Chapter 65
In the weeks that followed, Avalina rode Marwolaeth every single day. She took him exploring through the valleys, hills and forests around her home, going farther out than she'd ever gone before. She didn't have to worry about not making it home in time for supper now.
She rode him down to the rockbars along the river, and he would swim her across in a place where the current wasn't so strong. She took him up high on the ridges behind her farm, out to the rock ledge that would become her favorite place on earth. She could see for miles and miles up here!
Simply walking him was no longer mandatory. Her confidence in herself and her trust in the horse restored, Avalina taught herself to ride at any speed. It took a week's work, but she rigged up a course of sorts down a particular deer trail that was wider than most, and they would race.
Marwolaeth always seemed to know when she couldn't hold on anymore, and he would slacken his pace enough for her to regain her grip before he would speed up again.
Despite this, Avalina fell off many times. Luckily no one was around to see, and most of the spills occurred on the sandy riverbank, or in the shallows themselves, where she learned to really ride. The ground was soft here, preventing everything but slight bruises.
After a while, when it became obvious he wasn't going to run off and leave her, she would simply remove his reins so he wouldn't trip over them when she would inevitably come off and let him gallop like mad, before he would skid to a stop and take off again in the opposite direction. Occasionally he would buck and crowhop, throwing all of his body into the air at once. After many weeks of this, she could stick to his back like a hair in a cold biscuit.
Spitting out a mouthful of water, she wiped her hair out of her face and peered through her dripping eyelashes at him, dancing there on the bank as if he had an audience.
"This is the third bath in the past hour, boy," she told him playfully. "Get in here!"
The horse snorted and galloped in, throwing waves everywhere and pawing madly. The spray he threw up was like diamonds, and they glittered so blindingly in the sunlight Avalina had to turn away from them.
Swimming over, she climbed onto his back and laughed as he buried his whole muzzle in the river, before she turned him back to shore.
As they dried off in the warm sunlight, a little ways from the river, Avalina worked the leather reins in her hands to keep them from stiffening when they dried. Stiff reins were dangerous.
The horse was peacefully cropping grass not too far away, and when she was content with the reins she carefully stood up and tiptoed away into the trees.
Not even a second passed before she heard his whinny. Taking off into a dead run, she ran blindly through the forest, hearing him right behind her.
Dodging a tree, she whipped around and took off in the opposite direction, laughing like mad.
The horse snorted in delight and chased her. This was one of his favorite games!
She knew it was over when she felt the ground vibrate underneath her feet.
A whoosh of hot air against her neck made her shriek in mock terror, before he blew past her and went bucking down the trail.
Thus the game went on until Avalina was worn out.
Panting, she leaned against a tree as Marwolaeth danced back up to her, cavorting like a colt, his sides damp.
"You think you're such a bad boy, you and your bad self, don't you?" Avalina gasped as he came over and stuck his nose in her lap, wanting her to scratch his ears.
"But I know you're just a big softy on the inside."
Avalina laughed and scratched his ears as he snorted indignantly.
"You're my angel, you know that?"
After a pause, she added, "Which is why you don't deserve those names anymore."
The horse gazed at her as she got up and looked him over.
"You're not the Diafol Ceffyl anymore, and you're not Marwolaeth. Maybe to other people, but not to me. Momma firmly believes that a person's name reflects their personality. So do I, and if you keep those awful names, you won't be able to really be free from your past self. Every time you hear that name, you'll be reminded of what you used to be. But what to call you instead. . ."
Avalina walked around, the horse turning to follow her.
"Momma said her brother never named you, you were just the horse. You've never had a real name to call your own, have you?"
The horse shook his long mane to get rid of an annoying fly.
"I thought so. You need something defined, royal, unusual. A great horse like you deserves a great title, and I think I know just the thing. I've been reading a really awesome book, and I got my idea from it."
Placing a hand on the horse's cheek, she asked him, "What do you think of Mitternacht?"
The horse's ears came forward, catching the foreign syllables.
"Mitternacht," she repeated, watching him. His ears came forward again.
"It means Midnight in another tongue. Do you like it? I hope you do. It fits you so much better than. . .Marwolaeth."
She hated saying that out loud.
The horse's ears went back slightly at the last word, but when she repeated his new name again, they came forward.
"Well, Mitternacht it is then!" She told him happily as she rubbed his forelock out of his mane.
"Now let's get home!" She told him as she swung up, "It'll be time for supper when we get there!"
Mueric had told her to never, ever bring a horse in hot, so she walked him the last mile or two back to the farm.
"Momma," Avalina asked as she helped Gaenor clean the kitchen.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Arran and Mueric had retired for the night, leaving them alone.
"Yes, dear," her mother replied.
Avalina had noticed her mother seemed brighter these days, after the initial panic attack of seeing Avalina astride the horse people called unrideable.
