A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 35: HELP ME

Airin forced herself to be strong when she saw Lyanna came and sat next to Xander. Airin was not sure what needed to be done, and she did what a teacher in her told her to. "Sing for him, sweetie. Tell him again about the sticker on the back of his hand. You gave him the sticker, remember?"

A faint smile broke on Lyanna's face when she saw the sticker on Xander's hand. She nodded enthusiastically. "I love that sticker, I gave it to Uncle Xander because he saved my drawing from getting wet ..." the little girl started talking as her sobbing subsided. Her gaze hardened, and it seemed like a sense of purpose grew within her thin body. "Uncle Xander, Uncle ... please wake up ... this is Lyanna," she caressed Xander's cheek and called out her uncle. But Xander was quiet, he breathed shallow, and sweat drops glistened on his face. "Please do not die. I love you, Uncle. You are so kind to me, always so kind ..." she held back tears, but she suddenly stopped as if a thought came to her. "Remember last year, when it was a very nice spring day, you suddenly came to my study room, you told my tutors that you needed me to help with something, then you took me horseriding in the the flower field? Remember, Uncle? Remember I sat in front of you, you made sure I did not fall from the horse? I felt so safe."

Lyanna turned to Airin. "Airin, please help my Uncle. What else can I do?"

"Tell her all your imagination, sweetie. Those you chatted about with Tasha and Allie and Robbie that day at the playground. Sing for him."

Lyanna took a deep breath, and spoke with certain tone,"That I can do!"

She sat closer to Xander, took his hand with the sticker on, and caressing the sticker as she spoke softly to him. "I really want to see Tasha and Allie again, Uncle. The three of us want to build a castle together. This castle will be built on the sky, with clouds that taste like candy, and it snowed colorful sugar as soft as beach sand! Then we will take turn to be the queen. On the day I am queen, Tasha will be a fairy that helps me with my dress, and Allie will be the unicorn. She will take me to where I want to be. We did fight a bit about who would be the queen first. It was decided that Allie will be first because she is older. Then me, then Tasha."

Xander groaned, he opened his eyes and struggled at first to focus on Lyanna.

Lyanna nodded, patted her uncle's hand, and started telling more of her imagination.

Xander's eyes widened as he managed to maintain focus on his niece. His eyes moved gently to follow Lyanna's face when she was busy telling her story.

Lyanna got more and more into her imagination, her hands moved theatrically about, and her voice expressively changed to match her story. Immersing herself in her imagination helped her forget for a while of a dire situation she was in.

When she was done, the young Halgardian princess sang her favorite rhymes, Rain Rain Go Away, over and over again while resting her head on her uncle's shoulder. She sang till she became quiet and fell asleep from exhaustion. All that had happened in just the past few hours did take a lot of toll on the young girl.

Airin stayed close to Xander, while her gaze darted between Xander and Elisthia. Elisthia kneeled on the floor now, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her eyes closed tight, it seemed like she was focusing her full telepathy strength on protecting whatever left of King Rovan's mind. The sword of Zeus, which was always stored within the body of the king and could be taken out by a spell, still safe till now at least.

"Xander?" Airin clasped Xander's hand, and Xander opened his eyes. "I want to hope again, Airin. I cannot let her live without elegarii, losing the only way to see her friends again in your universe ..." he coughed. "Listening to Lyanna and her imagination makes me feel a bit lighter now, but my feet still turned to stone." Carefully he touched the sticker on the back of his hand, he looked at it with as much focus as he could gather with his condition.