The Vision of Escaflowne 2

Chapter 2

The blue light took Van and Hitomi back to Gaia in a moment and he found himself descending to the palace gardens that he had left from. From the colour of the sky Van could clearly see that it was now night time. Pulling in his wings as he got closer to the ground, his heart was still hammering in his chest and he looked down to the girl in his arms. Hitomi was still unconscious and the blood continued to run from her wrist. Her clothes were different that what he remembered her wearing, and they were in a slight disarray.

His feet landed with a gentle thud on the grass below him and he immediately began to shout out for anyone around him as he ran to the palace doors.

"HELP! Someone Help me!!" He shouted as he began to enter the hallway and a scatter could be heard as two maids came gushing towards him and Hitomi.

"Your majesty!" The plump maid known as Anna said.

Van continued to make his way towards his bed chambers whilst shouting commands over her shoulders as he ran.

"Get the healers! And Hurry!!"

He made his way through the hallways with quick turns and sharp bends, the hallways seemed dark and never ending almost as though he would never reach his destination.

Finally approaching the room he kicked open the door. The room was immaculate. It was a grand size of a room fit for a king, with brown wooded floors covered in expensive rugs of grand colours, a balcony with double doors opposite the bedroom door and a large bed in the middle of the room which had four posters and was draped in blankets of fur and silk. The was a wooden wardrobe in the corner of the room and also a wooden stand with a wash basin and bottles of anointments and soap sitting next to a hand towel. The walls were a deep cream colour with colourful tapestries woven by hand that hung on the walls. On the wall behind the bed was a door, with the golden toned key still in its lock.

He pulled Hitomi over to huge bed and quickly led her down. Grabbing a sheet on the bed he quickly wrapped part of it around her wrist which still poured out her life filled blood. Applying pressure to her wrist he looked up at her face.

He took a moment to look at her. She had changed since he last saw her five years ago. Her hair was quite long and was in tangles around her. Her features seemed so familiar and yet had matured. She still looked so beautiful, even more so now that she was established in womanhood, no longer a girl of fifth teen.

And yet she laid there in disarray on his bed. The first woman to lay there and yet she was dying of blood loss.

Commotion could be heard in the hallway and it only got louder when a handful of people entered his room. He turned to look at the intruders and was soon pushed out of the way by the healer who yanked the bed sheet away from Hitomi's wrist to inspect the damage and started to yell commands to the maids in his company. Bandages of white were pulled from the healers bag with needles and threads.

Vans vision soon focused in on the scene in front of him as the healer began to patch together the girl who meant so much to him. Maybe this was it, maybe she would soon die. Her blood was spilled in many drops over her bedroom floor and the sheets on his bed were soaked as well. He could feel himself welling up with tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. Merle soon should in his vision as she entered the room in a rush. She took in the scene on the bed and her head turned to the left to look at Van.

"Oh Van, What happened??" Tears spilled from Merles eyes and she took Van into her arms.

Time seemed to stand still for Van, seconds passed like minutes, minutes like hours and the hours like days. It felt like an eternity before the commotion finally stopped. The room went silent and everyone should still. Merle slowly detangled herself from him and the healer turned his attention to Van. He was an old man, maybe sixty years of age, very competent in the ways of a healer and yet he looked at Van with uncertainly in his old eyes of blue.

"I'm sorry your majesty, but I have done all I can. All we can do is wait and pray to the gods that she lives. She has lost a lot of blood." He paused. "Usually people do not wake up from these self inflictions. I'm sorry." His head bowed slightly and he left the room leaving only Van with Merle and the two maids.

Van soon withdrew. Tears spilled as he dropped to his knees on the floor. His chance was dying right in front of him. The opportunity he wished for was gone.