Leap 5 : FALL

Robert walked behind Merida in a brisk pace mimicking hers. Ruby, the smallest of the three struggled a little to keep up. The princess did not turn back nor did she speak a single word. Robert knew of Merida's temper and from the looks of it, it seemed that saying anything now would be a grave mistake.

Merida seemed to be leading them upstairs. Robert was sure of that at the very least. When they had climbed three flights of stairs, they came upon a double door which the princess pushed open. A terrace lay beyond it. This terrace was situated on the front side of the castle Dun'broch. Therefore, they could look out to the entire courtyards, markets and houses in front of it. Robert guessed that they were standing right above the large hallway that led into the royal throne room.

The three just stood there, looking at all the people below going about their daily lives. Robert really yearned to talk to Ruby about all that were happening to them. He wanted to know what she had thought of the kingdom, the king, the queen and Merida now that they had seen them in real life. The question he had wanted to ask her the most was if this was a dream. He had asked himself that many times over. He had pinched himself, tried to push his finger through his other hand (reality checks, ye ken.). They all checked that he was not dreaming. Hence, he wanted to get a confirmation out of Ruby. Unfortunately, ever since they had come out of the strange door and realized where they were, they had never been alone to talk to their heart's content. Robert looked at Merida, who then turned to face them and finally broke the silence.

'So, Robert and Ruby the Bonham,' said Merida.'How exactly did ye get 'ere?'

Robert had a feeling the princess would believe them. After all, he knew that she had had her own fair share of experiences with magic.

Confident, he told her all about their experiences. What they had been through. When they first saw the wisp in the forest. The incident felt like months ago. How they had entered the strange door only to come out of it and find the time of the day had changed. How they came across the ring of stones and finally of them meeting her.

Ruby was quite satisfied with her brother's explanation and did not add anything.

Robert considered the fact that Merida might suspect them of lying. Not for making up magical wisps and rings of stones. She knew they existed. No, she might suspect them lying altogether, magic or not.

'Ah would suspect ye of lying,' Merida told them.

Damn. Robert thought. Here it comes.

'However,' the princess continued. 'Ah think that if ye WERE lying, why would ye tell THAT kind of a story? No one would have believed ye. On top of that 'twas only me and mah mum who only ever saw th' wisps so no one else could have known aboot it.'

Merida smiled, for the first time since they met her (And Robert noticed how beautiful her smile was).'Ah believe in ye. So if what your'e telling is true, then ye have come from the future, no?,' she paused to ponder upon it a while. 'So how far from the future are ye?'

'About a thousand years!,' Ruby bellowed.

'Oh, Ah suddenly feel so old now. Talking tae you two. Ah wonder how the world is like, In yer time.'

'Well…,' Robert wondered if he could show her what it was like and all of a sudden, he remembered. He quickly felt at his jeans pocket and sure enough, there it was. His IPhone6 that he had received for his birthday. He fished it out real quick and presented it to Merida proudly.

'This here is called a Phone. It's a common gadget in our times'

Merida's eyes shone with curiosity. 'Whot does it dae?'

'Many things. The things it does, it's like magic.'

The very mention of the word 'magic' was enough to root Merida to the phone.

Ruby, however, was not as easily impressed and she rolled her eyes.

'Showoff,' she sneered at her brother and stuck out her tongue playfully.

'Jealous?,' he called back.

'Not much. It's gonna be pretty useless anyway. It won't pick any signal here. Plus, it may be a new phone so it may last about 12 hours, but what about after that? There's no way to recharge it so your phone will be dead'

Merida was shocked ,'It has tae die? What kind of a creature is this?'. She gently poked at it to see if it would move.

Ruby chuckled. Robert, on the other hand, tried to explain the very very difficult to explain fact. 'No, Merida. I mean, your highness. She did not mean—'

'Stop!,' Merida exploded ,'Och, don't call me that! With all those titles. Princess, Highness,…ugh! Call me by mah name.'

'But….are common people allowed to do that?,' Robert questioned.

'Ye haff mah permission,' Merida assured him.

'As you wish then, Merida,' Robert smiled. He then opened the camera in his IPhone6. 'Ummm….Merida, could I possibly take a picture of you?'

'A picture?'

'A portrait more like.'

'Oh, ye mean draw me? Of course. Maudie should know where th' pens n' papers are.'

'Don't bother about that. He does not need those,' Ruby told her.

Merida was confused ,'What dae ye mean?'

'Just stand there for a while Merida,' Robert requested. "I'll do the rest."

Merida was still unsure about the whole thing but she obliged, standing just like that rigid and all.

Robert laughed slightly,' No, Merida. You're standing like a soldier on duty. Relax, won't you?'

Merida started to protest ,' How will ye draw properly then?'

'Leave that to me.'

It took little to convince Merida. She stood casually and Robert clicked a couple of pictures. 'Here you go Merida. Look at them'

'It's finished?,' she said. The wonder in her voice was almost childlike. 'But ah barely stood there. Ah bet it's horrible, like Bean Nighe'

'Who's Bean Nighe?,'Ruby asked.

'Oh, 'tis just a little children story. Bean Nighe is an old hag who is said tae foretell the people who will die, by appearing tae the people aboot tae die or by washing their clothes. She is said tae be very ugly.'

Ruby was fascinated. 'Have you seen her?'

'Na, silly. Ah wouldn't be alive then, would I?'

Ruby slapped her head lightly. 'Of course. Silly me'

'Your pictures,' Robert called. 'Here' ,And he showed the picture he had just taken to Merida.

Merida almost dropped her jaw. She stared at it for what seemed like ages while Robert stood there, a wide grin on his face.

'It's like looking intae a mirror,' Merida finally spoke. 'How…?'

'It's nothing really. I can make more of these if you—uff'

Robert's speech stopped short, for out of nowhere, an arrow, as black as a moonless night, had flown in suddenly and struck him right where his heart lay. His blue shirt turned red with blood around his chest. Out of the wound gushed out more blood. The pain was piercing and absolute. A look of surprise was etched on his face.

Time seemed to slow down. His vision grew dim but he could still see Ruby reaching out to him, screaming his name. Merida, on the other hand, had instinctively nocked an arrow onto her bow and was looking around for the attacker. She was, at the same time, backing up in order to protect him from further harm.

But neither Ruby nor Merida were quick enough. Robert was too close to the edge when he was struck. Unwittingly, he staggered backwards and fell off the terrace. The ground was almost twenty-five feet far below. The cold hard ground rushed up towards him, reaching out to embrace him in a deathly hug. But, Robert did not see the ground. His sight was fixed upwards towards the two girls watching him.

Ruby was screaming, tears streaming out of her eyes and Merida was holding her back from jumping after her brother. The princess looked like she was looking at the most terrifying thing ever.

Then it came. Robert's head struck the rocky ground and everything went black.