Entry #77

The Call of the Nightingale
by Diana LaGrandeur


The clouds were sailing past the moon as Sabine peered intently from her window. Throwing a glance over her shoulder at the door, she knew she hadn’t much time.

Climbing from the window, she could hear the nightingale’s song and sensed it was fast approaching midnight. Taking in the sky, with its soft stepping clouds that spread across the vault of heaven, she felt almost protected, as if covered by them as celestial light haloed round the moon.

Not wearing her robes, she could feel the chill of the midnight North summer air through her nightgown and she shivered. Nevertheless, vowing to keep her promise, she sprinted toward the silhouette of the trees; her fist closed tight, the haunting song of the nightingale beckoning.

Entering the clearing in the woods, her eyes were bright. He was waiting beneath the nightingale’s tree. Her heart pounded as his eyes held hers with a gravity of understanding, for he knew what she had done and what it meant.

"Sabine I –"

Standing on tiptoe, Sabine silenced him with a kiss as she placed the sacred relic in his hand. "Quickly! You must go. If you are to rescue him, this is the only way."

She only hoped the nuns would not miss the gold chain cross he hid inside his coat as he leaned down to return her kiss with a fired intensity before melting into the night shadows cast by the traveling moon.