The Golden Desires (6 page)

He put his arms around her and pulled her tighter
to him, kissing her hungrily and hearing her moan slightly at the passion they
both seemed to feel.

Isabella felt a desperation she had never felt
before. She wanted …
needed
… to be closer to him. Letting herself go
with the feeling, she kissed him back as hard as she could but soon the sound
of people starting to emerge from their homes made her pull away.

"People are waking up. I must go. Please stay
here. Don't go."

He heard the pleading in her voice and nodded and
smiled at her.

"I will be here, I promise."

And then he saw her wander off. He lay down on the
grass but did not want to risk being seen so kept his hands off it, choosing
instead to lie on his back and keep his hands on his chest. He didn't yet know for
certain if when he transported to be able to see what she saw, other people in
her view might be able to see
him
, even though she had said it must be
the case.

Through the day he saw her from a distance a few
times, often chatting and laughing as if she were having a conversation,
although he saw no-one with her.

When he got hungry he reached in to his pack and ate
a few of the last tiny morsels he had left in the form of dry food. He could
still remember the taste of the apple and it made him salivate slightly. And he
couldn't be sure but it felt like even though that apple perhaps should have
disappeared from his stomach as soon as he removed himself from that time and
place that he ate it, he didn't feel like it had. His stomach had continued to
feel the same as it had when he had eaten it. It was a good sign - if he could
get more food from her, he might survive this journey after all.

Later on, when he'd had some sleep, he heard her
voice coming toward him, and opened his eyes to see her striding in his
direction. She was looking around her but she also had someone beside her … and
Trent noticed immediately that not only could Trent see the man, but that the
elderly man was looking straight at
him
.

The older man guided Isabella to sit down on the
ground, cross-legged, facing him so that to others it would look like they were
meditating and having a serious conversation. He instructed her to not look at
the third person in their seating arrangement, now that other people were
seemingly moving around the village.

"You are a traveller, I see," the
elderly man said.

"Can you … see me?" Trent asked,
uncertain yet what was happening.

"I can indeed. You are not the first
traveller I have encountered, but it has been almost 300 years since the last
one came through here."

Both Isabella and Trent asked at the same time,
"300 years??" and the elder laughed softly.

"Yes, 300 years. The last time someone came
here though, did not end well. Your name is Trent, yes?" he asked and Trent
nodded. "What you see, Trent, I think, is the result of what happened when
the last traveller was here. He came here and at first he merged with our
people, fitting in as a welcome guest. Then he went away. Not long after he had
left, he came back, this time with many people. They did not want to just visit
us. They wanted to take what was sustaining us - a power and heat source that
sits under the earth that we sit on now. We would not let them take it, and
they fought us to try and take it by force."

"And that is how your village became
destroyed?" Trent asked, feeling quite ill at the story being told to him.

"Yes."

Isabella was disbelieving of what she was hearing.

"But Elder Rhys, we are here, and the village
is not destroyed…"

The ancient looked at her.

"You have much to learn, Isabella. You and I
are in a different timeline to what Trent is. What we see is hundreds of years
behind what he sees. The ground here is the only link he can have to our time.

"But then how can I see Isabella? And
you?" Trent asked, still open to the possibility that he had died and was
a ghost.

The ancient nodded.

"It is a complex thing indeed. I have lived
for 600 years and I have always had the gift to see and talk to people from
different times, but I was not aware that you had it too, Isabella. But I fear
that we are the only two, although if Trent remains here it may come to light
that some others may see him also."

"But how can he survive here, Elder? He
cannot eat or drink…"

"He can change," the ancient said, as if
it were the most obvious answer in the world. "We can bring him back into
our time, Isabella…" he said, looking at her first and then more intently
at Trent. "But if we do that, Trent, you will be in our time securely.
Your time will not exist. Do you understand?"

Trent nodded his head.

"We can only do this once. I do not have any
ability to send you back to your time if you are unhappy in ours. Therefore I
wish to advise you to take a day or two to think about it first. You are safe
here, and I believe that Isabella will be able to help you to eat and drink,
even though she will have to do it discretely. At night would be better,
Isabella," he said and she nodded in agreement, having already planned in
her mind to find Trent that evening and bring at least some bread with her to
give to him.

Trent saw the ancient look at him closely.

"I sense you are a good man, even though I
equally sense turmoil in your soul. You must take the time needed to make the
right decision. I can see your journey here has taken a toll on your body. We
will be able to amend that for you so you will be able to journey home again if
you wish. If you do that, there will be no advantage to bringing people here in
the future - in
your
time - as there is nothing really here
anymore," he said and Trent nodded his head, understanding what was being
said to him. "Do you understand what I am saying, young traveller?"

"Yes," Trent replied quietly.

"Good. Now I must stand up and move. Joints
do not work well when you reach the ripe old age of 600!" he said, slowly
raising himself off the ground with the help of both Isabella and Trent.
"Take your time in thinking about what I have said, Trent. It is a one way
trip, what I offer you, so be sure. Isabella here will come to me when you have
made your decision."

"Thank you Sir," Trent said, in awe of
the ancient as he moved away from them.

"I must go to dinner but I will bring some
food for you afterward," Isabella said quietly and watched him sit down
again.

As soon as she was on the path, she heard Adrian
call out to her.

"Isabella! Are you coming to dinner?" he
asked and she nodded, quickly putting on the mask she knew she needed to.

