By Atonia Walpole

I awoke slowly, stretching my arms as I became aware of my surroundings. Dampness covered me and I opened my eyes to see tall ferns above my head, felt the wet leaves beneath my hands. Lying on the forest floor in my blue cotton nightgown, I made to rise and saw the huge black stallion on the path below me. It had stopped and I could see its breath in the cold morning air. He stamped his feet eager to be on his way, but was held by the man on his back. Mists seemed to surround him as my eyes followed the line of his leg up his body, which seemed to be clothed in layers, until I found his face. “Oh my god, it’s him” I gasped, and my hand covered my mouth. I watched him unhook the cape around his shoulders and toss it in my direction.

“Here, cover yourself woman.” He said in his deep baritone voice

At first I could not move, it all seemed so real. I could smell the decaying leaves and the dampness of an early morning. I looked at my hands and brushed away the wet leaves reaching for the cape. Picking it up I ran my hands over the material, rough woven wool in a dark brown. I held it to my face and breathing in, caught the smell of smoke, horse and damp. It was still warm from his body and I draped it around me grateful for the warmth. I looked up and he was still watching me, his hands holding tight to the reins of the stallion.

“I don’t believe this it all seems so real, surely I’m having a vivid dream tonight.” I laughed

“’Tis no dream m’lady did you not call me by name?”

“I have no idea, I may have in my sleep…in my dream…you aren’t real you can’t be.”

“Ah, but I am…come,” he said extending his hand.

I picked my way carefully through the debris on the forest floor in my bare feet until I came to the path. I could feel the heat from the great stallion and the dark wet soil on the bottoms of my feet. He meant to pull me up behind him but I couldn’t reach the stirrup, so he dismounted, catching me around my waist and lifted me up. I grasped the saddle and threw my leg over.

“You would ride like a man?” he asked and smiled with a twinkle in his blue green eyes.

“I don’t know how to ride.” I said a little confused at what he meant.

He mounted the horse behind me arranging the cape to cover my bare legs and took up the reins.

“Just fall back against me and hold on.” He said against my ear and I did at once feeling safe and warm as the horse began to move beneath me. “Relax and catch the rhythm of the horse.” He said quietly. I did try, and after awhile I settled down against his body. I smelled the leather, the smoky damp wool and him.

The stallion picked up the pace as we rode along, the sun was sending shafts of light through the dense forest and I heard the birds calling through the trees. After a while I saw what appeared to be a clearing ahead and he slowed the horse to a walk as we approached.

“What is this place?” I asked

“It is my camp, you see these are my men and there is my tent.” He stopped the horse in front of a room sized tent that appeared to be made of leather and some coarse woven fabric. He dismounted and spoke to an old woman wrapped in layers of clothing. I looked around, aware I had attracted some attention, and pulled the cape tightly around me. He turned back and held his arms up for me to fall into, my face coming against the leather armor he wore. He set me down easily and opened the flap to the tent. The floor was covered in rushes giving up an herbal smell as I walked across them, I looked up to see a hole in the middle of the tent and a fire below ringed with stones.

“This is amazing,” I said as I turned back to him

“’Tis not much but its dry and somewhat comfortable,” he said as he began to remove the hooded cape and leather armor. He wore a long tunic and woollen leggings. Pulling the hat off his head, his long wavy chestnut hair fell around his shoulders.

“Are you not chilled?” he asked with a raised eyebrow

“A little, more damp than anything. I must have lain in the forest for some time,” I replied.

“Not long, it’s the dew, heavy this time of year. I came as soon as I knew you were here.”

“Okay, where is here and how did you know I had arrived in this place?” I asked hand on hip.

“An English forest, I’ve seen you here before but you never called for me,” he said tossing his hair back

“I’ve been here before? I don’t remember it…but I know who you are, Sir Robert of Nottingham…or are you Robin Hood?”

He smiled and tilted his head, “I am what you want me to be, what you want to believe”

“Right I dreamed you and here you are…in the flesh. Sorry I know I am still dreaming, asleep in my bed.”

I turned and walked over to the makeshift bed on the floor; it was covered in fur and I bent to touch it feeling the soft silkiness through my fingers, “I bet this sleeps good, it would feel so good against your skin.” I said

“Then you should get beneath the furs and warm yourself, I’ll join you in a moment.”

He turned and walked out of the tent returning a minute later with a silver cup, kneeling beside me he handed me the cup. “Drink this it will warm you.” He said softly.

