Chapter 22

Avalina felt so lightheaded with relief when the massive doors closed behind her, with a barrier now between herself and the master, that she had to lean against the wall for several minutes until the blood stopped thundering in her ears.

He had been watching her like a hawk. She had felt his hard gaze on her the instant the doors had came open, and it had not left the entire time. The air had felt so thick and heavy she could've sworn she would suffocate.

When her strength finally returned she had hurried to her room, the torches lit again. She only looked behind her once, seeing the torches extinguish themselves behind her.

'I'm guessing that's normal around here,' she thought shakily to herself.

Now, in her room, she was pacing again, thinking and fighting off paranoia. The servants had left her a meal before she returned, which she was grateful for, but after eating she had taken up her nervous habit again.

'How much longer can this storm *last?*' She thought frantically to herself.

'Its been like this for two days nonstop. I've never even heard of a storm this bad. Mother's fearing the worst, no doubt. Maybe she'll think I just stayed at Dalben's to wait out the storm. Oh, how I wish I had! And Dalben. . .he probably thinks I made it home, or he's worried too. I'm sure glad we got his roof fixed before this thing hit though, or he'd be floating out of his house on the door while rowing with a soup-ladle.'

Avalina gave a soft chuckle at that mental image, before sobering again.

'I have to get home, the sooner the better. I do not like this place. It is unnerving. The master is terrifying. I've never been more frightened out of my mind in my life than I am when I'm in the same room with him. And I haven't even seen his face! He stays hidden in the shadows, and I get the coldest feeling in my stomach when he talks. . .The evil is nigh penetrable here, despite the fact that nothing has threatened me, and I and my horse have both been given the best of care possible. I am certain its not my paranoia playing with my mind this time. I have to get out of here as quickly as possible.'

Avalina groaned as she sat on the edge of the bed to rest her feet. They weren't hurting as badly as they had this morning, but they still throbbed with a dull ache, making it slightly hard to think.

Carefully feeling the gash above her left eye, she continued thinking.

'I was an idiot to stay. I should have left today, regardless of the storm. I know its just as bad as it was when I came here, but I'm starting to think I'll be better off taking my chances with Mother Nature than stay here any more. Why didn't I leave today? Why? I'm such an idiot. I should trust Mitternacht more. He won't take me over a cliff. . .he's smart. He knew what he was doing, taking us here, but now its time to leave. I should leave tonight, right now, but I'm so tired. . .and I know Mitternacht is too. He'll be raring to go tomorrow. I'm pretty sure he'll be as eager to get home as I am.'

Trying to keep her nerves at bay and keep calm, Avalina pulled the covers over herself and lay back on the pillow, firmly making up her mind.

'I don't care if its still storming, we're leaving first thing in the morning. Its time to get home.'

Creeper, after feeding the gwythaint and giving it fresh water for the night, shut the door to the stable behind him and prepared to run across the courtyard and into the castle. He paused, however, looking at the other stable on the opposite side of the massive courtyard, silhouetted by the lightning.

The human's horse was in there.

After a pause, Creeper headed to the other stable.

He had no desire to go back into that dark, empty castle only to skulk around and hide from his master and work at staying out of the human's sight just yet. His master had forbidden him to see the human, but he hadn't said anything about the horse.

Creeper's experience with horses was next to nothing. A few of his master's men had had horses for a while at some time or another, but from snatches of talk he had overheard while eavesdropping, they had all invariably lost their minds and had to be destroyed. They would become so insane with terror no one could get within twenty feet of them.

Creeper had seen only one type of horse. The type that always stood with their head down, their ears drooped, all the spirit and life gone from them. The dull, listless look in their eyes. The ones with no hope. All of the horses his Master's men rode had carried that look until they died.

Then there was the kind Creeper had only heard his master's men speak of. . . the crazed, foaming creatures with wild white-rimmed eyes that would do everything under the sun to get away from you before they dropped dead from an arrow to the skull or heart.

Creeper wanted to see which type this horse was. Surely it would be the first type. That human girl didn't look very strong. It would probably be a small one with a broken spirit, something the girl could control without a problem.

Creeper grinned. Pushing someone else around always made him feel better.

