Dream Mountain
Page 13
Excerpt from Lil’ Sherwood
I woke abruptly with the odd impression of falling. Shaking my head, I tried to clear the sleepiness from my mind and regain a sense of my surroundings. I yawned as I looked around my familiar room. I had stayed up late into the night building my LEGOs into a castle, neatly setting my men around it to stand guard. My desk was covered with it and on the chair I had built the hideout for Robin Hood and his men. It was my pride and joy. As my eyes swept past the desk, I felt my body go ridged. The hideout was gone! Quickly, I rubbed my eyes, hoping against hope it would be there when I dared to look again. With my eyes closed, I realized I still had this feeling of falling. At the same time I could sense myself getting smaller and smaller. What is happening? I thought surprised. Then, as if it had never happened, the sensation quit and I hit something extremely hard very fast.
“Ow!” I exclaimed in surprise.
What appeared to be a cloud began to lift and in the distance, I could see my castle with men guarding it just where I had placed them. But these weren’t toys they were real! At least, they looked real. All at once one of the men spotted me. Before I could move he started to run towards me!
What do I do? This guy doesn’t look like he wants to make a social call! I frantically thought. Suddenly my mind screamed a one-word command “Run!”
I turned and ran as fast as I could go, when all of the sudden I was running in a woods. Too scared to stop, I kept going. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind. I started to scream, but before I could get a proper scream out a hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shh! Be quiet or you’ll get us caught,” a quiet voice commanded.
I stilled my actions, unsure what to do. The arms loosened from around me, but still held tight. Just then a loud thrashing noise rang out and soldiers rushed past us.
“See, now aren’t you glad you didn’t scream?” the voice asked.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“Turn around slowly.” I turned around and gasped.
“You recognize me?” he asked.
“You’re Robin Hood! Aren’t you?” I exclaimed.
“At you service.”
“Where am I?”
“Why, you’re in Sherwood Forest!” Robin Hood looked at me in surprise.
“Wait a minute! You mean to tell me I’m in the Sherwood Forest the one back in ... the one back a long time ago?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but yes, you’re in Sherwood Forest.”
“Why were those soldiers after me?” I was still very confused.
“They probably didn’t recognize you and wanted to question you. Come to think about it, who are you?”
“Well, my name’s Kristy if that’s what you mean.”
“Where did you come from?”
“Good question. I’m not really sure to be honest.”
“Great! Well then, I’m going to take you to our hideout, you can sleep there tonight. Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do with you.”
“Okay. Um, thank you.”
“Come on, it’s not exactly a short trip.”
By the time we arrived at the hideout, all I wanted to do was sit, but when we got there Robin Hood and I where both surrounded by Robin’s men and questions. It was hard to make out what everybody was saying. I knew they were confused though, b then a girl’s voice said broke through the others.
“Leia! Where have you been?” She was looking right at me.
“Huh?” was all I could say. “Sorry, what did you say?” I managed to squeak.
“I asked where you have been. I haven’t seen you since I came to live in Sherwood with Robin.”
“ Um... I’m sorry. Do I know you?” I had no idea who this girl was. She definitely wasn’t one of my LEGOs.
“Leia! It’s me, Marian!” the girl said, laughing.
“I’m sorry, but I’m just a tad confused. Where did you say we met?” I asked.
“We have been friends all our lives! Robin, were did you pick up Leia?” Marian asked.
“The Sheriff’s men were chasing her into Sherwood. She looked pretty scared and a little bewildered. So I rescued her and brought her here. Did you say you know her?”
“Yes, but I’ll explain later. Right now I’m taking her up to my room. Come on, Leia. We can talk more when we’re alone.”
We walked to a huge tree where Marian opened a door. Inside we went up a flight of stairs before we came to a really well camouflaged tree house. I smiled with relief as I recognized it. This was the main part of Robin Hood’s hideout that sat on my desk chair. Finally, I knew something!
“This is your room?” I asked Marian.
“Yes. Why don’t you sit at the table and I’ll fix some food. Then you can tell me what is going on.”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“What do you mean? How would I be able to tell you?”
“All right. Um, Marian, let's pretend I have amnesia. I can’t remember anything. What would you tell me about my life here?”
“Are you kidding?” I shook my head no. I needed to get answers somehow and at this point this was all I could think of. Marian looked at me then shrugged. “Well, let’s see. First you are the daughter of Sir Solon and Lady Faith. You were born on the same day as me, June 6th. Our parents were great friends, so we grew up together and came to be best friends. We shared everything with each other. Um...you were always kind, headstrong, brave, and had a touch for people. When I came to live with Robin you were upset but understood why I had to go. You never criticized me, but helped in any way you could. Does that help your memory?”
“Yes, although I am still a little confused. Maybe I really did bang my head.” I smiled at Marian and we both laughed. It almost felt good to be there, like this was where I belonged. But how and why? And more importantly, would I ever make it back home? I knew tomorrow was going to bring lots more questions. Questions I didn’t know if I had answers for.