Chapter 51

Avalina scarcely noticed when they left the wasteland behind and hit the forest.

Mitternacht, excited to be out for the first time in two weeks, needed no urging, but the fear emanating from his rider only spurred him on.

Avalina was in tears as she gripped Mitternacht's mane tightly, moving her body with the horse's. She had neglected to saddle him or grab her cloak before leaving, but she had learned to ride bareback long before she had a saddle, and it was as natural to her as breathing.

Her sobs were all but lost in the thrumming of the horse's hooves.

'Oh, gods, what have I done?' She sobbed.

'What have I done? I am so stupid! I should have not said anything! Why? Why did I have to do that?'

She gripped her horse tighter.

'He's going to kill me now. I have no doubt of that. He promised me he would if I left his grounds, which I have just done. But he was so angry. . .he would have killed me if I had stayed too.'

Avalina choked out another sob as she gently asked her horse to slow down, which he steadily did, until he was walking, with Avalina leaning on his neck.

'What am I going to do? I can't go back. He'll kill me.'

The girl shuddered violently at the image of those blood red eyes and the rage they held, gripping Mitternacht tighter for comfort.

'I can't go back. But what am I going to do? I can't go home. Home! Heaven knows what he'll do to my family now!'

Suddenly, the horse stopped dead in his tracks, jolting Avalina's thoughts and causing her to tearfully sit up, wiping her eyes.

'I have no idea where I am,' she thought painfully.

Mitternacht threw his head up, snorting through his nostrils loudly and stamping once, before whickering softly in alarm and shying suddenly.

Avalina gripped his mane and pulled on his reins to keep him under control, realizing something was very wrong as he tried to rear, neighing a warning.

"Boy, what's wrong?"

Her first fleeting thought was that the Horned King was teleporting here and Mitternacht had sensed it before he could do so, but as she turned her horse in a circle she realized the bushes were moving.

Soft growling filled her ears as canine heads poked out from behind the greenery, and Avalina took them all in at a single sweeping glance as her horse shied in a panic.

From every side, wolves had appeared from the undergrowth, slipping out like wraiths of the dark, their white teeth glowing brightly in the dimness of the forest.

Mitternacht froze in terror for a moment and she was able to take them all in, her heart thumping a swift tattoo of fear in her chest. . .there were so many! Not full-blooded wolf either. And they had them surrounded.

'What sort of wolves attack a human in broad daylight at this time of year?' Avalina thought, trying not to panic.

Avalina's sinking feeling was followed by the largest wolf of them all, obviously the alpha by the way he acted, rising deliberately from the undergrowth to her horse's right, in perfect view.

Avalina gasped as she took him in, her eyes growing wide in horror.

The ragged, unkempt pelt, the bones protruding from every inch of his body, the sheer muscle underneath that wiry coat, the dripping fangs, and that glazed look in his savage yellow eyes.

The red half-breed.

And then it all clicked.

'The Mad Pack!'

Avalina turned Mitternacht's head around to the only place they hadn't completely surrounded her in and kicked his ribs.

"Run!" She screamed.

Mitternacht bolted up in a half rear, half plunge as he was off and running before her heels even touched his sides.

The horse screamed in fright as he hammered down the trail, the wolves baying and snarling right behind them, filling the forest with their cries.

Fear came off them both in waves as Mitternacht ran for all he was worth. This only fueled the wolves' energy.

'Run, run, run!' Avalina thought frantically, guiding him between the trees at breakneck speed.

A wolf came up beside them on their left and snapped at Mitternacht's legs, trying to turn him towards the rest of the pack.

They burst into an open space and Avalina screamed in terror, pulling back on Mitternacht's reins as hard as she dared, the horse skidding violently.

They were teetering over the edge of a massive cliff face that plunged straight down sharply with no warning, the river so far below them it looked like a tiny blue ribbon.

A fresh pump of terror and adrenaline flooded Avalina's system as Mitternacht skidded wildly to a stop, kicking stones and pebbles off the cliff, practically sitting down as he tried to back up, his front hooves nearly going off the edge completely, Avalina almost falling off.

He wrenched himself around, kicking off violently to his right, just in time to avoid a wolf that leaped straight at him.

The crazed animal snarled as it leaped right over Mitternacht's hindquarters, missing Avalina's head by mere inches.

Avalina saw the wolf go right over the edge of the abyss below, another going after it when it failed to pull up in time.