"I was kinda wondering. . .when bad things happen, does good things follow?"
"Well, I'm not really sure, I've never thought about it. Why do you ask?"
"Well, Momma, if I hadn't gotten lost in the marketplace that day, I never would have found Mitternacht. If he hadn't thrown me, I wouldn't be riding him now, and if. . ."
Avalina cut off.
"What, dear?" Her mother prompted.
"Well," Avalina said hesitantly, "If the worst thing that ever happened to us hadn't happened, we wouldn't have been in the marketplace to begin with, and I wouldn't be having the best time of my life right now."
She held off the part that if her uncle hadn't died, she never would have found a best friend.
Her mother's voice wobbled slightly as she dried another plate.
"Well, then, I suppose its true. The way you say it, anyway. and what did you call the horse, just now? Isn't his name Marwolaeth?"
"Not anymore," Avalina told her mother eagerly, "You remember how you told me a name is everything? Well, I decided. . . ."
Gaenor scrubbed the dishes as she listened to her daughter talk all about that horse. She didn't think she'd ever seen her this happy in her whole life. It was so strange, how a child couldn't get any lower one day, and then a few months later be as high as a kite.
Gaenor's husband, her children's father, had died only a few weeks before the horse had been dumped on them. The blow had devastated them severely, not only emotionally, but financially as well.
Arran had had to literally grow up overnight, leaving his childhood behind like a leaf in the wind as he took on the role of the man in the house. And he hadn't been quite the same since. He was colder to his sister now. He never played with her anymore, never laughed, rarely smiled. Gaenor understood it was his way of dealing with his grief, but it made her own heart ache to know that her little boy would never be the same again.
Avalina, on the other hand, had openly crashed. While Arran had dealt with things in his stoic, bravefaced way, Avalina had cried constantly for the first week, before simply disappearing, becoming a shadow of her former self, hiding in the forest most of the time and often refusing to eat.
When that horse had came into her life, it was like she had been reborn. And Gaenor could not help but feel happier too.
"I'm the happiest girl in the world, I tell you!" Avalina said enthusiastically as she put another plate away.
"I have a horse all my own! We're gonna be best friends forever!"
Gaenor's heart sank. She didn't have the heart to remind her daughter that the horse was, in fact, the king's property.
And he would be wanting him back.
The letter came by a messenger one day while Avalina was gone with the horse, saying that the king desired the animal back immediately.
Avalina was devastated, but there was nothing they could do but head to the village.
The horse knew something was off and was depressed and jittery by turns.
In the village, all they got were stares. Rather, that was all the horse and Avalina got. People peeked out their windows and doors and even came out onto the street to see Marwolaeth, the Diafol Ceffyl of all Prydain, the untamable horse that couldn't be rode, walk by with a rider, no more than ten, astride him. Without a saddle, to top it off.
Mitternacht paid them no mind, except for one who got too close. A warning snap took care of him.
The group filed into the castle courtyard like a funeral procession, scarcely paying attention to the guards and other servants, who stared with open mouths. One ran off to inform the king, and one of the guards brought out a saddle from the stable to put on Mitternacht.
Mitternacht stood like a soldier as Mueric helped Avalina with the straps. The horse had become accustomed to the old man being around and tolerated him, but it was obvious he still didn't like him.
Avalina rode him about in the courtyard while they waited for the king, to get Mitternacht used to the saddle and try to walk off some of his nerves.
The horse snorted and stared out past the village, toward the rolling hills and ridges behind. He couldn't see much from here, but he knew all those nooks and crannies were there, and he pulled at his bit, wanting to leave.
It broke Avalina's heart.
"My sincerest thanks to you, miss," King Gwydion told her as he approached, having seen her riding the horse about the courtyard. "You have done something no one else could do."
"With all due respect, Majesty," Mueric said, "Mebbe you oughtta ride him yourself before you say anythin'."
"Indeed."
Avalina had to hold Mitternacht's head as he danced around in a circle, his ears pinned back at the man.
"Boy, don't make this any harder," Avalina whispered softly, causing the horse to stand still. "I hate this as much as you do."
When the king's weight settled into the saddle, the horse tightened every muscle in his body, preparing to buck, but Avalina's soft voice kept him down.
The king, embarrassed and slightly angry that a child would have to lead his horse for him, ordered her to step away, before pulling the horse's head in the opposite direction when he tried to follow her.
The animal tossed his head angrily and struck the cobblestones, and when the king would not give in, went into the biggest bucking fit anyone watching had ever seen.
He crowhopped, he spun, he twisted, he lurched back and forth in the air, he tried every trick he knew, while the crowd around watched in growing awe.
"What a horse!" Some murmured.
"What a dangerous animal!"
"What a rider! Who'd've thought the king would be such a rider?"
Avalina heard them all, but somehow she couldn't get her throat to work and shout at Mitternacht to stop.
