I forgot to do disclaimers on the other chapters but I'm sure anyone reading this knows that I don't own anything but the story and my OC's, everything else belongs to Disney and Lloyd Alexander. The song in this chapter is completely copyrighted to SJ Tucker, I don't own it, I'm just using it for non-profit only XD. Somebody review!
Chapter 18
The oatmeal was very good, almost to the point of heavenly. Avalina wondered how they knew she enjoyed cinnamon sprinkled over the top. Being poor, her family couldn't afford cinnamon a lot, and only used it on special occasions.
A faint shiver ran through her and she changed her mind. Maybe it was better not to know how they knew. Besides, since this was indeed a castle, cinnamon was probably commonplace.
The storm was still raging outside just as bad as it had last night, if not worse. The lightning and thunder would be constant for long periods of time, then trail off for several minutes and all you could hear was the howling wind and pounding rain.
This was extremely unsettling for Avalina. She had never seen a storm this bad to go on for so long at a time. It was unusual to say the least.
Avalina had taken up a troubled pacing after she had eaten. Debating silently with herself on whether to risk slogging home in the storm or wait it out here. Neither plan was particularly favorable.
'On one hand, my family's worried sick,' she thought. 'I could try to go home in this storm, but I got lost the last time I was caught in it. I'm actually lucky I found this place instead of Mitternacht charging right over a cliff in his fright.'
The girl recalled a time when her brother had gone for the day on business and had gotten caught in a storm much like this. He and his group had waited in a friend's house for the storm to pass, save for one, who was running behind. When he didn't show up that night, they assumed he had found somewhere to wait out the storm. When it was revealed the next morning that he had left the inn before the storm hit, his friends mounted a search.
They had found the horse at the bottom of a 40 foot drop-off onto the small, stony beach that ran alongside a section of the river, both front legs shattered. It had clearly been spooked by the storm and galloped right off the cliff. Putting it down had been beyond merciful. A mile downstream they had found the rider. Rather, what was left of him. Every bone in had been crushed to pieces. She didn't think her brother ever really got over it.
She could still remember him coming home, looking like he had seen something so horrible no words could describe it. Her mother had sent her to her room, but with her ear to the door she had been able to hear the hushed voice of her brother in the kitchen describing what had happened. Her mother had been horrified.
And that could have been her, last night. . .
Shaking off her frightened thoughts with a jump, she continued pacing.
'And then on the other hand, this castle is frightening. Its master is frightening, and I haven't even seen him yet! His voice was more than enough for me. I'd never wanted to get away from anything more in my whole life. The evil is stifling here. I can't believe I stayed. But then again, I didn't really have a choice, now did I?'
Avalina paused for a moment in her pacing. 'So I'm in the fire or the frying pan either way,' she thought, troubled. 'I can't leave and I can't stay. This is beyond bad luck.'
Sitting down on the edge of the bed again she contemplated her two options.
'Going back out in this storm would be suicide, especially since I don't even know where I am. Mitternacht might not even be able to find his way back to the farmhouse. But I really do not like the idea of staying here any longer than absolutely necessary. This place is eerie and most unsettling. But, at the same time. . .'
A frustrated sigh escaped her lips.
'I was given naught but the best of service last night, *and* this morning. I was treated very hospitably, and so was my horse. Nothing tried to harm me. At least, I don't think so. One of the servants may have had an accident with that trolley, and were too frightened of me to come out and explain and apologize.'
Avalina gave a small chuckle at the thought of anyone thinking her dangerous. 'They must not get out much.' Before she turned herself back to the situation at hand.
'But then again, I'm not certain I possess the courage necessary to ask the Master's permission to stay another night. For all I know this storm could go on for days.'
She inwardly quaked at the idea of staying here for that long.
'I can't face him again. I don't even know where to find him. This castle is *huge!* And that feeling I felt when he was speaking. . .he sounded so cold! So completely heartless! It was like talking to a. . .a. . .'
She dared not finish that sentence.
Sighing again, Avalina stood up and pulled her boots on. Mitternacht would want his breakfast and no doubt be glad to see her. Staying the night in strange places made the horse nervous if his rider was absent. She could think about what she was going to do while she took care of him.
Pausing uncertainly for a moment at the door, she felt her stomach knot. When she walked out of this room, she was practically handing herself over to anything that might be on the other side of the door. Her palms suddenly sweaty, she grasped the handle tightly and tugged the heavy door open, marveling at its weight.