In the pitch blackness of the stable, it was warm and dry. The storm outside could be heard, but it was muffled in here, among the wood and hay. The lightning would occasionally shine through the cracks in the walls, but like everything else, it was muted down.

The horse's breathing was soft and steady, in and out smoothly. A back leg was cocked, all muscles relaxed, eyes closed. His ribs lifted and sank like the evening tides, in an even, steady rhythm. Even while sleeping, there was a deliberate, formidable power in every movement that could not be concealed. He knew exactly what he was capable of.

Like all animals, horses know when something is off. Most of the time, they are better attuned to their surroundings than people. Anything out of place, anything that should not be. . .horses know.

The soft grating of the stable door at the end of the hall coming open immediately stirred the animal.

A pair of deep, black eyes opened. The ears immediately stood up for a moment, before pinning back to the horse's neck.

He knew his rider. He would know her anywhere, even if she was not in sight. Her scent, her voice. . her step.

And this was not her.

The horse carefully lifted his feet, setting them back down in the straw like a cat stalking a mouse, slowly turning himself sideways against the back wall, where he could see everything. The front, the sides, and the door. His nostrils flared wide to identify the intruder, His eyes opened wider to make up for the almost zero lighting in the stable, and his ears cocked forward as the door was stealthily pushed shut.

Creeper slowly pushed the door closed behind him, before lighting the lantern. Holding it above his head as much as he could without burning himself, the goblin half-walked, half-jumped across the floor.

Only one stall door was shut, indicating to Creeper that was the place of the horse's residence.

Seeing a stool nearby, he dragged it over, before hopping on it, then climbing onto the bottom half of the split stall door, gripping the post for support.

Hanging the lantern above his head on a nail, he looked into the stall, which was now filled with dim light.

The darkness receded as the lantern was lifted, revealing something that made Creeper's eyes widen in shock.

The biggest, blackest horse the goblin had ever seen stood by the back wall. A bushing, curling mass of black mane fell over the horse's neck and shoulders, reaching the bottom of the horse's wide chest. A pair of dark eyes watched the goblin through a thick black forelock as a pair of ears flicked forward to focus on him.

Creeper gulped as he took it all in. Suddenly, even the gwythaint looked small compared to this animal.

Creeper shook himself. What was he doing? This horse was no different than the others. It would cower if you got rough with it.

"You're not so tough," Creeper mocked as he swayed back and forth over the top of the stall door. "If that human can handle you, so can I."

The horse immediately pinned its ears at the sound of the goblin's voice, his thick tail swishing once. Creeper could have sworn the animal narrowed its eyes at him in an inviting gesture.

Creeper pried an old dirt-dauber nest off the wall and pulled his arm back.

The horse tossed his head once and blew through his nose, the noise sounding like the soft roar of a bellows, making Creeper pause a moment.

The horse tightened his muscles as Creeper took careful aim. . .

The dried mud had scarcely left the goblin's hand when the horse kicked off the ground with his powerful hindquarters, clearing the length of the stall in one leap, front legs curled beneath him, his head and neck arcing out like a snake, aiming straight for the goblin.

Creeper screamed and lost his footing, falling to the floor just outside the stable as the horse snaked his neck over the stall door, aiming for the goblin on the floor.

How Creeper kept from getting bitten, no one but the Fates will ever know. All he could do was roll blindly on the floor and pray he got out the way fast enough. The popping "Clack!" of the horse's teeth coming together to grab nothing but air right next to him a dozen times in a row was deafening.

After a few moments Creeper managed to roll far enough away to get out of the animal's range, whereupon he promptly leapt to his feet to stare at the black beast with its ears pinned flat against its head, still trying to get at him.

A shaky laugh of relief and triumph escaped the goblin.

"Aha, can't get me now, you foul creature!"

The horse snorted loud enough to kick up the dust on the stone floor outside the hall and pawed the door once, glaring fiercely at the little creature that dared to bother him, try to hit him and was now mocking him. Never taking his eyes off the goblin, he slowly backed farther into the stall, the door and the darkness covering him.