It seemed like an eternity, watching the duo go round and round the courtyard, the king clutching on grimly and the horse's fury mounting when he discovered this one would not be so easily tossed.
In a rage, he reached around and tried to bite the man's legs, and connected on his first snap. This surprised his rider so much he loosened his grip by mistake, so the next buck sent him high in the air, before, by the greatest of luck, landing in a strawpile a dozen yards away, instead of on the hard cobblestones that surely would have resulted in broken bones.
The horse, his coat slick with sweat and lather, immediately went straight to Avalina, who held him tight, keeping her mouth shut, as she didn't know if she should scold him or praise him for what he'd done.
"I thought you said that animal was trained!" King Gwydion told her crossly as he brushed straw off his coat.
"He is!" Avalina protested as she held him, "He just doesn't like other people!"
A gasp went round the courtyard. Nobody had ever talked to the king like that before!
"Kid, watch yer mouth," Mueric told her grimly.
"How else was I supposed to say it?"
"Not like that."
"I'm sorry, sir," she apologized in the king's direction.
"Hold him still," Gwydion said as he approached. "Maybe he needs to find out that rebellion doesn't pay."
Avalina watched in horror as the king produced a riding crop before he mounted.
"Let's see him try to bite me this time."
Avalina could have sworn she saw the horse roll his eyes, before they flashed in anger as he felt the king get on him again.
Mitternacht bucked all over the courtyard, each one being rewarded with a smack of the crop across his flanks, sides, or shoulders.
It took more effort this time to throw him, but throw him he did, right into the water trough, before he danced back to Avalina with his head held high.
Avalina nearly wept as the king rose dripping from the trough and made his way back across the courtyard, anger evident in every step he took.
To Avalina's immense relief, Mueric stepped between them.
"Sire," he told the king, "I strongly advise you to call this off. The last two times you were thrown you got lucky. The next time you may not. There's cobblestones everywhere, and we," Here he gestured to the crowd, "Don't need our king killed. Think of the people, your Highness."
After a moment, King Gwydion relented.
"Very well, we will continue this in the field."
"Let the kid ride him!" A voice shouted out from the crowd.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The king irritably gestured for Avalina to try.
Avalina slipped into the saddle with ease and took up the reins.
Mitternacht's ears flicked forward eagerly, stamping once, before she asked him to walk. With an obvious joy in his gait, he did so.
Avalina walked him across the courtyard and back, the horse responding happily to her signals, his head held high in pride. The change in him was obvious to all who watched.
"Let the kid keep him!" Another voice shouted.
The crowd took up the cry, until nothing else could be heard over their chanting, and the horse, sensing it was for him, hammed it up to his level best, tossing his mane and tail as he pranced towards the small group awaiting him.
If he was human, Mueric would have sworn that the horse would have been smirking triumphantly at King Gwydion.
He pranced to a stop in front of them, and as Avalina got off, she bowed from the waist, lightly tapping the insides of the horse's knee joints as she did so.
The crowd went nuts when the horse knelt as well.
The king's mouth twitched upward slightly.
"It seems I've met my better," he told Avalina.
"Oh, no sir," Avalina corrected him. "I couldn't have rode him like you did."
"No, but you don't have to," he told her. "And that's the best part. He wants you, that's plain as day. I could take him back, but he would never work for me like he does for you."
Turning to the crowd, he stretched out his arms for silence, still managing to look regal and intimidating while soaking wet.
"The voice of the people has been heard!" He shouted. "And granted! I hereby declare that the horse goes with the peasant Avalina! And may the Fates help me if I ever go back on that!"
The crowd exploded in laughter and approval as Gwydion turned back to Avalina.
"Sire? Does this mean he can go home with me?" She asked timidly.
"Yes, it does," he told her, smiling. "And when you are old enough, I would like you to work for me as a royal horse trainer."
Avalina's eyes widened.
"You. . .mean that?"
"Of course I do."
Accepting a small sack from a servant, he handed it to her.
"Your payment."
"But. . ."
'I never go back on my word."
After casting a glance back at her mother to ok it, Avalina turned back to him, gesturing to the horse.
"If its all the same to you, could I keep him as payment instead?"
"Well. . .if, that's what you want. . ."
The crowd went into whoops of shock when Avalina suddenly hugged the king tight, throwing him completely off guard.
"Thank you so much!" She cried. "I can take my best friend home!"
The king smiled at her kindly.
"Well, your best friend taught me a lesson today, miss. Sometimes even a king needs reminding that he is indeed, just a man. And who better to remind him and put him in his place than a horse?"
WHEW! FINALLY, the FLASHBACK IS OVER! *Collapses* You readers have no idea what I go through. XD *Raises head* The next chapter will be back in the present, and I will live rejoicing, knowing that the story is FINALLY over! *throws confetti* Whoof! *passes out*