'A barroom brawl couldn't bust this thing down,' she thought, 'But nothing trapped inside could ever get out either.'
Feeling even more unsettled, she stepped nervously out into the hall, shutting the door behind her. To her surprise, the torches along both sides of the wall were lit, giving her ample light to see where she was going.
'Thank goodness,' she thought, relieved. 'I was afraid I'd have to carry the torch.'
The girl followed the lit torches cautiously, half expecting something to leap out at her from every corner. In many areas the hall branched off into many others, but only one hall would be lit in these instances. She followed the burning torches.
Something else unsettling about this place, she noticed as she walked, was that every stretch of floor, wall and ceiling looked the same, along with the occasional door. It would be so easy to get lost in here. . .she could have sworn she had passed that same closed door three times already.
The soft step of her boots seemed extraordinarily loud against the stone floor. It echoed very softly in the hall, the only other sound being the soft burning of the torches that lit her way.
Tugging open yet another door and stepping through, she barely withheld a shout as she recognized the steps to her right, leading down into the room she had entered last night from outside. The fire was still in the fireplace, and her cloak still hanging by the door. She couldn't decide if she was surprised or not when she tossed her cloak onto her shoulders and realized it had been washed and dried out as well. Hauling open the massive door, she braced herself for a moment before closing it behind her and hurrying toward the stable, which she could barely see the outline of in the sheeting rain and howling wind. The lightning helped her cross the courtyard and find the stable door, which came open easily under her hand, as if someone had opened it from the inside.
Stumbling into the golden lantern light and the type of warmth only a stable can give off, Avalina pulled off her cloak (Which was soaking wet) and hung it on a nail. Her own clothes were soaked through, but it was warm enough in the stables that it didn't bother her. She would dry off soon anyway.
As she rung out her hair, a large black head poked itself over a stall door and whickered loudly in greeting. Avalina gave him the biggest smile she had had since before all this had started and limped over to him, all her current problems forgotten.
"Well, good morning, handsome," she greeted him, grinning even bigger. "Sleep well?"
She rubbed his forelock out of his eyes and scratched his neck as he sniffed every bit of her he could reach, scenting what was new. "I know I did."
The horse blew softly and rested his head lightly on her shoulder, a sign of contentment that he had. Loosely wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug, she buried her fingers in his mane and gave a deep sigh. Her morale hadn't been this high for a little while.
She could have stayed like that if Mitternacht hadn't nuzzled her hair and tried to fit his muzzle into her pockets. Laughing, she gently pushed him off.
"Ok, boy, breakfast's coming."
It only took her three tries to find the feedroom, which was mildly surprising. As she whipped up his oats and chopped an apple and a couple carrots up to go in it, she found she was singing lightly to herself. Grinning even bigger, realizing she probably looked and sounded like an idiot, she raised her voice, letting it carry through the stable. No one was in here anyway except herself and Mitternacht. And he liked it when she sang.
"One flies in to case the joint
Boldly struts around
Two fly in to make it Three
Laugh a while and knock each other down."
Picking up Mitternacht's feed bucket, she walked out of the feedroom and towards his stall, grinning even bigger as his eyes lit up at the bucket she carried and snorted excitedly.
"Four flies in with a frowning walk
Gains a laugh from out a squawk
But its Five who owns the place and proves it with a look
Stopping Six and Seven in their tracks from smuggling a book."
Pouring the feed into his trough, she laughed as he rooted around in the feed, picking out all the apple slices and carrot chunks first.
"You are so spoiled," she said, shaking her head in mock disappointment as she watched him sort daintily through his food. "We hang around this castle very long and you'll be acting like a regular snoot, thinking yourself too good to enjoy the simple life."
After cleaning the knife and putting away the feed, Avalina went to the tackroom and grabbed some cloths and cleaning supplies, before pulling up a stool and sitting down by the equipment racks. She had been so tired last night she couldn't clean Mitternacht's tack, but now she felt invigorated. Besides, soaked leather usually cracked when it dried, and she couldn't have that. She'd never be able to afford more equipment like this in a thousand years, and she was bound and determined to keep it like new. As Avalina slapped the cleaner onto the rag and scrubbed the saddle fiercely, she picked up the song where she left off, working the fluid deep into the leather joyfully.
"Words within our grasp do we let go
Do we fly heavily with the weight of what we know?
