Again, I own nothing but the story and my OC's. Everything else goes to Disney, Lloyd Alexander, and SJ Tucker. REVIEW!

Chapter 19

"One for Sorrow

Two for Joy,

Three for Girls and Four for Boys.

Five for Silver

Six for Gold,

Seven for a Secret Never Told!

One crow Sorrow

Two crows birth,

Three a wedding, Four a birth.

Five crows silver, Six crows gold,

Seven Ravens curious and bold!"

Avalina took her time as she curried down her mount. Brushing him helped her think, and although she was still singing the song softly under her breath, almost to the point of humming, but it was in a bit of a detatched way, proving that her mind was no longer on the song and more occupied with her own thoughts, but humming out all the rhymes out of simple habit.

Carefully brushing out Mitternacht's thick tail, Avalina was only half there. The other half of her mind was wandering aimlessly, first around her family, her home, her friends and such, then drifting back to the barn, the situation she was in now, inevitably going back to the castle, and then. . .Him.

She shivered slightly at the mere thought of the Master, a small spring of fear pooling inside her. Just thinking about his voice frightened her. It had been terrible, and if that confounded storm outside would ever quit. . .or at least die down. . .she would be out of here before someone could say plum pudding.

A muzzle gently butting her back brought her back to earth with a small jolt, and she half turned to see Mitternacht staring at her in concern. Realizing she had stopped brushing him, she rubbed his face gently.

"Its ok boy, I was just thinking," she told him, before going around his other side and starting to brush off his muscled shoulders.

"This castle is unsettling, Mitternacht," Avalina said, causing the horse flick his ears back to listen.

"This whole thing is unsettling. I didn't even know there were any other castles in Prydain, other than the royal family's. And that's in the city. This one, as far as I can tell, is out in the middle of nowhere. Surely no one in Prydain other than pure royalty would have a castle. It would be considered highly disrespectful for anyone else to have one. Besides, only someone who was very rich could ever hope to keep one well maintained."

Her horse snorted as if to agree with her statement.

Thinking back, she could remember the interior of the castle being spotless in many areas, but she had noticed this morning when she went out that there was a few cobwebs here, a little dust there, and so forth and so on. Whether the servants were simply overworked, lazy, or the castle was understaffed were a few possibilities she could think of. The dishes that had been all over the stairs the night before had been all cleaned up, without even a chip of china to show where they had perished.

But back to the main question. . .were there any more castles in Prydain, and if so, where were they? Avalina resumed her thought. One of her first delirious thoughts when she woke up this morning was that maybe she'd been blown over into another country . . .now, she mentally scoffed at her naivety. . .that only happened in books. Besides, Prydain was surrounded by water on three sides, leaving only a narrow strip of land open to the rest of the world she had seen on maps. A mountain range guarded it, like a great row of uneven, jagged teeth.

Huffing slightly, she began to gently brush out her horse's mane.

So, obviously, she was still in Prydain. (She mentally groaned at her overactive imagination) So then. . .who in the world besides the royal family would own a castle?

Avalina frowned. It didn't make sense. It was possible that the ancient royal family had attempted to build one here centuries ago, but then out of convenience moved to the city, made one there and then someone else took the abandoned one over. . .or maybe they just had an estranged uncle who was an old hermit and they let him live there to keep him out of their hair. . .

Avalina sighed in frustration. Her ideas kept getting more and more improbable. She wished she knew the history of Prydain better.

'I'm thinking far too much,' she thought a bit wearily, trying to keep her panic, which was getting stirred up again, at bay.

'I'll have to ask for a map before I leave anyhow. I don't even know where I am.'

For some reason that thought seemed to make her blood stop. Huffing, partly angry at herself for getting so worked up over nothing, and partly out of frustration at the situation she'd gotten herself into, she absently started braiding down a piece of Mitternacht's mane. She had already mentally kicked herself all around the country for being so stupid, but it didn't stop her from doing so again.