I took the cup, it smelled of warm wine and I sipped it slowly, it was sweet and bitter at the same time and I felt the warmth flowing through my limbs. I handed him back the cup and he set it down in the rushes. He looked up and met my eyes and began to remove the tunic and the soft knitted shirt he wore beneath. I couldn’t help myself and reached out and touched his chest, he felt warm and real and he took my hand and kissed my fingers. He removed his shoes and leggings and lay down beside me, pulling the furs over our shoulders.

“What is this shift you wear?” he asked fingering the straps of my gown.

“It’s an old well worn and washed nightgown that I shall remove.” I said with a smile as he helped me pull it over my head and lay it over in the rushes. I felt his hands on my body as he pulled me to him, and his kiss soft as he tasted my lips first the top and then the lower lip. My hands found their way into his hair pulling his mouth to mine.

Later I lay with my head on his chest listening to his heartbeat returning to normal and feeling his hand in my hair. I lay my hand on his belly catching the dark hairs between my fingers. I whispered, “I want to stay with you…here.”

He pulled me up against him and smoothed back my hair, “I’m here with you now.” He kissed my eyes and my lips, “You should rest now.” He said and made a pillow with his arm for my head. I think I dosed for a while opening my eyes occasionally in the darkened tent, smelling the smoke from the fire and the scent of him.”

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I woke in my bed at daybreak, the fleeting dream leaving me as I turned over under the down comforter. I tried to hold onto it, but as dreams do it faded as I became conscious of my bed. I stretched and threw the cover back realizing I was naked, and looked for the gown I had worn to bed; it was not to be found. Well, I thought, maybe I didn’t wear it after all and I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached for my robe, feeling a stickiness between my legs I went to the bathroom and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I shook my head and watched the bits of leaves fall into the sink and smelt the smokiness caught in my hair.

I sat down on top of the toilet seat trying to think where I’d been…in leaves. I looked down at my hands and noticed the dark earth beneath my nails. I was a little unnerved for I had been only to work and by the grocery the day before, and I had showered before going to bed. I simply had no explanation for it or the semen on my thighs. I got up and turned on the shower, a little shaky now imagining all sorts of things; had I been drugged, pulled from my bed…I just didn’t know.

I dressed, had my coffee, and left for work. Sitting at a stop light in my neighborhood, I looked up at the tree canopy across the street and a memory popped up in my mind of tall trees in a shaded forest. Lost as I was in this scene the honk of a horn behind me brought my eyes to the street ahead, and the traffic that had left me behind. Once I reached my office and got on the phone, I had no time to think of anything until I left for lunch.

It was a sunny windy day and I walked down the street to the little takeaway on the corner picking up my usual chef salad and tea. As I waited for my salad to be prepared, a woman crossed the street wrapped in a brown shawl and stopped at the counter in front of me. I reached out and touched her wrap and remembered another wrap, coarsely woven and rough to the touch. She turned, and embarrassed, I mentioned something about it being cashmere and she smiled, but my mind was now somewhere else. I had felt another wrap and could almost see it until I was handed my lunch and I walked back to my office. Somehow I made it through the rest of the day and upon reaching my condo I locked the door and closed the drapes.

Flashbacks, I assumed that’s what they were, had come at me all afternoon. I changed my clothes and sat down with a drink trying to put them all together in my mind. By nightfall I had remembered my dream but that still didn’t explain my condition that morning. I watched a movie before turning in and looked again for my blue nightgown. It was just gone…left in the rushes…but that wasn’t possible. I lay in my bed and tried calling out his name, but nothing happened and I finally fell asleep and if I dreamed, I didn’t know it nor was there anything unusual to be found in the morning. A week went by with me trying to get back to that place before I realized I had no control over my dreams. I stopped trying and went on with my life.

The sun was warm on my face and I turned over to shade my eyes before opening them. I was lying in grass and could smell the damp earth beneath, the tickle of the grass on my cheek, and I opened my eyes. From where I lay I could see a line of trees disappearing down the hillside and felt the breeze lift my hair. I sat up quickly and looked around. A large granite rock was above me, and beyond that a forest. Turning, I could see smoke coming from beyond the hillside where I sat in my white pajama pants and tee shirt.

“Ah, you’ve awakened at last.” I jumped at the sound of his voice and turned looking toward the forest as he came out from behind the boulder

“I’m back, oh I have tried so hard to come back and find you.” I said as he sat beside me in the grass.

“You’ve been back several times I watch out for you and make sure you’re safe.”

“Why didn’t you speak to me, you know I was looking for you?”

