The Reluctant Knight Read Online Free PDF

her bladder, Amelia focused on
her breathing.
    It took a few
minutes but eventually she was absorbed in the slow rhythmic
breathing that came before sleep. Thankfully, not long after that
she managed to slip into oblivion.
    ***
    A jolt ran through
Amelia sometime later, jerking her from sleep. Her first reaction
was to try and move her arms and legs but she merely managed to
irritate the raw skin around her wrists, jab herself with her elbow
far too near her bladder for comfort, and bash her head on
something in the boot behind her.
    She grunted into
the cloth, everything about her situation flooding back to her in a
whirlpool of burning pain and rushing blood. Adrenaline flooded her
system again, bringing another wave of fear with it.
    Going to sleep had
been a bad idea. Now she had no clue how long she'd been stuck in
the car boot and how far she might be from Calais. Water pricked
her eyes at the hopelessness of her situation.
    For a couple of
minutes Amelia allowed herself the first real vent to her feelings
since the situation had begun. Tears fell from her eyes and she
sobbed into the wad of material in her mouth. She knew it would
make it difficult to breathe but she needed to release all the
pent-up emotion so she could think clearly, and doing this while
she was alone in a moving car boot was better than later, when she
might have the opportunity to escape.
    It didn't take her
long to cry out the tears she had, and her stuffed up nose deprived
her of enough oxygen to calm her quickly once she was done. Air
deprivation was incredibly useful for keeping the mind from racing
out of control.
    Ten minutes later,
she felt light-headed but in control of herself again. Immediately,
she felt hope return, and she remembered that she probably wasn't
alone. Myron would be able to hear anything she chose to say. She
tapped out a quick SOS and then added some information on her
vitals. Mostly that she was dehydrated and couldn't feel her feet
or legs any more.
    Not long after
this she noticed the car join another queue of traffic and slow.
Thankfully, in this car, when they idled, the back didn't fill up
with exhaust fumes. For several minutes nothing happened, but then
they inched forward again, bit by bit.
    Amelia was just
deciding it must be traffic when they stopped again and she heard
more voices. This time one sounded like it might be speaking
German, and she thanked her mother for persuading her to take it as
a subject while at high school when she recognised a few words in a
sentence about a holiday. The men answered in English, saying they
were going home. Just like she had at the previous border controls,
Amelia tried to talk and yell, but nothing came out louder than a
muffled grunt. She soon gave the attempt up as useless and decided
it would be better to listen. She couldn't make enough noise for
anyone to hear her.
    Within a few more
minutes, they were through the inspection and on their way again.
It seemed Russia just kept getting closer. More out of a sense of
duty than any real hope, Amelia tapped at her bug again to pass the
information on. With Myron's mind, there was a chance that knowing
what time she went through borders would help him rescue her.
    To help keep
herself sane and take her mind of the growing discomfort she was
in, Amelia concentrated on keeping track of time in some vague way.
She tried to count out the seconds in every minute and then keep
track of the minutes.
    After what she
thought was roughly an hour she re-sent her message. She tried to
keep it short, and given how little info she had it wasn't
difficult, but she found when she stopped tapping again she felt
another little part of her hope slip away. Much longer and she
wouldn't have anything left.
    A couple of times
she lost track of her counting so she had to guess what was an
hour, but about eight of these sets of counting later she still
hadn't been let out of the car boot and she was so desperate to pee
that she knew she might have