Their death howls echoed off the cliff face as they plunged into oblivion, ringing in Avalina's ears and fading as her horse sprinted to his right, just as the rest of the pack burst out of the trees and gave chase, snarling.

Avalina turned Mitternacht back into the forest again, hoping to lose the wolves in the thick trees instead of galloping along the edge of the rock face.

From above, under the lush crowns of the forest's spring leaves, a massive black streak with a small rider on its back shot through the dappled sunlight that filtered through the green roof, pursued by dozens of sprinting wolves, baying for blood.

Avalina gripped his sides with her legs for all she was worth, holding his mane so tightly her knuckles were white, her breath coming in sharp bursts of terror as she saw the wolves closing in from the sides, death in their eyes.

'Run, Mitternacht, run!'

After what felt like a complete eternity, the Horned King's flashbacks and severe physical pain had more or less subsided, and he had gotten up with extreme effort, leaning on the piano bench for support, then the piano, his eyes still glowing blood red in fury.

'I'll kill her,' he thought, standing.

'I'll kill her for this. She doesn't know the meaning of agony yet, but she will feel it when I get my hands on her. She will be begging for death before I get through.'

Snarling, he painfully straightened up to his full height, taking care not to step on any puddles or broken glass.

'That girl is going to pay.'

Walking into the hall more quickly than usual, he bared his fangs, flinching when the movement caused the raw skin on his face to send arcs of pain down his body.

"Where IS she?" He growled at the Invisible there by the door.

"It. . .seems she has fled the castle, Sire," the Invisible answered hesitantly. "She was terrified."

"She. . .WHAT?"

The Horned King roared in fury. He had lied to innumerable people to get what he wanted, but he detested being lied to himself.

'She gave me her word she would stay!'

"Where is she? I'll bring her back myself!"

"As. . .as you know, Sire, we cannot help you harm anyone. . ."

The door was thrown open violently as another Invisible burst in, cutting the other off.

"Sire! Wolves!"

Panic laced every word it said.

The Horned King snarled, his temper nonexistent after the chain of events that had taken place, but the Invisible beat him to it by saying something that caused the lich's eyes to widen, before narrowing to red slits.

"They're after Avalina!"

The wolves were everywhere. Behind them. To the right and left of them. They would eventually be in front of them if Mitternacht couldn't outdistance them.

They came up on both sides, snapping madly at Mitternacht's legs, trying to get a bite in, but Mitternacht barely stayed out of reach, partially to his own instincts and the rest to Avalina's reining.

Avalina looked up ahead just in time to see a wide gulley looming up in front of them.

With nowhere else to go, no way to stop and an entire pack of wolves behind them, Avalina checked her horse's strides and readied him for the jump, feeling the horse's heart punching her legs through his ribcage, matching her own terrified heartbeat.

'Help me, help me!'

Mitternacht sailed right over the gulley in a perfect pose, his mane and tail flying wildly as Avalina clung to him.

He landed with a thump, one of his back legs slipping slightly on the edge of the gulley, nearly making him fall completely, but like a warhorse he recovered and he was gone again as the wolves came swarming back.

'Run, Mitternacht! Faster!' Avalina cried silently.

'Fates, protect us! Please! Send help!'

Seeing a wolf come right up beside them and prepare itself to leap, Avalina steered Mitternacht in the wolf's direction, a plan forming.

The wolf moved away to avoid getting trampled under the massive feet, concentrating so hard on its prey that it forgot to watch where it was going.

Avalina drove Mitternacht against the wolf, smashing the animal headfirst between Mitternacht and into a massive tree, its howl cut off as its skull was crushed from the impact.

Avalina had no time to celebrate as a wolf hurdled out of the trees to her fore left and leaped straight at her head.

She screamed and ducked just in time, hearing its teeth snap together inches from her spine.

Avalina's terror compounded as she leaned close to Mitternacht's neck, silently urging him on, praying desperately to anyone that would listen.

'Please, somebody, help me!'

Like everyone else in this area, Avalina's knowledge of the terrible reputation of the Mad Pack preceded them. They were wolves like no other. They would openly attack anyone and anything that moved. They had attacked an entire village once, and they had been attacking and killing people since the pack had been formed. And the pure truth of it was that there had not been a single survivor in the history of the attacks and killings.

Not one.

Mitternacht was galloping all out, no holds barred on his speed.

