Chapter 14

The girl stared for several moments at the staircase and the shadows covering the balcony, unable to stop shivering in fear. It had taken all her courage to force that one word out. She couldn't do it again. The echoes her voice had stirred up in the old walls were swiftly smothered by the silence. Trembling, and deciding after several long seconds that whatever it was wasn't going to answer her, she turned back to the blaze.

And then it spoke.

"Who trespasses in my castle?"

The girl jumped, her legs nearly giving out on her as she whipped around to face the stairs again. Her stomach rose up in her throat and threatened to choke her as her heart kicked against her ribs like an angry mule. Shivering anew, she stared with huge eyes into the shadows, searching for movement that could give away the speaker.

She didn't want to answer. She wanted to run. She wanted to go home. She wished she was at home right now. Or Dalben's. Even the forest would be preferable over this place!

But it was expecting an answer, and she didn't want to die tonight. Terrified, she answered.

"I-I'm sorry I t-trespassed here. I got lost in the s-storm and got blown off course. I me-me-mean you and your servants no harm. I ju-just need a place to stay for the n-n-night."

A silence followed, and the girl wondered if she'd spoken loud enough for whoever it was to hear her. She was so tired and scared, her voice couldn't carry far at all, and the crashing storm outside didn't help. Every moment that passed she felt the knot inside her stomach tighten more, and she felt like she was going to be sick.

Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, it answered again.

"I see."

Instead of easing her fright the answer only compounded it. That voice. . .it was so dark, just like its owner's presence. It echoed off the walls of the room, sounding deep and gravelly, like it had been dredged up from the very bowels of the earth.

She really didn't want to speak again, but she felt like it expected her to say something else. So she tried, despite the fact that her mouth and throat had gone bone dry.

"Who are you?"

She silently cursed herself for sounding like she was about to faint dead away. In reality, she was so exhausted and scared out of her mind she could barely string words together, let alone keep her voice even.

"The Master of this Castle," came the dark reply.

After a pause, it spoke again.

"Who are you?"

Inwardly, she quaked at the mere thought of telling them her name, but that voice! It was so cold and. . .heartless. Like it would not hesitate to kill her if she refused to answer the question. She dared not lie for fear of being caught at it.

"I'm a b-b-brush farmer from the outskirts of P-Prydain," She stammered out again, barely able to keep her knees from collapsing on her. "And m-my n-name is. . ."

Here her voice finally failed her and she lapsed into a coughing fit, brought on by being cold and wet for too long at a time. She held her stomach as she nearly bent double, trying to stop the scratch in her throat. Her coughing echoed off the walls loudly and she was praying that they did not think she was insulting them by doing this, she didn't mean to! The silence from the shadows only made her coughing sound louder.

After what felt like an eternity she was able to draw in a ragged breath again and slowly straighten herself up. Catching her breath, she spoke again, her voice even weaker now than before, straining out of her mouth as she fought to speak above a whisper.

"My n-name is Avalina."

The silence that followed seemed like several minutes. It probably wasn't that long, but the girl was nearly delirious and had lost all sense of time. Her fear was the only thing keeping her on her feet now. The last of her energy had left with her coughing fit, leaving her really and truly helpless. Once again, right when she thought whoever it was wasn't going to answer her, it did.

"A, va. . .Lina."

It drew her name out slowly, deliberately, as if tasting the syllables, one at a time, feeling the phonetics of the word. She shivered as it did so. It may have been her delirium but she could have sworn it sounded deeply contemplative and. . .faintly amused?

After another silence, it spoke again.

"My servant will show you to your sleeping quarters for tonight. That is all."

The cold tone was as sure a dismissal as any.

The Horned King scrutinized the pathetic creature that was fighting a losing battle at staying on her feet down below him. Her weak attempts to talk made him wonder faintly how she had managed to stay conscious this long. The fact that she would be bold enough to dare ask him who he was nearly made him tell her outright, but he changed his mind at the last minute. There was no need for her to know exactly who he was. Yet, anyway.

He didn't know why he allowed her to stay. If he bothered being honest with himself he would have known the reason, but for the sake of his pride he had forced the real motives out of his head.

'She may somehow prove useful.'

As he dismissed her, he waved his hand at the Invisible that he knew was around here somewhere to follow his order. Now. Immediately a torch flickered on halfway up the steps, waving slowly at the girl in a signal. The Horned King exited through another door so she would not see him.

'Avalina.'

He thought the name out silently as he headed for his chambers. It was her name.

He never bothered remembering names. Ever. Nor did he bother asking for them. Why should he, when calling one by name implied familiarity? It suggested sociability. It indicated recognition of being something. Someone, rather.

No one he ever met had deserved to be remembered or recognized in any way. They were as petty and fleeting as dust, living short and useless lives comparable to the mayfly. Merely things to use, abuse, and then crush out of his way to ultimate power.

Names were pointless.

Names were foolish.

But he had spoken hers.

'Avalina.'

And he remembered it.