Nightmare Kingdom: A Romance of the Future (9 page)

When he woke up, Jamie felt that dying might have been easier. His whole body was one intense ache with a point of highest intensity on his right side where the thruster had ripped through him.

He’d always heard that you usually didn’t have memories of the time right before and during a traumatic injury, but unfortunately he could recall as though in slow motion every second from the instant when he was attacked until he passed out from loss of blood.

He’d been surrounded by the Aremian crew and not sure who was friend or enemy. Now that he was back to consciousness, he still had no idea who to trust.

“Your condition is stabilized,” the medic  told him without emotion. “We had to give you blood.”

“Well, that’s turnabout, I guess,” Jamie returned, then felt this was perhaps an inappropriate remark, considering that his life was in this woman’s hands. Somehow he didn’t much care.

“Who in hell tried to kill me and why?”

“We can talk about this later.”

“Not later. Now.” Jamie tried to sit up and quickly determined that would not be a wise thing to do.

The medic watched gauges around him and what she saw made her frown. “I’ll ask the captain to come and speak to you. He would prefer to tell you himself.”

Jamie subsided into a doze, coming in and out in a kind of vague way until the man who had identified himself as Captain Thereon of the imperial service stood before. Didn’t any of these people have last names? He thought irritably, then dismissed the whole idea. Things were  different on Aremia and he understood very little about their ways.

“Who was the guy who tried to kill me?”

“Maron, the second engineer,” the captain said succinctly. “The rest of the crew has been determined to be  loyal to the empress regent.”

Jamie  considered. “That’s what it was all about? This guy had it in for poor little Claire?”
.

The captain’s mouth twisted slightly and Jamie gathered that he didn’t care for the description of his empress. Too bad. He’d known Claire longer and knew her vulnerabilities.

“The empress and the princesses. His loyalties were to the young emperor. There are those who consider the princesses to be unnatural females because of their . . .ah, abilities.”

“Goes against tradition?”

The captain knew Earth ways. He nodded.

“How do you feel about that?”

“My feelings are hardly significant. My emperor left his family in my trust and named his empress as regent, as was his right. I support the rightful ruler.”

Jamie knew he wasn’t exactly
in fine form. He was weak as a kitten, a creature he hadn’t seen since leaving Earth, and if he managed to get to his feet he’d probably fall promptly on the floor. But the strong protective urge in him made him say, “I’d like to have a little talk with this Maron guy at first opportunity.”

“You’re too late. He has been executed as a traitor.”

Jamie stared. “Already. Arrest, trial, jury and judge, all done and the hangman sent in.”

“Hanging is barbaric. As captain, the duty fell to
me and he was outspoken in his admission of guilt. He was jettisoned into space.”

“Bloody hell!”

Captain Thereon gave a nod that was like a violent jerk of his head. “It wasn’t pleasant. I considered him a friend.”

Jamie couldn’t quite take it all in. The thruster attack, his passing out, waking up to find his attacker already beyond his reach. His anger had nowhere to go.

“I wouldn’t like to be your enemy,” he said.

Three days later when they slowed to enter Capron’s atmosphere, Jamie was managing to stand on unstable feet while he watched the planet approach on the viewer. He’d heard many stories about the prison planet; most of them made both the environment and the inhabitants sound brutal. He could only hope that Claire and her girls were still alive and unharmed.

Unlike the bigger ships, the Adaeze could land just about anywhere where there was enough open space. Captain Thereon and his crew settled the cruiser down in the area south of the planet’s only city of any size.

It looked to be a ramshackle community of makeshift dwellings with domestic animals living alongside or even within the same building and streets that ran with mud and other unpleasant substances.

To Jamie the smell of animal dung was probably not as unpleasant as to most people. He’d grown up on a farm and the memories associated with the scent were some of the best he’d had.

