The Hidden Truths (On Hold)

Chapter 6: Forgotten Memories

Chapter 6: Forgotten Memories

   Most days from then on were more comfortable and less foreboding, but they still kept their ears open to the distance. Not one suspicious noise roused in the air, to their attention. Though Ina swore she heard a shadow passing over the land, behind them. She kept her disturbed thoughts to herself, a closed oyster in the open hills. The days passed by unperturbed by the welcomed young sorcerers. Ina spoke more to Tia and Sida, alternating over them at midday. Her questions were answered in the morning and in the afternoon her knowledge grew of the Power, as Bordan spoke to her in the language. The land around them reflected the time of season. It was summer and all the trees around them were buzzing with life. The birds darted through the sky with no worry of any possible danger. Rabbits bounced through the grass, their ears pricked up when waiting to cross the road as they feared to be seen and caught.

   A week had passed since Ina and Bordan’s little battle and nothing had aroused any danger in the quiet world. The hills rolled by when they galloped in a cool breeze. The relaxation seemed to infect the horses, it seemed; as at night their two riders spotted them a distance away, sprawled on the ground next to each other.

   On the ninth night since Benora, they camped in a small clump of trees. Bordan set up a patch for a fire and went to collect wood. Ina de-saddled the horses and placed the saddles on the ground as pillows, as she had always done. Once the fire started to crackle and waver like the sea in a red sunset, Bordan sat down beside Ina and started humming to himself in a tune that Ina faintly remembered. She searched the deepest depths of her memory. Like Bordan’s mumbling, she could hear the song but could not grasp onto the words.

   ‘What song is that? I recognise it from somewhere,’ she asked aloud.

   ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ he said and shook his head as if coming out of a hypnotic trance.

   ‘That song. What is it?’ she asked again.

   ‘It is a very old song that many people know, but most of them don’t know the true meanings behind the lines. It is sometimes called a Song of Prophecy, as it was written, they say, when this land was inhabited.

   ‘I always sing it or hum it as it seems to calm the mind and push away the pressure of our vigilant mission. Do you know the words? You could sing it with me, because truly it is a duet for a man and a woman.’

   ‘No, I don’t.’

   ‘I’ll teach it you tomorrow. It’s not that long, it’s getting the tune and notes right, once you’ve learnt the words.’ Then, before Ina knew it, he began to chant in a soft, deep, melodious voice that seemed to hold piles of magic and meaning. But how simple the song seemed:

I met your eyes in the night,

You came to me and held my hand,

My heart skipped a beat,

But you calmed my weary mind.

I watched the stars above with you,

The silence held back my wonder,

Your heartbeat soothes my pain,

I let you hold me ‘til first light.

Maybe one day we will be,

Together forever on,

And no one could separate our lives,

Our love will live on and on.

   His voice trailed away as he spoke the last line, all the while Ina had confided in starring into the fire. Among the flames she saw the shadows of two figures. As the song ended both were in a world of their own, a world of peace, friendship and compassion, all their troubles and undulating escaping seemed to drain away. Ina thought on her past and unperceived future, of the loneliness she might now face. A tear of saddening hope filled an eye and fell down her pale cheek to fall on her hand. She watched the droplet dome with misted eyes, the fluid inside appeared to lighten with a bright light. She stared in wonder at it as the light faded away.  A face of misery and pain replaced it, it was Martha’s face. Ina’s eyes grew large, her pupils constricted to pinhead sizes. Martha was miming words but they did not form a sound. She seemed to be shouting a warning. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, Martha’s face disappeared in a maelstrom of shadow and cloud.