Nightmare Kingdom: A Romance of the Future by Barbara Bartholomew Page A
Authors: Barbara Bartholomew
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agreement.
Without further talk, they armed themselves with rocket guns, capable of at least doing some serious damage to a smaller ship, and headed out to the old truck that was kept always at the ready.
The seven of them crowded in with Karen behind the wheel and roared away through the dark and silent streets of New London.
In the distance, Jamie saw the flashing lights of a whirling ship, streaking down toward them like a slow-falling asteroid.
SEVEN
Neither of the girls had said much since they’d been enclosed within the damp, dark cave that served as their prison. Oh, Claire supposed they were conversing with each other just the way they had when they were small, but back then their father, acutely tuned to them, could hear what was being said and could offer comfort or reprimands as needed
Without Mathiah she was flying blind when her daughters chose not to talk to her. She couldn’t even guess what they were feeling . They had on their Gare faces, their features stony and emotionless.
They had slept the last two nights on damp ground in the middle of the small cave, which offered no place where they could stand upright. They’d twice been brought bowls of some kind of crunchy but flavorless grain for their meal and a wooden pail of water to drink.
Claire who had always been fastidious about her grooming almost hated feeling so filthy more than anything else, but they couldn’t afford to spare any of their precious drinking water for cleaning even their faces.
The three of them had tried with all their united strength to push the boulder out of their way, but it hadn’t budged by so much as an inch. When their captors came to bring them food and water, it had taken several strong men to make an opening wide enough for one of them to enter.
She’d heard her younger daughter coughing during the night and now with the rim of light around the boulder betraying the fact that it was morning once again, she could see that Lillianne looked pale and sick.
Grimly, she considered their situation. The chances of the loyal crew of the cruiser Princess Adaeze finding help were minimal. They might all three die in this dismal place before anyone even knew of their distress.
They had no valuables left with which to bargain. Their captors had stripped them of every single jewel they’d hidden under their clothes.
They had nothing, not even a glimmer of hope. For about five minutes, Claire allowed herself to sink into despair.
And then the stubborn Chicago girl who had stood up to beatings and privation to make herself a success in her own little world, reared up and determined that somehow she would manage to get her daughters out of this mess.
“We need to make a plan,” she announced in a fierce whisper.
Both girls stared at her. She supposed they had sat in silence for so long that the sound of her voice startled them.
Lillianne covered her mouth as she went into a coughing fit.
“Get a drink,” her mother said.
Obediently Lill ianne moved over to the water bucket, dipping up some of the liquid with the bowl that had contained her food, sipping at it until the coughing died away.
Determined not to allow to herself to panic at this sign of illness, Claire went on, “We have to rescue ourselves. We can’t depend on anyone coming to help us.” She didn’t want to give her daughters false hope, though in her most secret thoughts she still cherished the lingering belief that somehow her friends at New London would find a way to help them.
But that was foolish. She couldn’t sit her like a damsel in distress waiting for a knight on a charger to save her.
“Most likely,” she went on, “nobody has even noticed that we’re not at the Palace de Gare. They probably think we’re sulking in our rooms because Grandmere has taken over power, leaving us out in the cold.”
“They know,” Adaeze said, then looked at her sister as though appealing for help.
“We’re guessing they know,” Lillianne
Without further talk, they armed themselves with rocket guns, capable of at least doing some serious damage to a smaller ship, and headed out to the old truck that was kept always at the ready.
The seven of them crowded in with Karen behind the wheel and roared away through the dark and silent streets of New London.
In the distance, Jamie saw the flashing lights of a whirling ship, streaking down toward them like a slow-falling asteroid.
SEVEN
Neither of the girls had said much since they’d been enclosed within the damp, dark cave that served as their prison. Oh, Claire supposed they were conversing with each other just the way they had when they were small, but back then their father, acutely tuned to them, could hear what was being said and could offer comfort or reprimands as needed
Without Mathiah she was flying blind when her daughters chose not to talk to her. She couldn’t even guess what they were feeling . They had on their Gare faces, their features stony and emotionless.
They had slept the last two nights on damp ground in the middle of the small cave, which offered no place where they could stand upright. They’d twice been brought bowls of some kind of crunchy but flavorless grain for their meal and a wooden pail of water to drink.
Claire who had always been fastidious about her grooming almost hated feeling so filthy more than anything else, but they couldn’t afford to spare any of their precious drinking water for cleaning even their faces.
The three of them had tried with all their united strength to push the boulder out of their way, but it hadn’t budged by so much as an inch. When their captors came to bring them food and water, it had taken several strong men to make an opening wide enough for one of them to enter.
She’d heard her younger daughter coughing during the night and now with the rim of light around the boulder betraying the fact that it was morning once again, she could see that Lillianne looked pale and sick.
Grimly, she considered their situation. The chances of the loyal crew of the cruiser Princess Adaeze finding help were minimal. They might all three die in this dismal place before anyone even knew of their distress.
They had no valuables left with which to bargain. Their captors had stripped them of every single jewel they’d hidden under their clothes.
They had nothing, not even a glimmer of hope. For about five minutes, Claire allowed herself to sink into despair.
And then the stubborn Chicago girl who had stood up to beatings and privation to make herself a success in her own little world, reared up and determined that somehow she would manage to get her daughters out of this mess.
“We need to make a plan,” she announced in a fierce whisper.
Both girls stared at her. She supposed they had sat in silence for so long that the sound of her voice startled them.
Lillianne covered her mouth as she went into a coughing fit.
“Get a drink,” her mother said.
Obediently Lill ianne moved over to the water bucket, dipping up some of the liquid with the bowl that had contained her food, sipping at it until the coughing died away.
Determined not to allow to herself to panic at this sign of illness, Claire went on, “We have to rescue ourselves. We can’t depend on anyone coming to help us.” She didn’t want to give her daughters false hope, though in her most secret thoughts she still cherished the lingering belief that somehow her friends at New London would find a way to help them.
But that was foolish. She couldn’t sit her like a damsel in distress waiting for a knight on a charger to save her.
“Most likely,” she went on, “nobody has even noticed that we’re not at the Palace de Gare. They probably think we’re sulking in our rooms because Grandmere has taken over power, leaving us out in the cold.”
“They know,” Adaeze said, then looked at her sister as though appealing for help.
“We’re guessing they know,” Lillianne
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