Still shaking in complete shock over what had just happened, Creeper turned to leave, when a quick rush of vibration and rustling straw made him whip around just in time to see a monstrous black creature clear the stall door like it was nothing and land gracefully in the hall, the vibration of the impact knocking over a stack of empty buckets propped against the wall.

The sparks from the horse's shoes flashed brightly in the dim lighting.

A brilliant streak of lightning flashed outside, outlining the animal in brilliant silver. The lantern light reflected off his black coat like new gold, and for a single moment, Creeper looked up at the horse's head as he reared his front end up to strike.

Its ears were pulled back so tightly they could no longer be seen inside the thick mane, and from underneath the lacquered black forelock, the animal's eyes appeared blood red. So did the insides of the horse's nostrils.

The horse snorted once, the small amount of smoke from the lantern issuing from his nose, pure malicious laughter dripping from the sound.

That was all Creeper could take in before it charged at him, roaring like an enraged predator.

The clanging and clashing of all the buckets falling over, coupled with the muffled Boom of thunder from outside, lent back-noise to the action as the goblin ran for his very life. This thing was going to kill him! Really kill him!

'Horses aren't supposed to act like this!' He thought as he ran down the hall as fast as he could.

'Their the prey, not the predator!'

Apparently this horse had never bothered to read the instructions on how to be a prey animal, or it had and decided to turn predator, but whatever the cause, it was out for goblin blood tonight.

Biting and striking ferociously, the horse's shoes sparked off the stone as he chased the little pest all over the barn. His snorts of rage and bloodlust made Creeper's skin crawl in terror as he pumped harder. . .

The horse cleared him in a single massive leap, causing the goblin to brake to a halt. As the horse skidded a bit on the stones as he turned back toward Creeper, leaving white scuffmarks on the floor, the goblin turned tail and fled down toward the other end of the hall, screaming all the way.

The horse gained on him like the darkness itself, long strides covering the distance effortlessly. The ground vibrated hard enough to make the buckets scattered all over the hall jump off the stone like massive jumping beans.

Creeper aimed for one of said buckets that had been knocked over, reaching out desperately. . .he grabbed the rim and hauled himself inside right as his hiding place was dealt a skull-crushing kick and went airborne.

The bucket flew, rolled, bounced and clattered alternately across the hall, only leaving the air to hit the floor or bounce or ricochet off the walls with wild abandon. And the instant the horse got close enough, it would strike the bucket again, causing it to continue its aimless journey.

Creeper jolted around inside the bucket like a potato, his teeth rattling uncontrollably. The bucket just wouldn't stop moving! Creeper hadn't thought about it any, but the flight with the gwythaint he had taken a month ago came back to his mind as he and his bucket was kicked wildly around the barn. He couldn't see, couldn't get a grip on anything, all he could hear was the racket of the wooden bucket with its metal rings hitting the stone, and the sound of hooves striking both.

'I'm gonna die!' He realized in terror.

The bucket was dealt another vicious kick, arcing high through the air to hit the ground hard.

Like a giant spring it shot back up, flying high. It gave two more massive leaps across the stone, to be dealt a final harsh blow from the iron shoes.

It shot across the rest of the hall like an arrow in flight, straight into the massive doors that led to the courtyard.

Here, the bucket, after being kicked half a dozen times by something that could pull down a tree, collapsed in eighty pieces all over the stone floor, wood bits flying in three thousand different directions to land in twice as many places.

The goblin, completely dizzy, dazed, and nearly unconscious, pulled his face out of the floor. . .

To see the horse coming straight at him like a starving werewolf. And it looked like he had brought six or seven buddies. . .they were all charging too!

The door came open, allowing the goblin the chance to escape. Half reeling, half running, he staggered out of the stable right as the horse struck the door with his front hooves and leaned out to grab the goblin. . .

A ripping noise was heard, followed by the slamming of the door, the sound of hooves striking against the wood twice. . .once out of fury, the second out of halfhearted disappointment that the fun was over. . .and then a screaming whinny of victorious triumph that echoed all through the hall and carried well out into the lashing storm.

If anyone had been watching from one of the castle windows, they would have seen a half naked goblin running pell-mell across the courtyard in the flashes of lightning screaming something about a demon.

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