Avalina knew he has not been conditioned properly for nearly three weeks, with the Horned King never letting them out of the courtyard, and it was showing. The exhausted animal's ribs were heaving and his breath came like a bellows, fighting to stay ahead of the pack that tailed them.

A wave of wolves came out from the trees ahead of her, blocking the trail.

Not even hesitating, Avalina turned Mitternacht quickly to the left, off the trail before the wolves were on top of them.

Now, off the trail and deep in the undergrowth where the trees were thickest, complete with low-hanging branches, she watched what was coming up in front of her, calculating.

They were going at breakneck speed.

A limb came out of nowhere, and Avalina leaned quickly to the left to avoid the limb and the tree on her right, Mitternacht going left with her, listening to her weight shifts as he had been taught.

Then it was a limb on the right. Gripping Mitternacht's mane, she hooked her right leg over Mitternacht's back and held his mane like a vice as he swept right under it, pulling herself up onto his back again with a scream as a wolf's jaws snapped shut where her head would have been a mere moment ago.

The fallen tree loomed out of the dimness like a massive gate, preventing anything from passing. Its dead, jagged branches stood up like spears, ready to gut open anything that would dare try and cross its back, which lay nearly five feet off the ground, the wooden lances raising it another couple of feet, give or take.

Seven feet total.

There was no time to stop, even if they could. Any other horse would have just given up right then and balked.

But Mitternacht wasn't just any horse, and its amazing what fear for your life can do to you, whether you be man or beast.

Avalina screamed a silent prayer as Mitternacht gave another burst of speed and leaped high into the air, his head snaking out as his forelegs curled up elegantly underneath his belly, Avalina gripping him tightly.

'Fates, protect us, I beg of you!'

For a single, elevating moment, they were flying. Mitternacht had leaped high enough where the spears did not gash him open, and as they sailed over the log and began to descend on the other side, Avalina leaned back just enough to keep Mitternacht from losing his balance and falling.

The landing was rough. Mitternacht's hooves sank three inches into the soft peat soil on the other side, giving to his weight.

The animal lurched as the dirt sucked loosely at his feet and nearly fell, but Avalina kept his head up and herself level, enabling him to keep going.

Avalina looked behind her to see at least two wolves get impaled by the deadly spikes. Even with the constant baying and Mitternacht's hoofbeats, she heard the violent crunch of the wood driving itself through the predator's bodies, making her cringe sharply.

Her horse was so tired. . .Avalina could feel his exhaustion with every stride he took, and she couldn't see his eyes, but she imagined they were rolling in terror.

His exhaustion terrified her.

'Hang on, boy, hang on!'

She guided him into a narrow deer trail where he would be able to run better, dodging a few trees and throwing the wolves off a bit in the process.

She veered Mitternacht around a massive tree, and this was what saved her life, as a massive grey blur shot out of nowhere from her right, heading straight for her, intending to knock her off her horse.

She leaned forward with a sharp gasp of terror, but she wasn't quick enough this time.

The wolf's front feet slashed hard across her back, his front jaws snapping loudly by her ear as he hung suspended in midair for the briefest of moments, before sailing off to the side and crashing to the ground with a snarl.

Avalina, leaning over Mitternacht's neck, threw back her head and screamed in agony as something that felt like fire coursed down her spine, weakening her grip on her horse.

The wolves, now that one of them had drawn blood, were whipped into a savage frenzy, as their baying snarls heightened in volume and frequency, their bloodlust renewed with a ferocious intensity.

Not long now! The howls of the wolves reassured each other. Almost over!

Sobbing in terror and desperation, Avalina barely managed to stay on board in her haze of pain as she felt her horse's exhausted heaving. . .

'I don't want to die! To anyone that's listening, please, help me! I beg of you, PLEASE!'

She veered her horse sharply to the right around a massive, massive tree, sending the wolves on the trail behind her skidding into the undergrowth, surprised by this action.

Clearing another log, Avalina did not see the massive limb until it was too late.

Her horse could not turn in time, his shoulder and chest catching it full force about eight feet from the trunk, where even there, it was a good nine or ten inches thick.

Everything after that happened in slow-motion.

