Song of the Evening

Christopher attempts to rescue Leaf

16.

Song of the Evening

 

How many days had he planned for this hour with fear and dread?     Months had gone by, and since regaining his senses, he had not let more than a few waking moments pass without thinking of this very moment, this very time.

His only chance.

Brother Christopher stood in front of the pile of rocks that marked the spot where she had vanished.    

“Goodbye” She had said, as if her words had surrendered all hope.

Perhaps there was no hope now.   Perhaps he had labored in vain and he was about to see the foolishness of his actions.

Regardless, he would try.

 

Falling to his knees, he pulled the wrapped bundle from his pocket and unwound it.     The silver gleamed in the last rays of the day.    Now was the time when the walls were weakest, when even a mortal human could pierce the veil.

He clutched his creation tightly in his fist and focused on Leaf’s Anamchara, which he wore on his other hand.    The Kindred Song filled his mind as he thought of her and willed himself into the In-Between place.

It has to work for me, he thought as the Sidhe words left his lips.    What if it didn’t work?   What if he couldn’t go to the In-Between place?    What if she had yielded to despair and had fallen into the void?    These thoughts teased him like nagging flies as he kept the song going while trying desperately to clear his head of fear.

Suddenly everything shifted.

There was a feeling of falling, but only for a moment, then it became more of a floating sensation.    It was a gray, ghostly place and all of reality seemed behind a shimmering mist that faded in and out as if blowing in a gentle breeze.

‘Llaiannileaf!’ He cried out in his mind, for there was no sound here.     For a terrible, eternal moment, he did not sense her and his soul felt as if it would rupture in agony.

Then she appeared!    Like an angelic apparition she was before him, hovering in the ether, her blonde hair floating around her like a halo.     She looked at him in complete disbelief, her jaw dropping in surprise.   With her eyes she asked the most obvious question.

‘Christopher?!   How?  You cannot be here!’   He heard her thoughts in his mind.

‘I’ve come to bring you back, Leaf!’ He stretched out his hands to her.

‘How did you get here?   You are not Sidhe!’  She hesitated to accept his hand and he pulled it back for a moment.

‘You showed me how, through your memories.’    He now opened up his other hand, but she did not see it at first.

‘How long have I been gone?’   She asked, looking into his eyes.

‘Three months, it is the Autumn Equinox; I came as soon as I could.’

She shook her head, ‘You shouldn’t have come.    I am sorry I trapped you with my memories.   My Anamchara will haunt you with my thoughts for the rest of your life… or your existence.   I had no other way to quickly save you.      But without it I am only a spirit and cannot return to your world,  for if I do so without my Anamchara, I will be pulled into the void.      Only a moment has passed here, Chris, since I last spoke to you; for my fears kept me from yielding to my fate.    It is too late for me.’

 

Her head bowed, and it was then that she saw what he held out to her in his hand.     She looked at it, confused for a long moment.

 

‘Take it’, he said, holding it up closer for her to see, ‘This is the way that  you can return.’  

It was a ring.

 

Leaf looked up at him, questioningly, ‘I do not recognize that Anamchara.   It is not one from my family.   I cannot take an
Anamchara from one that has gone into the void.    It loses its power, like my father’s ring.    It will be dead.   Did you find it in the hillside?’

‘No’, He answered her, ‘I didn’t find it, Leaf.   I made it.    It is my Anamchara.’

She stared at him, not understanding, ‘You cannot craft one.’

 

‘Yet I did’, He assured her, ‘through your memories of what your father showed you.     It is enchanted, Leaf; I worked many long hours on it.    The gemstone came from your Aunt Naellia’s Medallion.    The gemstone was found in the ruins, but the ring I made myself.    You gave me your ring to save me, Leaf, now I give you mine to save you.’

She touched his hand softly, ‘You do not know what this means, by giving me this!’

‘Yes, I know what it means, Leaf.     I gladly make the choice.   I do not know how much time is left in my world until it falls into the void as your father said, but I cannot bear the thought of you going there alone.    Please, take my ring, Llaiannileaf, and let me try to give you some degree of happiness, for a time.    I know I am only mortal…’

Her laughter filled his head, ‘Mortal?    You are as I am, Christopher, a refugee of time.     Adopted into a dying race that is doomed to disappear into the unknown of the void.    I had hoped you would not change when I put the ring upon your finger.    Never had a human worn a Sidhe Anamchara.    I thought it would probably kill you.     But you were dying anyway.   Instead, I cursed you to be like me.’

 

He squeezed her hand, ‘Your curse is lessened now.    I will stay with you and face the void with you.’

Leaf shook her head, ‘You do not know what you are saying!’

‘Yes, I do, Leaf.’    He held out the ring to her again, ‘My God is master of the void that you fear, and I trust in Him.   He does not want you to face it alone.     Take my Anamchara, Llaiannileaf, I give it to you freely… with my love.’

She paused for a moment, and he feared that she would still refuse, but a slow smile crept across her ghostly face and she took the ring from him and solemnly placed it upon her finger.

 

They were standing on the edge of the Faerie Hill ruins again, and the sun had yet to set.     She looked into his eyes and he returned the gaze as their hands intertwined.

“Do you know what you have got yourself into?”   She whispered to him.

“A chance, Leaf.     A chance for both of us.”

His memories, his understanding of his God, his simple faith and joy, flooded her mind with warmth and hope.    Llaiannileaf gasped as her soul was flushed of its darkness and gloom.     

Weeping, she pulled him to her and she took his chin in her hands, their lips met, and they kissed.

‘A chance’, She thought, knowing he would hear it, ‘a chance for both of us!’

‘And hope, Leaf, hope for even tomorrow’, He added, pulling her even closer to him.

The End

Reviews

[Dhaye]

Wow! What a beautiful story, Eddie. It's so touching. His love for her is great. He took the risk in order to save her. In real life, a woman is lucky enough when there's a knight in shining armor who will come for her.

I enjoyed the story so much. You did a very good job. Keep it up, Eddie!

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Dhaye, I am always thrilled to see your review of my work. I greatly value your opinion.

[Elina]

This was absolutely wonderful, Eddie! I am never disappointed when reading your work...Such a beautiful story.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Elina, I am very glad you liked it and very grateful for all the time you take to review it. I deeply appreciate you.

[Elina]

It is my pleasure! I really enjoy editing and your writing is always such a joy to read.