Chapter Twenty ~ A Birds Eye View

ROBIN'S POV

Mr Gomez didn't half go on.

We were outside for today's lesson. Mr Gomez was teaching me some sword fighting techniques.

"One day, these skills will save that pretty boy face of yours, I promise you that!" Mr Gomez cried as he was getting his gear together. I rolled my eyes and leant back against the tree we were stood by.

"Remind me again who beat you four times in a row last time we did one of these sword fights?" I mocked, grinning. I narrowly dodged a snowball Mr Gomez threw in my direction. A movement to my right caught my eye.

I saw Cousin Henry aswell as Luke, Danny and Michael walking down towards the forest. They were tracking today. Henry was taking my place as I had a day off. A day off to have sword skills taught to me with a crazed European with a moustache.

Ever the beneficial.

I couldn't help but glare as I stared at Cousin Henry. He had already taken Maria from me and now he was well on the way of taking my friends. Just when I had made up with them aswell.

I was arguing quite a lot with my friends lately. First there was Luke, Danny and Michael about Maria, then there was Maria about Henry. All of which had happened since Cousin Henry's stay.

I couldn't wait for him to leave. Then maybe things would go back how they were.

Though maybe not with Maria. My bad temper when I last saw her may have completely destroyed my friendship with her. Why was I such an idiot?

A snowball hit my face.

"Stop your dreaming!" Mr Gomez's voice said. I turned to him. "There's plenty of time to think about Miss Merryweather later, now we must learn." I scowled at him.

"I wasn't thinking about her." I muttered, picking up my stuff.

"Lies." With one last scowl in Mr Gomez's direction, we got to work.

Mr Gomez was a considerably better fighter than I was, though I was stubborn. I also tended to cheat a lot. Especially with the current weather conditions. I would use the snow to my advantage, which annoyed Mr Gomez. In the end he gave in and well and truly thrashed me in a snow ball fight. Though I wouldn't give into him as I did not want to lose to an old man. Saying this to him annoyed him more.

Annoying Mr Gomez was always an enjoyment.

I had just launched a successful snow ball into Mr Gomez's face when Mrs Harper came running towards us.

"Have you seen Master Henry?" She asked frantically. "He's not in his bed."

"Yeah, he and the tracking party have set off into the forest already." I said. Her face seemed to pale.

"They've already gone in?" She asked. I nodded. "But they have not informed your father!"

"What?"

"Mr De Noir does not know where they are going." She cried. "Oh this is very dangerous!" How can Henry be such an fool?

"Go tell my father where they've gone." I ordered her. She rushed away quickly. I picked up my pistol, which I had discarded before my lesson had started, and began to head down the hill. An arm grabbed me.

"What are you doing?" Mr Gomez spun me around.

"I need to go find them!" I said. I tried to go, but he pulled me back.

"I can't let you go in there, it's too dangerous!"

"I know the forest better than anyone! I can track them down." I went to go again but Mr Gomez still held me there. "Let me go."

"You can't go in there alone."

"Go tell my father about when we saw them. I didn't tell Mrs Harper." He stared at me before letting go of my arm and running quickly towards the castle. I watched him go and then made my way towards the forest. Once I got to the edge, I turned back and looked up at the castle. A carriage entering the gates caught my eye.

It was Maria's carriage. Why was she here?

I remembered I needed to apologise to her and I stepped unintentionally back towards the castle, but then stopped myself.

I needed to find Henry and the others.

With a pause, I turned on my heels and ran into the forest, holding my pistol at the ready.

Judging by their tracks, they had already covered quite a bit of the first head of the forest. It was hard to tell where they went after a while, though a shout caught my attention. I ran in the direction I heard it and came out into a clearing. I froze at what I saw.

Danny was pinned to the floor by a great black creature, something between a lion and a mystical animal from a fairytale. My first thoughts were of Wrolfe but this creature was far too big and bulkier to be Wrolfe. It's claws and teeth were huge and it's eyes were a deep red colour.

Blood almost.

The other three were stood back, Michael on the floor scrambling for a weapon, Luke doing the same and Henry stood in shock against a tree, watching as the creature mauled at Danny.

