Of the Forest and Sea

Chapter 19

It was a sleepless night. I wanted to see Maria, and sleep next to her again… But Benjamin had Digweed standing guard of her room, and Benjamin put a bell on my door. I was screwed one way or another.
By the time the sun came up, I still hadn’t slept.

Benjamin didn’t say a word to me after I told him. Loveday was excited, but Benjamin was silent, expressionless. Maybe it was a dumb thing to say. We didn’t even look at the book, Benjamin sent me straight here.

I heard the door creak open, and I sat up in the bed, my body exhausted from the past few weeks. Loveday put a hand on her cheek and walked over to me.

“Robin? Did you sleep at all last night?” I shook my head. “Tsk, you’ve had a lot going on lately, I was sure you would have fallen asleep right away.”

“I was too busy thinking.”

“Was it about Ben?”

“No, it was about Father and his newest mistress. Of course, it was about Benjamin,” I snapped. “Sorry…” I mumbled.

Loveday sat on the edge of the bed and looked at me, expectantly. “You don’t have to apologize. I lived with you for how long?”

“Loveday, do you think Benjamin will say yes?”

“Oh, Robin, don’t worry about that right now. You are both young, and it’s hard to tell what the future could be like. When Benjamin and I first met, we had only known each other for a few weeks before Father found out. It wasn’t an arrangement like what you’re asking of Ben.”

“I’m not asking for an arrangement though…am I?”

“Think about it, Robin, you are both young. Benjamin won’t let Maria marry until she’s at least 18. Do you think you will still love each other then? Or will you make this arrangement wit Ben and then regret it later?” I sighed, part of me agreed with my sister but…I loved Maria, and I knew what I wanted.

“Come on, breakfast is waiting for you, if you’re hungry.”

“I’ll, uh, just meet up with you after.” She patted my cheek before getting up and walking slowly towards the door.

“Maria and I were planning on taking a ride through the forest today. I’m sure we won’t be too hard to find.”

I need to talk to Benjamin. If I don’t, I’ll never know, and it’ll eat me alive. After waiting a few minutes, I left the room, and walked straight to the library to look for Benjamin. Loveday didn’t know what she was talking about, she and Benjamin had loved each other for so long. She had to be wrong.

“Robin? Are you looking for someone?” Maria popped out from one of shelves and I smiled.

“I was looking for your uncle, but I like finding you much more.” Oh god, what was that?

She giggled, thankfully, “Why are you looking for Uncle? He’s still not happy with you, you know that right?”

“Of course. I just…wanted to talk to him about something. What are you doing in here?”

“The book, remember? I found it last night, but Loveday came in before I could actually look at it. She told me I needed to get some sleep and come back to it later. Will you look at it with me?” She looked up at me expectantly. How could I refuse those eyes? I nodded and she pulled me over to a quiet corner, where she had the book laid open to the last page. It was the night of the 5000th moon.

“This is the last page that was added for my story…but look,” She turned the page to the next section, and it was…me? It was the night I saved Maria from Dulac. Maria was in the background on her horse, and Dulac was facing me.

“I remember being empty handed but…this shows me holding the dagger I got last night.”

“I thought that was odd, too. But then again how else could you have actually survived Dulac? And then here, it’s when Dulac broke in,” Maria flipped to the next page, and I saw a similar scene. This time I knew I had a dagger, but the one the picture showed was the new one.

“I used my old dagger… I’m confused. The book can’t be the one doing this can it?”

“It is. It’s magic.” After everything that’s happened…I can’t even say that it’s impossible.

“So, what does it talk about then? I know this is the story of the moon princess, so what does it say about us?”

“It doesn’t.” I stared at her for a moment. “Look, Robin, none of this is about me. It’s about you now.”

“That’s impossible though. I’m not pure of heart. I’m not any of the things the book said a moon princess, or in my case prince, should be. So, what’s up with me?”

Maria stared at the book, concentrating on something. “You’re not a moon prince.”

“What? But I thought you said-.”

“No, you’re not a moon prince. But you are prince of the forest. Your father has even said it.”

“Then why do I have moon pearls?” She frantically flipped through the book to the first few pages.

“Here, it calls them nature’s gift. It doesn’t belong just to the ocean like we thought, the moon pearls belong to the entirety of the valley.”

“Okay…I’m the prince of the forest then?”

“Ah, it sounds like you two have started to figure things out.” Marmaduke’s voice made us both jump, and we turned around to see him watching us.

“Marmaduke! You scared us. I’m glad you’re hear though maybe you know more. The new chapter is about Robin, but there isn’t any writing in it, only pictures. And all of the pictures of him show him with his new dagger, even when he didn’t have one.”

Marmaduke stepped over to us and looked at the book, analyzing the picture.
“And everything else in the picture is true?”

“Well, yes, of course. There’s me, and Dulac, and then again here. The only change is that Robin has the moon pearl dagger, not his own or even an empty hand.”

“Maria, do you think this is like the last time? You only had until the 5000th moon, but we don’t know anything this time. What happens if we only have so much time?”

“We would know. The book would say something. Just like it did before. This is our own story, Robin. It’s being written as it happens.” She turned to the next page, and just as she said, a new picture appeared. This time, it was Maria, Marmaduke, and myself standing around the book, the dagger tucked away in my belt.

But the dagger was with Maria’s crown, wasn’t it? I reached my hand to the back of my belt, and felt the cool metal underneath my fingers.

“Maria, I left the dagger with you, didn’t I?” She nodded slowly, and her eyes followed my arm. I pulled the dagger from my belt and put it on the table. Both the book, and my dagger were glowing. Maria went to get her crown, and when she brought it back to put it next to my dagger, the book pages started to move frantically.