A Daughter's Love - Book 2 The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter Twenty-five

The words in the kitchen haunted Jobyna's subconscious and in the early hours of the morning she experienced her first ever nightmare.

Elissa slept in Ellie's bed, while Ellie slept on the couch.

In the back of her mind, the mother heard Jobyna tossing and whimpering, but she didn't fully wake until her daughter screamed.

The nightmare was very real to the young girl; as if she were really there, standing at the wide mouth of a deep dark pit, which she recognized from Brook's description as being a lion's den.

The growling creatures prowled around beneath her and she turned away, searching for somewhere to hide. Suddenly she was surrounded by faces  —faces without bodies; but they belonged to people she knew and recognized. Jobyna smiled at her father but he didn't return the smile. He was red-faced and angry and she saw the dead sow at his feet, the one she had viewed from her bedroom window; a sight that had caused her to faint. LJ and Marcus lifted the headless carcass and threw it into the pit.

The hungry beasts leapt on it, tearing it apart. Even her mother's face wasn't happy and Jobyna dreamed the stinging slap of a harsh hand upon her cheek. She looked to Ellie, Josie, Letty and Mavis, but they too pushed her backwards to fall into the den. Josie and Mavis leapt into the den, landing on top of her, pinning her to the hard, cold floor. Screaming out against her adversaries, Jobyna could feel them tearing at her. She was being eaten up, but she was still alive. She was sure she was going to die; how could they eat her again and again?

Elissa tried to wake Jobyna, to no avail.

Ellie was now beside her sister's bed as well and the mother who told her to fetch her father.

Taking the screaming Jobyna in her arms, Elissa tried to stop her flailing arms, but the girl struggled, crying and shrieking.

When the baron entered the bed-room, he sent Elissa for a bowl of cool water and a cloth. He was unsure as to what was ailing Jobyna, whether she was taking a fit, or in great pain. He too, tried to embrace her, speaking in tender tones, and although she still cried out, the calls began to diminish in intensity as his strong arms held her tightly.

Taking the cold cloth, he sponged her flushed face, calling to her, trying to wake her. Finally, she opened her frightened eyes, which reflected her father's fearful face in the flickering flame of the candle.

"Papa!" She clung to him and cried heart-rending sobs. No one had ever heard Jobyna cry like this before. Soon she was breathing in that strange manner again, and when she sank into a faint, the nightmare repeated itself. This cycle continued until Jobyna could no longer be roused, yet she tossed and turned and called out weakly.

Shaking his head, the father remembered that they had not prayed; they had been doing all they could, humanly speaking, but they had not prayed! Then, as he did pray, he also thought of the Gospel Book and sent Marcus to fetch a volume. By this time, the greater number of the household had roused.

Jobyna felt trapped in the depths of the dark lion's den. The hissing, spitting, snarling creatures were licking the blood from her aching body, and she was too tired to struggle against them. As in a mist, she heard a voice; it was her father's voice...

"The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters..."

The den disappeared. Jobyna now lay on a bed of soft, green grass. The lions miraculously transformed into lambs that contentedly nibbled white and yellow daisies. Although she could hear the quiet sound of water running, she could not see the stream. A sigh escaped her lips and while her father read, she was in the restful meadow. When he ceased, she was forced back into the den. The only one who was not there, pushing her into the pit, was Luke. She called out for him as she was sure he would save her. Luke would not allow her to be thrown into a lion's den!