“You didn’t call me…but when you do I am here for you.”

“I can’t make myself call you, oh I have tried…I have no control over myself in sleep. This is so strange and so real.” He took my hand and kissed my fingers

“‘Tis real, am I not real? If I cut myself I bleed, see here a thorn tore my flesh just today.”

I took his hand noting the ragged cut between his thumb and forefinger and brought the wound to my lips, my tongue tasted the saltiness of the cut. And I looked up at him, “Yes, you do bleed and are very real to me.”

“I am afraid I am all too real,” he said and looked off toward the smoke rising beyond the hillside. “Come, I have something for you.” He said, and stood holding out his hand. He wore the leather armor but no cape today in the warm sunshine. I walked with him holding his hand until we reached the edge of the forest. He pulled a blue bundle from his saddle and shook it out for me. “Don’t be offended but you do arrive in strange clothing, this should cover you.”

He draped a soft blue velvet cloak around me and pulled my arms through the slits in front. It fastened with a jewelled clasp. “This is beautiful, I feel like a queen.” I said as I twirled around catching the long skirts with my hands.

“No queen, but a Lady none the less, It suits you.” He touched my face and pushed my hair back over my shoulder, “Come we will ride.” He sat me up on the stallion and I did not throw my leg across this time, caught as it was in the folds of the cloak. He held me as before against his chest as we rode through the forest. He spurned his horse on down the path coming out on the other side and I could see the smoke more clearly now rising from a burned out hut. I don’t know how I knew that’s what it was but I did.

“We’re not going to your camp today?” I asked

“I’m taking you to my home, its not far you will see.” And we rode down into the valley and out a ways until we came to a road that led towards a gray stone wall.

“It’s a castle, you live in a castle…my god!” I exclaimed

“Would you have me down in the valley in a mud hut? No m’lady the Sir stands for something I fear.”

I noted that was the second time he had used fear, afraid and I began to wonder what was going on with him. I never thought of his having a life in my dreams, he was just there for me. The gates opened as we approached and I looked around, it wasn’t a large castle but a castle it was. A boy came to take his horse and he lifted me down taking my hand, and led me to a stone stairway and up to his chambers. I stood in the middle of the octagonal shaped room while he accepted a wooden tray from his man at the door. The room was hung with rich looking fabrics, perhaps velvets and a large tapestry covered one wall. His bed was hung with velvet curtains. He set the tray down on the top of a wooden table.

“Come and enjoy some wine and bread, you may find the cheese to your liking or not, but try it.”

I pulled off a chunk of the coarse bread round and a piece of the cheese, it tasted a little like cheddar and I nodded my head. The wine was dark and potent and I sipped it slowly. He removed his armor and joined me, lifting his goblet to mine.

“To you, to me, to this day.” And he drank his wine. Placing the goblet on the table he took a slice of the cheese and nibbled watching me. “Its good, you like it?”

“Yes I do, reminds me of cheese I buy, a soft cheddar taste. The wine is a little strong.”

“I can add some water to it if you’d like.” He said and smiled as I pulled my goblet back and shook my head.

“I’m trying to understand exactly what is going on, I come to you in my dreams and yet you are real, can you see me if I’m not here, I mean if I’m awake or…”

“I see you when you arrive, I never know when you are coming but know when you are here, and I hear you when you call me; I come for you then.”

“When you see me arrive I mean if I haven’t called you, don’t you want to talk to me…touch me?”

“Yes, I do but I can’t…don’t ask me why because I don’t know the answer, it’s just how it is and I accept it. But you’re here now with me and I think we’ve talked enough for one day.” He put his goblet down and came to me taking my face in his hands and kissing me. I could taste the wine on his tongue. He unhooked the cloak and pulled it over my shoulders, laying it aside. He looked at my pajama pants and smiled, “you wear clothes like a man but I know you are not.” And he pulled them down and picked me up laying me on his bed. The tunic he wore today displayed a coat of arms on the front and he tossed it on the floor.

“I may have to start sleeping in something besides pajamas.” I said, “though I think it wouldn’t matter they don’t stay on for long anyway. I left my gown you know, the last time.”

“I found it and still have it somewhere. I’m glad you called me today I needed you here.” He said against my ear as he pulled me to him. My arms went around his back and held him to me tightly.

He hadn’t said anything like that to me before and it felt good that he wanted me too. I raised my face to receive his kisses as his hands played my body until I was ready for him. It seemed like hours we lay together before breaking apart. I lay with my head on his shoulder drinking in the smell of him and the feel of his strong arms around me.

