The song her heart sings to me now.
Ulla.
She’s calling me.
Darkness beckoned. It would be so easy to succumb. To surrender to the numbness. Escape the burning, torturous pain.
The uplifting music rose in volume, a crescendo of sound surging over him like a tumultuous wave crashing against a craggy cliff.
Clear as a clarion bell, the peals of Ulla’s angelic voice summoned his soul.
She’s calling me. I must find the way back to her.
****
Tears streamed down Ulla’s cheeks as she poured herself into her song. With her familiar fingers strumming the silken strings, the music soared like the graceful wings of a swan. From the depths of her soul, she found her voice and called Cardin to come toward the light.
A clamor in the entryway announced the return of the castle guests.
Focused only on reaching Cardin, Ulla continued to strum and sing, her healing essence flowing into his with music, light, and love.
Amid gasps of astonishment, faces appeared in the doorway and family floated into the room.
“Ulla’s singing! And playing her harp!” Whispers of wonder rippled like a soft wind.
“That’s the Celtic Yuletide Carol she used to always sing. It was your papa’s favorite song. Perhaps he’ll hear her voice and come back to her.” Laudine hugged Lukaz tight.Please, dear Goddess, help her reach him. Let her heal him with her music and her love.
As if her prayers had been answered, Cardin opened his eyes.
Ulla stopped playing and handed her harp to Gaultier, standing at her side. She rose from her chair, and fell to her knees, wiping Cardin’s sweaty brow with the palm of her hand. “You came back to me.” She kissed his parched lips softly, her tears dampening his bristled cheeks. Supporting his head, she helped him drink more of the herb-infused water from the sacred spring.
A crooked smile of incredulity stretched across his scarred, stubbled face. “I heard you sing. Your voice called to me.” His eyes glimmered with wonder and unbridled joy.
“Papa! Lady Ulla healed you. You’re going to be all right!” Lukaz hugged his father, carefully resting his small head on the uninjured side of Cardin’s broad chest. He raised a hopeful, tentatively optimistic face. “Can we still have the wedding? And live with Lady Ulla in Finistère?”
Cardin chuckled hoarsely. “Of course we will. But first, I’d like more water. Will you pour me a glass?”
Lukaz complied, proud and delighted to help his papa. While his father drank, Lukaz hugged Ulla. “I’m so glad your voice came back. Now you can talk again.” He nestled his head against her stomach, his smiling face radiant.
Laudine and Esclados, wrapped in woolen cloaks against the Winter Solstice chill, kissed and hugged their son, overjoyed to see Cardin recover. Bastien, Gabrielle, and their children were next in wishing him well. King Guillemin thanked Cardin for saving Comte Ibarra, attributing the success of the Yuletide Treaty to his heroic chivalry.
Gaultier and Xabi congratulatedBasation the defeat of Andoni Zilar’s assassins. Xabi handed Cardin the dagger that had been stolen behind the Drunken Crow in Biarritz. “Got this from Gizon, Zilar’s appointed assassin. Thought you’d like to have it back.” A wicked gleam in his dark warrior eyes, he flashed a broken-toothed grin within his bushy beard. “Basati the Basque Wolf’s blade.”
“Come, everyone. Cardin needs rest. We’ll see him again in the morning.” Laudine ushered the relieved family members out the door, then turned to say goodnight to her son and Ulla. She kissed Cardin’s forehead, wiping the dark hair away from his now cool brow. “Dors bien, mon fils. Sleep well, my son. Thank the Goddess you’ve come back to us.” Gratitude and love blazed in her amber eyes as she beheld Ulla. “Thank you for healing my son.” Wrapping her arms around Ulla’s back, Laudine enveloped her in an affectionate maternal embrace. “If Cardin is hungry, there’s plenty of soup left over from tonight’s feast. On the hearth in the kitchen.” She kissed Ulla’s cheek. “Get some rest. See you in the morning.”
Alone at last with the man she loved with all her heart, Ulla sat beside him on the bed and held his hand in her lap. She stroked the calloused skin with her thumb. “I had to reach you somehow. I could sense you slipping away.” Her tender fingertips traced his face, and she leaned forward to kiss him softly. “I’d given you herbs…and sacred water from the well. I even placed healing crystals in the shape of a star around your body.” She collected the glittering gemstones, tucking them back inside the pouch of the satchel near her chair. “But it wasn’t enough. I needed more. And then it dawned on me. I could reach you in the darkness through music. I had to play my harp.” She raised his hand to her lips and brushed his knuckles with a soft kiss. “I remembered the Celtic Yuletide Carol I always sang each holiday season. The one you loved so much. As I strummed the familiar chords, my spirit soared to yours. Desperate to reach you, I found my voice. And sang you away from the darkness…back into the light.”
Cardin pulled her to him, cradling her head over his chest. “I heard your voice. Felt your spirit call to me.” He rocked her in his arms. “I fought my way back to you.”
Content to be in his embrace, she lingered a few moments longer, then sat up and offered him more herb-infused water. “Are you hungry? Could you eat some broth?”
He grinned weakly. “I’m starved. Broth sounds really good.”
She kissed him, her heart soaring like the chords she’d played for him on her harp. “I’ll be right back.” Slipping quietly from the room, she slid down the dim hall and into the dark castle kitchen. From the pot simmering over the banked fire in the hearth, she ladled a bowl of hearty broth and set it on a tray with a wooden spoon and a crust of bread. As she returned to Cardin’s chamber, the waxing moon shone through the window, bathing the room in incandescent light.
The divine light of love which triumphed over darkness.
Thank you, dear Goddess, for answering my prayers.
