A/N:
Surprise!! 3rd chapter in one day!! I
couldn't resist posting this one too. Enjoy!
- Xox Sunny
Discalimer: Elizabeth Goudge died in 1984, 10 years before I was even born, so I highly doubt that I am her, or that I own the rights to the book or movie...
Flashback
"I'll know where to find you again," Father said "Back where it all began."
Flashback ended
"Come on, they're right behind us!" I shouted to Maria. We hadn't been running for long before my uncle and a few other men had caught sight of us and began chasing us again.
We ran into the clearing with the tree. Maria ducked down and slid into the hole in the roots.
"In here" she huffed, out of breath. I went into the hole too, and followed Maria down a dark tunnel. I could hear the men outside, wondering where we had gone.
"Robin, look at this!" Maria whispered, directing my attention away from the entrance to the tunnel and towards a door at the end of the tunnel. She pushed the door open, and we walked through it.
We were in a little bedroom. It was dirty and dusty, and the roots of the tree had grown all over the place. There was a statue of a woman in the corner, and a box at the foot of the little bed. The room must have belonged to the first Moon Princess at one point.
Maria immediately set about looking for the pearls. She looked in the box at the foot of the bed, and then moved towards a wall. She put her hand on the top of a little figurine of a horse, and it moved. A little door appeared in the hearth, leading out of the tree and into some stone passage.
I ducked my head and went to inspect the passage. Maria had turned around, so I backed out of the tunnel and followed her. She reached out a hand and pulled something off of the statue of the woman in the corner of the little room. She whirled around and showed me what she had found.
"The pearls!" I exclaimed. I looked at Maria in delight, and she looked back at me. Our eyes met, and I couldn't look away. All of a sudden the mood was shattered when we heard a shout of triumph from the entrance to the tunnel. They had found us!
I ran to the door and blocked it. I knew the rotten wood wouldn't hold for long.
"Robin, let's go!"Maria said in a panic. She was already in the stone tunnel in the hearth. I followed her, closing the stone tunnel behind us, and not a moment too soon.
From behind the wall, I could hear the men burst into the room, expecting to find us.
"Witch-trap! They yelled. "I don't believe this!" they ran out of the room and back up the tunnel. Maria motioned for me to follow her, so I did.
The stone tunnel was even darker than the first tunnel had been.
"It's so dark in here." I whispered to Maria. She could have nodded in agreement, but it was so dark that I couldn't see.
"Moon pearls" she whispered, "We need your power now. Show us the way." All of a sudden, the tunel glowed with an eerie light. It was coming from the Moon pearls.
I hit my head on the roof of the tunnel and made a noise of pain.
"Robin, shh." Maria said, putting a finger to her lips.
We kept walking through the tunnel, using the light from the pearls to guide us. The tunnel curved and split at many points, but Maria seemed to know where she was going. We had been down there for what seemed like hours, but had probably only been a few minutes.
"We're lost." I complained to Maria. She ignored me and kept walking.
"Maria." I said, but she just shushed me saying "Robin, come on." Maria suddenly stopped in the middle of the tunnel and smiled.
"Don't you see?" She asked me "She's showing us the way." I looked where she was pointing, but I saw nothing but a dark tunnel. Evidently, she was seeing something different from what I was seeing.
At last we reached the end of the tunnel. There was another door in the wall. I pushed it open. Maria went out the door, and I did too, walking out of the tunnel cautiously. What I saw shocked me beyond all belief.
My father was standing in the middle of an amphitheatre. The same amphitheatre in which it all began Father was fighting with Maria's uncle.
Maria ran forward yelling "Stop!" She ran down the stairs to where my father and her uncle were. I followed her.
"Uncle stop!" She yelled.
"Father, we've got them." I shouted. Maria held out her hadn, showing everyone the pearls.
"Give me the pearls!" my father said to Maria, making a grab for them. She yanked her hand back.
"Those damn pearls." Maria's uncle said "They've brought us nothing but heartache and grief."
"No uncle." Maria said to Sir Benjamin. "It is not the pearls but the greed in our hearts that brings us this misery. Everyone stared at her. All of a sudden, another voice rang out over the amphitheatre. I looked up to see my sister, Loveday, standing in front of a doorway.
"Father." She said. Everyone turned around at the sound of her voice. She walked down the steps into the centre.
"Why is there so much hatred in your heart?" Loveday asked Father.
"My daughter." Father said, looking at her sadly. Loveday turned to look at the moon. It was clearly visible from the centre and bigger than I had ever seen it.
"Don't you want to be free of this darkness imprisoning you?" Loveday asked him desperately.
"It is he." Father said, turning around and pointing at Sir Benjamin "It is he who-"
"Father" Loveday said, cutting him off. She took his hand and turned to Sir Benjamin. "Benjamin" she said, holding out her hand. He did not respond, so Loveday grabbed his hand and clasped it with my father's. She took the pearls from Maria and laid them over their clasped hands. The pearls started glowing.
Maria stepped forward. "Look" she said. "The 5000th moon. The curse is coming true. If you can sacrifice your pride, we can save our families. We can save the valley."
"You first" said Sir Benjamin, obviously not trusting my father.
"No, no. After you." My father replied. Maria looked back and forth between the two men, furious. She dropped their hands and held onto the pearls tightly.
"I must do this myself." Maria said, stepping forward. She turned towards the moon, stepping up and climbing onto a ledge in the front of the circle. She looked at the moon for a second, before raising her hand – the one in which she held the pearls.
"At the 5000th moon, I, Maria Meriwether, Moon Princess of Moonacre, do remove the curse that darkens this valley. Take back what is yours!" She said, thrusting out her hand and throwing the pearls to the sea.
The pearls hung in midair for a second before spiralling back towards Maria. She caught them in surprise.
She looked down at them for a moment before ripping apart the chain that held them together. She brought the pearls up to her chest and then thrust them out again. Again the pearls hung in midair, suspended like stars in the sky, and again they spiralled back towards Maria.
This time, instead of Maria catching the pearls, the pearls embedded themselves in her dress. She tried to brush them off, but they wouldn't move. Then she stepped forward again, farther out, onto the tip of the ledge.
Maria turned around, her eyes sad. I didn't understand until it was a moment too late. Maria shot us a sad smile, before turning around again and jumping off the ledge, falling to the sea below.
A/N: Chapter 9! Hope you liked it! - xox Sunny