Mitternacht screaming in pain and terror as the limb snapped under the massive impact of his body hitting it, Avalina screaming as she was thrown over her horse's head, her fingers getting ripped from his mane in the process. . .the limb snapping free from the trunk of the tree to fall in their direction, the end coming up as Mitternacht's weight pulled the other side down. . .Avalina did a heels over head flip in midair as the limb came free, the horse passing underneath her. . .Mitternacht's legs getting caught up in the other end of the limb. . .Mitternacht falling. . .falling. . .landing on his side on the forest floor, throwing up leaves and dust, entangled in the massive limb's twisting branches. . .Avalina seeing nothing but the treetops. . .

'Its over, its over!'

Crash!

The impact of her body hitting the ground drove the wind from her lungs, stunning her. Numbing her. Paralyzing her.

The terrible weight of the massive limb falling on top of her snapped her out of it.

Screaming in agony, she tried to move, only to find that she couldn't, save her left arm.

The massive limb lay across her right arm and shoulder, pinning her right hip and both legs to the ground, blocking her view of Mitternacht as well, who was on the other side somewhere.

'Oh gods, no!'

Avalina screamed inside her head. 'No! I don't want to die! Not like this!'

She had always felt terrible grief for the families that lost loved ones to the Pack, but never once had she pondered that it might happen to her and her own family one day as well.

Desperately, she strained against the wood, trying to push it off her, but even if she had been able to use both arms, she may as well have tried to move a mountain.

'No! No!'

"Mitternacht!" She cried as the baying of the wolves filled her ears, along with the horse's screams.

"NOOO! MITTERNACHT!"

A wolf slunk up to her, its savage yellow eyes glazed, every hair prickling on its back, every tooth bared.

Avalina's eyes widened as she gasped in in horror, watching it crouch down, readying itself, its snarl re-vibrating inside her head.

'Somebody, HELP ME! ANYONE!'

Avalina was filled with a desperation she had never known in her life, tears filling her eyes. This was not an adventure in a book. She was going to die. She knew it as surely as the back of her hand.

Nobody would ever know what had happened to her, not her friends, not her family. . .not even the Horned King would know anything. For the slightest of moments, Avalina wondered if he would miss her when she didn't come back.

The Mad Pack had been claiming people's lives for years.

And she was next.

Avalina's scream died in her throat as she saw the massive beast leap into the air and descend towards her, aiming for her face.

Avalina wanted to close her eyes, to look away from her imminent death, but she was completely frozen.

Her last thought before her eyes finally flickered shut was not what she wished she would die thinking about.

'No hero came for me.'

Right as her eyes blinked shut, she saw something of a reddish-greenish color snake into her vision from her right, felt a rush of wind against her face, heard the wolf's teeth snap shut an inch from her throat, and a yelping howl of pain.

Blinking open her tear-filled eyes again, she saw the wolf fly backwards to hit the forest floor with a heavy thump and a muffled crunch. It did not get up again.

The shadow that had fallen across her when the wolf had sprang did not leave when the wolf did, and, expecting another one, she turned her head weakly to her right. . .well, as much to the right as she could with the massive limb on her shoulder. . .and looked straight up at the towering, antlered silhouette of the Horned King himself.

Avalina could not help the gasp that escaped her lips as he turned his attention from the wolf he had just struck down back to her, his blazing eyes freezing the blood in her veins and turning her body to ice.

Her eyes widened in shock as she took him in, and as her heart thudded double time in terror, she realized what had just happened a moment ago as his deathly aura swept over her body, filling her lungs with every breath she took.

'He just saved my life.'

Kneeling beside her on the ground, he inspected the log, looking at it end from end, and for the fleetest of moments, flaming red eyes met frightened, wondering green ones.

A wolf sprang at them, but the Horned King was quicker, knocking it away as easily as he might throw the Creeper across a room.

Snarling softly to himself, he slid his hands under the log, one on each side, his claws digging into the old bark, and with a growl, slowly stood up with it in his grip, freeing her from its massive weight.

Groaning softly in relief, Avalina slowly rolled onto her right side, gripping her shoulder as pains shot down it. Her joints all felt frozen stiff, and she was having trouble moving any of them.

Trying not to cry out in pain, she looked up to see the Horned King swing the massive log over her head like a club before loosing it, taking out six springing wolves at once in midair and throwing them all to the ground, snarling and yelping.

Avalina stared in shock as he stepped deliberately away from her and met the next wave of wolves, claws out and fangs bared, preventing the pack from getting any closer to where she lay.

Her body was becoming a little more responsive now, and grudgingly obeyed her as she slowly sat up, staring in terror at the battle taking place right in front of her.

