Chapter 48

The Horned King had been aimlessly wandering through the castle with no real destination in mind, when he had heard the oddest thing. . .pausing, he had listened carefully, trying to deduce what it was.

It was far-off, faint, ringing through the castle.

'What is that?'

The Horned King thought a bit irritably, wondering what those Invisibles were up to now.

It would have to be fairly close by, as these walls were very thick and nigh impossible for sound to pass through, unless it was very loud.

As he ascended the steps and turned into a hall, the sound grew stronger, but he was still clueless as to what might be, and that irritated him.

It rose and lowered itself in perfect rhythm with itself, many different tones creating a layered effect. Surprisingly, the sound was not displeasing to his ears.

In fact, it sounded almost the opposite.

Approaching a closed door, he paused, realizing it was coming from inside.

There was someone doing something on the opposite side, but what, he couldn't begin to fathom.

Carefully, he eased the door open, careful not to make any noise and accidently reveal himself to the Invisible or whoever it was on the other side, hoping to catch them in the act.

The noise hit him face on, brushing against his eardrums and drifting into his head, paralyzing him in the doorframe. It held his attention completely, along with the scene in front of him.

It took several moments for him to comprehend what it was.

Avalina was sitting, her profile to him, at a large wooden box-type thing in the center of the room, pressing different little white keys that ran along the length of it, creating a different tone for every one she pressed. She was making words of some sort, but she wasn't talking to herself. She was. . .

After a long, long moment, the Horned King finally remembered.

Avalina was singing. Not talking. . .singing. Like she had been doing yesterday. And she was. . .what was she doing?

He fought to remember the word as he watched. . .it had been so long. . .

Music. That was it. She was playing music.

The Horned King had not heard a single drop of music for centuries. He had not heard the single note of an instrument, nor the tiniest syllable of song for longer than he could remember, not counting yesterday afternoon. He realized with a mild jolt that it had been so long since he had heard any, he had forgotten what music and singing actually was.

It had not crossed his mind for a very long time.

The name of the box-thing she was sitting at escaped him. Irritably he realized he didn't even remember if it had been invented recently or if it was older, but his mind was unwilling to listen to him.

Frozen in the doorframe, partly by these realizations and partly from the scene before him, he could only stand and listen as the. . .music. . .drifted against his ears. It was so foreign to him, so different from the talking he had heard all these years. . .

He stood there, unwilling to move even a finger, lest he miss the slightest thing. Perhaps he could not have moved even if he wanted to.

It created the oddest sensation, this music. . .he did not realize what it was. It felt as if a very small fire had been kindled right inside his chest. Not a destructive one, but rather, it felt. . .strange. And he did not know its name.

It stirred slightly inside him as Avalina drew out the last line slowly, before lifting her hands from the keys, signaling the. . .he fought to remember. . .song. . .was over.

For some reason he felt faintly irritated at this.

As he stood there, Avalina looked up and saw him.

She gasped and leaped from her seat in fright, staring at him in horror.

He came back to himself as she did so, forcing his limbs to work again, realizing that his joints felt frozen and stiff, as if he hadn't used them for a time.

Slowly, he approached her, watching in satisfaction as she backed up a step for every one he took towards her, having no choice but to stop when her back hit the wall.

Her terror was palpable in the air as he turned to look at the ivory keys and take in the instrument again. Its name still escaped him.

Turning his attention back to her, he could feel her shrink, although she did not move a single muscle.

He enjoyed the power he held over people. It was one of the few things he was privileged to enjoy anymore.

But the. . music. Her song.

It was a different kind of enjoyment. A kind he couldn't remember ever feeling in the entirety of his existence. It wasn't the same as the other things that brought him amusement, like choking the goblin for example. It was something. . .else. Something new. Something he couldn't quite grasp.

But he wanted to hear more of it.

He brought his hand up in her direction, smirking as she flinched, and gestured, indicating to her to come closer.

Trembling, the terrified girl did so, slowly, stopping at about ten feet from him.

He swept his hand slowly from her to the giant wooden instrument.

"Play."

Avalina's eyes widened at his command.

He inwardly smirked at her reaction, watching coldly as she walked over to the bench, watching him fearfully.

The way the instrument was positioned, and from the Horned King's point in the room, (Which he had no current motivation to move from) Avalina would be playing at the instrument with her back to him.