I didn't waste any more time and I lifted up my pistol and took a shot at the animal. It hit it's side. The impact jolted the creature off of Danny and it stumbled back. It met my eyes with it's red ones then charged off into the trees. Something wasn't quite right when I stared into the creature's eyes. But I didn't spend time over thinking it.

Danny groaned in pain and the other three gawped at me. I rushed over to Danny's side and stared down at him. His whole side was torn and ravished where the creature had ripped at him. Blood oozed out.

Without warning, I broke out into a run towards the direction the creature had gone. An intention of killing it, in my mind.

The other's shouted me, but I ignored them. The image of Danny's body firmly in my head as I ran.

Then I spotted it within the trees and took shots at it. I groaned to myself when I saw it missed.

"Robin!" A familiar shout from behind me. They had followed me. Idiots! Why weren't the taking care of Danny? He needed it most.

I came out into another clearing and stopped in my tracks. Someone ran into me and I turned around to face them. Luke stood there.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "You're supposed to be looking after Danny!"

"Michael and Henry are taking him back to the castle." Luke said defensively. "Come on, we need to go!"

"Did you not see what that thing did to Danny?"

"Yeah and we'll end up the same if we don't hurry up and get out of here, now go!" He grabbed my shirt and pushed me in the direction of the castle. Together we began to run back.

It was all too soon when the chaser became the chased.

Bounding steps behind us told me that we were now the ones being hunted. An instant feeling of regret washed over me and I speeded up. But then, Luke tripped. I stopped and turned to him, only to see the black creature about to dive onto him, ready to rip him to bits.

Everything happened so slowly then.

I raised my gun and took a shot at him. I was shaking so much, I missed but it got it's attention. The creature looked up at me and before I knew it, I was the one it dived on. I took two more shots then realised I had run out of bullets. A sharp pain ran across my stomach and I collapsed back against a tree, holding where it hurt.

The sound of my heart beating filled my ears and I looked down at where my arm was across my stomach.

Blood. A lot of blood.

Luke's face came into view.

"Robin! Oh heck, I'm so sorry." He cried, his eyes on the blood. He glanced around and I saw a bloody knife in his hand.

"You stabbed me." I managed. It hurt to talk.

"No!" Luke denied. "I stabbed the creature. It was that what did this to you." He stared down at my stomach before putting an arm around me and pulling me away from the tree and helping me to walk. "We need to go, now." I didn't argue. The pain was increasing immensely.

Another figure came into view and I saw Mr Gomez running towards us.

"What happened?" He demanded, his eyes were also on the blood.

"It attacked us." Luke's voice came out as sobs. There was a brief pause as I saw Mr Gomez examine my wounds.

"We need to get him out of here." Another arm slipped around me and they both supported me as we staggered together.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" I stuttered finally.

"Don't be ridiculous." Mr Gomez said. "You're not going to die."

"How bad is it?" There was long pause. "Please tell me."

"Pretty bad." My tutor answered me finally. "Forget it, Robin. We're going to get out of here and Mrs Harper is going to take such good care of you. And guess who's waiting for you? Maria."

"Maria?" I closed my eyes, I felt too weak now. Maria's name came out as barely a whisper.

"Yeah, so we better hurry up as it's rude to keep your lady waiting." I chuckled weakly. "Robin!" Mr Gomez's cry came out worried. "Robin, stay awake. Stay awake for me, lad!" I tried to do as he asked. I opened my eyes a fraction and I saw we were coming out of the forest now. He was right. Maria stood waiting for me, clutching Loveday tightly. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

Where those for me?

Father's face came in and out of my vision and the sound of voices echoed loudly.

"Maria." I tried looking for her, but I was too weak to turn my head.

Finally it was all too much for me and I collapsed onto the floor. The world around me began to spin slightly then everything was drowned out.

The echoes were drowned out by the silence.

The faces were drowned out by the darkness.

(A/N) I felt the need to add in Robin's POV for this part. This is so you know what happened in the forest. It's not really neccessary, but I wanted to add it in. I don't know if I'll do another Robin's POV chapter, probably not. Depends on if I need to or not. So Maria's POV will continue in the next chapter and then carry on as normal!

Apologises for the slightly cheesy chapter title, I couldn't think of anything and it's sort of appropriate.

Anyway, don't forget to review and tell me what you think!

Until next time.

-jemlou-