"Yes of course. Let's go."

~~~~~

Left alone again, Trent pondered what he had been
told were now his options. Stay here, eat, recuperate and then tramp home. But
to what? Noise? Pollution? People? And screens? Oh how he had come to loathe
screens!

But what of the other option? He did not know how
they lived, these people, so how could he make that judgement? He could not see
them. He could not even see the landscape unless he placed his hands to the
ground beneath him. But if he did that, would they then see him? It was not a
risk he was willing to take yet. First he had to focus most of all on whether
he even wanted to go home … ever.

~~~~~

Isabella and Adrian sat close together, as they
always did during evening meal times … and morning meal times that Adrian did
not sleep through.

"You are very quiet, Isabella. What is
troubling you?" Adrian asked her, not able to even imagine where her mind
was taking her on this day. She had always been such a fluent person, doing the
same things day after day and never having any different thoughts at all, but
over the past week she had begun to change before his eyes.

Isabella looked at him intently, wanting so much
to share her discovery with him but not knowing if he could be trusted.

On the one hand he was Adrian - her lifelong
friend and confidant. That Adrian would never betray anything that she told
him, and would always support her in whatever she said or did.

But on the other hand he had, only days before,
offered her a pairing with him, and she had not said yes to that. He seemed to
have accepted her decision to rush into that, but she was not certain if he
would be so accepting if he knew about this strange man who had appeared. A man
who not only had come into her life, but who she had
kissed
.

She knew Adrian was accepting of her not being
ready to move forward yet into pairing, but how hurt would he be if he knew she
was
moving forward in physical intimacy with someone else?

"You can talk to me. You know that,
right?" he asked and she smiled and nodded.

"Of course I know that, Adrian! You are my
closest friend and you have proven to me over and over how much I can trust
you."

Adrian looked at her with a look of curiosity on
his face.

"
Trust
me? Oh, that sounds intriguing.
What have you done, Isabella? Let the chickens out again when you gathered
their eggs this morning?" he asked with a sound of light hearted teasing
in his voice. "Did you forget which herb you should have gathered for the
cook again? Did you grab a green apple this morning when you should have
grabbed a
red
one?"

She knew he was trying to lighten the mood but in
the depths of his eyes she could see that he was concerned about her. But when
he mentioned the apples, she felt a blush appear over her face as it became
warm, and saw on
his
face that he had seen it.

"What is it?" he finally asked, his
voice now more serious, lower and quieter, as if suddenly concerned they were
about to talk about something that no-one else must hear.

"I…" she started to say but then became
tongue tied. She lowered her eyes from his before she spoke again. "Adrian,
something is happening and I don't know how to talk about it."

He raised his arm and slowly stroked her forearm,
trying to soothe her.

"It is alright. You can tell me - or not tell
me - whichever you wish. Do not worry yourself so, Isabella. You are starting
to worry
me
."

"No, I trust you and I do need to share this
with someone other than Elder Rhys."

"
Elder Rhys
?! What has
he
to do
with this?"

Isabella felt confused and conflicted, not sure
what was the right thing to do. She looked at the plates before her and Adrian,
resolved to include  him in her discovery.

"Let us eat and then I wish to show you
something. It might be difficult to understand - it is impossible for
me
to understand - but it is real nonetheless."

Adrian looked at her and took her words as being
sincere. Turning to his food he began to eat quickly, his mind churning over so
many possibilities about what could be happening that had her interest so
captured.

~~~~~

When they had both finished eating, Isabella took
another two bread rolls and stood to leave. Adrian quietly followed her, not
asking what the bread was for.

After washing, drying and putting away their dishes
they walked out of the dining area together, initially saying nothing whilst
walking.

"Adrian, I don't know if you will be able to
see what I see, so please be patient with me and just trust that
I
believe
in what I am seeing," she said, intriguing him further. On a regular day
he would tease her about such words and the drama of them, but tonight he
remained silent.

~~~~~

Trent was lying down on his back with his head on
his backpack, enjoying the feeling of warmth coming from underneath him. He
didn't know how it could be, but he could certainly appreciate it regardless.

Hearing her footsteps coming across the dirt, he
quickly sat up to look at her. He was not oblivious to the fact that she was
looking as if someone was right beside her, even though he himself could see
no-one.

She came and sat down on the ground before him,
and indicated to the invisible person to sit with her, before she turned her
eyes to Trent.

"Put your hands down," she said, looking
directly at him.

Adrian had no idea who she thought she was talking
to but remained silent, hoping something would be revealed to him soon enough.

Trent lowered his hands, nervous as he could tell
that someone else was definitely there but for the moment both were completely
oblivious and invisible to each other, but as he lowered his hands down, he
closed his eyes and once again felt the power surge through him. When he opened
his eyes he found he was once again immersed in colour - the green of the grass
and the trees, and the orangey terracotta colour of some of the buildings
around them.

But of greater note was that he could see the
person - a man - sitting next to her.

And he was looking right back at him.

~~~~~

Adrian jumped up in shock.

"What is this magic, Isabella?" he asked
with the sound of fear rich in his voice.

"Adrian, please sit down," she said
quietly, trying to indicate him to keep calm and not draw attention to them.

"Well I guess that answers my curiosity about
whether other people would be able to see me when I did this," Trent said,
smiling as if he had told a great joke. But no-one was laughing.

Isabella pulled the bread out and started to rip
off a smaller piece.

Adrian sat down and watched her, not knowing what
to say.

"Adrian, this is Trent. He is not … of our
time. You were curious the other day about the warmth coming from the
ground…" she started to say and saw him nod in recognition of her words.
"Well this seems to be another … gift … of it. When Trent touches it like
this with two hands, he is here, with us. But when he does not touch it with
his two hands, he is not in our time at all. He is in … our future."