The Moon Beyond the Mist

16. Labyrinthian illusions

The tunnelling passages stretched out ominously before Maria and Robin as they made their way across the jagged stone. The wooden struts, which bore the ceiling's weight, appeared faded and rotting as they walked beneath it as if time had only just found its hiding spot below the earth. The resolute silence that Maria had feared when entering the caves had crept away, and every fall of Robin's heavy boots prevented its return with thundering echoes.

With each step, the stale air grew fresher and Maria felt her senses brighten and her breathing return to normal. Even Robin, who now strode confidently in front of her, seemed to move with a dauntless gait. Although, the soft thud of the stretched waterskin against his belt provided a sinister reminder of their trials within the cavern.

Each twist and every turn led the pair up the sloping rock floor, and Maria felt herself blindly following Robin's broad back. In truth, she could not clearly remember entering the cave, as her emotions had been dazed with adrenaline. Nevertheless, the tunnel system had not seemed so complex in her first encounter. Now, they came to life in a labyrinthian design, each narrow curve in the rock leading to a passage that mirrored the one before it. Maria felt her mind getting lost in the vastness of the underground.

She has not chosen the life of a princess, nor had she been given a choice about moving into Moonacre and making a home there. The events she had experienced had been written out for her, a design of nature that was inescapable. With each step she took and every mystery that approached her, she allowed herself to be guided deeper into a contrived labyrinth that concealed her ultimate demise.

Perhaps all that was left to her life were vacant tunnels, each stretching out further and growing darker until the princess could no longer find her way home to the moon. Until the perpetual motions were stripped away and the illusion of life was gone.

Her head was spinning and she stumbled forward, desperate to find smooth ground on the rocky floor. Colliding into Robin's back, the soft leather of his jacket cooled her cheek. Large hands caressed her arms as Maria found her balance. Her mind, drifting out among the rocks and shadows, followed its string of consciousness and found its way back.

Gazing up, she saw Robin looking down at her. His eyes shone with amusement as he chuckled, watching Maria catch her breath. Determination flooded her body, she was suddenly certain that, with Robin, she would always find her way back home.

"Watch your step, Princess," he grinned, "or I may have to carry you out of here."

Maria's cheeks flared red once again as his hand slipped to her lower back, pulling her closer. Jumping away, her eyes widened as she saw that she recognised this place. Robin had navigated their way back to the three divergent passageways. The constellations flickered softly in the gloom, each marking their separate destinations.

As Maria stared at the glowing jewels, she became aware of all of the noises she must have previously missed; the subtle breathing of Robin at her back, the faint creaking of the wood above her head and the brief shifting of gravel around her feet as a breeze whisked it up and into the air. Seeming to acquiesce to her senses, a slight change in the air mussed her hair. It came from deep within the passage marked out as Cepheus, and as she made her way towards its stone archway, the breeze picked up and rustled the fabric of her dress in an icy draft.

Peering into the dark confines of the tunnel, Maria could not make out anything further than a few metres. The walls were dull and worn as if a tide had swept through the passage centuries ago and smoothed the rock down to a featureless finish. The floor was also evened out, as castle steps appear to be after hundreds of footfalls wear down the stone. Ignoring the urgent murmurings of Robin on fables and kings, Maria bent down, the cold gusts of air rushing between her fingers as her hands broke the threshold of the passage.

The moment her skin brushed the dark stone, a strong wind suddenly howled through the tunnels, its screeching only broken by the loud crack of breaking rock as the ground split open beneath Maria's fingertips. The fracture climbed up the walls and into the darkness, the rupture growing larger as it travelled further.

With wide eyes, Maria felt herself frozen in place, watching the tunnel crack and crumble as the wind roared from within it. It sounded like the screeching of a hundred souls, each mourning a life long since lost to the darkness. What's more, each second ushered the noise closer. It was only Robin, clasping her hand within his own, that brought her back to reality. With a firm tug, he pulled her away from the rift and into a run.

The pair raced across the quaking ground, their feet propelled by the violent gusts at their back that threatened to lift them from the floor and launch them into the rock face. The gleams of gemstones flashed past Maria's eyes as she pushed forwards, as though she were flying through a night sky scattered with shooting stars. As the heels of her feet left the ground, she could feel it shake and start to crumble, the cavernous tunnel falling apart as she fled its confines. Steps tumbled away as Maria scrambled up them, her hands clutching at grass as she finally reached earth.

Pulling herself through the ashen entrance, she felt Robin throw himself across her torso, his body shielding her from the rocks falling perilously around them. The ground convulsed and shifted, the wind letting out a final tormented howl as the cave collapsed completely and the pair were thrown from their position on the grass. Robin held Maria tightly into him, pressing her head against his chest protectively as the two tumbled down the steep incline and into the bristling forest below.

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A/N Hello there! So, Maria and Robin are finally out of the caves and moving onto their third and final quest! Thank you for reading and thanks so much to everyone who commented on last week's chapter, you were all so lovely and it made me so happy to see you're enjoying the story. I wish there was a better way I could convey just how much I truly appreciate it!