“Don’t let me fall asleep Robert,” I whispered, “I’m not ready to leave you, I may never be ready…I think I love you is that permitted you think?”

“I know you love me and yet you don’t know me, not really. Is it permitted? I should think so why can’t I love you?”

“You can, of course you can but you don’t know me either, maybe you wouldn’t like me if you did.”

“I know enough, I know you are warm and loving and accepting of strange things and yet you are not afraid.”

“No I’m not afraid, curious maybe, but no fear, never when I am with you.” He kissed me softly

“Perhaps that is when you should be most afraid.” He said against my lips.

“Why?” I asked

“Because neither of us understands this dream state you are in or where it may lead.”

“As long as it leads me to you I don’t care, dream or not, I want you.”

“Yes, I and I want you too.”

“Do you dream of me, do you dream at all?”

“Oh yes I dream, I dream of you more and more. Take this from me to you.” He removed a ring from his little finger and placed it on the middle finger of my left hand.

“Oh…its beautiful thank you I wish I had something to give you.”

“You have given me more than you know; now lay quiet for a while in my arms.” He kissed me again and I felt myself falling, falling asleep. I tried to fight it and took his hand willing myself to stay awake.

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I woke in a tangle of bedcovers and kicked my legs to free them from the sheets. I must have had a restless night I thought and rolled over on my left side. Stretching my arm out I caught sight of the ring on my finger. I sat up immediately and turned on the bedside light to get a better look at it. It was heavy and made of gold with a crest carved in the circle. The stone in the middle turned out to be a sapphire, my birthstone. It was beautiful and looked to be quite old. I looked up toward the window where the light was just beginning to dawn, I’ve been with him again I thought, but I couldn’t remember a thing. I got up and went in the bathroom and looked in the mirror and found no leaves this morning, but I did feel his semen on my thighs and I had the ring. I prayed my subconscious mind would open up today and tell me what happened in the night. I had lost my pajama bottoms it seemed, gone the way of the blue gown.

It was Saturday and I had the weekend off. I had no plans and decided to spend the day at home doing some housekeeping and thinking. Again the flashbacks came telling me what had happened in the night. He had talked more this time telling me nothing about himself, but he said he loved me and that kept me going most of the day. I had not removed the ring he had placed on my finger, hoping it might be a connection to bring him to me again that night. I prepared myself for bed this time, wearing a pretty gown but I woke on Sunday still wearing the gown and knew I had not been with him. It saddened me and I moped around most of the morning wishing I had some way of controlling my dreams. I had to get out of the house and went to the grocery store and was walking down the aisle looking for coffee. That was the last thing I remembered when I woke in the emergency room.

I had been checked out and nothing was found, and I was let go after their monitoring with instructions to see several doctors listed on a piece of paper. I got myself home and tried to make sense of it. I had no pain or dizziness or anything, just blacked out for three hours they said. I went to the fridge to get a coke and sat back on the sofa. I took a sip and rested my head back on the pillows closing my eyes. I could smell him on my skin and pulled my shirt back rubbing my shoulder under my nose. I’ve been with him again, but when I haven’t been dreaming in the middle of the day…when I was unconscious…oh my god. Could I have been dreaming, but why did I black out? It worried me a little but I felt fine…just very strange. I thought if I’ve been with him then where is the wetness I had come to expect. Oh god you don’t think they cleaned me up at the hospital?

I finally went back and lay across my bed, it had become a muddled day and I had no answers for it. Never in my life had I ever blacked out or fainted. I pressed his ring against my lips and wished I could talk to him, maybe he could tell me something for I knew I had been with him sometime that day, presumably when I was unconscious. I tried hard to remember but no flashbacks were coming to tell me anything. I fell asleep and woke sometime in the middle of the night still fully dressed. I got up and poured a glass of water and changed into the nightgown I had worn the night before.

It was Wednesday and I had just come back from lunch and logged on to my computer, I felt a falling pulling feeling, its hard to describe, I thought I was going to black out again and I put my head down between my knees. After a few minutes it passed and I sat up shaking my head. I decided to go home before something else happened and I logged off and walked out of my office making excuses about feeling faint and went home.

I changed out of my clothes and lay down on the bed, really beginning to worry about myself now. I turned over and felt myself drifting to sleep, I didn’t fight it.

