Chapter 60
Avalina stared at him in fright as he pinned his ears at her, glaring at her hatefully over the door, his nostrils flaring.
Remembering what he had done in the corral to all those people this morning, suddenly she felt very small.
She whimpered as he struck the door with his hoof, pressing herself as firmly against the wall as she could. She had a terrible image of him leaping over the door and coming at her.
She could not help but be drawn to his eyes, which glimmered brightly under that hedge of matted black mane. In reality, it was the only bright thing on him. Everything else was dull and dirty.
Avalina looked right into them, those shining pools, and felt the emotion in the movement as he pawed the door again. She felt his hatred of man, felt his rage. But under that mountain of bitter fury that filled him, she felt something else, saw something else reflected in those deep eyes, and it held her attention as she tried to figure out what it was.
It was pain. A torrent of agony that could be seen in his eyes, if she looked deep enough. It was plainly noticeable, and now, having seen it, it was engraved in her mind's eye as he stared at her in hopeless despair, snorting as he snaked his head back and forth.
And this was a feeling Avalina knew, and suddenly she understood.
"I know, boy," she said softly. "My daddy's gone too."
The horse ceased movement at the sound of her voice, his ears coming forward as she spoke, before pinning them again when she stopped.
Seeing this, Avalina spoke again, not wanting his ears to stay back like that.
"I know what its like to lose somebody you care about that much. I'm sorry."
Again, the horse's ears came forward when she spoke, listening.
"I know it hurts, and I know you feel abandoned. I feel the same way, sometimes. But you can't stay mad forever, Momma told me it makes you bad."
At this, the horse pinned his ears again and snapped his teeth, letting them clack loudly against one another as he struck the door again.
Jumping, Avalina kept going, regardless.
"If you'd let somebody in again, they could teach you to be good, like you were before. I know you used to be a knight's horse, and that's the highest honor, other than being the king's mount himself."
The horse weaved agitatedly in his stall, his mane following him like a brush pile.
"You can be that again, if you wanted."
Avalina had not realized she had taken a few steps forward until the horse snorted hard, and Avalina felt the force of it breeze against her face and toss her hair lightly. She was standing in the middle of the hall, well out of his reach, but not as far away as she had been.
She stood there as he weaved back and forth in the doorway, his mane and the ropes following his every move. It looked like they were agitating him.
"I could get those off you," Avalina said softly, causing him to stop and flick his ears towards her again.
"But you'd have to let me first. And promise not to hurt me."
At this, the horse pinned his ears and tossed his head. He felt her fear in the air, and it fueled his angry behavior.
Shivering, Avalina watched him for a second, thinking about what she could do to calm him down. Maybe a song? She sang to the stock at home all the time. Her mother had teased her once that her singing made the crops grow faster, and more than once, her brother had told her to shut up.
"Do you like music, Marwolaeth?" She asked. It was the first time she had ever called him by his name.
The horse swiveled his ears forward again, freezing for a moment.
"This is one I picked up from a book. Momma taught me to sing it. I think it was written by somebody that lost someone close to them."
Taking a deep breath, Avalina softly began, keeping her voice low. It was meant to be a very sad, mournful song anyway, and she felt that the horse would pick up on what the words meant a lot better if she kept the mood in her voice. Plus, she didn't want anyone else to hear her.
"Duele no tenerte cerca (It hurts not to have you near)
duele no escuchar tu voz (It hurts not to hear your voice)
duele respirar tu ausencia, (It hurts to breathe in your absence)
pero, duele más decirte adiós." (But, it hurts more to tell you goodbye)
After the first three lines, Marwolaeth had stopped his weaving in the doorway, and this encouraged Avalina to no end.
"Duele como muerte lenta (It hurts like a slow death)
la memoria de los dos (The memory of us both)
la sangre ardía por mis venas, (My blood was burning through my veins)
pero, hoy se seca sin tu amor." (But, today it runs dry without your love)
By now, the horse's ears had reluctantly came forward to listen, almost as if he were trying to catch what Avalina was saying. Avalina slowly took one step towards him, watching his ears for any sign of regression.
