Highland Bear (Book 4)

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The forest was dark and seemed to be getting darker as she and Sheena, closing in upon them both as she traversed the path which had appeared before them after Senga had disappeared within the trees. An atmosphere began to cling to the air, it was uncomfortable and created a sense of foreboding on what was to come.

Time also had no meaning hear. While voices in the forest around them grew fainter and louder with each step, both disorientating and peculiar as they never came across a single person upon their path. The path both she and Sheena traversed in tense silence, vigilant upon all sides, was slowly winding deeper and deeper within this forest of dense ancient trees. The air was thicker, making it a little more difficult to breath, as her steps became a little more difficult to take. One foot in front of the other soon became the only way she could keep moving. Each step coming with a thought in mind that she could do just one more, there had to be an end in sight. Surely they could not spend the rest of eternity walking through this place? That would surely be hell itself, and while she knew she was not perfect, she had hoped she had done everything she could in order to gain entry through the pearly gates.

Jumping slightly, she turned at Sheena's voice. It was the first recognisable sound either had made to each other in an age. "With the way Senga was talking it was as if you had been here before, do you recognise anything?" She remained silent as she looked Sheena over before letting the words sink in and taking a slow, meandering look around, though she was thinking seriously behind the lacks daisy attitude she was showing. She had no idea why she was reacting this way, but it was as if she had too. There was no other way she could do it, she could not force herself to change at this point.

"Yes...and also nay. It is as if I have seen this place in a dream, or even a dream with a dream. However, I cannot say that I have seen this particular place before. If I have been here, wherever this place is, before, then it was not this specific place that I have been to." A twig snapped underfoot. It was as if that snap was enough to make a snap within her own mind and she was transported back, for just a moment. A mere glimpse in time that had unlocked a memory hidden within her memories. Jerking to a stop, she could not see what was before her, instead what she saw was darkness. Her mouth moving in a way that she knew meant words were leaving her, though what she was saying was an utter mystery to her.

Sheena listened intently as the tale seemed to stumble its way out of Rohesia without her knowledge of it. A glazed look upon her face that told Sheena she was not with her in that very moment. She was elsewhere, somewhere that was not entirely pleasant, yet at the same time a place that had a hold over her that could not be denied. "It was dark, so dark. I was so scared. I had been so ill and felt so hot. My father's voice was there constantly, I do not think he left my side through it all. My mother's voice had cut through the vague fogginess that had built up over the days. Sharp in my ears, in fact, I am sure they were the last words I heard coherently."

She paused, Sheena could only watch seeing the pain etched deep upon her face, the agony radiating from her. Not touching, in case she brought more pain to the surface, instead she stepped a little closer, and spoke in a low soothing tone. It was obvious this was the first time Rohesia had remembered these memories. That she had been taken back to this time whilst in the one place Sheena had remembered things long forgotten was not a surprise. "What did she say?"