I woke wet and cold at the base of a tree in my bra and half slip, I was back in the forest and I sat up looking for him. It was raining and my hair was hanging in rivulets around my face. I called out his name and stood hugging myself with the chill. It wasn’t long I heard the hoof beats coming fast up the path and I walked out to the edge of it. He was coming and I noticed in somewhat of a hurry for he only stopped long enough to set me on his stallion and we were off running again.

“I’m sorry m’lady I wasn’t here when you arrived there’s been a bit of a problem.” He wrapped his cape around me as best he could and I snuggled deep inside the folds trying to find some warmth.

“Something’s wrong.” I stated, “I shouldn’t have come.”

“You were right to come, I called you this time. Hold onto to me this may get a bit tricky.” He raced the horse through the forest and down the hillside I had lay on before, toward the line of trees going down out of sight.

I held onto him holding my arms backward clutching his leather armor. He had called me? There was much I wanted to know but now was not the time, we seemed to be fleeing something. Once he reached the cover of the trees we followed them down into the valley and up another hillside into a dense forest, he slowed and after a while we came to the camp in the clearing. He dismounted and held his arms for me. His face was flushed and his hair wet and windblown about his shoulders. He opened the tent and gave me a little shove in the middle of my back, he did not enter. I went immediately to the fire and looked around finding the blue cloak hanging on a wooden peg. I put it on clasping it around my neck and sat down by the fire. My hands were blue from cold and I rubbed them together. It wasn’t long before I heard him come in and turned.

“Robert I don’t understand?” for I didn’t.

He removed his armor and came to me pulling me up into his arms. He looked into my eyes, “I’m Robin today m’lady and I need your embraces.” My arms went around his waist and still I held his eyes.

“You called me…how did you call me?”

“I just closed my eyes and thought of you, I called you in my mind.”

“You were awake? How long ago did you call me?”

“Some hours ago, I was in rather a tight spot.” He moved his hand up and down my back and I looked at my watch, some hours ago I was at work. “You’re cold and wet, I’m sorry, come by the fire and I’ll dry your hair.” I sat down and he found a cloth and began to rub my hair combing out the tangles with his fingers.

“Did you call me on Sunday, three days ago?” I asked

“You don’t remember? Yes I dreamed of you and you came to me, here. You have no memory of it?”

“Sunday I was in the grocery store, to buy coffee and I woke up in the emergency room at a hospital. I blacked out for three hours, the store called an ambulance. I was fine when I woke up, no headache, no dizziness, nothing. Robin you sent me to the hospital.”

“I don’t know what to say, you blacked out? I don’t understand the other words you used. Oh my love we have to be careful.” He pulled me onto his lap and rubbed his hands over my arms and my face “This is a very strange thing we have between us and I think a dangerous one.”

“You don’t black out when I call you do you?” I asked

“No, I feel a pull in a certain direction and I go there and find you. When you don’t call, I just know you are there, I can’t explain it.”

“When I leave you when I fall asleep in your arms do I just disappear?” I wondered.

“I fall asleep too and when I wake you’re gone…it’s an emptiness that fills the void you leave, it’s getting worse.” He looked away and then back at me, “I don’t want you to leave me, I need you with me.”

“I want to be with you, I don’t know what to do. I think your pull is stronger than mine if you can knock me out at any given time. That could be dangerous depending on what I am doing, driving for instance or even walking along the street. I was working today when you called me I felt a strong pull and a feeling like I was falling, I thought I was going to pass out again so I went home once I could stand, and I lay down on my bed and woke here.”

He looked into my eyes, “we’re in different worlds you and I there has to be a way to make them one.”

“Very different worlds I am hundreds of years ahead of you.” I looked into the fire and lay my head on his shoulder and wondered if I could go back to his time to live…if there was a way to be with him forever. “I think there is no such thing as time and space how else can you explain this?” I said against his shoulder.

“You had a need I could fill and now I have a need and it’s getting stronger. I am afraid for you.” He said quietly

“No don’t be afraid for me, I want this, I do, there is no one else like you, no one.” I looked up and he kissed my lips softly and smoothed my drying hair. “I love you.” I said and looked into his eyes. I saw longing and love and something else I couldn’t identify I thought it might be pain.

“I love you m’lady come lets get beneath the fur and warm ourselves…if you want me that much I am yours”

“Forever?” I whispered against his lips

“Are you sure that’s what you really want?” he asked as he carried me to the bed.

“Yes, forever with you.” He gathered me in his arms beneath the fur and held me so tightly I could hardly breathe, and then released me kissing my lips he smiled and moved on top of me.

“Then I am yours and you are mine,” he whispered in my ear.