Chapter 44

Avalina would have been more than happy to stay in the barn the rest of the night. She had straw to sleep in, Mitternacht to keep her company, apples and carrots to nibble on when she got hungry, and a pump right outside the back door.

She was leaning against the corner of the stable now, sitting in the straw, watching Mitternacht eat his hay.

She loved spending time with him, and he enjoyed it when she stayed for longer than usual.

Her body ached from all the stress of today, and she dreaded going into the castle tonight with a passion.

Staying under the same roof as the Horned King was horrible enough, but the fact that he would probably summon her when she went inside was the worst. She didn't want to be in the same room with him! He was abominable and she hated him! She didn't even want to be here!

And yet, she must stay. For everyone, and every thing she held dear.

Avalina's eyes burned as she desperately tried not to think about all the horrifying things her future might hold.

She didn't want to think about what could happen to her. And the Horned King might go ahead and destroy everything anyway despite the fact she had returned on time.

He was a monster. A despicable, bloodthirsty monster. Only the stars knew how many people he had killed in his lifetime, however long that had been.

Avalina shuddered at how much longer he might continue to exist.

She didn't understand it.

Eilonwy had told her how Taran had defeated him and saved all of Prydain, how she had seen it with her own eyes.

She had said a group of her father's soldiers had went to the castle to finish up anything Taran may have missed, but the castle had literally been blown to pieces and sunk into the lake, all evidence with it.

So the Horned King had been defeated, and all of Prydain had rejoiced.

But now he was back. How was that even possible?

Nobody should be able to survive that kind of death, not even him. And yet, he had.

She had no idea how long he had been back, but from what she had seen so far, he had no soldiers, no minions except the goblin. . .nothing.

Of course, this castle was huge, and could hide anything.

But the feeling of pure desertion lingered in the place, and there was a haunted, eerie feel to it all Avalina didn't like.

The servants only added to the mystery surrounding this castle.

She couldn't sense anyone in the stable with her, but when she was in the castle she could feel them hanging around.

They didn't seem particularly fond of their master.

Her eyes closed, Avalina was nearly asleep, until a big black muzzle loudly crunching on dead stems and leaves butted her shoulder, the grinding noise of his chewing shaking her from her light doze.

Chuckling gently at his antics, Avalina blew lightly on his muzzle before he returned his attention to his hayrack.

Avalina's smile disappeared, replaced with a rather depressed look for a moment.

She wished she could just stay in the stable all night, but she did not want to anger the Horned King by not going in, and she supposed it was better for her to go in before he summoned her. She did not want to be on the receiving end of his anger again.

"Well, boy," she said softly, "I guess I can't avoid the inevitable."

Sighing, Avalia got up, her fear coming back with the movement.

"I've got to face him sometime."

The horse came over to her as she bolted the stall door.

Giving Mitternacht one more scratch, she softly bid him goodnight and left.

He didn't throw a complete fit like last time, but he still whinnied after her worriedly as she bolted the stable door.

The concern in his cry made her heart lurch, wishing she could somehow comfort him.

As the massive doors closed behind her and a servant took her cloak and hung it up, Avalina (After thanking the Invisible) began to walk across the room to the steps, but a sound to her right near the fireplace made her jump nearly a foot in the air.

Her eyes scanning the room, she saw nothing, but she knew she had heard something, and she inwardly shook, thinking for a moment it might be the very one she dreaded.

Although wanting nothing more than to run up the steps and to her room as fast as she could, her curiosity kept her glued to the spot.

Scanning the shadows, she couldn't see anything, although the fire was blazing, but. . .there!

She fancied she heard a tiny sniffle from the chair in front of the fireplace.

Cautiously approaching it, she called softly so as not to startle whoever or whatever it was. . .

"Hello?"

Complete silence.

Going nearer, she was only a few feet from the chair when a ugly little face peeked out from above the chair arm in her direction.

Both she and the creature gasped aloud, staring.

After several moments Avalina managed to get her heart rate more or less back to normal.

It was the goblin, heint-type thing she had begged the Horned King to spare.

She barely comprehended this as the little head whipped out of sight behind the chair arm.

Slowly going around, she saw the little green creature huddled beneath a blanket in the chair, only its eyes and the hood of its little robe visible, peeking out over the top.

It ducked under the blanket as she walked around. She was positive she could its shape shaking under the blanket.

"You can come out, you know," she said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

A muffled snarl was her answer.

Grinning softly, she asked, "What?"

Another snarl, louder this time.

"What?"

This time a snarl followed by a muffled curse.

Avalina grinned. She had played this game many times with her brother growing up whenever he didn't want to talk to her, and it had always annoyed him completely to pieces, inevitably ending with him breaking and answering her sooner or later.

This would be no different.

"What?"

A string of curses and an actual sentence of some sort followed, and she silently thanked whoever was listening he DID have a blanket on his head.

"I can't hear you."

Snarling in fury, the little creature yanked the blanket off his head. The glare he dealt her was murderous, and she nearly flinched. She had forgotten how scary the little creep could be, especially when he glared at her in that twisted way he had.

"I *Said*," he barked, "Master says to stay out of your sight!"

Yanking the blanket back over his head, he sat there, huddled under it like a sulky child.

Avalina thought his answer out, nearly shuddering at the thought of the "Master."

Half curious, and half anxious for someone to talk to, despite the fact that he was rude, she asked, "Why does he not want me to see you?"

"How should I know?" He replied angrily, muffled.

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

A short pause followed, before Avalina asked another question.

"What's your name?"

"What's it to you?"

Realizing he was determined to stay snippy, she remembered to stay patient and kept her voice calm and gentle.