"Miseria (Misery)
vivir rodeado de la melancolía (Living surrounded by melancholy)
en espera de ti, de ti, de ti, y de nadie más (In hope of you, of you of you and nobody else)
Si me llamas voy a tu lado soy (If you call me I'll go, at your side I'll be)
todo por sentir el latir de tu corazón (All to hear the beating of your heart)
si me dices no, yo me parto en dos (If you tell me no, I'll break in two)
prefiero decirte adiós." (I'd rather tell you goodbye)
Avalina took another step closer, watching the horse's body language. He was a little uncertain at this, and seemed to be checking her over, looking for any sign of a weapon she might be carrying. Avalina let her arms rest at her sides, showing him that she had nothing to hide.
"I know it hurts," she told him softly. "Not being able to have him around anymore, not hear his voice, knowing he won't be there for you anymore. Trust me, I know."
Avalina felt her vision grow blurry at this, and she wiped her tears away and swallowed hard. She had to keep singing for a little bit longer. It seemed to calm Marwolaeth, and she wanted him to stay calm. At least until she could get those ropes off. She had noticed that one was biting rather painfully into the bridge of his nose.
"Duele no tenerte cerca (It hurts not to have you near)
duele no escuchar tu voz (It hurts not to hear your voice)
duele respirar tu ausencia, (It hurts to breathe in your absence)
pero duele más decirte adiós." (But, it hurts more to tell you goodbye)
Avalina slowly took another step forward, the horse watching her every move. Carefully, she held out her hand for him to sniff, ready to yank it back if he tried to bite.
The horse blew softly in puzzlement. She was afraid of him, he could smell that, but why wasn't she running from him? Everyone ran from him. In turn, it encouraged him to be nasty. Without his rider, it was the only thing that brought him enjoyment any more. But underneath that fury, he longed for a human's touch again. To feel that someone cared for him again, like his rider has used to do.
Avalina kept her voice quiet as the horse carefully sniffed her hand. She watched for any sign of aggression, but for the moment, there didn't seem to be any. She certainly wasn't going to stop yet, though.
"Duele como muerte lenta (It hurts like a slow death)
la memoria de los dos (The memory of us both)
la sangre ardía por mis venas, (My blood was burning through my veins)
pero, hoy se seca sin tu amor." (But, today it runs dry without your love)
Slowly, she raised her hand and touched the horse's nose. At this, he yanked his head back and pinned his ears, only to swivel them forward again and breathe her scent in. He was clearly conflicted, not really knowing what to do.
"I know I'm not your knight, Mawolaeth," she said softly. "I'm not the one you want. But I could help you, if you'd let me."
The horse shifted his weight and leaned out to sniff her again cautiously. Avalina did not move a muscle as he scrutinized her critically from head to toe. At long last he gave a resigned huff and allowed her to brush her fingers against his muzzle.
"Good boy," she whispered softly, causing Mawolaeth to warily blow against her face.
Gently, she felt around the side of his nose, trying to loosen the knots of that horrid rope halter. It had been pulled so tightly that it bit viciously into his face, not a single hair of room between him and the rope.
The horse yanked his head away the instant she touched the rope, pinning his ears and glaring at her.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she told him. "At least, not on purpose. I'm promise."
It took another ten minutes for her to get the horse to lower his head again and stand quietly as her little fingers fiddled with the halter. She had been fighting with it for several minutes now and the knots showed no sign of budging. She was getting irritated, as was the horse, because everytime she moved the rope or tugged on it, it dug harder into his face and it hurt.
Panting, Avalina gently rubbed his neck as she looked around for anything that might help her get the halter off. The entire stable was practically completely empty, but after digging around in what used to be the old tackroom, she found a very small piece of metal, about the length of her big finger, with a very sharp end.
She would have preferred nearly anything else, but this would have to do.
"Now Marwolaeth," she told him, "The most important thing for you to do right now is don't move at all. Not in the slightest, understand? If I miss and cut you it won't end well. For either of us."
The horse behaved until the scraping of the metal against the rope got to him and he pulled away to see what it was.
And promptly shied from it like the plague.
Avalina could not get the horse back to the door, even after several minutes. He stayed by the far wall, glaring at her. And he would not budge.
