The Nightmare Game by Gillian Cross

Author:Gillian Cross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2011-02-21T05:00:00+00:00

IT WAS THE SMELL OF SMOKE THAT ROUSED LORN. SHE OPENED HER EYES BEFORE she was properly awake and saw a dazzle of red light in front of her. For an instant, in the dark, she thought she was still Hope, staring up at the black, accusing figure behind the light.

Then her nose caught the other scent, behind the wood smoke, and her mind clicked into gear.

“Perdew!” she said.

He was standing over her with the glowing wood burning low in his hand, staring at the half-eaten grain in her lap. At the woody ends of the dried berries she’d eaten, and the shelled nuts lying on the square of leather.

“What have you done?” he said. He looked disgusted.

For a moment, she didn’t know what he meant. She looked up at him, bewildered, not realizing what he was seeing.

“You’ve been eating.” His voice was furious now. “How could you, Lorn? How could you?”

“I was hungry,” she said. “I needed food—”

And then she understood. Not from what he said, but from the expression on his face. He thought she’d taken the food herself.

It wasn’t me. It was Bando. The words were almost out when she knew that she couldn’t say them. She remembered Bando’s low, mumbling voice and his clumsy haste as he backed away toward the ramp. He must have been terrified. What had it cost him to break the rules like that?

Perdew was already edging away, toward the bottom of the ramp. Still watching her, he yelled up into the cavern. “Come into the storeroom! Quickly!”

That was all it took to set feet running overhead and bring the others racing down the ramp. Cam was in the lead, with a new, bright torch in her hand. When she saw Lorn she stopped in amazement. Looking horrified and scornful.

The others crowded down behind her. Lorn heard them gasp as they saw her sitting there. And then there was a terrible, angry silence. If they’d spoken, she might have tried to invent some kind of explanation, but she dared not speak into that anger.

Zak came down the ramp last, with Bando beside him. Lorn crouched where she was, staring up at the two of them. Bando looked puzzled and confused, but it was impossible to tell how Zak was going to react. His face was calm as the others parted to let him through and the first words he spoke were for someone else.

“Perdew,” he said. Not looking around but staring steadily at Lorn. “Perdew, your fingers are burning. Throw the wood away.”

Perdew glanced down impatiently, as though he hadn’t felt the fire. Then he tossed the wood into a corner, throwing it hard so that it burst apart, loosing a shower of sparks.

Zak let the sparks die in the air. Then he said, “There has always been a punishment for stealing food.”

Bando caught his breath, but Lorn could see that he still hadn’t understood. He was waiting for Zak to turn on him. When he found out he was wrong, he wouldn’t stay silent, she knew.

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