The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 29-Home Again

There was cold all around me. It seeped through my clothes and my skin was aching with the numbness. I blinked my eyes open. And squinted against the harsh light of the sun. I was staring up at the sky. Sprawled out on my back against the icy snow.

The sun. The snow.

I blinked again. My vision clearing. I lolled my throbbing head to the left and in the distance I could make out what appeared to be the tops of gray marble head stones. I'm in the cemetery. I thought. From my right I heard a cough and I turned and gasped at what I saw.

He lay not far from me. A small trickle of blood flowing freely from his side. A crimson river spilling forth. So stark against the crisp white of the vastly snow covered lands. I watched it as it saturated the ground beside him. He would die if I left him there.

"Catcher." I breathed. The memories of only moments ago swirled rapidly through my mind. I looked down at my dress and to Catcher's attire. How is this possible? Why had Catcher brought us back to the day at the cemetery, where this all began? I looked up at him incredulously. My eyes full of question. He shook his head and slowly brought his finger up to his lips. I stared at him. Shocked. Suspicious. Untrusting. Trying to decipher what he meant.

He coughed again. Clutching his side and wincing in pain. I noticed then that his breathing was ragged and he was trembling. His skin beginning to take on a bluish tinge. My heart was torn. It ached with sympathy. Part of me wanted to leave him there to die. Part of me could not do that to him.

I scrambled up to my feet, slipping once, my bare hands coming down hard in the cold snow. A hiss of breath came through my teeth at the stinging pain. Something was tangled around the fingers of my right hand. I looked down and silver glinted in the sun. A chain. A silver chain. Woven tightly in a frantic pattern about my fingers. Glass cut into my palm. My eyes flashed. I knew instantly what it was.

I ran. I ran fast and hard. My mind racing over the possibilities. Was this another realm or had Catcher truly taken us back? Was Robin here to? What would I find at the castle?

As I neared the far grounds of the castle I could make out the black shapes of the guards. Their cloaks billowing out behind them. I began shouting then. And I knew I was finally heard when I saw their hands fly to the weapons at their waists and spun around to find me running frantically toward them. "Please, please!" I shouted. "Hurry!"

Three of the guards met me halfway. One of them held his arms out, catching me as I skittered to a stop over the frozen ground. "Please." I panted heavily, "The cemetery. Catcher. You must hurry. He's hurt. Badly." The guards shared a look amongst each other. The one who held me by my shoulders inclined his head in the direction of which I had come, "Go!" He ordered. Then asked, "My Lady, you all right?"

I swallowed. My mouth was dry and my lungs burned from breathing in the frigid air so harshly. I ignored his inquiry. "Robin. Where might I find him?"

The guard's brow furrowed as he paused a moment to study me. Then he answered matter of factly, "The forest."

I nodded. And darted off in the direction of the forest. It was foolish of me. Dressed as I was. As cold as it was. Foolish of me to think I could so easily find Robin in the forest. But I didn't care. I had to try. I couldn't simply return to the castle and sit around in waiting for him. I'd surely pace a hole into the floor. And quite honestly I wasn't sure which chambers to retire to. Was I back to being Robin's wife? Was it all over? And if so, why could I remember? I remembered it all. Much unlike the first time...

I ran aimlessly through the forest. Until I grew tired. My side ached from the exertion. I slowed to a walk. I walked for such a time that my steps became clumsy and uncalculated. My dress had became ensnared in brambles and branches more times than I could count. It was now ripped and torn and dirty.