The bolt on the door was stuck. She couldn't get it open no matter how hard she pushed. The horse had struck it from the inside so many times the metal bolt had been bent at a crazy angle, preventing the door from being opened. Honestly, Avalina wondered how they had gotten him in the stall in the first place.
Left with no other option, Avalina was forced to hoist herself onto the top of the halfdoor and sit there. The horse laced back his ears again and stamped a warning. She did not dare to drop over and actually get in the stable with him. If he went berserk she would have no way out.
'Why would he shy from me like that?' She thought, confused. 'I didn't hurt him.'
She glanced down at the tiny metal shard in her hand, thinking, before looking back up at him.
"Marwolaeth, how can a big, strong horse like you be so afraid of something so little?" She asked him.
"My momma always says I'm too big of a girl to be afraid of wasps, because they're so little, but I can't help it. They hurt and they scare me! Even if they didn't hurt, I think I'd still be scared of them because they look so creepy."
Avalina glanced down at the shard in her hand again, before it dawned on her.
"Hey. . ."
Studying it more, she noticed it glinted, and every time it caught the light, the horse would stiffen noticeably.
'The lance they were throwing at him glinted in the sun this morning,' she realized as she looked back up at him.
"Now I understand, boy," she told him softly. "I'm sorry."
The horse flicked his ears forward as she kept talking.
"But, there's something I don't get. You're a knight's horse, you should be used to big sharp things flying at you all the time. That was your job, that's what you do. Or, what you did, rather."
A tumult of noise came from outside in the courtyard, followed by the slamming of the stable door that Avalina had left ajar when she came in. The sudden noise made Avalina jump so badly she lost her balance on the top of the door and fell facefirst into the straw.
Luckily, the bedding was thick, which prevented her from getting hurt, and she scrambled quickly to her feet as the horse snorted and shied at the far side of the stable, pawing.
The full force of what had just happened hit Avalina hard. She was trapped in a stable with a crazy animal. No way out. She had overstepped the line, and she was in his domain now.
Not wasting a second, she turned back to the door and tried to climb up it, but her boots couldn't get a grip on the smooth wood. . .she fell back to the floor as the horse whinnied loudly, kicking up straw.
Curling up in as small a ball as she could manage, she pressed herself tightly into the corner under the feed trough nailed into the wall as he snorted angrily. Maybe if he didn't think she was a threat he wouldn't do anything. . .
She wanted to scream. Oh, how she wanted to. To call someone to get her out. But from what she had witnessed, the horse seemed to only get angrier around loud noises, and she knew that if she started, he could kill her before anybody would come.
Shivering, trying not to cry, she kept her eyes tightly closed as she felt him stamp about, praying that he wouldn't come over here.
How long she stayed like that, she didn't know. After a while, the horse quit throwing a fit and she dared to crack her eyes open a tiny bit.
Marwolaeth was still standing there, on the opposite side of the stall, watching her like a hawk, but the first thing she noticed was that his ears weren't flat against his head, like they had been before. They were still laid back, but not in a raging fury. It looked more like sullen irritation.
Slowly, she got to her feet, watching him as he watched her. Avalina was almost afraid to speak, but she did so anyway.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she told him softly, scarcely above a whisper, slowly holding her hand out to try and entice him to come.
"I want to help you. Won't you let me help you? Please?"
The horse's ears came forward again, listening.
"I promise, I'm not trying to trick you."
Silently, the horse and the girl regarded each other as the seconds stretched into long minutes.
Finally, Marwolaeth gave a deep sigh, sounding like the bellows of a forge, and reluctantly, as if this was the last thing in the whole world he wanted to be doing. . .
Took a step in her direction. And another. And then three more.
He stood in front of her, staring down for a moment, like a king would a subject, before gracefully lowering his head to her hands, allowing her to touch him.
"Good boy," Avalina whispered, trying to contain the joy her little heart was filled with.
"Good boy."
The song is "Adiós" by Jesse y Joy. Its a beautiful little song, and I thought it fit here pretty well. Another reason that its here will be explained later.
Don't forget to review! :D