He stepped from the ship, leaning on a cane, but refusing the support of the captain’s strong arm. He was just vain enough not to want Claire to see him for the first time in years leaning on someone else.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that they were there waiting for the ship’s landing, apparently as free as air and not anybody’s hostages. For an instant nobody was present but him and the blue-eyed woman who had only grown more strikingly lovely than the girl he remembered.

He walked toward her, ignoring the pain that little stroll caused to his damaged body, coming to a stop only a few feet away from where she stood.

“Jamie,” she said, then hugged him. It hurt, but in a good way. He was relieved to see for himself that on this planet of fierce men this delicate-looking woman was sound and whole.

“We’ve come to rescue you,” he said and heard a derisive snort that seemed to come from one of the daughters.

Claire knew he had no business being up and walking around, but it was reassuring to see that Adaeze hadn’t been deceiving her when she said he would live and eventually be well again.

She’d never been so anxious in her life as during these last few days as they waited for the little cruiser to approach Capron.

Now she stepped back to get a good look at him. Adaeze had thought it amusing when he’d said he’d come to rescue her, but Claire didn’t think there was anything the least bit funny about Jamie’s words.

She felt rescued. Here he was her old friend, who once would have sacrificed his life for her safety and even though she recognized this strongly built man only remotely as the boy she had known, sparks clicked between them just as they had back when they were both fifteen.

Flanked by her loyal army of supporters, she gestured at her daughters. “This is Adaeze, my older daughter,” she indicated the dark-haired girl, and then the one with cotton white hair, “and Lillianne, who is younger.”

Jamie nodded gravely. “Glad to meet the two of you,” he said politely.

Lillianne smiled and gave a formal little
curtsey. Adaeze made no gesture of acknowledgement.

Captain Thereon saluted her and the princesses and inquired politely, “Shall we take off immediately, Madam?”

Obviously he wasn’t sure whether all these people following them were supporters or a threat to their safety. “Not yet, Captain,” she said. “A farewell dinner is being given in our honor. We couldn’t miss that.”

He didn’t blink an eye, but she could see that the girls were both messaging him. No doubt they were filling him in on what had happened since he’d departed. A few other mental voices were also probably speaking up, considering that the majority of their supporters were mind speakers.

Only she, Jamie and a good number of residents on the planet were left out of the conversation.

Jamie’s instincts told him to grab hold of the three of them and race for the safety of the cruiser. But he knew from his dealings with animals back on the farm that often if you ran, something would decide it was supposed to chase you. So he had no choice but to follow Claire’s lead.

The day was wintry cold with a sharp wind blowing, but apparently no building in town was large enough to host this gathering. The honored guests were provided with raggedy blankets on which to rest while the rest of the crowd sank down on the icy ground. They had to be hardy folk, he determined, to survive this climate.

Great chunks of roasted meat were handed around and though they did have cups to hold the scalding black liquid that served as a drink, no plates, platters, bowls or service-ware were to be soon.

He tried not to observe the less than clean hands of the servers
, focusing instead on their friendly, sometime toothless grins, and nibbling at the food more from good manners than from hunger.

Claire refused the meat and contented herself with the vegetables, but he noticed her daughters were only making a show of eating. He doubted that more than a bite of food passed their lips.

Neither of the princesses was as attractive as Claire, at least not in his opinion. The taller one looked forbidding and the other one with her fuzzy white-blonde hair reminded in of the late emperor, a man for whom he had come to feel a certain respect as well as long term resentment.

Speeches were made verbally in Claire’s honor and during the course of the meal, several violent outbreaks were quickly quelled on the edges of the crowd.

His head hurt, he felt nauseated, and was afraid he might faint like a girl at any minute. So much for playing the rescuing hero.

By the time they finally boarded the cruiser, he had to be assisted on one side by Claire and on the other by the captain.

Once again he was placed in the luxurious cabin he’d occupied on the way over and, to his dismay, slipped instantly into heavy sleep.