Something he knew she would not enjoy in the slightest.

Which meant he would only enjoy it more.

"S-sire," the girl stammered, watching him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, making her flinch back against the leg of the giant instrument contraption.

"Yes?"

"I-I don't know any more. N-not by heart, th-that is."

He stared at her, thinking for a moment. All of a sudden, an Invisible was in the room and whispered something to him so quietly Avalina didn't hear it.

The Horned King twitched his hand faintly toward the bench.

"The music will be there."

Avalina pulled the lid on the bench up, which was actually hollow, and stared in awe, before reverently picking up a songbook of some type and flipping carefully through its pages, before he saw her eyes light with recognition as she found one she knew.

Trembling, she lay the book on the little shelf above the keys, propped open to the one she had selected, and sat down like she expected him to pounce on her the second she turned her back to him.

He watched her as she carefully placed her fingers upon the keys and did not move for several seconds.

After several moments and a soft, deep breath later, she gently brought her fingers down, pressing them lightly in, before moving to others, letting the old ones rise back up to their original position.

The notes filled the air, sounding rich, yet somehow dull, not at all like the first.

After a moment, Avalina's voice came in, clear, and yet, somehow mournful.

"What nees you flow so fast?

Look how the snowy mountains

Heaven's sun doth gently waste

But my sun's heavenly eyes"

Here, her voice raised slightly, managing to sound even more mournful, and yet. . .it was as if she were also glad, somehow. She did not speed up, keeping the song's pace moderate.

"View not your weeping

That now lies sleeping

Softly, softly, now softly

Softly lies sleeping"

The Horned King could only stare at her, listening as he watched her fingers move over the keys and her wild brownish hair slide slowly up and down her back to accent her movements. The odd feeling he had felt before stirred faintly again in his chest as he stood there.

"Sleep is a reconciling

A rest that peace begets

Doth not the sun rise smiling

When fair at ev'n he sets?"

As the song progressed, he had noticed that, while still very faintly glad, her voice now carried a slight weight, as if she were trying to comfort another while still grieving herself, longing for something she could no longer have.

"Rest you then, rest, sad eyes

Melt not in weeping

While she lies sleeping

Softly, softly, now softly

Softly lies sleeping"

A few chanting notes later, the song had ended, with Avalina removing her fingers from the keys.

The song stirred lightly against his memory, bringing that feeling back from when he had heard her singing from his window. As if he was supposed to know this, to remember it, but his mind refused to cooperate with him. It didn't help that he didn't understand what the song was about in the slightest, although he faintly felt that he should.

This irritated him.

"What does it mean?"

He demanded, watching as she turned around on the bench to answer him.

"Its meaning, sir?"

Avalina looked down, trying to get her words together, before looking up at him again, trying to keep her voice level.

"W-well sir, it can mean a-anything you want it t-to. That's one of the many g-good things about m-music. I. . ."

Here she broke off, looking back down, as if she had caught herself talking too much.

The Horned King wondered what she had been about to say. He didn't like someone leaving their sentences unfinished like that. It was as if they did not view their listener important enough for them to finish.

His voice was dark as he stared at her.

"Continue."

"I. . .s-sort of always thought th-that. . .that someone a lot of pe-people cared about died, and they're trying to comfort each other at her burial because she would have w-wanted them to keep on living and enjoy l-life."

That wasn't what he expected to hear, nor was it something he felt he would ever want to hear again.

There was a long silence in the room as he looked down at the wooden instrument, then back to Avalina on the bench, thinking.

Looking back up at her face, and then her eyes, he watched a moment as she shook slightly, before speaking.

"You will play for me at noon for an hour henceforth on."

The girl looked even more frightened than before, but managed to choke out an answer.

"A-as you wish, sir."

He turned away from her to approach the window at the side of the room.

"Do not be late."

His cold tone was a plain signal that she was dismissed.

"Y-yes, sir," Avalina stammered, before all but running from the room.

Turning back around, he could hear her feet hitting the stone very fast, running to get away from him.

Her aura left the room a moment after she did, leaving him alone.

Once again, I own nothing but this story and my OC's. The song is "Weep Ye No More Sad Fountains." The version I used is the one from Sense and Sensibility. That movie's awesome XD.

REVIEW! SOMEBODY REVIEW! XD