Not paying any attention to her anymore, the wolves' key interest seemed to be the Horned King, whom they leapt at in a bloodthirsty fury.

Avalina had no idea he could move this fast. She had always seen him move slowly, deliberately, without a single bit of hurry, except when he struck at you. Lulled by his slower movements, you would never see the hit coming until it was too late.

The Horned King fought like a demon amongst the pack as he slashed, swiped and struck anything within range, his hits always counting. Not one move he made was wasted in any way.

A scream to her right made her whip her head around, forcing her limbs to obey her, fresh fear flooding her system.

'Mitternacht!'

Struggling to her feet, she took one step and fell again on her right shoulder, giving a small whimper as it sent fiery fingers of pain across her back and sides.

Her movement attracted attention, and a wolf sprang at her as she got up again, but before it could touch her the Horned King had yanked it away from her out of midair and thrown it violently against a tree.

Her muscles protesting, she found the biggest limb she could weld and ran to her horse's aid.

His reins had somehow gotten knotted up in a twisting mass of tree branches, tying him to the spot, leaving him an easy choice for the pack.

He seemed to be holding his own, kicking away anything that came within reach of his powerful legs, and Avalina made sure he saw her before she dared come any closer.

A wolf managed to get past his legs somehow and leap onto Mitternacht's back, but a timely swing from Avalina's club threw it off.

It landed facing away from them, and any other wolf would have turned back to finish what it started, but this one did not. Rather, as it had landed facing in the Horned King's direction, it sprinted across the thirty feet of ground to attack him instead.

Her relief that it had not turned back toward her was shortlived as another one sprang at she and Mitternacht. Mitternacht kicked it away, breaking several of its ribs with his hammer blows.

The wolf howled and sprang again, but Avalina struck the weakened animal across the shoulder, throwing it right under the horse's hooves, where it was promptly stomped to death.

Avalina cried out from the impact of hitting the wolf and dropped her club, pain shooting through her body.

Looking over in the Horned King's direction as she gripped her shoulder, her eyes widened as she found she could not see him. All she could see was a writhing mass of wiry fur and the snarling and howling of the Pack.

She watched desperately, unable to do anything, as they swarmed him completely.

As she watched, suddenly she saw him rise up, snarling in fury, as he broke free from the mass, throwing the wolves in every direction.

For a single, fleeting moment, he looked her way, and she met his gaze, temporarily frozen in his blazing red eyes, before a swarm of movement behind him caught her eye.

"LOOK OUT!" She screamed, pointing in panic.

The few wolves that weren't already dead all sprang at him at once, but he was ready for them, either by her warning or his own instincts.

Striking, slashing and swinging, they were all on the ground in a matter of mere seconds.

As the last one fell, the red wolf rose up from behind and struck the Horned King hard.

Avalina didn't even have time to scream a warning.

The Horned King snarled in pain and grabbed the wolf off his back, pulling him out in front of him.

For a split second the animal hung in his grip, snarling and snapping, before the Horned King struck forward with his free hand and broke the wolf's neck.

As the lifeless body hit the ground, the Horned King and Avalina stared at each other for a moment.

He looked terrible. More so than how he normally did.

His robe was ripped to pieces, and the blood of the wolves covered him, along with an odd, dark colored substance. Gashes covered his arms, and that was the only part she could see from here.

He stood there a moment, swaying, before pitching heavily to the ground and lying there, motionless.

Even without the disclaimers, this is easily the longest chapter I've written yet.

So, I actually have a music piece to go with this chapter XD. Go to Youtube and look up "The Lion King: To Die For Stampede." Make sure it says stampede and not instrumental in the title;) I used the movie soundtrack part by Hans Zimmer. It totally fits this scene to a T XD I literally have the whole chapter mapped out to the second on the soundtrack XD.

Also, a tremendous shout-out and wonderful Thank-You to my reviewer on here, FaeryDame. She made me a video trailer for this fanfiction! XD I'm so happy and excited and honored and WHOO! Especially since I got to pick the song she used in it XD. Go to Youtube and type in "Horned King and Avalina" and the video should be right at the tippety-top! I'm so HAPPEH! :D

Ok, soooo ya'll know the drill. But I'll do it a funny accent this time to make it more entertaining XD.

*Clears throat*

Meeee-saaaah! No-No own No-No but me-sah's characters and dah plot line! Isney-Day and Dyllo Ander-Xela-Ay own all else! LOL