Once her girls were settled in their rooms and eating the elegant food with which they were familiar, Claire didn’t bother even with the shower where she longed to indulge her body. First she had to check on Jamie.

She tiptoed into his cabin, looking around in disapproval at the furnishings which were so much less comfortable than the one
s she and her daughters enjoyed. She supposed, though, it would have to do. These were the quarters her daughters used to occupy when they traveled as a family. Now they stayed in the imperial suite with her.

She didn’t want to awaken him so she moved quietly to his bedside. He hadn’t even taken off his boots, but lay sprawled in evident exhaustion on the top of the coverlet.

He lay so limply that for a moment she was frightened that it had all been too much for him and he’d died right here on the bed. But when she bent close, she relaxed a little to see the rise and fall of his chest.

His skin tone was chalky and his breathing labored. Drawing a chair close to the bed, she determined to keep watch until he wakened.

The room was dark around him and for a bit Jamie could not remember where he was. Then as he became accustomed to the dim light, he saw Claire slumped in sleep in a chair beside his bed.

He recalled coming back on board the cruiser and that Claire and her daughters had come with him. They were headed back home to Sanctuary so everything would be all right now.

He chuckled to consider what his buddies in New London would think when he got back there with Claire in tow. He had no doubt Isaiah and Mack would be pleased. She had been part of their original group and they’d never really approved of her marriage with the emperor.

No doubt they’d welcome her back with hearty approval and be glad to meet her daughters as well. The princesses were about the same age as Isaiah’s Alice and Mack and Karen’s two sons.

Karen! He told himself that the two women had never actually had a chance to get acquainted. Of course they’d gotten off to a bad start in the early days, but things would be different now.

For just an instant his weary thoughts flickered from this dream of Eden he was allowing himself and reality set in. The Gare would be coming for them again. It was sure to happen with the new little emperor showing signs of speaker ability.

He closed his eyes and determined that, for this one night at least, he would not worry about that. He was too tired, his health too fragile, tomorrow would be soon enough to consider the uncertain future they all faced.

“Jamie?” A sleepy voice made him open his eyes again. “You still alive?”

“So far,” he answered cautiously.

He could hear her yawn. “I’m so tired.”

“You don’t need to stay here. I’m fine.”

“No, you might go and die while my back is turned.”

He felt her movement on to his bed as she proceeded cautiously, as though afraid of jarring him and causing pain. She curled up somewhere near his feet and sank into the mattress with a sigh.

“Thanks for coming to rescue me, Jamie.”

“Yeah, big fat help I was, finding you with half the planet at your back.”

She laughed softly. “It was dicey and it was a whole lot less than half the planet. Things changed moment to moment and it was really Adaeze who managed more than me. She’s only a little girl, but in some ways she’s always been grownup. I have to work hard to keep her aware I’m the mom and still in charge.”

“Most kids are like that. Mack and Karen’s boys are fairly sure they could run things better than the adults around them. I’ll bet your girl
s are about the same as Charlie and David. Isaiah’s Alice is different. Quiet, you never know what’s she’s thinking, but then she lost her mom when she was just a tot.”

“I can’t take it quite in. The boy
s I knew with children of their own. So Mack and Karen are together? I thought maybe you and her would hook up.”

“For a while, but we were a bad match. The two of them have been together practically forever. They almost think the same thoughts.”

“You’re not the leader anymore?”

“Kevin Hartley’s the man.”

“Ugh! I remember him. Nothing much with a loud voice.”

“And strong opinions. But I guess you could say the same for me.”

She lay quietly for a while and the problems of New London were once more prominent in his mind. She would probably be able to tell him more about what the Gare had in mind for his community, but he wouldn’t ask tonight.

He felt movement again as she squirmed up to his side. He began to feel hot and bothered and figured that wasn’t good considering his current state.

“Jamie,” she said, sounding fully awake now. “You can’t know about my girls, but they’re rather special.”