"So I can call you by it. You *do* have a name, don't you?"

A snort followed.

"*Everyone* has a name, human!"

"But how can I be sure of that unless you tell me yours?"

The goblin pulled the blanket off his head, glaring at her, and for a moment she thought he was going to yank it back over his head and ignore her, but he didn't.

"Creeper."

He spat, glaring at her.

Avalina hid her surprise, secretly thinking it fit him perfectly.

"That's a nice name."

Creeper stared at her, taken aback for a moment. Nobody had ever asked him his name before, much less complimented it.

"Well, uh. . .um. . ." He sought for an answer.

Seeing him struggle, she decided to change the subject, not willing to lose the only other living sentient creature's company she had seen that seemed to live here besides the Horned King.

"Are there any more servants here that can be seen?"

After processing this, his little pointed ears twitched as he snarled, "No! And soon there won't even be this one if you don't shut up and go away!"

Avalina was taken aback by this.

A bit hurt, she answered in a tone that matched her feelings, "I'm just trying to make conversation with you."

"Well, don't."

"Why?"

Creeper groaned and facepalmed, looking at her with his good eye. She noticed his left was normally kept closed, and she wondered if something had happened to it.

"Can't you humans ever get anything through your thick skulls? If Master found me talking to you he would be very, very angry. So go away and forget you saw me."

Avalina couldn't keep the smile out of her voice.

"That'll be kind of hard."

"Why?" He spat.

"Cause you're kind of hard to forget."

". . .Go away."

Avalina nearly grinned. They were back to square one.

"Why?"

The goblin suddenly rose, the blanket coming off his shoulders as he stood up to his full two feet of height on the chair cushion.

Holding onto the arm, he leaned over and glowered at her, the firelight reflected in his ugly, mismatched eyes, both of which were now open. Avalina noticed for the first time that one was smaller than the other, and his good eye (his left) seemed to be a sort of dull, muddy brown, and his bad one, (His right, the one he normally kept closed) was black and seemed to be permanently dilated.

She bit her tongue to keep from asking if something had happened to him. If he was the Horned King's minion it was guaranteed that something had happened to him at some point.

Glowering, he leaped up onto the chair arm, holding the back for balance.

Avalina unintentionally backed up a step.

He might not be the Horned King, but he was still evil and very, very dangerous.

Suddenly she wondered if trying to talk to him had been such a good idea.

"Because," he growled out softly, his eyes never leaving her face, "If you don't go away and leave me in peace, I'll do something far worse than that little bruise I gave you last time."

Avalina did not look away from him when he glared, but rather kept her expression as neutral as possible.

He reminded her of a savage, halfway sentient little anklebiting dog, the type that would never attack to your face, but rather wait until you turned your back and let your guard down to nail you one from behind.

He was a coward.

In his eyes she saw this.

By extension he was a bully.

All bullies are cowards, no matter what form they take.

And she recognized him as such.

Straightening her spine, she kept her voice even.

"Speaking of which, why did you hit me last time to begin with?"

He looked like he'd been slapped in the face.

"Well, uh. . .um. . .I don't have to have a reason!"

Avalina furrowed her brows, thinking.

"Yes, you do. Unless you did it simply to cause me pain."

"Maybe I did."

"Why would you do that?"

"I don't have to answer that!"

"Was it because of him?"

A long silence.

Creeper's face changed drastically from frightening and cruel to terrified and whimpering in a flash.

Avalina had been studying him, and had made the deduction that the Horned King constantly abused the little goblin. His voice was rough and crackly, probably from being strangled so much. He was an evil little monster in his own right, but she could see here that he may not have originally been that way.

Being bullied can sometimes result in the bullied individual becoming a bully themselves, in order to deal with the pain of being abused by their own oppressor.

Avalina believed this was the case with Creeper, and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, despite his less-than-welcoming attitude.

"You don't have to worry about me telling him I've spoken to you," she said softly, trying to calm him down.

"I can keep a secret."

Creeper looked like he didn't know how to react. Should he be happy at this or hateful?

Avalina smiled at his reaction.

"Promise."

Watching his face closely, she noticed the corners of his mouth weakly twitch up for a moment and his ears slowly come forward, before his guard came up again and he sat back down in the chair with a huff.

"Wonderful. Now go away."

He turned his back to her, signaling that this conversation was over, but as Avalina stared at his back she could not help a chuckle escaping her.

"WHAT!"

Creeper snapped, whipping around to glare at her again, his patience wearing thin.

Avalina snapped her face back into composure.

"Oh, nothing at all. I was merely wondering what ever happened to the back of your cloak."

Creeper looked like he'd suddenly turned to stone.

After standing there frozen for a few moments, he glared at her again.

"It was that monstrosity you humans call a horse! YOUR horse, to be precise!"

Avalina fought down her grin.

"What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do nothin'!"

"He never attacks someone without a reason."

"He's a demon! He tried to kill me!"

"Probably because you provoked him somehow. You can't bully him around like you might be able to do to other animals or people, Creeper," Avalina told him a little firmly, but her voice remained kind.

"Horses. . .mine in particular. . .just isn't like that."

Creeper huffed and yanked the blanket back over himself.

"Shut up and go away."

Avalina sighed. If he didn't want to talk she was wasting her time, and arguing with him, although fun for a while, got tiring very fast.

"Very well, Creeper. Good night."

Avalina turned to walk away, but before she reached the steps, she turned back, making sure Creeper could hear her.

"And by the way, I sincerely thank you for caring for him while I was unable to."

As Avalina walked up the steps she could feel Creeper staring at her until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.