Robin Hood and the Castle of Bones by Angus Donald

Author:Angus Donald
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-11-28T22:00:00+00:00

I pelted straight out of the castle gate, flashed across the east-west track and plunged into the Forest of Chaux. I ran with heart and legs pumping, ignoring my pounding head, my poor aching body. I put all my strength and courage into sprinting as fast as I could away from the Chateau de Beaune-du-Bois and into the deep gloom of the woods. I found a narrow track, a deer path no more that that, which wended through the close-growing trees and followed it, gasping, thumping along, hobbling, staggering, stumbling sometimes, but concentrating only on putting one leg in front of the other as fast as possible, staying upright, moving forward, and getting precious air into my poor burning lungs.

I do not know for how far I ran, for a mile perhaps, maybe even two, but eventually, inevitably, I tripped on an unseen root and crashed forward on my face in the tangle of an alder bush; scraping my cheek painfully against the rough branches. I lay in the bush, panting like a bellows in a leaf-filled bowl in the earth, my chest rising and falling, trying to listen to the forest above the hectic noise of my own breathing.

My stomach heaved and quickly turning my face to the side I vomited massively. And again. I pushed myself up on to my hands and knees with difficulty and puked again, until my belly was empty as an upturned bucket. My head was spinning now, my vision flashing red, yellow and black. My body felt as if it had been crushed by boulders. Then pulled apart by wild horses. Every inch of me seemed to burn.

But, eventually, my breathing returned to near normal.

I cocked an ear to take in all the sounds around me. No birds, no animals. No God-damned Hell-hounds. No noises at all. Could I have escaped the hunters? Was that even possible?

I wiped my sick-wet mouth and got shakily to my feet. I did not want to get up. I wanted a drink of water, and I wanted to lie down and sleep for a year. Then I heard it, faint but quite unmistakable.

The sound of baying behind me.

I had no idea where I was, and only the faintest notion of where Dole was – somewhere south of me. But I knew it was about mid-morning then so I decided to head directly into the sun – if I could find it under that gloomy green canopy. I heard the sound of the pack belling again, closer this time, and louder, as I stumbled about looking upwards through the branches and leaves for a hint of the great yellow orb that would show me the way. I heard a snatch of mocking laughter – a faerie? A faun? The hidden folk held far less terror for me now. There were real monsters after me. I could hear the sound of those evil dogs clearly, crashing through the undergrowth. I caught a flash of the sun, and seeing it, I fixed on a direction, and began to run once more.

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