“Everybody thinks their kids are special. You should see Mack with his boys.” He was evading the real issue and knew it. He didn’t want to get political tonight, but he owed her his honesty. “Somebody was tracking our every move on the cruiser through the captain and I don’t suppose it was you. One of your girls inherited the far speaker talent from their dad.”

She sighed again and he remembered how old Sylvie used to drive him crazy by sighing all the time. “Both of them, though so far Adaeze, she’s the older one, has the most ability. She could not only communicate with the crew, she could see what was happening through their eyes. She described you to me when you were standing outside New London talking to Captain Thereon.”

He hardly knew what to say. Were congratulations in order or sympathy? He supposed he’d rather have normal kids, but maybe this was normal for the Gare and Claire had lived with the Gare for a long time now.

“It’s a big taboo,” she went on. “Like the kind where you’d be a major hero if you rid the world of one or both of them.”

“That’s just stupid. The whole empire is based on the connections made by the far speakers and it sounds like your older girl has extra special abilities.”

“Male far speakers,” she returned glumly. “I didn’t know anywhere to take them, but to New London. And they may just draw lightning to the community.”

“Awww, we’ll stand for them. After all, they’re half human, they’re our own kids.”

“I hope so.” She sounded doubtful, but he felt himself being drawn inevitably to sleep. He couldn’t resist much longer, he knew as his eyelids grew heavy and a warm blanket seemed to settle across his brain.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” she said. “But I have a feeling that Adaeze will benefit New London. Things are turning bad, Jamie.”

Those words were the last he heard before he surrendered to his need for sleep.

When he awakened in the morning, Claire was gone and he wondered if he’d dreamed the whole thing with her. A medic was at his side and to his relief, told him he could get up and walk around this morning.

He managed to dress himself and to stumble from the cabin. For a cruiser, the little ship was designed along spacious lines. Not only the imperial family, but the crew as well seemed to live comfortably.

Such a ship would be a serious addition to New London’s assets.

He followed the scent of food to the ship’s galley and at the captain’s nod joined him and other crew members for a breakfast of strange, but good tasting food.

Surprised to find himself hungry for the first time since his injuries, he took that as a sign he was recovering. Good thing, he needed to be at his best when they came down in New London because
no telling what he would find going on there.

They ate breakfast at the familiar table in their suite, a table designed just for the four of them, the seat Mathiah had occupied conspicuously vacant.

Claire’s chair had been especially designed to fit the scale of her body so that she didn’t have to feel like a child in the larger furniture the Gare demanded.

She wasn’t feeling too comfortable this morning, however, not with Lillianne chatting away like a babbling brook and Adaeze avoiding her gaze.

She’d returned this morning to find both girls awake and worried about her. “Where have you been?” Lillianne cried out the words in a kind of panic.

“You were with
him
,” Adaeze accused.

“He’s badly injured,” Claire responded, feeling like a kid being called on the carpet by irate parents. “He needed somebody to look after him.”

Adaeze’s dark eyebrows rose sharply, expressing her disbelief.

“Dammit, Adaeze, the man can’t even sit up. He’s hardly a threat to me.”

“Not that kind of threat,” the girl retorted.

“You’re thirteen years old and you’re telling me how to run my life?”

“I come from an older and wiser race,” Adaeze said, getting up with stony dignity to go back to her sleeping room.

Claire was left sputtering. For the first time in her life, she was bereft of words. Adaeze, the perfect princess and her father’s darling, had just insulted her in the worst way possible. She had put down her mother’s heritage from Earth.

Appalled, she looked to her other daughter. Hastily, Lillianne stuffed her mouth with food and chewed busily. Obviously she didn’t want to comment and just as obviously, she knew her mother was likely to turn her wrath on the one daughter left in the room.

Claire waited, letting the seconds move by while Lillianne chewed. Finally the girl took a gulp of her iced drink, then looked up at her mother. “She’s jealous for father,” she tried to explain.

