Chapter 5

This was weird.  What am I supposed to say to say? 'Oh, hi?  I just wound you up?'

Love strode past Valency, who had lowered his blade and stood aside, staring at the doll, and she scooped me into her arms, coddling me like her favorite stuffed animal.  No, she was coddling me like her dear imaginary friend, which was much better.  "I always knew you were a princess."

I curled into her embrace I had missed so much.

"I'm going to miss you,"Love said quietly.  "But you have a greater adventure ahead of you than I could ever think up for you."

"How did you get here anyway?" I asked, looking up at her.

Love smiled. "Mercy," she answered.

"I don't get it," I said with a shake of my head.  

Love shook her head, laughed, and set me down.  I smiled up at her, then I glanced past her where Valency was advancing menacingly with his sword held ominously.

"Love!" I cried out in warning.  

She turned, just as the boy magically appeared and knocked Valency to the side so his aim wasn't fatal.  He stumbled and lodged the sword rather firmly in Love's side.  She fell in pain, clutching the hilt of the blade, and she rolled so she wouldn't lay on the sword.

"Farad'n!"Mother cried at the sight of the boy.

Everyone stopped and looked at Mother.

"What did you say?" the boy asked her, his eyes as wide as those of an awestruck child, which now that I think about it, he was a child.

Mother smiled at him.  "Farad'n, my son, you have returned to your throne.  All you see, and even further has been without its ruler."

"What?" he asked her slowly.

"Come," she motioned with her index finger for him to approach her.  He hesitantly obeyed.  "My son, the prophecy of long ago tells of the sun being placed on the Plateau of Lost Secrets.  Who do you suppose this sun is?"

"Who?" He apparently was thinking of that ball in the sky, which didn't really exist in the imaginary world, as far as I have seen.

"You, Farad'n."

"That's my name, isn't it?" he said, furrowing his forehead at the familiarity.

Mother smiled.  "Yes, Farad'n.  Have you forgotten?"

I looked over at Love who was wincing sharply in pain and clutching her side.  She had pulled Valency's blade out of her, and the sword laid bloody beside her."I think we've forgotten something much more important than his name."  I fell to my knees next to her.  "Please be okay," I pleaded quietly.

Love half laughed half gasped.  "I'm not immortal,"she whispered.  She moved her hand from her side to look at it.  Blood, as scarlet as Mother's robes, glistened maliciously on her hand.  Love bit her lip, frightened.  She only grew scared when she was injured or sick, which were things beyond her control.  I remember that she had gone sledding and had gotten stuck in deep powder where no one could see her.  She couldn't dig herself out easily, and it was over an hour before one of her cousins found her and helped her out of the snow.  It was still terribly unnerving for her.  

I turned to Mother and Farad'n.  "Help me, please," I said, terribly frightened that she would die.  I had just lost her, and I hadn't thought that I would ever see her again now that she was grown up.  I wouldn't let her die if there was anything I could do to prevent it.

Farad'n looked up at Mother.  "Only he can do this?"  I never realized how young he really was.  "Isn't he the only one?"

Mother nodded silently.

"Who?"I cried out.

Valency scoffed behind them.  "He?  He cannot possibly be the only one?"  He was practically screaming arrogance.

Love grimaced."Stop trying to act tough and powerful, Valency.  I'm bleeding."  She hissed in pain.

"Who are you talking about?" I pleaded.

Valency sneered at me.  "You would like him."

I stood and glared at him.  "Why won't anyone tell me who this is?"

"He's been gone a long time, Aemy," Mother chided.  "Even I am not sure where he is."

Valency scoffed.

I advanced towards him.  "I need help," I growled.

Love gasped in pain.  "You're not the one losing blood!"she protested.  She was trying to calm down.

Valency averted his eyes from Love, and I could see a glint of passion in his dark eyes.

"She is going to die," I whispered.

"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," he seethed.

"I love her.  I won't let her die.  I can't say the same about you." I turned to speak to the others when I felt cold metal pierce through my flesh, and I saw, for a brief moment, his silver sword emerge from my abdomen.  Pain roared through every inch of my body, echoed palely by my anguished scream.  All but one thought left me.  I could only wish for the pain to leave me, to let me die.  I fell into the fetal position and screamed through my pain.

"You won't die,"Valency sneered.  He sounded so far away, like on the top of the mountain and through a wall of water.  Even though he seemed so far away, his words rampaged through my head.  I can't die.  I heard a cry more anguished than any I had let loose, then realized it had been me.

Slowly, things, the pain, the sounds, fell into a fog.  I could tell they were still there.  I knew I was still screaming.  I had just detached myself from it.  Blackness swallowed me, and I let it engulf me, thanking it for its timely arrival.