Words within our grasp do we let go
Do we fly heavily with the weight of what we know?"
Hooking a stirrup over the horn, she worked on the underside of the leather, which was lighter in color than the other, making sure to leave no nook or cranny untouched.
"My friend bids me come and see
The Ravens in the library
Setting quiet pages free.
My friend bids me come and see
The Ravens in the library
Setting quiet pages free!"
Now she worked her way to the cantle, back housing and skirt, making sure she didn't miss a place. In the background she could hear Mitternacht crunching his feed in contentment. Peeking out the door, she saw he had his ears pricked towards the tackroom, listening to her.
"One for Fiction
Two for Truth,
Three for swords and armored suits
Four for ancient mystery.
Five studies art and ancient skulls
Six eats periodicals
Seven lives in Poetry."
Getting up, Avalina moved her stool and cleaning stuff over to the other side of the saddle, so she could work on it there. Sitting back down, she resumed.
"One hangs out on the drama shelves
But keeps the monologues to herself
Two and Three are studying jewels.
Four reads all about the battles won
Five won't share the shiny ones!
Six and Seven labor all night through."
The upper side done, she flipped the left stirrup up on the horn so she work on the leather underneath, and tend to the long fore and aft cinches. After chanting the small bridge she headed into another verse again, smiling away.
"Hours of study flying by
Words soaked up by beady eyes
Long debates into the night
Pages flying everywhere!
Seek the language word by word,
Like the black and clever bird
Never let it bring you down
All the things we haven't figured out."
Singing the chorus again, Avalina wiped down the chest straps and crupper before moving her stool over to where the bridle was hanging and starting on it. (And the next verse)
"Seven reads about the gods
Chuckles to herself
To the rest she never lets on.
Try to catch a glimpse of them
Bickering like mortal men
Feathers on the cobbled walk!
If you heard a Raven say such,
*Horrible* words,
As the ones you may have heard
In your day-to-day,
Would it make you choose your own
More carefully,
Around the ones you love?"
Avalina cleaned the long reins and polished the bits and buckles as she repeated the bridge again.
"Words within our grasp do we let go
Do we fly heavily with the weight of what we know?
Words within our grasp do we let go
Do we fly heavily with what we know?"
Finally finished, she put the cleaning things away and surveyed her work, feeling a bit tired, but triumphant. The equipment looked like new all over again, and even in the low lighting the leather and buckles shone.
Feeling the saddle blanket she had leaned up to dry, she was pleased to feel it was only slightly damp. It would be dry by tomorrow, she hoped.
After getting the pitchfork, Avalina tied Mitternacht to the hitching rail as she cleaned his stall bedding. Not a single bit of feed remained in the trough, and she chuckled softly as she swung into the last chorus.
"My friend bids me come and see
The Ravens in the library
Setting quiet pages free.
My friend bids me come and see
The Ravens in the library
Setting quiet pages free!"
Deciding she wasn't ready to quit singing just yet, she repeated the chorus a couple more times before launching into the song all over again as she cleaned the stall, put in fresh water, and went up to the loft to throw down some hay in the rack for Mitternacht.
Her singing grew softer as she brushed Mitternacht down. This was something she never hurried over. It was her special time with him, letting him know she valued him as so much more than a simple means of transportation. Her favorite time of day, and she knew her horse agreed with her.
Mitternacht fell into a trance-like state of contentment, licking his lips and cocking a back leg.
As she worked, Avalina wistfully wondered if she would ever be able to see an actual library again sometime. She had been in the Royal Library at the castle before, at the Princesses' invitation, and the sheer awe of seeing books racked from wall to wall and floor to ceiling had taken her breath away every time she entered.
There was just so much, so many words in that one grand room she would never be able to read in just one lifetime, she had wept with emotion the first time she had seen it, making Eilonwy panic and think she had offended her somehow.
Avalina chuckled softly at the memory, feeling a soft pain in her chest. She loved reading with a passion, but it was a pastime her lifestyle did not permit often. There was too much work to be done, too many things to do. . .
She sighed softly in regret. The books Eilonwy had let Avalina borrow for a while were still in the saddlebags in her room. She had given them to her yesterday when they had all been at Dalben's.
'Good night, was it only yesterday?' Avalina thought with a jump.
'It feels like another lifetime altogether.'
Shaking her head at the way time was flying, she continued to groom her horse as the storm raged on outside.