was not as if she despised the idea of having to stay here for a few more days, but she could not lie that she had already been looking forward to returning to the camp.
She was excited to see Nora and the others. She missed them all so much, and most of all, she was started to get worried that leaving Olamide unwatched for such a long time would end up blowing in their faces.
That man was a rat, you could not leave him unwatched for a while and still expect all the food you set out on the table to still be there.
Wura was feeling more and more uneasy as she thought of the possibility that he already knew that she was not present in the camp at all.
She felt a chill run down her spine. That man was mad, for all she knew he might attack the camp just to spite her and make her give in to all his outrageous demands.
Wura unconsciously began to play with her hair, thinking of how bad things could get, she was starting to worry a lot, more than she had expected herself to. She suddenly felt so trapped, so worried, as if she was unable to breathe.
Then suddenly a familiar voice rang out, snapping her out of all her panicking as she gasped, not from fear but from the feeling of leaving that moment of despair.
"Wura, are you in there?" called Mero from outside, he wondered why he was even asking that? Of course she was in there, she told him herself that she would be nowhere else but in her tent, but he just felt like he had to say something to alert her of his presence.
He could not just walk into her tent just like that, it would be nothing but rude.
"Ahh... yes Mero... come in." said Wura as she suddenly found the urge to make herself presentable, or maybe it was a way for her to make sure that she did not look startled or troubled because that would certainly make Mero start asking questions.
Mero walked into her tent with a frown on his face. He did not know why but, there was a way Wura's voice sounded that made him feel as if she was not alright.
He took one look at her face and he was certain that she was not alright, if anything she looked startled.
"Are you alright Wura?" he asked as Wura could see that he was already starting to get suspicious and he had only just walked in.
"I am fine Mero, so can you please tell me why we have to stay for a few more days?" asked Wura as she stood up, carrying herself in a manner that would not betray how unstable she felt on the inside.
She looked straight into Mero's eyes, waiting for an answer as he narrowed his eyes, trying to search for something unnamable in them, but he could not find anything.
The way in which Wura was looking at him so intently, she obviously wanted answers more than anything else. She was succeeding in masking whatever it was that she felt before he arrived.
"Well as you already know, with the alarm yesterday, I asked some guards to monitor any suspicious activity around that area and..." said Mero as his voice trailed off, as if pondering if he should tell her the rest or keep it to himself.
"And what?" asked Wura as she narrowed her eyes at him. She could see that he had intentions of hiding things from her, but she would give him the benefit of the doubt.
"And this morning as I was preparing my horse the guards I assigned that duty to suddenly came running, they said that they saw troops of the East and it would seem that they had completely surrounded the area and beyond, even until the road which we would follow." said Mero as he decided that there was no use hiding anything, she needed to know.
Wura gasped, she was shocked, not because this scared her, but because all her previous thoughts were correct. Olamide had found out that she was not in the camp, he somehow knew that she was here and he had sent his men ahead to probably capture her, or worse.
"They wanted to ambush us." said Wura as Mero nodded.
"And they would have succeeded if not that those guards were diligently watching." said Mero as the mere thought that Wura's life could have been in danger was making him angry.
Of course he would have been able to protect her, he would protect her with his life. That was his duty to her, but he knew that if they had gone ahead with their journey this morning, the guards sent ahead of them would have been killed, and they would have no choice than to flee.
Mero was relieved that Wura did not have to go through such terror and panic. He would rather that she remain here where she was safe until they could figure out a way to chase away those men.
"Oh my... Mero do you know what this means?" asked Wura as she looked at Mero.
"It means that Olamide already knows that I am gone, I am not present at the camp... what if he decides to attack the camp?" asked Wura, the panic in her tone evident.
"I doubt he would do that, the camp is heavily guarded and what would he gain by attacking our camp?" asked Mero as Wura shook her head.
"I do not know Mero, but that man is unstable, he is mad, for all we know he can do such a thing just to spite me and make me give in to his outrageous demands!" said Wura as she was started to breathe really quickly.
"I do not think he would dare do that except he is ready to die by walking right into our camp." said Mero as Wura moved away and shook her head as she started to pace up and down.
"Mero, I do not think that it is safe for me to be here... those men are there because of me, I am endangering the lives of everyone here. The lives of the innocent people here." said Wura.
"If anything happens to them it is going to happen because of me." said Wura as she started finding it harder to breathe.
Mero looked at Wura with worry, she was certainly panicking. He was severely concerned, he did not know what he should do or what he could say to try to calm Wura down.
"Wura, please calm down, breathe, breathe." he said as she looked at him and started to hyperventilate.
Wura was unable to answer him as Mero did not know what else to say, he did not even think, he just moved.
Before he knew it, he found himself standing beside Wura as he embraced her in a tight, warm hug, he patted her on her back.
"Breathe Wura, breathe, please breathe, you need to calm down." said Mero as Wura nodded and hugged him back.
"Yes like that, in and out, in and out, slowly." said Mero as he could hear the faint sounds of Wura huffing and puffing as he could slowly feel her start to calm down as her breathing returned to being regular.
He felt her shoulders slump as she held onto him without saying a word, she was still in the process of calming down.
"Do you feel better now?" asked Mero as soon as he was sure that she had completely calmed down.
Wura did not say anything, all she could do was nod her head as Mero could still feel how fast her heart was beating, she was scared, she was worried, she was panicking.
He could only imagine how much she was going through at this moment. It was one thing for him to say that everything would be okay, but another thing entirely for everything to actually be okay.
"Look at me Wura." said Mero.
"Look at me." repeated Mero again as Wura looked up at him.
"You are not endangering anyone, far from it, you and the people are better off safer here than anywhere else." said Mero as he explained gently.
"Everything will be okay, everything is going to be alright, okay?" asked Mero as Wura looked into his eyes and nodded, she felt so tired, so exhausted so hopeless.