There was nothing in the whole of Faidyre that could have prepared me for the following morning. In my life I had undertaken difficult tasks, from military training, to the art of swordsmanship, but it was, perhaps, that I had never labored as the common man, or woman.

My problem didn't seem to have a medical solution that I knew of.

We were sitting around the table that night, eating a casserole that Abby had cooked. She actually had a lot of culinary experience for someone her age, having had to look after Nicole when Daniel had to work late. She had been working on it when we arrived and it had now been brought to a point where we could eat it. I had set the table and we were all waiting on Abby to move the dish containing the casserole over to the table. Abby placed the casserole dish in the middle of the table.

"Emma, can you serve us?" Abby asked.

Once. A long time ago. Ages past, so far past that there is no longer a history for it the agents of Gaia and the agents of Civilization did battle. In the first great cities of the world did the peoples of Humanity seek refuge as peoples of godlike power walked among them. Hoping against hope that they would survive the cataclysms.

ANOTHER QUICK NOTE: Thanks to Heather Rose Brown for responding to my dilemma with organizing this story's chapters, and helping point me in the right direction. Thanks to erin as well, for helping me with the technical stuff that allowed me to access the "Outline" tool for my stories and organizers. Your help is greatly appreciated.

***

Lanie, Rachel, and Jenny rode the train for the rest of the day until it started to get dark out. The train kept going for a little while until it came to a train yard at the edge of a city.

If it had been cold in the High Lady’s office chambers, it was a level just above damnation here. The room was fairly dark with a concrete floor and stone walls laden with two glow-lamps on each. Their light barely pierced the veil of darkness in front of me, and for the most part they revealed only wet stone that preceded the sound of dripping caused by Sheena’s efforts to ‘cleanse’ me. She stood there just at the edge of the darkness in the company of another servant girl named Kayla.

Summoned: An Accidental Adventure –

Chapter 06

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Nicholas~

              “Nmmneeeiiioooiii-klkkll-hisss.”

              “No.  Damnit.  Not that.”  A pause then.  “N-ee-ko-el-ah-ss.  Neek-oh-las.”

              “Nniieeiiklackchkless.”

Chapter Six

As soon as they got to the car and Frankie buckled him in, she kissed him soundly on the lips. “You know I love you and would never have anything to do with my mother’s scheming.”

It was cold in the High Lady Jenwise’s office, perhaps colder than it should have been. I stood there a good distance away from her desk while she chatted with some dignitary that I didn’t recognize. To the left and right, two guards, each in a pressed blue uniform, each with a rifle slung over their shoulders. Their faces were expressionless but I knew that they were watching me, even as I stood there in my tattered prison uniform and barely passable footwraps.

“I’m hundry,” Linda informed me. “Donna said you would make hopgakes for us.”

I found the room, but it turns out I took too long to find it. And the game was already starting when I stumbled into the room. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed at first, after all I'd been promised the leading role of the “Queen” piece. But a few minutes later a sense of relief washed over me. I quickly learned that when a piece was “Captured” it was given a cream pie to the face as a penalty, normally by the piece that captured it.

Chapter Five

After her last meeting with her mother, Frankie wrote her a letter. She suggested that they take some time to cool down and reflect. She never told Mathew why they parted ways but went ahead and found her husband a new doctor. The fact that Mathew had just left the ICU unit, helped her get him an appointment for the following week.