“There’s nothing like that between Jamie and me. We’re old friends, that’s all. And you may not have noticed, but your father isn’t around anymore.”

She didn’t realize until the words were out of her mouth that she’d said something terribly cruel. Lillianne burst into tears. “I miss him so much. He was the best father.”

She could have shot herself to so have hurt her little girl. “Lillianne, darling.” She tried to pull the girl into her arms, but Lillianne struggled against her embrace.

At least she didn’t run from the room as had her sister. Instead she jumped up and distanced herself from her mother, turning her back dramatically. Little girls were good at drama, Claire thought wearily. She had been herself.

“Sweetheart, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. You know I miss Mathiah terribly. He meant the world to me. Surely you saw how close we were.”

She could hardly remind the man’s child that the beginning between the two of them had been so negative. She didn’t need to hear that Claire had started out as his unwilling prisoner and that in fact she’d had little choice about marrying him. He’d meant to do her honor, releasing her from the imprisonment of serving as his catere, but her understanding of her position had not been the same as his.

She had married him to save her friends and over time had developed genuine love and respect for him. She sure as hell wasn’t glad he was dead. Instead she felt an unreasonable anger that he’d abandoned her to face the task of protecting their daughters alone.

All of this was way beyond her girls
’ ability to understand. She became aware that Lillianne seemed to be waiting for something.

“Let me guess,” she said. “You don’t want to go to New London?”

“Not exactly. We’ll be strangers there. We won’t belong.”

“They’re my people, Lilli. You’re my daughters. You belong there as much as you do back on Aremia or in the Palace de Gare. And, at least, you won’t have to marry some creep just because he’s a close relative and you might produce gifted children.”

She didn’t mention the fact that both girls would be targets for assassination if their talents became known. Lillianne knew that already and Claire didn’t want to scare her to death.

It was bad enough that she was so scared herself. The truth was she couldn’t think about a single place where she could feel that her daughters would be safe.

“It’s not only that,” Lillianne turned to face her and Claire saw that tears streaked her face. Aremian girls were brought up to hide their emotions. Crying wasn’t allowed.

A tremor moved visibly through the girl’s slender form. “Something bad is happening there. I don’t know what it is, but I hear
Adaeze’s thoughts leaking through. Something bad is happening in New London.”

Claire frowned. “How could she know that? The people of New London aren’t telepaths. She can’t communicate with them.”

Lillianne shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Claire went immediately to the bedroom the girls shared and knocked hard on the door. “I want to speak to you, Adaeze, right now. If you don’t come out, I’ll come in.”

It was ridiculous, but at this moment she felt almost afraid to confront her own daughter. The last thing she wanted was for either girl to realize how she felt; she would have utterly lost control at that moment.

She felt enormously relieved when the door slid open by about an inch and Adaeze peered out. “What do you want?” she asked sullenly.

“We have to talk, the three of us. We need to make plans.”

She turned to head back to the center room, not knowing what she would do if her daughter didn’t follow. “You don’t want to talk about that man?” Adaeze’s voice followed her and then, to her relief, she heard her footsteps against the floor as she obeyed her mother.

She chose to sit on a high stool, instinctively stationing herself to be above the girls as they settled uneasily into lower, more comfortable chairs. This was her first real trial of her ability to manage the girls without the assistance of their father.

For their sake as well as her own, she
must be successful.

“Adaeze,” she said in a crisply authoritative tone, “when the time comes for me to make choices about my personal life, I will do that for myself. You can be sure that the best interests of you and your sister will be first in my mind.”

Adaeze opened her mouth to speak, but Claire lifted a restraining hand and the girl closed her mouth.

“What I want to talk about is what’s going on in New London and whether it’s safe for us to go there?”

Lillianne looked at the floor. Claire couldn’t let her sister know she’d tattled on her. “You can hear across distances, Adaeze. Surely you can give me some picture of what’s happening there.”