'Why? Why, why, why, did I have to try to get home? I could have, *Should have*, just turned around, gone back to Dalben's, and waited there, but nooooooo. . .I had to be a hero. . .ye gods, what was I thinking? I can't believe I tried. I wish I was at Dalben's! Or home. Preferably home. Mother and Arran are worried sick about me, no doubt. I can see Mother thinking of all the absolute worst scenarios possible right now. Oh, how I wish I were home! Somewhere I knew I was safe.'

Feeling a small prickle at the corners of her eyes she shook her head to clear it.

'I shouldn't be thinking such things. The minute this storm quits I am leaving, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I'll give the Master my thanks, but I can't offer him anything else.'

Avalina trembled again at the thought of talking to him again.

'Oh, dear Fates, if you're listening, I beg of you to stop the storm so I can go home!'

Mitternacht's loud snort brought her out of her thoughts with a jump. Putting a hand to her chest to ease her pounding heart, she turned around to say something to him. . .

And realized the stable door was wide open. The wind and rain from outside blew in leisurely, soaking the bare stone on the other end of the barn. And rolling towards her across the floor was a piece of parchment.

Mitternacht blew as she picked it up, keeping his eyes on the door. Avalina felt about for other presences besides her own, but sensed none. Unrolling the small piece of parchment, which was roughly the width of her palm and as long as her hand, she read a single sentence.

The Master will see you now.

That was all.

Avalina suddenly felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. All the contentment that she had gathered over the course of the morning in the barn had hit rock bottom, along with what little courage she had amassed. And in its place was an ocean of fear, pushing up from her stomach, drowning her in it.

Shaking so badly she could scarcely stand up, she put Mitternacht back in his stall. Going to shut the barn door, she realized how late it was. The darkness was rolling in, and right behind it was another wave of storms.

'I've been in the barn all day long,' she realized.

That wasn't uncommon, at home she did it all the time, but goodness, time had flown today! Her stomach rumbled suddenly, and Avalina realized she had actually been hungry for a while and just hadn't noticed. She hadn't eaten since early this morning.

After feeding Mitternacht his supper, she gave him a shaky scratch on his shoulder. "Wish me luck, boy," she whispered, before turning to walk out of the stall.

The horse, realizing something was wrong, ignored his feed and tried to follow her out. "No, boy, you can't," she told him as she latched the door, bumping it against his thick chest. "I'm sorry, but you can't."

Mitternacht snorted worriedly, showing the whites of his eyes as he nuzzled her shoulder and bumped against the door again, making the latch rattle.

Avalina, shaking, rubbed her horse's face and neck in a feeble attempt to comfort them both. "Its alright, boy," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, "I'm sure things will be fine. I'm probably overreacting about nothing."

Deep in her heart, however, she knew better. And her horse knew better. But if she did not comply with the Master's wishes, he could do something terrible to her or her horse, or both of them, and she did not want that.

Her mount's behavior only worried her more. Mitternacht, like all horses, seemed to have a highly tuned sixth sense about him, able to detect things people couldn't, and Avalina was seriously contemplating just sleeping in the barn tonight, when the barn door flew open again, more persistent this time. It crashed back against the wall, making Mitternacht lay back his ears and rear up, as if to face an enemy Avalina could not see.

He came down, crashing hard against the stall door, causing a foot long splinter to fly through the air and stick in the plank of another door across the hall from them. Whinnying a fierce challenge to any that would oppose him, he pawed the straw and hit the door again.

Avalina, frightened, grabbed his mane and pulled his head down. "Listen boy, its ok," she softly told him, "I'll be back."

Trying her best to keep her fear at bay, she slowly calmed him down. "I'll be back in the morning, ok?"

Mitternacht blew worriedly, staring at her in concern as she slowly walked across the barn to the door to collect her cloak. Looking back at him before she closed the door behind her, she called out one more time.

"I promise."

One last whinny was all she heard before the door slammed, leaving a wall between them both.